Background
Moses Sithole was born on 17 November 1964 in Vosloorus, a township on the East Rand of Gauteng, South Africa. His early life was marked by hardship and instability, and as an adult he worked at times in odd jobs and presented himself as a community organiser. He had a prior criminal record, including a rape conviction for which he had served a prison term, an experience he later cited as a grievance and a motivation for his hatred of women.
The murders attributed to Sithole took place principally in 1994 and 1995, during South Africa's transition to democracy. The killings occurred across the Gauteng region, with bodies discovered in three main areas: Atteridgeville near Pretoria, Boksburg, and the Cleveland district of Johannesburg. Because the body clusters were concentrated in these three localities, the press dubbed the unknown perpetrator the 'ABC Killer,' after the initial letters of Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland.
The Crimes
Sithole used a consistent and deceptive method to approach his victims. He targeted young, unemployed women, often luring them with the false promise of a job, frequently claiming to represent a company or organisation that needed workers. Having gained their trust, he led them to secluded areas such as open veld, fields and disused industrial sites.
Once isolated, he raped his victims and then strangled them, in many cases using the women's own clothing or underwear as a ligature. Some victims were also bound with their belongings. The bodies were left exposed at the scene, and investigators came to recognise the recurring signature of the attacks: the manner of strangulation, the sexual assault, and the use of the victims' own garments.
The total commonly cited at trial was 38 murders, along with 40 rapes and a number of robberies. The victims were overwhelmingly poor, job-seeking women whose vulnerability the killer deliberately exploited. The scale and consistency of the killings made the case one of the most severe serial-murder investigations in South African history.
Investigation and Arrest
As bodies accumulated through 1994 and 1995, South African police, including investigators working with newly developing profiling expertise, linked the deaths to a single offender. The case drew intense public attention and fear, particularly among unemployed women who were the killer's primary targets.
A significant break came when Sithole made contact with a journalist and, in a recorded telephone conversation, effectively confessed to the killings while denying personal responsibility and blaming his victims and his own past abuse. This recording, together with forensic and investigative work, helped focus the manhunt.
Sithole was tracked down and confronted by police in October 1995. During the confrontation he was shot and wounded before being taken into custody. He was treated and then formally charged. The arrest brought to an end one of the country's largest serial-killer investigations.
Trial and Outcome
Moses Sithole stood trial in the Johannesburg High Court (then the Witwatersrand Local Division). He was convicted in 1997 of 38 counts of murder, along with 40 counts of rape and additional counts of robbery. The evidence against him included his recorded confession, forensic links between the crime scenes, and the consistent pattern of his offences.
The court handed down an extraordinarily long sentence reflecting the gravity and number of his crimes; the cumulative term is most commonly reported as 2,410 years of imprisonment, with the judge stipulating a lengthy minimum period to be served before any possibility of parole. South Africa had abolished the death penalty in 1995, so capital punishment was not available. Sithole has remained in prison since his conviction.
Aftermath and Legacy
The Sithole case unfolded at a time when South Africa was confronting an unusual concentration of serial-murder investigations, including the contemporaneous Station Strangler case in the Western Cape. These cases spurred the development of police psychological profiling and specialist investigative units within the South African Police Service.
Sithole remains one of South Africa's most notorious convicted serial killers, frequently discussed in studies of the country's crime history and in true-crime documentaries. The case also drew attention to the vulnerability of unemployed women and the dangers of fraudulent job offers used to lure victims. Over the years there have been reports concerning his health in prison, but he has continued to serve his sentence.
