Cape Town - Five years after a young mother mysteriously vanished, her family is appealing for detectives to revisit cellphone records and to explore the avenue of WhatsApp conversations during the time she vanished.
On April 20, 2016, Raymonde Boltman, 23, was escorted to the bus stop at Clocktower, Mitchells Plain by her mother and was never seen again.
Boltman’s daughter was an infant at the time and she had worked at a plastic factory in Elsies River.
She did not arrive for work that day.
Two years after her disappearance, police searched her estranged boyfriend’s backyard but did not find any new information.
At the time of the police visit, the family told the media they were open to the police carrying out searches if it meant finding answers about what happened to Boltman.
Now five years later, Boltman’s sister, Rodelphia Boltman, said they were appealing to detectives to retrieve WhatsApp conversations which were never reviewed before.
The family said that phone records of Boltman showed she had made a call to a person known to her on the morning of her disappearance, and that the cellphone had been put off thereafter.
Weekend Argus is unable to reveal the identity of this person due to the investigation.
“We are living in a time where all call records, photographs and WhatsApp conversations are stored on the backup, the Cloud,” said Rodelphia.
“We are asking the police once again to explore this. After Raymonde went missing they checked her call records which showed she made a phone call to a male person known to her at 15 minutes before 5am, and then the phone was put off,” she said.
Rodelphia said they were left frustrated with detectives because the family were the ones communicating with police by regularly visiting the police station.
They have also initiated that CCTV footage be viewed soon after her disappearance. But they were told it was too blurry.
“We were never shown the footage but were told that it was too blurry and that there was a car’s light shining in the frames. It was nearing winter then and it was dark that time of the morning,” she said.
Boltman’s daughter will celebrate her sixth birthday soon.
Rodelphia added claims by police that they were the ones communicating with the family were untrue.
“We contact them every second week and they never update us,” she said.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Wesley Twigg said they had since communicated with the family.
“This office can confirm that a missing persons enquiry is open and under investigation at Lentegeur police station after the 23-year-old Raymonde Boltman vanished on April 23,2016.”
Police had offered a R50 000 reward for information about Boltman’s disappearance.
“Detective Sergeant Ivan Ryneveldt met with the family on Saturday, November 6 to hear if any new information might have come to light.
“If anybody has any information please contact Detective Sergeant Ivan Ryneveldt on 082 5222 765.”
Weekend Argus