A neighbour and former colleague of missing Cradock woman Theresa Buys expressed relief that her body had been found, following a three-week search.
A neighbour and former colleague of missing Cradock woman Theresa Buys expressed relief that her body had been found, following a three-week search.
Cradock police confirmed that Buys's body had been found nearby in the Fish River.
"It is a relief that they have found her," Paddy Orpen told Grocott's Mail Tuesday 26 August. "Although the circumstances do raise many questions. I think just about everyone in Cradock, in all parts of the community, is outraged that something like this could happen."
Cradock police spokesperson Captain Stephanie Smith applauded the K-9 unit that included dogs, divers and a mounted unit for their hard work in locating Buys's body.
“The body was discovered on Friday afternoon after an intense search by the K-9 unit, search and rescue dogs, police divers, and the mounted unit,” Smith said in a telephone interview.
Smith said farm worker Marius Isaacs was arrested after Buys’s car was found in Michausdal, Cradock, soon after Buys disappeared. He faces charges in connection with the murder and is due in court on 17 September.
Buys frequently stood in as acting curator at Olive Schreiner House, a satellite of the Grahamstown-based National English Literary Museum, and staff at the facilities work closely with each other.
Museum colleagues Orpen and Brian Wilmot were distraught when Buys was reported missing on 5 August, after she failed to arrive at the primary school where she taught.
Orpen said a memorial service at the local junior school, attended by Buys's mother, sister, daughter and husband, had served as Cradock's farewell.
Police are conducting an autopsy, after which there would be a cremation, Orpen said. Orpen, who lives 2km from Buys's house on the same property, said she'd last seen her on the Monday before she was reported missing.
Wilmot, curator of Olive Schreiner House and former director of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, described her as "a gentle soul".
