Family clings to hope as body found in search for missing Paarl teen

"I'M NOT giving up. Until I see proof, my daughter is still alive in my heart." These were the words of Hester Plaatjies, the mother of 16-year-old Chanelle Plaatjies from Greenhill, Paarl, who went missing last month.

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

She was speaking after the discovery of a decomposing body buried in a shallow grave near their home, just metres from where her shoe was found.

Chanelle was last seen on May 14 but was only reported missing on May 28.

The delay in reporting, the family says, was due to the hope that she would return home, as she usually did when she went out with friends.

The breakthrough in the search came on Monday, when her sisters stumbled upon one of her shoes in a wooded area about a kilometre from their house.

It was this discovery that led to the unearthing of a body believed to be that of a young woman.

Speaking to the media outside the family home, Chanelle's father, Samuel Jacobs, described the moment they discovered the shoe.

"My daughters first spotted the shoe and they positively identified it as Chanelle's," an emotional Jacobs said.