KEMPTON PARK, South Africa — A senior South African police official says forensic work found evidence of sexual assault involving four of the five women whose bodies were discovered in and around Kempton Park since July. The disclosure, broadcast on Tuesday morning after a Monday-night briefing, adds a serious new dimension to an investigation that police still caution has not been proven to involve one offender.
What is the latest Kempton Park police update? Deputy National Police Commissioner Tebello Mosikili said four victims showed evidence of sexual assault, while one body was too decomposed for the same confirmation. Police are investigating possible links but have not established that a serial killer is responsible.
What police disclosed about the five cases
SABC News reported the briefing at 6:10 AM SAST on 15 September. Mosikili said police could confirm evidence of sexual assault in four cases. She said the fifth victim was found in an advanced state of decomposition, limiting what could be stated publicly at that stage.
That statement should not be extended beyond what police said. It does not establish that one person attacked all five women, that every death happened in the same way or that the cases legally constitute a serial-killer investigation. Police are comparing victim and possible-suspect profiles while forensic work continues.
The South African Police Service said on 14 September that a multidisciplinary team had been directed to intensify the investigations. The team is examining evidence and possible links. SAPS also confirmed that one suspect is in custody in connection with the first body found in July; it did not connect that suspect to the other four deaths.
Why the identification count needs caution
Public reports do not agree on how many victims remain unidentified. SABC quoted Mosikili as saying two of the five had not been identified. However, the Gauteng Department of Health told The Mercury that two bodies had been identified by their families and three remained unidentified at the Germiston Forensic Pathology Service.
XTRAfrica is retaining the department's documented mortuary count of three unidentified bodies while flagging the contradiction. Authorities may be using different stages of preliminary identification, family recognition and formal forensic confirmation. A reconciled SAPS and health-department update is needed before that number should be presented as settled.
The one victim publicly named by SAPS is 38-year-old Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo. Her family formally identified her remains on 14 September after she went missing during a run in Rhodesfield. The fifth body was discovered the same day along the R21 near Olifantsfontein and remained subject to formal identification in the health department's update.
CRIME PREVENTION
Kempton Park Deaths: Police Confirm Sexual Assault Evidence
Sep 15, 2026
Sep 15, 2026
4 min read
Published
Updated:
KEMPTON PARK, South Africa — A senior South African police official says forensic work found evidence of sexual assault involving four of the five women whose bodies were discovered in and around Kempton Park since July. The disclosure, broadcast on Tuesday morning after a Monday-night briefing, adds a serious new dimension to an investigation that police still caution has not been proven to involve one offender.
What is the latest Kempton Park police update? Deputy National Police Commissioner Tebello Mosikili said four victims showed evidence of sexual assault, while one body was too decomposed for the same confirmation. Police are investigating possible links but have not established that a serial killer is responsible.
What police disclosed about the five cases
SABC News reported the briefing at 6:10 AM SAST on 15 September. Mosikili said police could confirm evidence of sexual assault in four cases. She said the fifth victim was found in an advanced state of decomposition, limiting what could be stated publicly at that stage.
That statement should not be extended beyond what police said. It does not establish that one person attacked all five women, that every death happened in the same way or that the cases legally constitute a serial-killer investigation. Police are comparing victim and possible-suspect profiles while forensic work continues.
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The South African Police Service said on 14 September that a multidisciplinary team had been directed to intensify the investigations. The team is examining evidence and possible links. SAPS also confirmed that one suspect is in custody in connection with the first body found in July; it did not connect that suspect to the other four deaths.
Why the identification count needs caution
Public reports do not agree on how many victims remain unidentified. SABC quoted Mosikili as saying two of the five had not been identified. However, the Gauteng Department of Health told The Mercury that two bodies had been identified by their families and three remained unidentified at the Germiston Forensic Pathology Service.
XTRAfrica is retaining the department's documented mortuary count of three unidentified bodies while flagging the contradiction. Authorities may be using different stages of preliminary identification, family recognition and formal forensic confirmation. A reconciled SAPS and health-department update is needed before that number should be presented as settled.
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The one victim publicly named by SAPS is 38-year-old Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo. Her family formally identified her remains on 14 September after she went missing during a run in Rhodesfield. The fifth body was discovered the same day along the R21 near Olifantsfontein and remained subject to formal identification in the health department's update.
What is confirmed and what is not
Five women's bodies were found in the broader Kempton Park and Olifantsfontein area between 15 July and 14 September. Daily Maverick's case timeline records similarities in location, clothing and visible injuries, while also stressing that police had not confirmed the deaths were linked.
The new briefing confirms police are treating the similarities seriously and using specialised detectives, forensic services and investigative psychology. It does not confirm a common suspect, motive or sequence of events. Social-media posts naming alleged perpetrators or declaring a serial killer should therefore not be treated as evidence.
Police also said 17 women had been reported missing in the Kempton Park area since January and 13 were found and reunited with their families. That missing-person total is separate from the five deaths and must not be used to claim that every missing woman was attacked by the same person.
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Community safety and the next verified milestones
Residents and running groups have organised memorial activities and demonstrations as fear spreads beyond Rhodesfield. Police advised women and girls to travel in groups where possible, avoid isolated areas and share their locations with trusted people. Those measures are precautions, not a substitute for visible policing and a completed investigation.
The immediate verification points are formal identification of the remaining victims, post-mortem results, any forensic link between scenes and court records in the July case. XTRAfrica will also monitor whether SAPS reconciles the two-versus-three identification discrepancy.
The investigation sits within a wider national debate about violent crime and policing capacity. XTRAfrica has separately reported on Operation Shanela II arrests in Mpumalanga and the government's plan for military support to police against organised crime. Neither initiative establishes anything about responsibility in the Kempton Park deaths.
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