Mystery of the Wilgerood mystery man solved

Ever since the Record wrote its first article on 11 April 2013 about the mystery man on Wilgerood Road, the public was fascinated.

For the next year the Record received various calls and emails from people who wanted to know more, had theories and wanted to speculate.

Day in and day out the man would stand clad in black next to Wilgerood Road, overlooking the road. Some residents spread the rumour that the man was some kind of witch doctor casting spells and cursing bypassing motorists. The fact that this road is known for its horror crashes added fuel to the rumour fire.

When the Record visited the man he was incoherent, rambling on about religious icons and saying that his name was “E”. He had a Caribbean-sounding accent and claimed that he was from Britain but not a British citizen or that of any other country. Towards the end of the visit the man became agitated with the reporter.

Then suddenly in February 2014 the man disappeared and the Record was inundated with calls from the community who wanted to know where he had gone.

The Record investigated and found out that some time in February residents in the area saw three police vehicles, two forensic vehicles and a helicopter circling the area. This was an unsatisfactory answer for most.

Finally on 27 March the Record received a tip-off from a reliable source to contact the Roodepoort morgue.

According to an employee who wants to stay anonymous, the man’s badly decomposed body was found on 20 February along with white plastic bags filled with his belongings, including a variety of kitchenware.

His body was so badly decomposed that the coroner unfortunately could not determine what the cause of death was.

Case closed.