BREAKING NEWS: Naked body discovered in Stanford Lake

The gruesome discovery was made by James Halkon, who had gone to the lake to fish.

“When I got to the jetty, I sort of saw something, but I didn’t register straight away what it was, then I realised that it was, what looked to me to be a small black kid floating face down, half-submerged, and dead-still, there were no signs of life whatsoever. It was clear to me that the person was dead. The body was about ½ a metre in distance from the jetty. I got quite a shock. I tried to call my mom, but my cellphone didn’t have signal, so I drove higher up the hill in order to get reception,” said a clearly affected Halkon.

Halkon then telephoned his mother,  Linda Halkon, of the Iron Crown pub in Haenertsburg, who then immediately went to the Haenertsburg police station to report the finding and to ask for help.

The Haenertsburg police station sent a police officer to the scene, who confirmed the finding. James and the police officer then waited for an hour near the body of the deceased at the side of the lake. Later help in the form of investigators from the police’s Forensic Pathology Unit based at Polokwane, and police officers in police vans from the Haenertsburg and Tzaneen Police stations, arrived.

Witnesses said that police were at the crime scene until shortly after 20:00 Tuesday night.

A reliable source confirmed that police investigators were of the opinion that the body could have entered the water sometime at or shortly before the weekend, and that the mild weather conditions that the mountain has been experiencing, along with the cooler water temperatures, may have contributed to the body only surfacing yesterday.

“The police, have as yet, not been able to establish a cause of death. We cannot, therefore, rule out foul play. An inquest docket has thus been opened, and the Police’s Forensic Pathology unit in Polokwane as well as SAPS detectives are investigating.” said Lt Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe, of the Tzaneen Police Station.

No clothes of the deceased were found in the vicinity of the dam, and Ngoepe confirmed that at this early stage of the investigation, that there were no visible injuries to the body. Stanford Lake is fed by water from Lakeside Lake, which is located partly on Stanford Lake College’s property, and its water, in turn, flows via a waterfall into Ebenezer Dam.

Curiously, no young males, matching the description of the deceased have, as yet, been reported as being missing to the police.

“No boys or young men have recently been reported missing in Tzaneen, Mankweng or Haenertsburg areas,” said Adrian Lucas, Managing Officer of the local Community Policing Forum.

Locals praised Halkon for his level-headedness and quick action in bringing the discovery of the body to the attention of the relevant authorities.

Anyone with any further information is requested to contact either:

Captain Mamuhoi (Haenertsburg Police Station) on:

Cell: 0825658191

Tel: 015 276 4771/2

Fax: 015 276 4471/2

Email: Haenertsburguniform@saps.org.za

or Lt Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe at the (Tzaneen Police Station) on:

Cell: 082 414 2088

Tel: 015 306 2187

Fax: 015 306 1783

Email: Tzaneenuniform@saps.org.za

Forenzic Fact Box

“Bodies dumped into water almost always sink. Then as bacteria begin to grow and produce gas as one of the by-products of decay, the abdomen, chest-cavity and tissues begin to fill with gas. This adds buoyancy and the body rises to the surface.”

Source: Lyle, D. P. 2007. Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing and Downright Odd Questions from Crime Writers. Thomas Dunne Books; An Imprint of St Martin’s Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36551-6