UPDATE: Relief as Malvern mother of missing woman found safe
The missing person's case has now been closed after Michelle van Der Merwe (22) contacted authorities in Gauteng to report that she is no longer missing.
FOLLOWING many days of angst, Madelein van Der Merwe of Malvern said she is pleased to know her daughter who had gone missing last week, is safe.
While Michelle van Der Merwe still hasn’t gone to Malvern SAPS she has been declared found after making a statement in Springs, from where she, with the help of one of the people who had been investigating her disappearance, made contact with her mother.
Story, headline and introduction updated at 1.30pm on Friday, 20 November to reflect updated information.
Yesterday, (Thursday, 19 November) Michelle’s mother, in a voice note to the Queensburgh News said she had managed to trace her missing daughter to Amanzimtoti and was planning to go to Malvern SAPS this morning to close the missing person case.
“She went missing on Friday morning and on Friday evening she went to a bar near Toti where she met a guy and she went home with him,” said Madelein van Der Merwe.
“The man’s mother, who they were staying with saw the missing person posters and so they contacted one of the numbers on the pamphlet,” said Michelle’s mother who lives in Malvern and is looking after Michelle’s two sons, aged four and one-years-old.
Debbie De Beer, who was running the investigation from Gauteng where Michelle had been thought to have travelled said until Michelle herself goes to a police station to say she is found, the missing person case cannot be closed.
Sgt Kheswa, communications officer at Malvern SAPS where the missing person case was registered confirmed what De Beer stated.
“She needs to come to the Malvern SAPS and give statement,” said Kheswa.
Story and headline updated at 10am on Thursday to reflect new information.
The original story follows below:
DESPITE messages purporting to be from Michelle Van Der Merwe claiming she is fine, the search continues for the missing mother of two who reportedly was last seen on Friday, 13 November.
Debbie De Beer, of South African Community Crime Watch (SACCW) who is investigating the case from Gauteng where Michelle was living, said they are continuing with their search despite the messages on the missing woman’s Facebook page
“Her mother has looked at the messages and told us they are not written in the way Michelle would usually write comments on Facebook,” said De Beer.
(See the beginning of the story for a two updates on Thursday, 19 and Friday 20 November)
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