Kenyan officials announced that the death toll from a doomsday cult reached 403 after they exhumed 12 more bodies on Monday (July 17) with 95 people rescued in connection with a pastor who ordered his followers to starve themselves to meet Jesus, the Associated Press reports.

Pastor Paul Mackenzie and 36 other suspects are in police custody. It appears that Mackenzie continues to have a grip on his followers. Some of the suspects and people rescued from the church in a Kenyan forest started a hunger strike in prison and at a rescue center.

Meanwhile, the search continues for more victims. Kenya Red Cross officials in Malindi town, where the church was located, received reports of 613 missing people, as detectives continue to find mass graves.

French news station France 24 reports that Prosecutors said Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, faces terrorism or genocide-related charges but has not been required to enter a plea. He has been in police custody since April. A court extended his detention by one month on July 3.

Mackenzie, who started the Good News International Church in 2003, surrendered April 14 to police in Malindi and was charged in the deaths of two children whose parents were members of his congregation. Authorities received a tip alleging that Mackenzie’s parishioners were starving themselves to death under his directions as a way to meet Jesus before the world ended.

According to government autopsies, some victims, including children, were strangled, beaten or suffocated to death, but most victims apparently died from starvation.

The self-proclaimed minister is no stranger to controversy. He relocated his church to the forest of Malindia in 2019 after his church was shut down for his message, including asking children to stop going to school.