More questions than answers in Yolandi Botes murder investigation

The intricate web of clues weaved since the murder of Yolandi Botes over one year ago seems to be more tangled, with no reprieve for family members grieving her death.

The body parts of 35-year-old Botes were found by a father and son while on a fishing trip at a holiday resort in Villiers, next to the Vaal River, in May last year.

A unique tattoo identified her.

Since her death, a number of sources have told Netwerk24 their versions of what may have happened to Botes.

According to an in-depth investigation conducted by Netwerk24, a businessman from the East Rand was the last person to see Botes alive.

Private investigator Mike Bolhuis said last year that someone close to Botes was “hiding something”.

The businessman told the publication he had nothing to hide from police, and denied in the strongest terms that he had any information pertaining to Botes’s murder.

He is reported not to be a suspect at this stage of the ongoing investigation.

ALSO READ: Yolandi Botes – what we know so far

The businessman denied to the publication that he had anything to do with a R1 million loan he was said to have provided, and maintained he only sent Botes money for food.

Netwerk24 reports that police still do not have a crime scene.

A week after Botes went missing in April 2021, a knife was found in a bloody room at the Oceanic Lodge in Kempton Park.

Gauteng Saps spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said officers meant to summon forensic experts to the lodge only did so two days after.

It was confirmed the blood in the room did not belong to Botes, but to an unknown male.

RAF cash

Botes reportedly made it known she was waiting for a payout from the Road Accident Fund to the tune of “millions”, after being in a car accident years ago.

A source told Netwerk24 the crash took place in Germiston, but that she was not seriously injured.

Another source, however, contradicts this, saying she incurred numerous injuries in the crash, and intended to sue a construction company for rubble left in the road, which was said to have caused the accident.

Gauteng visit

Botes travelled from the Western Cape to Gauteng to visit her two daughters, with Netwerk24 confirming plans had been made.

However, at the last minute, Botes messaged her daughters to tell them her arrangements had not worked out as planned, and that she wanted to move their plans to the following day.

She reportedly apologised, and then told another family member that a “bodyguard” had collected her, and that he had “all the details”.

The “bodyguard” had reportedly driven the vehicle Botes got into after making her way from OR Tambo International Airport to The Square shopping centre in Boksburg.

ALSO READ: R50K reward offered for info on slain Yolandi Botes

‘Underworld’ murder

The East Rand businessman told Netwerk24 that Botes’ murder was worrying, disturbing, and not a normal murder.

“This is the underworld… She must have owed someone money”, he told the publication.

He said when Botes was first reported missing, he assumed she would show up in a week or two.

But when her body parts were discovered, he told Netwerk24 the way in which she was murdered was “to send a message”.

Family outrage

Botes’ sister, Mariska Oosthuizen, has kept her name alive on social media since her disappearance.

“I will remain her voice until those who did this, every one is caught. This was planned murder, they didn’t think her body would come out. I also know now that we will get the killers,” she said in a Facebook post last year.

After reading Netwerk24’s article, Oosthuizen posted in her Justice for Yolandi Botes Facebook group that the piece did not consider “the kids left behind”.

She said because this was an ongoing investigation, “this cannot be right or legal sharing information like this”.

“There is a reason that we did not do any interviews, we have no desire to do it. We as her family knew who Yolandi was and that is all that matters. We no longer wish to get into arguments and try to fight stuff that is shared.

“Everyone must believe what they want. Just remember Yolandi is not here to share her side.”

She said the “sensation and lies” was not right, and to let the police “do their work”.

“We all want answers, we do more than anybody else, but the way it has been done today, is not right.”

NOW READ: Yolandi Botes’ sister calls for help to find killers

Compiled by Nica Richards.