Detectives are still puzzling over the mysterious murder of 31-year-old Beth Tomlinson, found charred beyond recognition in her Devil's Peak home on Friday, but a man in his late 20s - who turned up at the Woodstock Day Hospital with a deep knife wound not long after her body was found - may hold the key to the case.
Tomlinson's charred body was found after firemen were called by neighbours who had noticed that her house was on fire. The bedroom, bathroom, passage and part of the lounge were damaged by the fire.
Provincial police spokesperson Billy Jones said a bloodied towel was found near the bedroom and there was blood on the walls.
Blood was also found on a neighbour's wall and on another wall about 100 metres from the house.
Jones said that after inspecting the house, investigators were led to the Woodstock day hospital where staff told them they had seen a man entering the waiting room with a stab wound in his left arm.
But when they looked again, he had gone without receiving treatment.
The suspect is believed to be 1.65 metres tall and well-built. He was wearing a black top.
Jones said the cause of Tomlinson's death was not yet known. A postmortem will be conducted on Monday.
He said the motive was also not known and that nothing had been taken from house.
Tomlinson's friend of 12 years, Nicky Furno - a film producer now living in the United States - arrived in Cape Town on Saturday from Rio de Janeiro, where she was shooting an advertisement.
Furno described her friend as a "very beautiful woman, but not just that, she was a beautiful person".
"She was like magic dust - an angel fairy. She always believed the best of others."
Furno said Tomlinson was "the funniest woman" - quirky and hugely compassionate.
"She was my best friend for 12 years and was everything you could ever want in a best friend. I am so angry, furious that this could have happened to her. It is such an injustice that a young woman cannot even be safe in her own house."
She said they had met while working as waitresses at the Sports Cafe at the V&A Waterfront in 1992.
Tomlinson was also a beauty queen and model with Outlaw model agency before becoming a restaurant manager, said Furno.
She then launched her career as a freelance commercial producer and had been the line producer for a television production company, Moonlighting, for the past two years.
Police could not confirm Furno's report that her friend's bedroom window was broken.
She said Tomlinson's house had been broken into a number of times before the incident and her family and friends had urged her to find another place to live.
"But Beth would not. She always refused to think the worst of people. She had so much faith in the world."
"After a number of break-ins at Beth's place, we asked the landlord to install more burglar bars in December. It did not happen," Furno said.
Anyone with information is asked to call investigating officer Bern Rautenbach with the serious and violent crimes unit on 021 935 9600 or 084 677 1788.