A serial killer who confessed to killing 10 children has escaped from police custody days after leading homicide detectives to four crime scenes where some of the murders occurred.

Police confirmed to the media on Wednesday that the 20-year-old Masten Wanjala Milimu escaped either late Tuesday or early Wednesday from the Jogoo Road Police Station in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. He was waiting to face over 10 counts of murder.

It is still unclear how the serial killer escaped but police, led by Nairobi police boss James Mugera, say that they have cast their dragnet in major cities in search of the killer.

Policemen who were taking the routine morning roll call raised the alarm Wednesday morning after they found that one of the prisoners was missing.

Masten Milimu was to be presented in court for a hearing on Wednesday, police told reporters, adding they had linked the killer to 14 murder incidents that took place in western Kenya in July.

Milimu had told police that almost all his victims were boys, who he drugged before killing and often drank their blood.