As unfortunate as it may be, the family of Naadira Vanker will finally have closure now that the teacher’s body has been found almost a week after she went missing.
UPDATE: A suspect has been arrested and charged with the brutal murder of Vanker, hours after her body was discovered in a shallow grave on Wednesday morning. Police are in search of a second suspect, according to Yusuf Abramjee
Naadira Vanker body recovered: Here’s what we know
Renowned crime reporter Yusuf Abramjee confirmed, on Wednesday, that the body of the 30-year-old was found in Phumla Mqashi, an informal settlement in Vlakfontein, in the wee hours of the morning.
The body of missing Naadira Vanker (30), a Lenasia school teacher, has been found south of Johannesburg. She was kidnapped from her home on April 22. pic.twitter.com/etqWMoJclu
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) April 28, 2021
At this time, no details have surfaced as yet on the condition of the teacher when she was found. However, one can only imagine the horrors she may have suffered at the hands of her alleged kidnappers.
Our attempts to obtain a statement from the forensic pathology department were unsuccessful at the time this article was published.
What exactly happened to Vanker?
The discovery of Vanker’s dead body has escalated her case docket to a murder homicide, from a kidnapping inquest. The 30-year-old was in her home, in Extension 1 south of Lenasia, at approximately 06:00 on Thursday 22 April when a number of unknown suspects allegedly accosted her.
It’s not known if any valuables were removed from her home but police confirmed that the teacher was kidnapped by the suspects, who drove off with her car.
She was dressed in pyjamas and a pink gown. Her vehicle was later found dumped in an undisclosed location near Ennerdale, about 15km from her home.
Days rolled by with no word from Vanker or her alleged kidnappers. It was clear to authorities, at that point, that this was no ordinary abduction.
The suspects never contacted the family demanding a ransom fee. Her vehicle was abandoned and for now, not much else has been revealed on what items were taken from her home — if any.
Six days later, her body was discovered about 10km away from where her car was abandoned, A clue that will interest homicide investigators is the fact that the location of where her body was dumped sits between her home and where her car was found.
Did something go horribly wrong in her attempts to sway her kidnappers to return her home? This question and the motive behind such a senseless killing forms part of the puzzle police have to piece together in what’s tranformed into a complex whodunit.
The suspects in the Vanker case are still at large.