“Her friends found it odd that she had not spent the night at the residence and that she was not in class. We immediately went to the Berea police station to open a missing person’s case, created posters and shared them on social media,” she said.

 

 
On March 25, the family received a call from a morning jogger who had seen the missing person posters. She told the family that a body fitting the description had been discovered at the beach. But since there was no form of identification on the body, police opened a case of an unknown deceased person at the Point police station.

“Prior to the woman calling us, a man from out of town had spotted the body when he was out to take sunrise photos. He then took photos of her and a video and went and alerted the authorities.

“Police never shared this information with us until the man came across our posters on social media and reached out to the family,” she said.

The man has also informed the family about a person who had walked up to him that morning and insisted that the floating object was a body.

“He found his reaction and insistence odd and we are now suspecting that he could be involved in her death or he is the perpetrator. The man from out of town is willing to come and assist us should we need him because he got a good look at the stranger who approached him.”

The family identified the body at the Phoenix mortuary and then traced Duma’s steps back to the bar. Video footage revealed that Duma had gotten into an altercation with a man inside the establishment and immediately got up to leave. The man followed her but after some time he returned alone.

“The outside footage from another company shows her leaving the establishment in the direction of Chicken Licken walking alone. We have no reason to suspect that the man she was with is involved in her disappearance, but the footage clearly shows that man assaulting her and pulling her hair outside the bar. As a family we will be pursuing assault charges against him,” she said.

Madela told the Sunday Tribune that although footage had been given to the police, it would not be used as evidence as it was no longer first hand.