A Venezuelan Indigenous community called for a "serious and credible" investigation into the sudden death of Josiah K'Okal, a Kenyan-born missionary whom police say may have committed suicide.

K'Okal, 54, disappeared on January 1 after leaving by bicycle from the Consolata Missionaries Congregation in Tucupita, in eastern Venezuela's Delta Amacuro state.

His body was found hanging from a tree a day later by inhabitants of Boca de Guara, in the neighbouring state of Monagas.

Douglas Rico, head of Venezuela's national investigative police agency, said that K'Okal's death may have been a suicide, as testimony from acquaintances pointed to a "recent depressive state."

The Indigenous Warao community, to whom K'Okal had dedicated his ministry, demanded a "serious and credible" investigation in order to "clarify the circumstances of his death," according to a note published Wednesday by the Information Service for the Pontifical Mission Societies (FIDES).

K'Okal was born in Kenya and, after being ordained a priest in 1997, moved to Venezuela where he also obtained citizenship.

Since 2006, according to FIDES, he has devoted himself to studying the culture and language of the Warao.

He had denounced the trafficking of Indigenous people in Delta Amaruro, as Venezuela experienced massive migration over its historic economic crisis.