Chilling search history revealed in bail hearing for Knysna murder suspect

A Knysna man is behind bars after being arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, who was reported missing in December.

Police say Velia Strydom's body was dumped near the iconic Red Bridge in Knysna days after she disappeared.

Her partner, Mervyn Bock, made a bid for bail in the local magistrate's court this week.

Velia Strydom's family and friends had been searching for her since early December. Family spokesperson Warrick Langisa says Strydom's last known plan was to meet her boyfriend, Mervyn Bock, at his house before a night out together. Langisa says the pair was last seen leaving a nightclub.

“What we heard in court is since he went into the flat with Velia on that Saturday evening, there was no movement and no CCTV footage showing that Velia ever left that flat,” Langisa said.

Video footage presented in court during Bock's bail hearing on Wednesday allegedly shows him loading the victim’s body into a vehicle two days later.

Langisa says the court also heard evidence of Bock's chilling cellphone search history.

“He searched like how long after strangulation took place will the body, will the heart still beat? Yeah. How long will fingerprints remain on the body? What will happen if a body is drowned after strangulation?”

The accused could face an additional charge of defeating the ends of justice after he allegedly jumped from his third-floor apartment and dumped his cellphone in a neighbor’s backyard while trying to evade arrest.