Johannesburg - Michelle Julius got herself ready every morning and told her family she was going to work – a job her family later learnt she had lost months before.
Her parents and children are now in turmoil after she mysteriously disappeared after leaving for this supposed job in October last year.
Julius’s father, Donald Marks, said every day was painful for them.
“Please help,” he pleaded. “Where is she? Is she still alive, or what is happening?”
On the morning of October 31, Michelle left the family home in Krugersdorp, which she shared with her parents and teenage children.
When she didn’t return that afternoon, her mother, Maggie Marks, contacted the insurance company near Rosebank where Michelle was working, only to receive strange news.
“They told us that she was let go five months earlier,” said Marks, adding that this shocked the family because Michelle had been preparing herself for work every day during that period.
“A mother normally always knows these things. I’m asking myself (how I was unaware) every day,” Maggie said.
The family have refused to give up hope.
“We’re telling ourselves that she’s still alive. We’re just waiting for something that might bring her home,” said Donald.
He said they were highly confused about Michelle’s disappearance as she had no mental health problems and no addictions.
They have had to adopt her three children, two sons aged 18 and 16 and her 14-year-old daughter.
“What bothers us the most is that the three kids are very close to their mother,” Donald said.
He described her 16-year-old as a “brilliant little laaitie” academically, but that his marks had declined significantly since Michelle disappeared.
Police spokeswoman Sergeant Tshepiso Mashale urged anyone with information on Michelle’s whereabouts to call 082 498 9484.
The Star