- Police have expanded the investigation from six to seven unidentified female bodies.
- A woman’s body discovered in Kwa-Thema, Springs, is the sixth found in Ekurhuleni in the last two months.
- A preliminary examination of the seventh body, found floating in a river in Clayville, suggests the woman may have been strangled.
The investigation into the deaths of women whose bodies have been discovered in and around Kempton Park has widened, with police confirming that a seventh unidentified female body is now being examined as part of the case.
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A woman’s body was discovered in Kwa-Thema, Springs, east of Johannesburg on the morning of Tuesday 15 September 2026. This discovery brought to six the total number of women’s bodies found in the Ekurhuleni municipal area in the last two months.
On Monday, a fifth body of a woman was discovered in Olifantsfontein near Kempton Park. Police say two of the five women whose bodies were discovered in the Kempton Park area are yet to be identified. The women were found half-naked, with visible bruises.
The latest development was announced on Tuesday, when police said investigators had reviewed reports at surrounding police stations to see if other cases could be linked.
Police then found a seventh body, that of a woman believed to be in her late 20s, discovered floating in a river in Clayville on 7 September near Tembisa Mall.
Fredriker said there were no visible injuries on the body at the time it was examined. Despite this, investigators decided that the case could not be excluded from the broader investigation until further examination was complete.
“We do not leave anything,” the police said, explaining why the seventh body had been included in the investigation. The body has not been identified, and police said identification processes involving forensic investigators and pathologists are ongoing.
Police widen the investigation
With the inclusion of the seventh body, investigators are now examining the deaths of seven unidentified women for possible links. Police have not confirmed that all seven women were killed by the same person or that the deaths are connected.
Instead, officers are looking at every available piece of evidence before concluding whether the cases are related.
The police said the woman found in Clayville had no visible injuries, but this did not mean investigators would rule her out of the investigation. He said more work is needed to determine whether her death could be linked to the other cases.
Latest body raises concern
The latest body was found in the Johannesburg area, raising concern because of the condition of the woman and the circumstances of the discovery.
A preliminary examination by a pathologist indicated that the woman may have been strangled. Police said the initial finding was that the woman “seems to have been strangled” around the neck.
A full postmortem is expected to provide more information about the cause and circumstances of her death. The postmortem was scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Johannesburg government mortuary, with the Department of Health working alongside pathologists.
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