By Shaun Smillie
From a corner of cyberspace a smiling Chad Khan stares from a slightly pixelated portrait. It is the only image of the alleged killer who - for more than two years - has evaded police.
Khan's photograph doesn't appear with the handful of wanted profiles on the SA Police Service website.
His image and profile couldn't make it onto the site that runs mugshots of alleged criminals.
Khan's face doesn't even grace the Interpol site.
Where Khan's picture does appear is on the social networking site Facebook.
Lauren Sleep has been dead two-and-a-half years and her mother, Marilyn, is coming to believe her alleged killer will never see the inside of a court.
For more than a year she hasn't heard from the police, and has no idea of the progress on an investigation that has got steadily colder.
"I am just trying to get along with my life without her now, I try and not worry about him," Sleep said.
Lauren, who was 25, died on the night of January 19 2006 in the suburb of Hercules, west of Pretoria. She was strangled, presumably with a dishcloth, in her boyfriend Chad Khan's cottage.
Lauren's friend, Liesel Schoonwinkel, sleeping in a room nearby, was found close to death by Khan's mother. She had been stabbed in the chest and neck. Khan had disappeared and was on the run.
Lauren had met Khan while working at the Rovos Rail luxury train company in Pretoria.
On the day after Lauren's murder, she, Liesel and Khan were to have attended a management training course. They had stayed over at Khan's parents' house in Hercules, in an outside cottage.
Police said Khan and Lauren went out that night and got into an argument. Khan left and returned later. Police allege he then killed Lauren and stabbed Liesel, leaving her for dead. She survived the attack.
Days after Lauren's murder, the Sleep family raised enough money to hire a private investigator.
Ettienne Groenewald tracked Khan to Swaziland, then to Malawi. An arrest was expected in a matter of days.
Groenewald made contact with Khan's family in Swaziland, and tried to broker a deal, where they would hand him over.
The deal fell through, and the trail went cold.
Two-and-a-half years later, Khan is still on the run. Police say he is being protected by his influential family, who own a large number of properties and businesses in Swaziland.
They believe attempts to extradite Khan have been hampered by Swazi officials in the pay of Khan's family.
With little apparent movement on the case, Lauren's cousin, Christi Corns, decided to do her bit to help police track down Khan.
In November, she created a group on Facebook, titled "Find murderer Chad Khan", and posted a photograph of Khan. So far, no one has come forward.
But Corns remains hopeful: "Someday, someone will see his face and recognise him," she said.