Durban police are investigating the circumstances that led to the brutal murder of Luyanda Cele, whose mutilated body was discovered on Monday, 20 March 2023.
What happened to Luyanda Cele?
As reported by Times Live, Cele, a 24-year-old occupational health and safety intern at the eThekwini municipality, was last seen clocking out from work on Friday, 17 March 2023.
According to her sister, Cele told her family she was meeting with an unknown acquaintance for drinks but never turned up at home that evening.
Not only was this a break in Cele’s character — she hardly ever stayed out late for drinks after work — but the intern’s family grew increasingly concerned when they were unable to reach her phone.
Missing person posters flooded social media and relatives took the initiative to hand out flyers in Durban’s CBD after filing a case at the Point police station.
It took local authorities two days to find and identify the mutilated body of a 24-year-old woman who matched the description of the missing intern.
According to Cele’s sister, Durban police contacted the family for an identification procedure on Monday, and upon arrival, they were informed that the eThekwini municipality intern’s corpse was discovered in an alley near the popular Metro Lodge in South Beach.
Durban police launch manhunt for killer
More shocking, Cele’s family were informed that her body was found with her lower lips and tongue missing.
“We are told that the police are still going to be conducting a postmortem to check what else was removed from her body and if she was raped,” the family added.
Investigations are underway to determine the identity of the person Cele met for drinks that fateful Friday evening. Moreover, police will rely on CCTV footage to trace the intern’s movements in and around the CBD before she met her brutal death.
Details on the motive are still unknown at this time.
“It’s bad. We are really heartbroken. We are still going to wait for the postmortem to be completed before the family starts to plan. We are hoping that the police will arrest the suspect soon so that we can also understand what happened,” the Cele family said.