Moot resident’s disappearance becomes increasingly more obscure
Murray was never found and to this day, her mother still has unanswered questions about her daughter's disappearance that night.
This November it will be four years since the disappearance of a Moot woman who was washed away by a flood.
Madelein Murray and her son Hanco were apparently driving together on the evening of 10 November 2016 when they tried to cross the low-water bridge in Flowers Street in Capital Park.
However, their vehicle was swept away by the flood.
Hanco was found about a kilometre from the bridge.
The two were together at a local pub in the Moot earlier that evening.
Police, firefighters, the local CPF as well as members of the local community were called to the scene and searched for her as far as Bon Accord Dam, but the search was unsuccessful.
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Murray was never found and to this day, her mother, Francis Venter (64) still has unanswered questions about her daughter’s disappearance that night.
“I’m just looking for answers,” Venter told Rekord earlier this week.
Venter, who was a resident of the Moot, has since moved to Potchefstroom.
Venter spent four months along the river after the disappearance, hoping to track her daughter down.
“I walked up and down the Apies river daily for a year.”
She regularly posts photos of her child on social media in the hope that someone with information will come forward.
“I do not believe I will ever be able to make peace with her disappearance. I’m just looking for the truth.”
Venter hired a private detective to continue the search.
Murray’s phone was found in the Eastern Cape in 2019.
“It does not make sense. How can her phone be traced? If my child had been in the car during the flood, her phone would have been with her, ” said Venter.
“When she left the pub that night, I asked her to let me know immediately if she was safe at home. I never got the call.
“Something went wrong somewhere that night,” she said.
A granddaughter of Venter, Cameron Penny, said her aunt was a good person, and that Madelein was like a second mum to her as she lost her mother in 2012.
“I wish I could give her just one more hug,” said Penny.
Constable Mandla Zwane of Wonderboompoort police station said the case is still being investigated.
“The family is kept informed of any developments on a regular basis, but unfortunately there has been no new developments yet,” he said.
“We do not want to give the family false hope because we understand how traumatic and heartbreaking this situation is.”
Zwane appealed to the community to report any information that could lead to Murray’s detection to the police.
At the time of going to press, Hanco could not be reached for comment.
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