Plett couple shot execution-style

POLICE investigating the discovery of a stolen car yesterday found the bodies of a man and his wife – both shot dead execution style – at their home on a smallholding outside Plettenberg Bay.

CRIME SCENE .... Police vehicles at the house of murder victims Willem and Julie le Roux yesterday.

Both 53-year-old Willem le Roux and his 50-year-old wife, Julie, were killed by a single gunshot to the forehead on their property near Kranshoek. The couple’s hands were bound, said police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie.

The woman was found in a bedroom and her husband in one of two chalets on the property, about 70m from the main house.

A team of police forensic investigators was still combing the crime scene last night.

“The motive for the killings is not known at this stage, but it could have been theft,” Pojie said.

“There are possibly two laptop computers missing.”

The house had not been ransacked, with a number of valuables left untouched.

Police, however, did find an open safe in the bedroom and a shotgun leaning against a wall, near where Julie le Roux’s body was found.

It was not clear whether anything had been removed from the safe, though, Pojie said.

The couple’s BMW was found abandoned on the premises of the South Cape College next to KwaNokuthula, less than 10km from the crime scene.

Police who were tracing the car’s owner found the bodies at the Le Roux home yesterday afternoon.

The time of death could not immediately be established, but the couple may have been killed at the weekend already.

Pojie said a relative had last spoken to Willem le Roux on Saturday at about 2pm. “That was the last time we know of that they were seen alive.

“We appeal to the community for information which could help us in our investigations,” Pojie said.

Anyone with information should phone the investigating officer, Sergeant Theodore Windvogel, on 044-5330121 or 073-1688808.

The savage killings were the second murder in three weeks in Plettenberg Bay area. Two teenagers were arrested last month in connection with the murder of 78-year-old librarian Johanna Blignault, who was stabbed in her home in Wittedrift last month.