'SHE'S STILL ALIVE'

Missing Paarl meisie Chanelle Plaatjies se family doesn't believe the body found is hers

- BY MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

THE family of 16-year-old missing Paarl teen Chanelle Plaatjies believe she’s still alive.

This despite the discovery of a decomposing body buried in a shallow grave near their home in Smarty Town, just metres from where her shoe was found.

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

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 kilo-metre from their house.

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