Cape Town - Police have opened a murder case decades later, despite the body of a Mitchells Plain mother who vanished 21 years ago having never been found.
The family of Rashanda Smith, 20, have been putting pressure on top police officers and the State to finally bring closure after two decades.
Smith, who worked for Woolworths in Adderley Street, Cape Town, was dressed in her uniform and was accompanied by her boyfriend to the local taxi stop along Alpine Road but she never arrived at her destination.
This week, police confirmed that a murder docket had changed from a missing person’s case for Smith of Beacon Valley, Mitchells Plain, who mysteriously vanished on October 2, 2000.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana confirmed a murder case was now opened.
“Please be advised that the Mitchells Plain case that was reported in 2000, there are no leads, the person was never found, a case of murder was opened for investigation with no new developments.”
It is understood, with new evidence obtained last year, such as statements from witnesses who kept their silence for two decades including blood samples found inside the Beacon Valley house of her boyfriend at the time, were used to finally secure a murder investigation.
It was only this week that police opened a murder case.
But police are now at a dead end, without being able to test the blood samples with the DNA of Smith’s parents, Patrick, 62, and Vanessa, 61, Smith which had been obtained for a forensic investigation.
The family has since relocated to Kenwyn.
Smith, who was a mother to her son, Camden, who was two at time, was in a relationship with a man from Beacon Valley, who cannot be identified.
Camden, who is now 23, is studying law and also has a degree in theology and was raised by Smith’s parents as their own son.
Smith was born at Mowbray Maternity Hospital and had completed her matric year at Oval North High School.
She had aspirations of becoming a nurse and her parents still have her school shirt decorated by peers. “She was an amazing and caring person and to just disappear off the face of the earth, to police she was just another missing mother.”
Patrick added details about Smith’s disappearance were sketchy and suspicious: “The boyfriend said he met her halfway and that he had placed her inside a white taxi and could not give a description of the driver.
“A day after she went missing, a woman claiming to be his girlfriend, called to our home looking for our daughter because she wanted to know where her boyfriend was.”
In 2020, a breakthrough came when female friends known to Smith made certain admissions that they knew what had happened to her.
This evidence was handed over to police but some of the women were not willing to give their testimony.
“They had said they knew what happened and mentioned something about her being rolled inside a carpet, but what happened to the body?” asked Patrick.
“We asked whether they would be willing to share this with the police and they agreed.
“One of the women said needed time and was not ready to speak during the Holy month of Ramadaan when police approached her.
“We approached Brigadier Cass Goolam, the Station Commander at Mitchells Plain Police Station and he assigned a detective on the case including forensics who went with us together with an Advocate from Mitchells Plain Magistrate Court to search the house in Loftus Street, Beacon Valley where the boyfriend had lived.”
The family had since relocated.
Patrick said a forensic device was used to determine whether remains were under the main house, backyard and later the separate entrance were also searched.
Blood samples were then found inside the main house.
“We were referred to forensics and our blood was taken for DNA,” explained Patrick.
“Permission was granted by the new owners of the property.
“The forensics found blood samples inside the main house but it had been there for too long to be tested.
“That is why the DNA evidence fell through the mat.”
The Smiths said they were unaware that the docket had changed from missing to murder.
“Police said it was still a missing persons’ case,” added Patrick.
“We never knew it was changed to murder.”
Smiths parents worked with Concerned Parents of Missing Children since their daughter’s disappearance, an organisation established by Michael and Michelle Ohlsson of Mitchells Plain.
The Ohlssons are the parents of nine-year-old Matthew Ohlsson who vanished outside of his home in Westridge, Mitchell's Plain March 1997 while collecting the family's refuse bin.
The Ohlssons have assisted many families like the Smiths and found countless missing children and were also foster parents.
"As a mother who walked with Smith’s mother, I always keep in mind that, from day one, the mother said a certain person (accused who has not been arrested) knows where her child is.
"She felt that her child was murdered, she later said she knew her child was buried in a certain place.
"As a parent, there are just certain things that you feel as a parent, irrespective of what anyone else says, you have that gut feeling as a parent,“ said Michelle Ohlsson.
Soon after Smith vanished, her parents rallied for the State to grant permission via a court order to have the residential property at the boyfriend's home to be searched for a possible burial ground.
But the order was never granted.
Meanwhile police have confirmed they also have no new leads into the missing person's case of Raymonde Boltman, 23.
Boltman, who worked in Epping and has a daughter, had been dropped off at a bus stop at the Clocktower, Lentegeur, Mitchells Plain on April 20, 2016, and was dressed in a red and black shirt.
Boltman's sister, Roldephia Boltman was together with family this week while they hosted a vigil on the anniversary of her disappearance this week to remind the public that their sister was still missing.
"Raymonde's daughter started Grade R this year and will be six," she said.
"Detectives are still working on the case and there is no new information in the past five years.
"Annually, we hold a vigil to remind people that she is still missing, that we are still looking for her.
"This five years has been the hardest for us as a family.
"This five years feels like five minutes ago.
"We have to keep hope and faith alive, that is what kept us.
Meanwhile Rwexana said police have no new leads into the case.
"The Lentegeur missing person is still being sought with no new leads," she said.