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A woman who has been missing since April 2023 has been found alive and reunited with her family, thanks to Facebook users. 29-year-old Letitia Bucks disappeared during a church service on 16 April when she told her mother she was going to the bathroom.

The mysterious disappearance was reported to the police and despite all efforts, Letitia had still not been located by September 2023. In February 2024, a user posted to the group Concerned Community of Naledi that he had frequently seen the young woman walking along the Vryburg-Stella road and when he finally spoke to her, she did not respond. He posted pictures he had taken during his latest encounter with her and users pulled up pictures and articles of her case. The post was shared over 30 times and the woman was located by Naledi SAPS and then sent to Kimberley SAPS to be reunited with her family.

Sergeant Timothy Sam of Kimberley SAPS confirmed to the Vryburg Independent Post that the young woman had been reunited with her mother. “Her mother is distraught, and the family has been connected with social workers for counselling,” he said, adding that Letitia was neither well nor sick, and not responding to questions and probes about her whereabouts during the time she was missing.

The matter of her disappearance is under investigation to determine whether she had been kidnapped or just left on her own accord. Residents of Colridge in Vryburg have claimed to have seen her multiple times over the past ten months, with one woman claiming that she had been living in a small rental. It is alleged that Letitia had previously lived and worked in Mahikeng before moving back home to Kimberley to recover from a substance abuse problem.

It is difficult to find recent numbers, but statistics released in 2020 revealed that over 4500 women had gone missing between 2017 and 2019. Many missing person cases are linked to human trafficking, drug abuse or ransom kidnappings. Time is a critical determiner of success in finding missing people, so is important to know that it is not necessary to wait 24 hours to report a missing person.

-The VIP Team

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