Decomposing body of 9-year-old girl found stuffed in the wardrobe of a neighbour who helped search for her.

The decomposing body of 9-year-old Boipelo Sesele was found stuffed in the wardrobe of a neighbour who helped search for her, after she went missing at Kroonstad, Gelukkwaarts in Free State, South Africa, IOL reported on Sunday, September 20.

The Grade 4 pupil was last seen while playing with her friends in the street not far from her home on September 1, at about 1.am. According to her 6-year-old friend who she was playing with at the time of her disappearance, Boipelo had been lured by a man to “look for change at the shops”.

Her disappearance prompted a huge search mission which lasted for twelve days. Police spokesman Brigadier Sam Makhele, said members of the community who had been assisting the police with the search went to investigate a bad smell coming from a shack near Boipelo's home on Saturday, September 12, after local children had raised an alarm

He said the kids had complained of the “bad smell from a shack not far from Biopelo’s home. They went to the shack and found it locked, forced entry and opened the wardrobe where the smell was coming from and found the body of Boipelo, then alerted the police," he said.

Neighbours attacked the owner of the shack when he arrived at the scene, according to him. He added that police officers who had attempted to step in were also attacked.

"Ultimately, they managed to take him out of this volatile situation, but was later declared dead by the emergency medical service.” he added.

A community leader, Morena Thebe, who confirmed the incident, said the young girl’s decomposing body was found three streets away from her home.

"What is even more puzzling was that Rasta was part of the search party that worked tirelessly to find Boipelo after her disappearance. He went up and down with us as we searched for her. I remember how we went into that very yard but didn’t check in the house or shack because nothing was suspicious,” said Thebe, adding that he believes Rasta was keeping tabs on their routes by attending their daily meetings.