Profiler: True Crime Africa

South Africa has recorded 45 mass-killing attacks in 2026, involving at least 210 deaths and 79 wounded.Paul Llewellyn and Dr Gérard Labuschagne are joined by investigative journalist and organised-crime specialist Julian Rademeyer, author of Killing for Profit.They examine the criminal economies behind South Africa’s mass violence — including gangs, extortion, illegal mining, taxi conflict and illicit firearms — and ask whether mass killing is increasingly being used as a tool of terror, retaliation and territorial control.Julian also discusses failing intelligence structures, criminal governance, South Africa’s similarities with Brazil, and three interventions he believes could begin changing the trajectory. Sequence 01 Copy [email protected]

Are the Kempton Park killings linked — and how would investigators actually establish that?Lt Col (Ret) Elmarie Myburgh brings around four decades of policing experience, including nearly three decades in investigative psychology and criminal profiling, to a detailed conversation with Paul Llewellyn about how suspected serial cases are actually investigated.They unpack linkage analysis, modus operandi, victimology, geographical “comfort zones”, forensic evidence, DNA and the crucial difference between cases that appear similar and cases that can actually be proved to be connected.Elmarie also explains why she worries that a major investigation can become “too top-heavy”, what her ideal investigative team would look like, how traditional media can help or hinder police, and what happens when social media produces an army of amateur “couch detectives”.📩 [email protected]

After more than 100,000 people watched Profiler Africa's first Kempton Park investigation, viewers sent us their questions.Former SAPS criminal profiler Dr Gérard Labuschagne returns to examine what is known about the deaths of nine women and what remains unconfirmed.How would police establish whether the cases are linked? Could there be multiple offenders? Could more victims remain undiscovered? How might an offender be approaching women? What can geography and behavioural linkage tell investigators? And does SAPS have the right people running the investigation?Gérard also explains what police should keep secret, why the discovery of a body does not tell investigators when the murder occurred, and why earlier unsolved crimes may matter.📩 [email protected]

Kempton Park Serial Killer? | Five Bodies. One Killer?Five women's bodies have been discovered over roughly two months, with the first four recoveries concentrated around Kempton Park and Rhodesfield and a fifth case reported in Olifantsfontein.Paul Llewellyn and former head of SAPS Investigative Psychology Dr Gérard Labuschagne examine whether some of the deaths could be connected — and what investigators need to establish before separate murders can be classified as serial murder.Gérard explains geographic profiling, victimology, forensic and behavioural case linkage, offender signature, body recovery zones and how a specialist task team approaches a possible murder series.Based only on information currently available publicly, he also gives his assessment of the likelihood that at least some of the bodies will ultimately be linked to the same suspect.A single common offender has not been established. The investigation remains [email protected]

In 2005, Jessica Wheeler and Victoria Stadler were murdered less than a month apart in Knysna.The crime scenes appeared very different. But investigators began to suspect that the two young women had been murdered by the same offender.Dr Gérard Labuschagne — then Commander of the SAPS Investigative Psychology Unit — was brought into the investigation to conduct a behavioural linkage analysis.DJ Heinrich van Rooyen was eventually convicted of both murders and sentenced to two life terms. But he has always maintained his innocence.In this episode of PROFILER, Gérard takes us inside the original investigation: how the murders were linked, how behavioural linkage works, the differences between MO and signature, why Van Rooyen became a suspect, the DNA and other forensic evidence, his changing versions of events, and what ultimately happened in court.We also hear from investigator Mike Bolhuis, who was involved in the case at the time.More than twenty years later, Van Rooyen remains in prison and arguments about his guilt continue.The linkage analysis concluded that one offender murdered both women. But was Heinrich van Rooyen that offender?Did they get the right man?Contact: [email protected]