The family of a teenager said they had been hoping she would come back home.

But on Monday when several cops arrived at their house asking them to go and identify a girl at a mortuary, they started panicking.

The family of Xolile Mdletshe (15) from C section, KwaMashu, north of Durban, said that was when it hit them that something had happened to Xolile.Xolile’s uncle Ntokozo Ndlovu (25) said the cops asked for an adult who would go to the mortuary because they believed that one of the two bodies found in P section, KwaMashu, was Xolile.

“My brother went with them. Later he called us and told us that indeed the body is Xolile. This shocked us as we never thought she would die so soon,” he said.

He said Xolile was a grade 8 pupil at Nhlakaniphi High School.He said Xolile and her friend Erin King (18) from Newlands, who was found dead with Xolile, were close friends since the beginning of this year.

“She grew up as a Christian child who had given her life to God.Then when she started high school this year she changed. She met friends in Siyanda and started partying a lot. She would be away from home for about two or three days.

“We tried to punish her a lot. But we had decided to stop as we had hope that she would realise what she was doing was wrong,” he said.

Xolile’s aunt Philile Ndlovu (28) said Xolile left home on 25 September.

“It was a Friday and she left like how she normally did. When she didn’t come back home we did not bother to look for her as we knew that she would come back,” she said.

She said when they heard that there were two girls that were found they asked some of her friends and they told them that they had seen Xolile in Siyanda.

“Then we didn’t worry. We trusted what the friends told us. But the family of the girl she was found with, found out that the dead girls might be Xolile and her friend. So they went to the mortuary and identified their daughter and then told cops to come to us as well,” she said.She said they are still in shock and don’t know why the girls were killed and by whom. Their lifeless bodies were found by a driving school instructor.

KZN cops spokesman Brigadier Jay Naicker said following an exhaustive investigation, detectives were able to locate the relatives of the deceased.

“The deceased had not been reported missing, as their families were unaware of their whereabouts,” said Naicker.

He said the case is still under investigation.

“Anyone with information that can assist detectives in locating the perpetrators is urged to contact Brigadier Khumalo on 082 556 8642 or Captain Dawood on 082 556 8409 or Crime Stop on 08600 10111,” said Naicker.