One of South Africa’s most disturbing serial murder cases.

In this episode of Murder on the Mind, we examine how Richard Nyauza preyed on vulnerable women, used isolation and geography as weapons, and evaded detection for years.

The discussion explores serial killer behaviour, victim vulnerability, offender escalation, concealment tactics, and how technology — not criminal genius — ultimately exposed him.

If you enjoy forensic psychology, criminal profiling and South African true crime, follow Profiler Africa on Spotify, rate the show, and share this episode.

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#TrueCrime #SerialKiller #ForensicPsychology #SouthAfrica

We are back with one of the most important voices in South African true crime.

In this episode, Paul Llewellyn and Profiler Africa co-host Gerard Labuschagne sit down with author and podcaster Nicole Engelbrecht to unpack the reality behind South Africa’s cold cases — and why so many victims are still waiting to be identified, found, or given justice.

Nicole’s book Bare Bones focuses on ten unsolved cases first covered on her podcast True Crime South Africa, many of which saw new developments after renewed public attention. The book also explores how missing-person investigations and murder cases actually function in South Africa — and where the system often breaks down.

We discuss:

• what really happens when a case goes cold
• why some missing persons are never found
• cases reopened after fresh leads or public attention
• the Meadowbrook Doe and the challenge of identifying unknown victims
• the pressures facing SAPS investigators under limited resources
• what families of missing persons endure behind the scenes
• when private investigators help — and when they don’t
• how podcasts and public awareness can generate real investigative leads

At the heart of this conversation is a stark reality: rooms filled with unidentified human remains — each linked to a case, a place, and a family still waiting for answers.

This is not just about unsolved crimes.

It is about the people still waiting to be found.

For more deep dives into these stories, listen to True Crime South Africa, hosted by Nicole Engelbrecht.

If you’d like to support Profiler Africa — and understand why a number of long-form crime documentaries briefly disappeared from this channel and why they are now back — please watch The Case of the Missing Crime Shows on YouTube.

To help keep the legal door open, we’ve launched a BackaBuddy campaign:

https://backabuddy.co.za/campaign/save-our-crime-shows

In this episode of Profiler Africa, Paul Llewellyn and Professor Gérard Labuschagne are joined by Gerard's former colleague and SAPS legend, Lt Col (Retired) Elmarie Myburgh. Recorded just 14 days after her official retirement, Elmarie reflects on a 30-year career that defined investigative psychology in South Africa.

From the founding of the Investigative Psychology Section in 1997 to her experience of the Rosemary Ndlovu trial, Elmarie has been the constant force behind the conviction of the country's most prolific predators. Join us as we discuss the "Nasrec" killer, the reality of "Behavioral Linkage Analysis," and the psychological toll of three decades in the office of evil.

Support the Show:

• BackaBuddy (Legal Defense): help us keep the channel alive at https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/save-our-crime-shows

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#ProfilerAfrica #TrueCrime #CriminalPsychology #SouthAfrica #ElmarieMyburgh #SAPS

👉 Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/profiler👉 Become a Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/@PROFILERAFRICA/join👉 Subscribe to Profiler Africa for weekly episodes📩 Contact / sponsorships: [email protected]

This episode of Profiler Africa focuses on one of the most critical — and least visible — parts of the justice system: victim identification.

Paul Llewellyn and forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne speak to Brigadier (Ret.) Helena J (Ras) Van Zyl, who spent decades leading forensic identification and disaster response within the South African Police Service.

The conversation explores how identification is achieved when bodies are damaged, records are missing, or disasters overwhelm systems — and why science alone is never enough.

This is a grounded, professional discussion about process, responsibility, and the human cost of getting identification wrong.

Analytical. Evidence-based. Uncomfortable — because reality usually is.

Trust nobody.

👉 Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/profiler👉 Become a Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/@PROFILERAFRICA/join👉 Subscribe to Profiler Africa for weekly episodes📩 Contact / sponsorships: [email protected]

Serial killers are often imagined as obvious — strange, isolated, visibly dangerous.

In reality, the greatest danger lies in how ordinary they can appear.

In this episode of Profiler Africa, Paul Llewellyn and forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne discuss why recognising serious offenders is so difficult — and why studying the psychology of killers is not about curiosity, but survival.

Rather than analysing a single case, the episode explores how internal fantasy, control, and secrecy can exist unnoticed, sometimes for years, before becoming reality.

The conversation examines:

• why outward appearance tells us very little• how violent fantasy can remain hidden• what profiling is actually designed to detect• why “gut instinct” is unreliable• the difference between fascination and survival• why, as the episode concludes, it is the living you have to worry about

This episode is analytical, evidence-based, and deliberately unsettling — because understanding violence requires confronting uncomfortable truths.

Remember:
Trust nobody.

Over the past few months, several of our documentaries temporarily disappeared from this channel.

That wasn’t an algorithm issue.

It was the result of an ongoing legal battle over ownership, authorship, and exploitation of African-made crime television — a case now before the courts.

The documentaries are now back on the channel.
We’re asking you to watch, share, and amplify them.

To help people understand what’s really going on, we published a short explainer video:
🎥 The Case of the Missing Crime Shows
👉 https://youtu.be/bhSo9Rf8ock

This is not about creative differences.
It’s about whether African creators can defend their work when powerful interests attempt to take control of it.

To continue this fight properly, we’ve launched a BackaBuddy campaign to help cover ongoing court costs.
So far, R9,187 has been raised — and we’re genuinely grateful.

If you’d like to support the campaign or learn more:
👉 BackaBuddy link in the description

This isn’t behind-the-scenes drama.
It’s about accountability, transparency, and whether stories from this continent can be protected.

Thank you for watching.
Thank you for sharing.
And thank you for standing with us.

This week on Profiler Africa, hosts Paul Llewellyn and Gérard Labuschagne unpack one of the most disturbing family murder cases in South African history — the Griekwastad murders.

In a quiet Northern Cape farming town, an entire family was brutally killed. What followed was an investigation that challenged assumptions about motive, youth violence, emotional detachment, and the limits of early detection. This episode traces the case from the very first report at the police station through to conviction — and the ongoing controversy surrounding parole.

We also explain why, due to changes in South African law, the convicted offender is not named — and why that does not prevent a full psychological and investigative examination of the case.

This episode explores:

• how the case initially presented to police

• behavioural red flags that shifted the investigation

• motive versus emotion in family annihilation

• what the case reveals about adolescent offenders

• and why Griekwastad still unsettles the country today

This discussion leads directly into Episode 3 of Murder on the Mind, premiering this Thursday — a deeper psychological examination of the same case.

📩 [email protected]
🌍 plotshift.co.za

What happens when a criminal case is built not on physical evidence — but on memory?

In this episode of Profiler Africa, co-hosts Paul Llewellyn and forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne examine recovered memories and their use in criminal prosecutions.

The discussion explores how memory functions, why it is inherently unreliable, and how therapy — when poorly conducted — can unintentionally create false or contaminated memories. Drawing on South African case experience and international forensic standards, the episode explains why recovered memories are treated with caution in many courts — and what happens when that caution is ignored.

This episode is not about disbelief.
It is about evidence, due process, and preventing injustice on all sides.

📩 [email protected]
🌍 plotshift.co.za

In 2022, a 13-year-old boy was murdered in Klawer after stealing fruit from a garden.

The man responsible, Daniel Hugo Smit, chased the child in his vehicle, abducted him, and killed him. Claims of occult influence and diminished responsibility were rejected by the court, which sentenced Smit to life imprisonment.

In this episode of Profiler Africa, Paul Llewellyn and forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne unpack:

• the psychology of rage-based violence

• entitlement and escalation

• why this was not a psychosis-driven crime

• how offenders rationalise extreme acts

• what this case teaches us about prevention

📩 [email protected]🌍 plotshift.co.za

Durban, March 2011.
Four men murdered in eight days — two decapitated. All strangers. All ambushed and hacked to death with an axe.

The killer: Joseph Phindile Ntshongwana, former Blue Bulls flanker whose life collapsed into delusion, paranoia, and violent psychosis.
Family saw the warning signs — hallucinations, erratic behaviour, and a fixed belief in a daughter who didn’t exist.

In this episode, forensic psychologist Prof Gerard Labuschagne joins host Paul Llewellyn to unpack how the murders were linked, what the forensic evidence proved, where delusion meets legal responsibility, and why every appeal failed.

Profiler Africa — where psychology meets the crime scene.

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