No sign of missing student

Update

SEDGEFIELD NEWS - Despite a massive search operation, 21-year-old Marie Ostbo from Norway has not yet been found.

The young student was last seen in Sedgefield on Wednesday 18 April.

In the meantime, the Norwegian press have been putting pressure on South Cape police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie for answers.

A letter was sent to the Knysna-Plett Herald (KPH) from the mother of a friend, Kristin Bakkane, expressing her concern.

In the email (edited by KPH) Bakkane said, “I am very concerned, not so much based on search activities that we have heard of here in Norway, but what so far seems to have been omitted. It feels powerless, witnessing the search activities from afar and not even having the simplest questions clarified.”

Newspaper asked to help
She asked if the Knysna-Plett Herald could help.

“Please tell me why the police have not yet traced down and interviewed the two men who was observed by the video camera by the beach when this girl disappeared?

“Are proper technical investigations being done on the cap found on the beach by Marie’s cellphone and shoes?

“Why has it taken as much as five days to send an official missing person’s notice?

“How can SA authorities solely pursue the drowning theory even when knowing that her camera, which was claimed to be the reason why she allegedly went too close to the sea, was found at her hotel room?

“Why is it not regarded as a possible criminal act, when those who know Marie never thought she would act carelessly at the beach?"

Bakkane asked that a journalist investigate.

Police answer questions
On Thursday 26 April, Pojie told KPH that all police and other resources are being deployed in a massive search.

This includes the police, K9 dog unit, National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), SANParks, emergency medical services and volunteers from the local community.

In an exclusive interview with KPH, Pojie answered many of the family's questions, saying the police case was opened the day after Ostbo's disappearance.

The missing person report was sent out by the NSRI the same day of her disappearance. Subsequent to that an enquiry docket was opened for further investigation by the Knysna detective branch.

“The case, although still based on a missing person, is being treated on the same basis any crime warrants when it comes to measures being deployed to solve it,” said Pojie.

Men in video interviewed
He explained that the men captured in the video footage had been identified and interviewed and no evidence was found to suggest they had any link to her disappearance.

A cap, her shoes and cellphone had been retrieved by the police and sent to forensics, which forms part of the investigation, said Pojie. During the police search, the camera was found in her hotel room at PiliPili.

Based on the articles that have been circulating in the Norwegian press and radio stations, Pojie confirmed that he has been asked questions relating to how many abductions and murders had happened before in Sedgefield.