“According to his friend’s grandmother, he was going to the dam to give us the only key we have to open our home as our other set of keys went missing the previous evening and we all shared the one key,” explained his older brother, Ian.
The teen stayed behind in his Woburn Avenue home when the rest of his family went to a braai at the dam on the Sunday afternoon.
The family believes that he must have gone missing around 4.30pm, as that was the last time anyone had any communication from him.
“He was last seen by his friend Dean du Toit’s grandmother, after he passed by their home in Newlands Avenue, to let his friend know that he was going to drop off the key with us and then go back to hang out with him,” said Ian.
According to the family, he sent Dean a message from the grandmother’s cellphone, informing him of this, as he did not have his cellphone with him.
He was at the house at around 4.30pm and that was the last time he was seen.
“It’s strange that he didn’t take his phone with him and, strangely enough, I saw a ‘Please Call Me’ message from his number at around 3.30pm, but he somehow didn’t take his phone with him when he left our home,” added Ian.
His brother recalled going back to the flat earlier on Sunday afternoon to pick up some braai equipment he had forgotten.
“When I got to the flat I found the door open and when I called out for Michael he answered, but he was at his friend Ivan’s flat, in the block of flats directly opposite to ours,” he said.
Ian then picked up the equipment and asked Michael to lock the front door, as he was still at Ivan’s flat.
Ian returned to the family braai, leaving his brother behind.
When the family returned from the braai they discovered that Michael was not home.
“His friend Ivan Curko met us at the gate, when we were about to drop off my sister, Nicolette, at the flat,” added Ian.
”He informed us that Michael was not home and we could not drop off Nicolette, as she could not get into the house.
”At this point we had not spoken to Dean, so we didn’t know that Michael was on his way in the afternoon, to give us the key.”
The family returned to the flat later that evening and asked Ivan if Michael had returned, but were told that he still was not home.
“Ivan helped us to get into the flat via the back door, as he somehow knew of a way to gain entry into the flat,” said Nicolette.
”When I walked in with him, I noticed the set of keys that went missing the evening before on the couch, which was strange, because we had all looked for the keys without any luck.”
She added that they found Michael’s cellphone under his clothes, in the cupboard, and not on the television set, where he usually leaves it.
“The battery had been taken out and, when we switched it on, we noticed that some numbers had been deleted,” said Nicolette.
”We checked the call log and the last call he made was to Ivan, but we haven’t been able to ask Ivan about their last conversation, as he has been missing since Monday evening and his cellphone is off.”
The family has checked in several nearby hospitals, with no luck, but hope that people with information about their brother’s whereabouts will come forward.
Contact Ian on 083 450 7883, or Nicolette on 076 428 9412 or WO Malesa on 082 563 3759.
