His modus operandi consisted of picking up his victims on rainy nights, fatally strangling them in his car, and dumping their bodies in preselected locations.
However, no semen was found and there were no signs of forced penetration on any victim, perhaps meaning the perpetrator was sexually dysfunctional.
[3] After the killings were linked, prostitutes gave police their fingerprints and had their photographs taken so that they could be easily identified if they were murdered.
Most prostitutes alongside her were older and went home to care for their children, but van der Vint decided to stay out longer.
A few hours later, her body was discovered half-naked in the sand, concealed with branches, off a footpath near Macassar beach.
[4] One prostitute told a sergeant that one of her clients had a fantasy about putting Coke bottles into women's genitals.
He also drove a blue and white bakkie, which matched the description of a vehicle that had been seen close to where Samuels' body was found.
However, when he went to a hospital the day after Samuels' murder, doctors determined he suffered no symptoms of memory loss.
That day, he called the local police control room and threatened that once his bakkie was in working order again, more women would be killed.
A search of the suspect's bakkie revealed fingerprints of Katrina Seliston, the strangler's sixteenth victim.