Ok – so you guys know I’m from South Africa right? Well I’m from Johannesburg which is in the province Gauteng and believe it or not, at this very moment, there is an active serial killer currently hunting the streets for victims! Gives you the chills just thinking about it.
This serial killer is targeting homosexual men in Gauteng and surrounding areas and has been active since April 2010. So far he has killed eight men in their late twenties and thirties.
The victims claimed by this South African serial killer so far are:
- Manolis Veloudos (April 2010)
- Jim Cathels (December 2010)
- Oscar O’Hara (May 2011)
- Unidentified male (August 2011)
- Siphiwe Selby Nhlapo (September 2011)
- Barney van Heerden (September 2011)
- Jason Wessenaar (December 2011) – He was an HIV and AIDS activist and television presenter.
- Rulov Seneval (February 2012)
One of the victims of this active serial killer.
Police are sure that these strings of murders are the work of the same man due to similarities in each case (hence serial killer duh) such as; each victim is a gay man and each time there was no evidence of forced entry to the victim’s homes. Each victim was also killed by strangulation.
There is a twist to this particular story which is good in a way.
A non-profit organization called OUT Well-Being who provide health services and rights advice to the gay community of South Africa have decided to take things more seriously where this serial killer is concerned.
OUT have taken on board the services of private detectives to chase up leads which they feel the SAPS (South African Police Service) have failed to follow up on. They have also submitted a public warning to all gay men to be very careful when interacting with other gay men they are not familiar with.
Dawie Nel who is the Director of Gay Star News has commented that: ‘We have set up teams consisting of members of our organization and families and friends of the victims to maintain pressure on the SAPS to follow through this investigation and get results.”
He goes on to say that “One of the victim’s cell phones was found in the possession of a spiritual healer who’d made calls on it the day after one of the murders. We believe this and other leads have not been followed up by the police.’
It has also become apparent to OUT that social media networks the likes of “Gaydar” could also have been used as a medium employed by the killer to make contact with his victims. OUT have organised that their investigators acquire access to user accounts to determine if any further information can be gleaned from them.
The ultimate goal OUT hope to achieve by employing such an active engagement into the investigation is to bring evidence forward to the SAPS which can be used in building a case or profile of the serial killer and hopefully persuade them to take this more seriously.
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