What Happened to Serah-Lee Venter? Missing Pretoria Mother

Watch: What Happened to Serah-Lee Venter? (The Riaan Roux Show)

Have you seen Serah-Lee Venter? Call or WhatsApp her family on 076 905 8874, or contact Warrant Officer Dries Momberg, SAPS Pretoria North, on 083 419 9766. Quote OB 757/10/2026.

Serah-Lee Venter is a 27-year-old mother of 2 girls, a 9-year-old and a baby of 6 months. She left on foot in Theresapark, in Pretoria North, and there has been no confirmed sighting of her since. Her phone is off, and private investigator Mike Bolhuis and his team have now been brought in to look for her.

Online, her story is being told in many versions. One version says she went for a walk alone in the middle of the night. Another says she has already been found. The question I see more than any other is this one: she was last seen on a Tuesday at the end of September, so why did the public only hear about her almost 2 weeks later?

I am not going to repeat what people are guessing. The record is short, and it already shows 2 things. Her report was logged with the police in October, and not on the day she disappeared. And not one published report says she was walking in the middle of the night.

What is on record?

On Tuesday 29 September 2026, Serah-Lee Venter was last seen in Theresapark, in Akasia, Pretoria North. According to Specialised Security Services, the company of private investigator Mike Bolhuis, she left on foot. She was wearing blue shorts and a blue sleeveless T-shirt.

She is petite, with dyed blonde hair and green eyes, and she has a tattoo on the right side of her collarbone. Nuusflits reports that she has 2 daughters, and that the younger one was born on 1 April 2026.

Her friend Klarize van Graan spoke to Marizka Coetzer of The Citizen, in an article published on Wednesday 14 October.

“Everybody is stressed. We only found out this weekend that she had gone missing. Her phone is off.”
Klarize van Graan, to The Citizen, 14 October 2026

Van Graan said there has been speculation about the disappearance, but no leads. She also said this.

“We hope someone has seen her, or knows where she is, for the sake of her children.”
Klarize van Graan, to The Citizen, 14 October 2026

Why is there no case number?

Her disappearance has been reported to the SAPS in Pretoria North. Rekord reported on Monday 12 October that the family gave an occurrence book number, 757/10/2026, but no formal case number. Many people have asked how a mother can be missing for 2 weeks with no case number.

As I understand it, when an adult is reported missing, the police register an enquiry, and a criminal case usually only follows when there is reason to suspect a crime. Specialised Security Services lists this one as Pretoria North enquiry 02/10/2026, with Warrant Officer Dries Momberg as the investigating officer. If you work in the SAPS and I have the process wrong, correct me in the comments under the video.

On Wednesday 14 October, Specialised Security Services published a public document about her.

“SSS has been officially mandated to investigate her disappearance in full cooperation with law enforcement authorities and the South African Police Service.”
Specialised Security Services, 14 October 2026

It does not say who appointed them. I could not find a single public statement or appeal from the SAPS about Serah-Lee. Every appeal I found came from her family and friends, missing-person groups, and now Mike Bolhuis’s team.

Why did it take 2 weeks?

The question I see the most is why the public only heard about Serah-Lee almost 2 weeks after she was last seen. The first public appeals I can find went out on Sunday 11 October, from Yusuf Abramjee, Missing Person South Africa and Missing Children South Africa. Abramjee’s post alone has been seen about 39 000 times.

The police number on her poster explains part of it. Occurrence book numbers run per month, so 757/10/2026 means entry 757 in October 2026. Her report was logged at the police station in October, and not on 29 September. That fits what her friend said in The Citizen, that they only found out that weekend that she was gone. Klarize van Graan also said they reported it to the police immediately.

What nobody has explained in public is what happened in the 12 days between Tuesday 29 September and Sunday 11 October, when the appeals went out. I understand why so many people are asking. It was the first question I had too.

Criminologist Dr Pixie du Toit spoke to The Citizen about the time that has passed.

“The quicker a case is reported, the more likely it is that someone might have seen something.”
Dr Pixie du Toit, to The Citizen, 14 October 2026

In my view, that is what those 12 days cost. Anyone who saw a woman in blue shorts walking in Theresapark on 29 September had almost 2 weeks to forget it before they knew she was missing. So if you were in Theresapark or Akasia that Tuesday, think back. A woman walking alone may have meant nothing to you at the time, but it may mean something now.

What are people saying online?

Since 11 October her picture has been shared thousands of times, and the comment sections under those posts are full of theories. The most common one is that she went for a walk alone in the middle of the night. I could not find that in any published report. No news report and no public document gives a time, and the only description on record, from Specialised Security Services, is that she left on foot.

Some posts say she has been found. False. When I checked on 14 October she was still missing, and Specialised Security Services published its appeal that same day.

Then there are the comments where people have already decided what happened to her, and who is responsible. No suspect has been named, and nobody has been arrested. I am not going to repeat names from comment sections. The appeal that Rekord reported on asks the public to avoid rumours and unconfirmed sightings. Specialised Security Services said the same, and its document said speculation on social media can “distract investigators”.

Some people also asked whether this is linked to the women found murdered in Ekurhuleni since July. No news report and no police statement has linked Serah-Lee to those cases, and Theresapark is in Tshwane, not Ekurhuleni. Dr Pixie du Toit raised Ekurhuleni in The Citizen for a different reason, the missing women there.

“Suddenly, no-one is reporting on it. We are also not getting any updates from the police.”
Dr Pixie du Toit, to The Citizen, 14 October 2026

How can you help?

If you live in Theresapark, Akasia or anywhere in Pretoria North, take a good look at her picture. Serah-Lee is 27 and petite, with dyed blonde hair, green eyes and a tattoo on the right side of her collarbone. On Tuesday 29 September she was wearing blue shorts and a blue sleeveless T-shirt.

Her family, call or WhatsApp: 076 905 8874
Warrant Officer Dries Momberg, SAPS Pretoria North: 083 419 9766
Quote the occurrence book number OB 757/10/2026

A volunteer search of the open veld in Theresapark has been called for Saturday 17 October at 10am. The organisers ask you to send a WhatsApp to 082 505 7734 for the meeting point. If you go, go with other people, and leave anything you find for the police to handle.

What happened to Serah-Lee?

Nobody who knows has said so in public. What is on record is that a 27-year-old mother left on foot in Theresapark on 29 September, and that her picture only reached the public 12 days later. Her phone is still off.

In my view, those 12 days are the part of this story that worries me the most. Every day that passed before the appeals went out made it less likely that someone would remember seeing her, and every day since has filled the gap with guesses.

Her family and friends have put her face on thousands of phones, and volunteers will walk the veld on Saturday. To the SAPS in Pretoria North: the public is doing what it can. The guessing will only stop when the police tell the public something.

If there is news on Serah-Lee, I will make an update video.

Sources

The Citizen, Marizka Coetzer, “Search continues for missing Pretoria mother Serah-Lee Venter”, 14 October 2026: citizen.co.za
Rekord, Corné van Zyl, “Pretoria mother of two missing for nearly two weeks”, 12 October 2026: citizen.co.za/rekord
Specialised Security Services (Mike Bolhuis), “Project: Missing Person – Serah-Lee Venter”, 14 October 2026: mikebolhuis.co.za
Nuusflits, Wanda Olivier, “Soektog na ma van 2 duur voort”, 12 October 2026: nuusflits.com (English version: nuusflits.com)
Yusuf Abramjee on X, 11 October 2026: x.com/Abramjee
Missing Children SA on X, 11 October 2026: x.com/072MISSING
Missing Person South Africa, appeal, 11 October 2026