Johannesburg - Dustan Blom’s smile said it all. The wedding photographer caught him perhaps at his happiest, his arms wrapped around “the one” - his beloved bride Talita.
But three years later, both would be dead.
Last weekend, Blom’s decomposing body was found in the boot of his car in the parking lot at Montecasino in Fourways - and a former stripper has been arrested over the murder.
The 36-year-old was last seen on September 17 at the Dros in Olivedale, leaving the restaurant with an unknown woman. He allegedly had offered to give her a lift home.
According to a missing person report, the tracking device in his Nissan QashQai had been deactivated and his cellphone turned off.
On Sunday, security guards at the Montecasino complex approached a car that had been parked for several days. There was a bad smell coming from the vehicle, and the security personnel called the police.
Dustan had been murdered and dumped in his own car.
On Tuesday night, police arrested a 24-year-old woman named Maruschka Robinson over the murder. She appeared at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The Star has learnt from Lollipop Lounge owner Gigi that Robinson had worked at her strip club, but had left four months ago “by her own choice”, and she hadn’t seen her since.
She declined to comment further.
The Star understands that police are still hunting for other suspects, and the motive for the murder may have been robbery.
Dustan’s sister Julie said she had been worried that the case would go unsolved, but that a sense of relief washed over her after the first arrest.
But she said she had no idea how Dustan had known Robinson.
Julie told The Star that Dustan’s life had taken a sad turn earlier this year.
Talita’s uncle Gert died in March. At the time, she was pregnant with twins, and it was while the family were on their way to Gert’s funeral that they found out there were complications with Talita’s pregnancy and she had to be rushed to the Sandton MediClinic.
Five hours after giving birth to her son and daughter, Jarred and Megan, she died from an amniotic embolism, an obstetric condition that collapses the heart and lungs.
The premature infants survived, leaving Dustan a widower and a single father.
Julie told The Star of how he battled with his grief and that she flew from her home in England to comfort him.
Their mother had died about two years earlier from a brain tumour. The diagnosis had come just seven weeks before her death.
“He was devastated. He was in a world of pain. The woman who had been ‘the one’ had slipped away,” said Julie.
Julie said Dustan’s twin children were healthy and in the care of Talita’s family.
Ex-stripper had questionable friends:
Maruschka Robinson’s Facebook wall painted a picture of a young woman with some questionable friends.
Dozens of tattooed musclemen dot her list of friends, including one man who claims to be a “RENT A GENT” from an escort agency website that offers “good times” for single women.
“Hi Ladies, R u tiered of sitting at home alone, well now you don’t have to anymore, Y??? U can just pay us to keep that lonely feeling away, pay us to accompany you, even pay us to surprice you. No more lonely feelings, just good times, and even better times,” the website reads.
Meanwhile, Maruschka was also friends with Guil Yahav, an ex-bouncer who made headlines in 2002 for his role in a vicious murder.
Yahav was implicated in the killing of another bouncer, Patrick Caetano, and was eventually fined R10 000 for serious assault. Caetano was hacked to death with a butcher’s knife at the Kyalami Business Park and was caught on CCTV.
The 24-year-old Robinson’s Facebook wall showed scattered images of her scantily clad at the Lollipop Lounge.
The Star