David Selepe

By the beginning of October, detectives were still feverishly trying to identify six bodies while following up every lead they had. Identikits of the victims were being finalized. The profile was completed based on the available information and shared with the detectives. The killer was reticent.

Until October 8, when a body was found near Geldenhuis train station, which is one stop from the Cleveland station. If these two stations were connected with the Jupiter station - which is on a separate railway line running more or less parallel to the first, until the two eventually converge - Heriotdale falls almost right in the center of that triangle. This woman had been lying in the veld for a number of days. She had been strangled with her pantyhose, clothing had been stuffed into her mouth, and there was some indication she had been raped.

This was a Saturday. By Tuesday, detectives had located two dockets of women who had been found near Geldenhuis station on August 6 and September 3 respectively. The modus operandi was like déjà vu. The August 6 body was found with her jersey pulled over her head, her panties and pantyhose stuffed into her mouth, strangled with her own blouse which was still tied around her neck.

South African police badge

On October 13, the Brixton Murder and Robbery Unit held a press conference. Col. Van Dyk Kruger, the unit commander, gave the following message to the murderer, quoted the next day in Beeld: "We're on your trail. Sooner or later we will catch you. We know you need help and there are specialists who understand you and who can help. Let us help you before things get worse. Please call before it's too late." Col. Dave Bruce, police spokesperson, said that a reward of R200,000 ($32,786) was being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer. He reiterated the importance of identifying the victims and appealed to the public to report missing persons to the police. Micki Pistorius provided some elements from her profile, stating in the same Beeld article that the killer "feels dead inside. He probably thinks about death all the time. He fantasizes about every murder and tries to commit the perfect murder, because he has a drive to kill, but he doesn't understand it. To kill is the only way he can release his feelings and his identity." She ended by saying that he wouldn't stop killing: "He can't."