The body of missing teen identified

ALL HOPE for the safe return of Micheala Adriaanse, 16, was crushed when her family identified her body in the Salt River mortuary yesterday.

Her body was found with extensive injuries on the mountain above Kalk Bay on Sunday. Nearby were items belonging to Micheala, including her takkies.

Micheala’s aunt, Cherene Smith, said: “We are devastated. We were all praying that the body was not hers.”

Smith said the family went to view the body yesterday afternoon at the morgue.

They were trying to deal with the news but were still in a “very bad state”.

Micheala’s mother, Felicia Adriaanse, 49, had a stroke last year and was still recovering.

Before the discovery, Micheala had been missing for three days.

On Thursday she and four friends skipped a school surf walk and instead went on a private excursion to Muizenberg.

Her friends told the family that she had walked off with an unidentified man and never returned.

Yesterday, police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut said a 36-year-old Steenberg man

had been called in for questioning. He had not been arrested.

Meanwhile, outside the Adriaanse home in Hanover Park last night, people who had arrived to offer their condolences were in a sombre mood.

Some sat outside on benches because the house was packed with mourners. There was no conversation, and most gazed blankly at the sky, although a few exchanged hugs. Some were red-eyed from crying.

Micheala’s school friends from Crystal Secondary, where she was in Grade 9, were also at the house to offer their condolences.

The group of teenagers made a prayer chain in the parking bay opposite Micheala’s home.

Around the corner stood a group of elderly residents, who also appeared to be heartbroken.

Two days ago, when speaking to the Cape Argus, the teen’s sisters, Jodie Adriaanse, 21, and Nadine Adriaanse, 25, said they were still clinging to hope that their sister would be found alive.

Jodie said she yearned to see her youngest sister smile again.

“She had this smile. She is very feisty and cheeky and a person who loves laughing; she would never run away from us like this.”

Jodie said she last saw her sister the day before she went missing.

“She was her normal self. She didn’t tell me anything about their planned trip, but she and I are very close.”