Ninth woman’s body found as South Africa probes series of killings

All female victims in their 20s and 30s were killed on the outskirts of Johannesburg in the past two months.

Members of the South African Police Service and state pathologists inspect the body of one of the women found dumped on the side of a road on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa [Kim Ludbrook/EPA]

Police have found the body of another murdered woman on the outskirts of South Africa’s commercial capital – after the discovery of eight female corpses in the same area of Johannesburg in the past two months.

Police said they found the body of a ninth woman and imposed a lockdown in Kempton Park in the Ekurhuleni municipality on Thursday. Three of the partially naked bodies were found in the area this week.

The string of murders has stoked public anxiety that these crimes may have been carried out by a serial killer. Police earlier said that some similarities in the killings of the first eight victims were “sufficiently concerning” for the police to issue a public warning.

“Investigators are considering all possibilities, including the possibility of multiple suspects or separate perpetrators,” said Fred Kekana, the police commissioner for South Africa’s Gauteng province.

The first five bodies were discovered in or near Kempton Park; the others were found in separate locations 25-35km (16-22 miles) away.

“Police are comparing the evidence, timelines, locations, victim profiles and circumstances of each case,” Kekana said, adding that while it is too early to connect the killings to a serial killer, “the similarities in the cases were concerning”.

All were women in their 20s or 30s, and all were found either naked or partially clothed, police said. Some of the bodies had similar bruising.

The first body was discovered on July 17, naked and restrained with cable ties. A suspect believed to have been the victim’s boyfriend was arrested and taken into custody, according to police, though no charges were filed against him.

One of the other victims was identified as 38-year-old Elizabeth Tsontso Moselakgomo, who went missing while out jogging. She was reported missing after her eight-year-old daughter alerted family members that she had not returned from her daily afternoon jog, and she was found dead several days later.

Another body was found naked and in an advanced stage of decomposition, authorities said.

The youngest victim has been identified as a 20-year-old woman.

South African Police Service members inspect the body of the ninth woman murdered in recent weeks as investigators try to arrest the killer [Kim Ludbrook/EPA]

‘We cannot continue picking up bodies’

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed “no stone will be left unturned” in the investigation into the deaths, ⁠and authorities are now offering a reward of 400,000 South African rand ($25,000) for information leading to the apprehension of the perpetrator or perpetrators.

Women in the vicinity of where the bodies were discovered have also been advised to be “extremely cautious” and not to go out alone.

“We cannot continue picking up bodies,” Tebello Mosikili, the deputy national commissioner for policing in the South African Police Service, told journalists at the scene of the latest discovery.

The killings have highlighted the high rates of violence against women in South Africa, which has one of the highest femicide rates in the world, according to the United Nations.

South African police recorded 9,782 reported rapes between January and March 2026, along with 12,590 sexual offences. That amounts to roughly 108 reported rapes every day.

Almost half of those reported rapes, 4,620, or 47.2 percent, took place at the home of the victim or the perpetrator, according to police statistics.

In November last year, South Africa’s National Disaster Management Centre classified gender-based violence and femicide as a national disaster following sustained pressure from civil society organisations.

A study in 2022 by a South African think tank found that more than 35 percent of South African adult women had experienced physical or sexual violence at some point.

过去两个月里，所有遇害女性年龄都在 20 多岁到 30 多岁，她们都在约翰内斯堡郊区被杀害。

南非警察局成员和国家病理学家正在检查在南非约翰内斯堡郊区路边发现的一名弃尸女性的尸体。[Kim Ludbrook/EPA]

在过去两个月里，南非商业首都约翰内斯堡同一地区发现了八具女性尸体，警方随后在约翰内斯堡郊区又发现了一具被谋杀女性的尸体。

警方称，周四他们在埃库鲁莱尼市的肯普顿公园发现了第九具女性尸体，并对该区域实施了封锁。本周早些时候，该地区发现了三具半裸尸体。

这一系列谋杀案引发了公众的担忧，他们担心这些罪行可能是连环杀手所为。警方此前表示，前八名受害者的死因存在一些相似之处，这“足以引起警方的关注”，因此警方发布了公众警告。

南非豪登省警察局长弗雷德·凯卡纳表示：“调查人员正在考虑所有可能性，包括有多名嫌疑人或多名独立作案者的可能性。”

前五具尸体在肯普顿公园内或附近被发现；其余尸体在距离肯普顿公园 25-35 公里（16-22 英里）的不同地点被发现。

“警方正在比较每起案件的证据、时间线、地点、受害者情况和案情，”凯卡纳说，并补充说，虽然现在将这些谋杀案与连环杀手联系起来还为时过早，但“这些案件的相似之处令人担忧”。

警方称，所有死者均为20至30岁的女性，均被发现时赤身裸体或衣衫不整。部分尸体上有类似的瘀伤。

第一具尸体于7月17日被发现，赤身裸体，双手被扎带捆绑。据警方称，一名据信是死者男友的嫌疑人已被逮捕并拘留，但尚未对其提出指控。

另一名遇难者是38岁的伊丽莎白·特松索·莫塞拉克戈莫，她在慢跑时失踪。她的八岁女儿发现她没有像往常一样下午慢跑回来后，家人立即报警。几天后，人们发现了她的遗体。

当局称，还发现了一具赤裸的尸体，尸体已经高度腐烂。

最年轻的受害者是一名20岁的女性。

南非警方人员正在检查最近几周被谋杀的第九名女性的遗体，调查人员正试图逮捕凶手。[Kim Ludbrook/EPA]

“我们不能再继续收殓尸体了。”

南非总统西里尔·拉马福萨誓言将“不放过任何线索”调查这起死亡事件，当局现在悬赏 40 万南非兰特（2.5 万美元）征集能够帮助抓获凶手的信息。

尸体发现地点附近的女性也被建议“格外小心”，不要单独外出。

“我们不能再继续收殓尸体了，”南非警察局副局长特贝洛·莫西基利在最新发现尸体的现场告诉记者。

这些杀戮事件凸显了南非针对妇女的暴力行为的高发率。据联合国称，南非是世界上女性杀害率最高的国家之一。

2026年1月至3月，南非警方记录在案的强奸案有9782起，性犯罪案件有12590起。这意味着平均每天约有108起强奸案。

根据警方统计数据，在已报告的强奸案中，近一半（4620起，占47.2%）发生在受害者或施暴者的家中。

去年 11 月，在民间社会组织的持续施压下，南非国家灾害管理中心将基于性别的暴力和杀害女性行为列为国家灾害。

2022 年南非一家智库的一项研究发现，超过 35% 的南非成年女性在某个时候经历过身体或性暴力。