False tip offs, scammers and prank calls are marring attempts to find Parkside grandmother, Eudora Bruintjies, who has been missing for almost two weeks.
The 52-two-year-old Bruintjies, who suffers from severe epilepsy, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was last seen on October 25 on Lavender Avenue at her daughter, Monique’s house in Parkside just after 7pm.
Monique said her mother had arrived at the house visibly upset but would not talk about what was troubling her.
Eudora spent 20 minutes at Monique’s house before leaving on foot and has not been seen since. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a black jacket, pink blouse, and black tight jeans.
Missing They Wrote (MTW), a registered NPC certified to look for missing persons has been working with SAPS Buffalo Flats station to try and locate Eudora, however the organisation said their search had been hampered by members of the public who were anonymously reporting tip-offs to SAPS claiming to have seen Eudora in improbable locations.
MTW’s chaplain Sherry-Lee Booysen said: “Usually SAPS checks the perimeter when someone has disappeared on foot and most cases they are found during that check because its not possible to get far on foot.
“In Eudora’s case, it’s strange that not only has she not been found within the perimeter, but we also have members of the public reporting that they have seen her in places that are more than 45 minutes away from her last location when its not possible for her to have walked that far.
“This is a family’s loved one and her life is not a game. Eudora has a health condition and disabilities that impact her memory, and so when people have spotted her, they need to phone SAPS immediately and stay with her until the officers arrive so that she cannot get away.”
MTW has previously conducted searches for missing persons suffering from dementia or severe nervous breakdowns and have had much success.
Booysens said: “We are hoping to find her as soon as possible because she cannot survive on her own, given how debilitating her epileptic seizures are. We are hoping that she has been found and is being cared for by someone who at this stage may not know that she is a missing person.”
The SAPS’s Col Siphokazi Mawisa said Eudora was reported missing on October 25 and a preliminary investigation was conducted immediately and since then the search for Eudora has been ongoing without much success.
Eudora’s family are anxious for her to be found, saying that amid genuine support and concern, individuals have also harassed the family with scam calls asking for money in exchange for information.
The family is also concerned because without access to her medication Eudora is liable to suffer from epileptic fits and severely injure herself.
Monique said her mother had suffered from epilepsy most of her life but in recent years, the severity of the attacks has sparked other mental health conditions that make it hard for her mother to recognise herself and others once the fits pass.
Monique pleads with members of the public who may encounter her to exercise patience and caution if she is acting strangely because the impact of the fits closely resemble symptoms of a stroke.
Monique said: “It hard for us to eat or sleep or even do anything because we are so worried. We have no idea if she’s alive, if she’s eating or if she even knows who she is.
“I don’t believe its possible for my mother to just disappear. She has to be somewhere, and the scary thing is, without access to her medication, she cant control her epilepsy which means her fits become recurrent and more severe which weakens her body and makes it hard for her to recover.
“We [Monique and her siblings] have not always had the best relationship with our mother because her health challenges have made it difficult for her to be a present mother.
“Most of us were raised in foster care, however just before she disappeared, she told me that her dream was to work hard so she could be a healthy and present mother for my younger siblings and now that dream might be gone.”
Statistics revealed that 4,512 women were reported missing in the three years between April 2016 and March 2019. While not recent, these figures give a glimpse at the frequency with which women in SA go missing.
SAPS confirms they are following up on any helpful leads from the public and these can be directed to Detective WO Hubert Meinie on 072-730-1221 or 043-733-0198.
If you see Eudora Bruintjies please phone Officer Meinie immediately and wait with Bruintjies until the officers arrive.
