Family still ‘in the dark’ as 82-year-old goes missing in Welkom

The search continues for an 82-year-old man from Welkom‚ Free State‚ who went missing six weeks ago.

“It’s just the most bizarre thing I’ve come across in a very long time‚” private investigator Brandan Nathanson said on Monday. “It’s like this man vanished.”

Karl Reich‚ 82‚ went missing on the morning of September 24 from his home in Jim Fouché Park.

Nathanson said it appeared that Reich was approached by someone he knew.

“There was no sign of force. There’s no sign of struggle. There was absolutely nothing. Everything was just neat and tidy‚ as it was supposed to be‚ except for a couple of items.”

Nathanson said a television and two cars — a white Kia Cerato and gold Honda Civic — were among the missing items.

The last trace of Reich was when a company in Johannesburg tried at least eight times to draw money from his account without success.

Reich’s son-in-law‚ Johan Ferreira‚ said that was the last known activity‚ but there are new leads which he cannot discuss at this stage.

“We remain in the dark at this stage‚” he told TimesLIVE.

Nathanson said the investigation and the family were at the beck and call of the police as they were trying to subpoena Reich’s bank records.

Nathanson said Reich led a private life.

“His own family had little to do with him.”

According to the Facebook page “Karl Reich Missing”‚ a security company said the alarm had gone off at Reich’s home at 6am before it was reactivated at 7.12am.

“The second very weird situation was the alarm was activated on Monday 24 of September by my dad or his kidnappers. At 7.15am‚ the police were in my dad’s house. When we phoned the security company they said the alarm was on‚ the detectives were standing in the house!”

“We also learnt later that his cell phone was left by the kitchen door with his keys for all his doors. A policeman locked the door on Monday (September 24) evening when they were finished. The keys are gone and the back door was open once again!”

Reich moved from Mauritius to South Africa when he was 18 years old.

“My dad has a very strong voice‚ could be described as loud‚ he tries to speak Afrikaans but then you can clearly hear his French accent‚” Belinda Ferreira wrote.

According to Nathanson‚ kidnapping is the new order of the day.

“Be it old people‚ vulnerable people‚ people with family members with money‚ they better start watching them.”

- TimesLIVE