Investigations were continuing on Monday after the discovery of the plastic-wrapped bodies of two adults and two children in a drainpipe in Centurion in recent days.
Investigators were on Monday trying to trace the families of the deceased, who had earlier been reported missing in Pretoria, said police spokesperson Captain Piletji Sebola.
Post-mortem examinations would be conducted on Monday to determine the cause of death. Sebola said there were no visible wounds to the bodies, which were still clothed and had been wrapped with plastic sheeting.
”We are following up some leads,” Sebola said, declining to elaborate. No suspects have yet been identified.
The body of an adult was found in the drainpipe next to the Samrand road on November 11. On Friday evening, the body of a child was found at the same spot. Investigators then found two more bodies — an adult and a child — deeper in the pipe on Saturday.
The ages and sexes of the victims were not yet known, Sebola said. The bodies appear to have been in the pipe for about two to three weeks.
Sebola reiterated that police were not considering the possibility of a serial killer being responsible.
University of SA criminologist Professor Anna van der Hoven said it seemed unlikely that a serial killer was involved because the victims appeared to have been killed at the same time.
Serial killers usually murdered their victims one-by-one over a period of time.
Forensic psychologist Micki Pistorius explained that serial killers were people who murdered several victims, usually strangers, at different times and not necessarily at the same location.
There were usually cooling-off periods in between. Serial killers usually acted on an irresistible compulsion fuelled by fantasy, and normally targeted a certain type of victim.
Mass murderers, on the other hand, killed their victims at one time and in one place.
Pistorius was unwilling to place the Centurion killings in any category, saying she lacked first-hand information. – Sapa