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Discovery of three charred bodies in veld has community on edge

The discovery of three bodies burnt beyond recognition in a veld outside a luxury golf estate in a quiet neighbourhood in Centurion has left community members anxious as they look for answers.

The bodies of two adults and a child believed to be around 13 years old were discovered in the early hours of Monday morning after a resident at the Copperleaf Golf and Country Estate noticed a fire in the neighbouring veld and alerted security.

Estate security came across the three bodies as they tried to extinguish the fire and alerted police.

Paul Burchell‚ the general manager at the estate‚ confirmed the incident and said they didn’t believe that the three people were residents of the estate or had any links to the estate.

ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said when paramedics arrived there was nothing they could do for the three people and they were declared dead on the scene.

“It would appear that the three patients were bound‚ gagged and burned to death‚” he said.

Police have opened three cases of murder and are attempting to identify the three people.

“We don’t know who they are yet. Some families have come forward and we’re hoping they will be able to help us identify them‚” said Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele.

Makhubele also said there had not been any cases of missing persons reported in the area to the police in the past 24 hours.

With little information available‚ residents and business owners on the plots surrounding the veld have been communicating on their community WhatsApp group in an attempt to find out what happened.

“They closed this like a book. No one knows anything about what’s happening. All our neighbours are on a group and we’re all trying to find out what happened‚” said the owner of a business about 100 metres away from where the bodies were found.

“This is crazy. We just woke up to the news. I don’t think anyone was killed there‚ I think their bodies were just dumped there‚” said a resident whose plot is near the spot where the bodies were found.

Another resident from the area said she had gone jogging through the veld on Sunday and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“A lot of people use that veld and it is generally a very quiet area. This must have happened through the night‚” the woman said.

“The street outside is very quiet at night‚ but there were more cars driving by last night. Our neighbours’ dogs were also barking a little more than usual‚ but you won’t think something like this would happen‚” she said.

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