19 People killed by the Guruve Monster

By Crime and Courts Reporter
6 January 2026

The quiet villages of Guruve were turned into graveyards.

The court heard that Anymore Zvitsva (33), now under heavy guard at Parirenyatwa Hospital, is accused of killing 19 people, most of them women, in a wave of violence that stretched across months and left families shattered and communities living in fear.

He faces eight counts of murder, two of attempted murder, and two of rape. From his hospital bed, he was remanded in custody. He did not speak. He did not plead.

Only the High Court, the magistrate said, could decide his fate.

It began in the dark

In March 2025, Jane Dube ran for her life.

The court was told Zvitsva broke into her home in Rangwani Village demanding money. Jane fled into a maize field, hoping the darkness would save her. It didn’t.

She was caught. She was beaten to death with an iron rod.
Her screams disappeared into the night.

A pattern of horror

A month later, Modester Isaac was herding cattle when Zvitsva confronted her. At knifepoint, he dragged her into the bush and raped her.

By morning, villagers found her body hanging from a tree, strangled with wire.

By then, the killer was already gone.

As months passed, the killings followed the same cruel rhythm — women attacked while working, sleeping, or simply living.

Alice Marangarire was ambushed while searching for cattle.
Two villagers were attacked on their way to the garden.
Their bodies were found hanging from trees.

Fear spread. Doors were locked earlier. Fires were put out sooner. Sleep became dangerous.

Homes became death traps

On 30 November 2025, three women — Megina Chizema, Stacey Pulango and Allet Kavhura — went to bed in their two-roomed house, unaware it would be their last night alive.

Zvitsva forced open the door.

One by one, he strangled them with wire as they lay helpless in their beds.

Their bodies were discovered days later. The house was silent. Too silent.

An entire family wiped out

On 9 December, four people slept in a one-roomed house in Zimuna Village.

They never woke up.

Each was strangled with the same wire.

One young woman, Tadiwanashe Marasika, was taken away alive — only to be raped, chased, killed and buried in the mountains when she tried to escape.

A survivor who lived to speak

On 13 December, Fortune Mwazha was attacked in her shop after closing.
She was strangled until she blacked out.

The killer thought she was dead.

She survived — and her survival helped bring the terror to an end.

Blood even among family

The court heard that on 14 December, Zvitsva turned on his own relatives.

Sleeping family members were stabbed in their beds.
No warning. No mercy.

Only death.

The night Mavis survived

The final attack came on 22 December.

Three women slept in a house in Bosha Village.

Zvitsva broke in after midnight.

Two sisters ran for safety — but there was nowhere to hide.

One woman was dragged away and killed.
Another was raped, then strangled.

Mavis Malunga hid under the bed.

She listened.
She stayed silent.
She survived.

A community forever changed

Nineteen lives were taken.
Children lost mothers.
Parents buried daughters.
Villages lost their peace.

Guruve will never sleep the same again.

And as the accused waits in custody, the weight of unanswered questions hangs heavy:

How did the screams go unheard for so long?
And how many nights did fear walk freely among the living?