Police have warned of a possible Kempton Park serial killer after a fourth woman’s body was found in the Rhodesfield area on Saturday, two months into a spate of deaths that remains under investigation.
According to the South African Police Service, the body found on Saturday was discovered half-naked with visible bruising behind a hotel in Kempton Park, close to the R21 highway.
It is the fourth woman found dead in the area in two months, all under similar circumstances.
The latest discovery has raised fears for Elizabeth Moselakgomo, 38, who went missing on Wednesday after leaving home for a run.
Her family has not been able to confirm whether the remains are hers, due to extensive facial damage to the body.
Kempton Park serial killer link not yet confirmed
Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said investigators have not established a confirmed link between the deaths, though the pattern has prompted caution. She said the similarities are “sufficiently concerning for us to issue a public warning.”
Acting national police commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane has ordered the formation of a multidisciplinary task team to investigate the deaths.
The team, led by Gauteng deputy provincial commissioner Major General Mbuso Khumalo, includes murder and robbery detectives and specialists from the investigative psychology unit.
SAPS has urged women in and around Kempton Park not to walk or run alone, particularly in isolated areas, while the task team’s investigation continues.
Officials say the safety of women in the area remains a priority as the inquiry unfolds.
South Africa’s history with serial attacks on women
South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.
The country’s femicide rate stood at 12.2 per 100,000 women in 2022, roughly six times the global average recorded by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Gauteng has a documented history of serial killings targeting women. In the mid-1990s, Moses Sithole, dubbed the “ABC Killer,” murdered at least 38 women and a toddler across Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland before his arrest in 1995.
He is serving a 2,410-year sentence at Mangaung Correctional Centre.
The investigative psychology unit assigned to the Kempton Park case traces its origins to the profiling work pioneered in the 1990s, when psychologist Micki Pistorius became one of the first criminal profilers to assist SAPS in serial murder investigations, including the Sithole case.
The unit continues to support detectives in identifying behavioural patterns across suspected serial crimes.
The task team’s findings, along with formal identification of Saturday’s victim, are expected to shape the direction of the investigation in the coming days.
SAPS has not ruled out any leads as the inquiry into the Kempton Park deaths continues.
