Inge Lotz Broken And Betrayed

On Wednesday 16 march 2005, the mutilated body of Inge Lotz, an at-tractive and talented Stellenbosch University student, was found in her Welgevonden apartment. She was lying on her couch covered in blood.

On Wednesday 16 march 2005, the mutilated body of Inge Lotz, an attractive and talented Stellenbosch University student, was found in her Welgevonden apartment. She was lying on her couch covered in blood.

Supt Neville, a member of the Serious and Violent Crimes Unit with Inspector Pieterson and Sergeant Claasen were amongst the first summoned to the scene. The experienced SVCU officer, known for his thorough and objective demeanour. There was no sign of forced entry. Valuables lay openly displayed. The murder motive was obviously not theft, it was personal.

Supt Neville studied the body of the victim. He saw her broken nose and swollen eyes. Several deep head, neck and chest wounds had been inflicted. There was massive swelling on her left arm and her right arm had numerous bruises and deep cuts on the hand. There were bruises on her legs and lower abdomen. The victim had clearly tried to fend off her attackers. None of this could have happened while the victim was lying, relaxed, on the couch.

The violence that caused wounds of this nature and the obvious struggle that had taken place wasn’t evident in the apartment. Everything was in its place and nothing in the immediate vicinity of the victim’s body was disturbed. It was puzzling. There were also drops of blood around the body instead of bloodspatter. A neat pool of blood seemed to have been poured onto the floor below the victim’s head on the arm of the couch.

Neville had reason to suspect that, wherever the victim was killed, and possibly even tortured, it was not in her apartment.