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Teen murdered in churchyard
13/10/2005 22:48 - (SA)
Tisha Steyn , Die Burger
George - A few arum lilies tied with purple ribbon against the gate of St George's Anglican church next to the main road in Knysna bear silent testimony to the mysterious murder there of a young girl.
Captain Eddie Cronjé said on Thursday the half-naked body of Jessica Wheeler, 18, was seen in the church grounds by a passerby about 06:35. The church is next to the block of flats where she lived.
Her body was found next to a sawn-off tree trunk about 10m from Main Road.
She was dressed in a shirt with thin straps and a black g-string. Her blue jeans were pulled halfway down her legs.
Cronjé said: "There were no marks on her body, and we suspect she was suffocated."
George resident Sass Kitching said Jessica was "lying with her arms outstretched and one leg pulled up. Her tackies were on one side, and her black handbag on the other."
Awaiting post-mortem results
The Rev Colin Paine said the murder in the churh yard was "sad for the whole of Knysna".
Forensic specialists from Cape Town took samples on Thursday and the post-mortem was to be done on Monday.
Cronjé said: "Only then it will be known if was raped and how she had died."
At Persello's, where Jessica worked at lunchtimes, Marco Persello said: "She did her work and she was always on time."
His mother, "Mama" Persello, said: "Jessica was a lovely, somewhat old-fashioned child. She always came to the kitchen to ask me what I was cooking."
Roxanne Kay, 19, Jessica's friend who also worked at the restaurant, said she and Jessica were "best friends". They had finished matric at Knysna High School last year.
"She was an angel," said Roxanne sadly. "Everybody loved her and she had many friends."
"She was planning to go to Namibia next month. She wanted to go to Wales in March next year to live with her grandparents and work there."
Walter Daniell, 24, said he and Jessica were close.
"I met her at Zanzibar (a club) about 23:00. She was with strange men. When I left between 01:30 and 01:45, she was still there.
'The staff loved her'
"I should have stayed longer. Usually, when we were together, I took her home and made sure that she was safe," he said.
Herman Mellett, the Knysna High principal, said Jessica was "a normal teenager with good manners and the staff loved her".
"Her brother Devon, 24, also did matric here."
Her mother, Dusty Wheeler, and father, Kevin, were too upset to face the media.
Cronje said nobody had so far been arrested.
Anybody with information can contact constable Greg Botha on 044 302 6600.
- Die Burger
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