Tshegofatso Pule Found Hanging From Tree

The family of an eight-month pregnant woman is reeling after she was found brutally murdered and hanging from a tree in South Africa. The body of Tshegofatso Pule was discovered Monday near Roodeport, a suburb of Johannesburg. She was stabbed multiple times in the chest.

Sowetan Live reports that Pule went missing after she was last seen Thursday of last week telling family she was going to visit her boyfriend in Florida. A relative told the South African outlet that the expectant mother “got into a fight with her boyfriend” and was planning to come home before she was murdered. The family member also speculated that the boyfriend was married, but that has yet to be confirmed.

“She got into a fight with her boyfriend and demanded to leave,” the relative, who was not identified, told Sowetan Live. “We tried calling her later that night but we couldn’t get through to her.”

The family member said there had been friction because Pule’s boyfriend was married to a woman who knew about the affair.

“We cannot speculate about what led to her death, but we know things were not well with her boyfriend,” the relative told the outlet. “His wife also knew about Tshego and she was always fighting with her.”

After her family couldn’t contact her, they put up missing posters and received a phone call from someone claiming they spotted their loved one. After going to the place where the caller directed them, they found the woman’s lifeless body, reports Sowetan Live.

Another South African outlet TimesLIVE spoke with a man named David Shoba who was outed on social media and accused of murdering her.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Shoba cleared his name and said he doesn’t know the deceased or the boyfriend in the case.

“They said I am the one who killed her, but I don’t even know that lady [Pule] or her boyfriend or the people in the picture.”

“The investigating officer has my picture after it trended on social media, but he told me I’m not involved in the case and that he has a suspect. He was laughing at me and said he doesn’t know me. He advised me to open a case against the person who posted on social media,” said Shoba.

Police have confirmed that the man is not a person of interest.

Pule was laid to rest at the Roodepoort cemetery on Thursday morning.