A 30-year-old woman missing for nearly two weeks has been found dead in her Eskom office at the Springs power station, South Africa on Monday, May 29th.
Lucia Thembisile Yende was last seen on May 17. Her white single cab Toyota Hilux was also found in the parking lot. Her body was found in the office which remained locked since the day she went missing, despite police dogs sniffing the premises.
“On the day she was reported missing, police came and searched the offices. They even had police dogs there but could not pick up any smell.”
Eskom national spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told News24.
“We know that the woman was found in her office‚ but I don’t know what was the cause of death‚” police spokesperson Kay Makhubele told TimesLIVE on Tuesday morning.
Eskom officials were quoted as saying that “something untoward” had happened on the day that Yende had gone missing‚ referring to the fact that CCTV cameras had stopped recording.
Family spokesperson Mboneni Yende said relatives had tried to figure out what she had been up to at work‚ but were told the CCTV surveillance system was switched off that day.
“The sad part is that on Thursday we went there‚ there were three workers that were inside the station working. On that day‚ it had been 10 days since had been missing‚”
Yende said.
“Are you telling me that if someone has been dead for 10 days then you can’t smell anything? That is highly impossible. The people who were there knew what they were doing?”
Meanwhile, Search and Rescue lead investigator Lourens Smit said there is suspected foul play surrounding the death of the young woman.
“When she was reported missing‚ the whole office and its surroundings were checked by SAPS and the K9 unit. The family and community members also searched. Her body was definitely not at the office. On day 13 (13 days after she went missing) her body is found‚ locked in her office. That definitely suggests foul play.”
Smit said.
The police do not yet know the cause of Yende’s death and are awaiting post-mortem results.
