Journey To Jail

A private investigator shares his chilling conversation with Xander Bylsma after the double murder he’s accused of committing.

- Jana Van Der Merwe

AS HE drove his bakkie along the bumpy dirt road the private detective racked his brain.

What could he say to break the awkward silence? Looking out of the corner of his eye, Chris Saunders could see the boy slouched in the passenger seat next to him.

He knew this would be his only chance. It was now or never – he somehow had to find a way to get the boy to tell him everything that had happened, otherwise it might remain a mystery forever.

“Talk to me, my boy,” he said softly. “What happened in the hostel? I know you don’t want to talk about it. But talk to me. I’ll help you where I can.”

Having worked as an investigator for more than a decade, all Chris’ instincts told him there was something wrong. When he’d fetched Xander Bylsma (19) from the farm of his dad, Monte, a while earlier he’d found him sitting outside the barn next to a puddle of his own vomit.

The teen’s eyes were red from lack of sleep and his speech was slightly slurred as he spoke about what had happened at the hostel of the high school in Stella, North West, where just a few hours earlier his ex-girlfriend Sharnelle Hough (17) and her best friend, Marna Engelbrecht (16), had been found dead.

Chris (53) had been on the scene and had seen the girls’ bodies on the floor, covered in white sheets.

Although Sharnelle had reportedly sent suicide notes to her family via WhatsApp things didn’t add up.

And from the moment Chris clapped eyes on Xander, after he arrived at Monte’s farm in Louwna to take him to the police for questioning, he could see the boy knew more than he was letting on.

With 80km of dirt road stretching between the farm and the Vryburg police station, Chris decided he was going to find out what it was. “Xander, you have to talk to me. What happened? You’re alone with me – you can talk to me.”