Hope that new imaging could solve missing siblings’ cold case

MISSING Children SA hopes that age progression images of three siblings who disappeared 16 years ago, could lead to them being found as adults.

In 2004 Simia Carolus, 16, disappeared along with her brother Geraldo and step-brother Andre Adams, both 10. The siblings, from George, were last seen going to the shop and never returned home.

With the help of the Italian Missing Children’s Institute, Missing Children SA was able to get an idea of what the children, who would now be aged 32 and 26, might look like.

Simia and Geraldo’s mother, Miena Carolus, said she could not describe the pain of seeing her children’s age progression pictures. “I still have hope that they will come home. I believe that they are being kept by someone and I hope that one day they will still come home. Not having them is something I cannot even begin to explain.” Missing Children SA National Co-ordinator, Bianca van Aswegen, said the organisation had been running its cold case #stillnotfound campaign for a few months now.

“We started the age progression recently with our cold cases, also with the hope that this would give people an indication of what the child would look like now, with the hope that someone will recognise them and contact us with information.”

She said she was not able to comment on whether any missing children had been found with the age progression method, but said there had been cases where this was done and new information was received.

“When it comes to our cold cases, we as an organisation never give up on any of our cases, no matter what the time period is. We keep contact with the families in order for us and them to stay up to date with any new information or leads that we or the SAPS have received. We recirculate the flyers as much as possible to keep the attention on the cold cases. All these families would like is closure, and we want to give these families the closure they so desperately need,” she said.

She said no matter how old a case was, people should still report any information to the police.

Anyone with information can anonymously contact Missing Children SA at 072 647 7464; Conville police at 044 803 3300; Crime Stop at 08600 10111, or SMS Crime Line at 32211.