Staff of the National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown are shocked and distraught after police announced they are investigating the possibility that a colleague who went missing earlier this week may have been murdered.
Staff of the National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown are shocked and distraught after police announced they are investigating the possibility that a colleague who went missing earlier this week may have been murdered.
Police issued an urgent call on Wednesday 6 August for members of the public to look out for Theresa Buys, a stand-in curator at Olive Schreiner House in Cradock. The museum is a satellite of Grahamstown based National English Literary Museum, and staff at the facilities work closely with each other.
Buys, who lives alone in a house on a farm 8km outside Cradock, was reported missing on Tuesday 5 August when she failed to arrive at the primary school where she teaches.
Captain Stefanie Smith of the Cradock police told Grocott's Mail Thursday 7 August that a farm employee had been arrested near Cradock, shortly after Buys's vehicle, a gold-coloured VW Polo Playa hatchback with a Cape Town registration, was recovered.
Former curator of Olive Schreiner House Paddy Orpen, who lives 2km from Buys on the same property, said she'd last seen Buys on Monday afternoon.
She'd been surprised when Buys's dog had come to her house around 9.30pm on Monday.
But it was only the next morning when she went to Buys's home with another resident on the farm and they found bloodstains inside the front door that she realised something was wrong.
Curator of Olive Schreiner House Brian Wilmot, former director of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, has expressed shock at the unfolding news.
"She is a gentle soul," he said.
Buys has frequently stood in as acting curator at Olive Schreiner House when Wilmot has been out of town on museum business, or on leave.
Smith confirmed that while there were no signs of struggle in the house, police had changed the missing person docket to a murder docket.
Anyone with information is requested to contact the Cradock police station at 048 881 7118.
