Three men held after teen found murdered
THE DISTRAUGHT family of murdered teenager Franziska Blöchliger identified her body at the mortuary yesterday.
This comes after police detained three men for questioning in connection with the 16-year-old’s murder in Tokai Forest on Monday.
The family told the Cape Argus they were “hopeful” that the police would come closer to solving the mystery behind the murder.
The murdered teenager’s father, Florian Blöchliger, said: “Police did tell us about the arrests, we are hopeful, but we can only rest once we know it is them (the detained suspects).”
Police confirmed that the men were arrested on Tuesday night.
Spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut said: “Three suspects, between the ages of 22 and 27, are being detained for questioning in connection with the murder of Franziska Blöchliger after their arrest last night.”
Blöchliger said the family had also agreed to increase the reward offered for finding the culprits in a quest to find their daughter’s killers.
“We have increased the reward to R100 000, we want to find her killers,” he added.
Franziska was last seen jogging near Tokai Forest where she and her mother had been waiting for her 11-year-old sister’s school bus, at around 3pm on Monday.
Her body was found by the police and Kirstenhof Crime Watch in Dennedal Road hours after she was reported missing. She was robbed of her iPhone and her mother’s red tracking watch.
It is alleged the stolen cellphone was tracked to an area in Westlake. However, police could not confirm this.
Traut said the circumstances surrounding the case were still under investigation.
About3 000 people took part in a silent vigil on Tuesday, walking along the forest paths in support of the Blöchligers.
Crime Watch chairman Sean Powell said he was happy with the turn out as the community was taking a stand. ” People are alarmed, they are shocked by this.”
Powell said the forest did not have any structured form of security, but was dependent on neighbourhood watch patrols.
“There is no security company patrolling the area. Many people who come here are Crime Watch members, and what we have seen with this incident is that things like these can happen at any time.
“We need a formal structure and we are now going to work with all relevant stakeholders to tighten up security in this area.”