PODCAST | The murder of Leigh Matthews

On July 9 2004, 21-year-old student Leigh Matthews was abducted from her university campus. Shortly afterwards her parents received a menacing message: “Pay us R300,000 or your daughter dies.”

This sparked an emotional rollercoaster for the family, in which a greedy, cold-blooded man would toy with their emotions — give them hope and then rip it away. Soon it became clear that Leigh’s kidnapper had never had any intention of returning her to her family alive.

After a month of continuous work by a 150-strong police task force, the case was handed over to Piet Byleveld who would end up making one arrest. Today, Leigh’s killer is behind bars but her family still does not have the closure they deserve because her kidnapper was not working alone and he refused to share the truth about exactly what happened to her.

In Episode 16, True Crime South Africa digs into this case that horrified a nation and remembers Leigh — the girl who was 21, for just one day.

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