Missing Kempton Park Runner Found Dead Amid Probe Into Five Similar Deaths

South African police have confirmed the death of runner Elizabeth Mokolo Moselakgomo, who disappeared during a routine run last week east of Johannesburg. Relatives identified her body on Monday after it was found on Saturday.

Moselakgomo was 38, a mother of one and a Roseville runner. Police say her eight-year-old daughter first raised the alarm, according to the BBC. She left her home in Rhodesfield, Kempton Park, on 9 September and did not return. On 10 September 2026, the South African Police Service said it was intensifying the search for her, South African Police Service. Her family later asked the public to stop spreading unverified rumours, SABC News.

The body was found Saturday night in Rhodesfield, badly bruised and partly clothed. Family members identified it at the Germiston mortuary. Police linked the discovery to a wider investigation in Kempton Park.

Moselakgomo is one of five women found half-naked and bruised in the Kempton Park area. The other bodies have not yet been identified. On Monday, a passer-by on his way to work found another half-naked body about 25km away. Police set up a task team, a dedicated group of detectives, to investigate the killings. One person arrested in connection with the first body remains in custody.

Police said they are not linking the five deaths to a serial killer. They said the similarities were concerning enough to warn women in Kempton Park to avoid walking or running alone, especially in isolated areas.

The practical impact here is direct for daily movement. Rhodesfield mixes homes, open ground and transport routes, so a busy street can turn isolated within a few blocks. The advice limits routine choices for women who train early or walk to work.

The broader context here is lethal violence against women in South Africa. According to UN Women, women are killed in South Africa at five times the global average. That rate helps explain a dedicated team and public warning rather than routine, separate cases.

What to watch next is forensics and identification. Forensics means lab tests on physical evidence. Investigators must still name the dead, set timelines and places for each victim, and learn whether the cases share a suspect, a place, or only a pattern of vulnerability, and whether the custody case tied to the first body leads to charges that hold.