Western Cape police declined to comment on Thursday on contradictory news reports that the suspected killers of two-year-old Sonja Brown were about to be arrested, and that an autopsy showed she was not murdered.
The reports were carried earlier in the day by a Cape Town newspaper and a local radio station.
Police spokesperson Captain Randall Stoffels said: ”If there are any new developments in the case, I will definitely inform you.”
The toddler’s body was found in a manhole near her home in the De Nova informal settlement in Rawsonville on Monday.
Stoffels said then that forensic experts had indicated that a murder docket should be opened.
He confirmed on Thursday that an autopsy had been carried out, but said he did not have a mandate to speak about its contents.
The autopsy result will, however, be made available for court purposes if anyone is arrested in connection with her death.
Stoffels also confirmed that a member of the organised crime unit had taken over the investigation.
Brown went missing on Saturday afternoon. She was last seen playing with friends outside a house in the settlement. — Sapa