S. Africa Police Hunt Serial Killer of Children, Ask for Interpol Help

Police dug through sand dunes with their hands and spades Friday, searching for more victims of a serial killer dubbed the “Station Strangler.”

The deaths of 19 boys have been linked to the serial killer, who is believed to abduct his victims from railway stations.

Schoolchildren, office workers and parents also helped search after the bodies of two boys were found Thursday behind a garbage dump near the mixed-race township of Mitchells Plain. Later that day, four more were found in shallow graves in Mitchells Plain’s dunes.

State radio reported that a note found on one of the bodies read: “One more, many more in store.”

Residents threatened vengeance if the killer is found.

“If the community catches him, he will go to the morgue,” Ashton Barnes said. “I’ll do it myself, I’ll kill him.”

Ten bodies have been found since last week. Nine others had been uncovered since 1986, when police believe the killings began. Until the new discoveries were made, police believed that the killings had stopped in 1992.

South African Law and Order Minister Hernus Kriel said Friday that he will seek the international police agency Interpol’s help.

Kriel told a meeting of area residents that police had little experience of tracking mass killers.

“We are not used to this, and we have called in a top psychiatrist to help up build up a portfolio on the man. We will also approach Interpol,” Kriel said, adding that the international agency would be asked to send investigators with a background in finding serial killers.

The government has offered a $73,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the killings.