Nine Women's Bodies Found East of Johannesburg: What Police Have Confirmed
South African police have confirmed the body of a ninth woman found east of Johannesburg in the past two months.
The latest victim was found on Thursday morning in Dawn Park, half-naked and wrapped in a sheet on the side of a road. Police have not released her identity. They count her death as part of a cluster in Ekurhuleni, the large urban area east of Johannesburg, where eight other women's bodies have been found since July BBC.
The first body was found on 15 July in Kempton Park. A suspect was arrested two days later in that case and remains in custody. Police have not linked that suspect to the other deaths.
More bodies were found in August and September in Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein, Clayville and KwaThema. Three of the dead have been publicly named. Elizabeth "Tsontso" Moselakgomo, 38, left home for an afternoon run and her body was found three days later behind a hotel in Kempton Park. Itumeleng Kekana had been missing since July before she was identified among the dead. Dineo Evelyn Motapane, 38, was found dead by the roadside in KwaThema on Tuesday BBC.
Police say they have not established whether the deaths are connected or whether a serial killer is responsible. A multidisciplinary team of detectives, intelligence officers, forensic experts who analyze physical evidence, and other specialists has been put together to look for links. Officers are pursuing a person of interest, someone they want to question, without saying which case or cases may be involved.
Authorities have offered a reward of 400,000 rand ($24,000; £18,000) for information leading to arrests. President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed that "no stone will be left unturned" to find those behind the killings. Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia urged caution against speculation, saying investigators at this stage appeared to be dealing with "quite distinct, separate events."
Police say they are not linking the deaths to a serial killer at this stage, but they are examining whether a group of people could be behind the killings.
That count rose quickly this week. On 15 September, police said they were investigating the deaths of seven women found around Kempton Park, near Johannesburg Reuters. Police issued a public alert after the seventh body was found AP. The later finds in Dawn Park and KwaThema brought the total to nine.
The broader context here is an investigation under two kinds of pressure. Detectives must test for forensic and other links across scattered scenes in Ekurhuleni, while avoiding the assumption that closeness on a map means one killer or one pattern. Like sorting out whether similar-looking cases belong to the same puzzle, the work will turn on lab comparisons, phone and communications data, and that person-of-interest inquiry. For the presidency and police leadership, the question is whether they can keep resources and witness cooperation steady after the reward announcement, especially if more reports come in after September.
