True Crime South Africa
True Crime South Africa covers solved and unsolved South African true crime cases.
Episode 12: Unsolved: The River Strangler
In 1995 a serial killer prowled the streets of Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal. He would take the lives of two teenage girls and leave two other young women traumatised before seemingly disappearing into thin air. (Community Intervention Centre (24-hour Trauma Helpline 082-821-3447)
TCSA Spotlight 6
In this week's Spotlight minisode: Is Sean Kelly - the alleged hammer murderer from Sedgefield - involved in the disappearance of Marie Ostbo? We also discuss updates on South African murderer in Alaska, Brian Smith and progress on the case of missing 8-year-old, Amahle Thabethe. (24-hour trauma helpline 082-821-3447)
Episode 11 - The Shoelace Killer
In 2003, Wesley Julyan was 18-years-old when he was convicted of the murder of Kenneth van Aardt. He and his accomplice had strangled the man with a shoelace, walking away from their horrendous crime with just R 70. Julyan was sentenced to 13 years in prison which was eventually increased…
TCSA Spotlight 5
In this week's spotlight minisode we discuss a South African killer in Alaska who filmed his crime as well as the murder of a young mother who was viciously stabbed to death while on holiday. (24-hour trauma helpline: 082-821-3447)
Episode 10 - The Unsolved Murder of Tracey Thompson
In March 2005, Carol Thompson received the news that no mother should ever have to hear. The body of her 24-year-old daughter Tracey, who had been missing for a week, had been found on a piece of agricultural land just outside Benoni. While that call ended all hope for her…
Interview: My Pen Pal, The Serial Killer
In 1996, Moses Sithole was sentenced to 2410 years in prison for a prolific series of murders. The mind of a man who could commit such atrocities has been a fascination to professionals and the public alike. Many journalists attempted to interview him and Moses was not short of prospective…
Episode 9 - The ABC Killer
Moses Sithole has the highest body count of any convicted serial killer in South Africa. For two years in the 1990s, he terrorised the women of Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland earning him the moniker of the ABC Killer. Community Intervention Centre (24-hour Trauma helpline: 082 821 3447); see www.truecrimesouthafrica.com for a…
TCSA: Spotlight 4
In September 2018, South Africa woke up to the horrifying news that a 7-year-old girl had been raped in the toilets of a restaurant in Pretoria. The outrage was fuelled by video footage taken by a bystander of the offender being confronted. A year later, September 2019 saw the man…
Episode 8: The Unsolved Murder of Jacoba Schroeder
In 1949, 18-year-old Jacoba Schroeder had been drawn to the bright lights of Johannesburg in the hopes that she could pull herself out of poverty and cast aside the shackles of her social class. Sadly, Jacoba was looking for a knight in shining armour in the wrong place and she…
TCSA:Spotlight 3
In this week’s True Crime South Africa Spotlight minisode we discuss the scourge of gender-based violence and do a deep dive into some interesting information that emerged during the pre-sentencing hearing of the last three Electus per Deus members. Zak Valentine, Cecilia Steyn and Marcel Steyn were found guilty of…
Podcast: Episode 7: The Body in the Boot
On the 22nd of September 2013 the badly decomposed body of a man was found in the boot of a car at Monte Casino in Fourways, South Africa. The investigation that followed would take police into the seedy underworld of sex work, drugs, fraud and trust betrayed. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/330149601029933/ Twitter:…
Podcast: TCSA: Spotlight 2
The TCSA:Spotlight minisodes cover true crime cases that are in the South African media right now and updates on previous episodes. This week we have updates on the Krugersdorp Killers case, a statement from the One Strong Voice Foundation on the Amahle Thabethe case and a discussion on the tragic…
Podcast: Episode 6: The Griekwastad Murders
On Friday, the 6th of April 2012 three members of the Steenkamp family were brutally murdered. The perpetrator would be the last person anyone would have accused. To purchase Jacques Steenkamp’s book: The Griekwastad Murders https://amzn.to/31xZOMv Link to Sleepy Times Tales Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/37nWA5Uy3D9CxnClVrVgY2 Link to Profiler Africa: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuXmxpgcJs-osSPJ3cbbOUA (Rape Crisis…
Podcast: TCSA: Spotlight 1
In our new Spotlight series we will cover cases that are in the media at the moment. Each mini-sode will include short updates and discussions on recent cases and updates on cases we’ve covered before. This week in TCSA Spotlight, South African serial killers, organ theft and missing teachers in…
Podcast: Episode 5: The Disappearance of Amahle Thabethe
On the 6th of April 2019, 8-year-old Amahle Thabethe assisted a man with directions to a shop. She has never been seen again. Where is Amahle and did a serial rapist on the run have something to do with her disappearance? Missing person advocacy agencies in South Africa: http://missingchildren.org.za/ https://www.pinkladies.org.za/…
Episode 4 – The Krugersdorp Killers
In Krugersdorp, South Africa 11 people were viciously murdered between 2012 and 2016 by a religious group calling themselves Electus Per Deus (Chosen by God). Their arrests sparked an investigation into one of the strangest cases in South African history which would ultimately reveal the depths of human depravity. (24-hr…
Podcast: Episode 3 – The Station Strangler
South Africa has been haunted by the Station Strangler serial killer case since his first murder in 1986. A suspect was caught and jailed for one of the crimes but is he the true perpetrator or does he still move among us to this day?
Podcast: Episode 2 – The Disappearance of Marie Ostbo
Marie Ostbo, a Norwegian student, was 21 years old when she disappeared while on holiday in South Africa. Marie has now been missing for more than a year and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance seem to get murkier every day. This is Marie’s story.
Episode 1 – The Murder of Charmaine Mare
I chose Charmaine's story to cover first because I hadn't heard about the case before I saw it on a short documentary on television. I was surprised as I tend to follow cases like these quite voraciously but then I realised that Charmaine's murder took place just a month before…