Police await forensic report in hope of identifying murder suspect

Police are awaiting the forensic report to assist with identifying the culprits who strangled an elderly Port Elizabeth woman inside her Summerstrand home last month.

Detectives yesterday revealed that DNA and fingerprints found inside the house were sent to the SA Police Forensic Science Lab in Cape Town. 

Ann Ferreira, 83, was found dead in the kitchen of her Kuruman Kloof Road home after police found her green Opel Corsa damaged and abandoned – with the registration plates and licence disc missing – in bushes near Despatch.

Police state that the post-mortem results show that Ferreira was strangled some time between Thursday May 10 and Sunday May 13, when her body was found.

Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said detectives had sent evidence found on the scene, including lifted finger prints and swab samples, to the Cape Town forensic laboratory.

“The evidence gathered on the scene has been sent and now we are waiting to see if there is a match.

"Our preliminary investigation shows that  the suspect’s DNA was not in the police system.

"We are now waiting for the Cape Town laboratory to do a more detailed scan which we are hoping will identify the culprits,” she said.

Naidu said that no timeline could be given.

A case of robbery and murder are under investigation.