Cape Town - The family of a missing Delft mom and daughter believe they have dug up their bodies in their own backyard.
The family decided to take action after police allegedly failed to act on their information that the missing women had been murdered.
They believe that Virna Jacobs, 47, and her daughter Rowena, 26, are the bodies discovered in the yard on Tuesday.
As residents dug up the backyard of the house in Sering Street, Delft South, a foul smell rose from the ground, forcing people to cover their noses and mouths.
Gasps of shock could be heard when they found “a bag of blood” and a woman’s top and bra, covering rotten flesh.
Virna’s former brother-in-law Ricardo Dreyer, 42, said they became suspicious after big holes were dug up in the backyard, which was covered with cement soon after.
Dreyer said: “We began to dig and it smelled like death. We believed they were buried there but the police didn’t want to believe us. I saw clothing, a bag filled with blood and something, and a mat... and then we saw the body, the head.”
Police confirmed that the body of “a person” was found and that one person has been taken in for questioning.
Captain FC Van Wyk said: “The remains of a person were found, but the identity of the deceased cannot be confirmed as yet.
“Forensic investigation is still busy on the scene to detect if other bodies are buried at the location. A post-mortem will be conducted to determine identity and cause of death.
“A person of interest is currently being questioned.”
Late on Tuesday night a second body was found. By the time of going to press police had not commented on the second find.
Close friend Saadia Kruger, who was at the scene, told the Daily Voice: “The person they found in the hole was wearing a striped top and white three-quarter pants, which is Virna’s clothing.”
Kruger said that when the police left, residents came back to the scene armed with spades, determined to find a second body.
Virna, 47, and mom of two Rowena, 26, vanished about four months ago. They are the wife and daughter of Donovan Jacobs, 46, who was murdered in March, allegedly by his tenant after an argument over a burger.
The family says soon after this, a female relative of Jacobs’s moved in, and started doing renovations to the house. When the two women disappeared, this relative allegedly told people they had moved to Malmesbury.
Neighbour Clive Geduld, 36, said he was asked by the female relative to dig up the holes: “I made holes four months ago because I was asked by a family member to make bags of sand to be sold.
“When I went back the next day, the one hole was closed and Rowena went missing, they said she’s in Malmesbury. I became suspicious because there was cement placed over the ground.”
Virna’s sister Jillian Dreyer, 52, said they have no idea why the women were killed: “Rowena and Virna were present that day of [Donovan’s] murder.
“We don’t know if they got threats because of this, but Rowena would never leave her children behind, and we don’t know if this is about the house or money.”
Daily Voice
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