Jessica Weyers murder: Links to Siam Lee ‘sensationalism’ – investigators

Durban mother and sex worker Jessica Weyers, whose mutilated body was discovered dumped at a sports ground in Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Monday 2 November, was a source for investigators working on the Siam Lee case in 2018, it has been suggested. 

Similarities between the murders of the two Durban women are unmistakeable. Both had been performing sex work prior to their deaths, and both were found with their bodies heavily mutilated. Weyers’ body was found with her throat severely cut and both her hands chopped off.

Reports that Emergency rescue service Mobi-Claw911, who were involved in the search for missing Siam Lee, had turned to Weyers to assist them with information about the dark underbelly of Durban’s prostitution rings – and that the pair had known each other – have been disputed by investigators though. 

Weyers ‘used as a source’ in Siam Lee investigation

Mobi-Claw911 posted on their Facebook account that while they could not provide much detail, they had indeed spoken to Weyers in 2018. At the time of the investigation, they had allocated the alias “Jane” to Weyers. 

“We met Jessica through our investigation in the Siam Lee murder case. We delved into the very dark side of Durban involving prostitution and drugs,” they said. “Jane was a working girl who became a very reliable source of information that lead us into this dark underworld.”

IOL claimed that a friend of Lee’s had met Weyers at Lees funeral, allegedly telling them that she recognised the 23-year-old’s face. 

“She worked in town. I met her at Siam’s funeral. This is all very sad. They were friends,” the woman is reported to have said.

Investigators slam conflated link  

But investigators looking into the Weyers case say that the link is merely an attempt at sensationalism. 

“It’s utter rubbish,” a source told The South African. “Reports that Weyers and Siam Lee were friends or worked together are pure sensationalism. I was at the [Lee] funeral and Weyers was not there.” 

He said that while it is quite possible that Mobi-Claw911 had spoken to Weyers while they combed the Durban beachfront for clues, they would have been well off-track in terms of finding those responsible for the killing, and that Weyers and Lee were involved in very different spheres of Durban’s sex work industry. 

He said that the suggestion that the deaths are in any way linked merely gives Lee’s deceased murderer, Philani Ntuli, “another platform”, and “once again makes the monster real and frightening”.

Police investigation ongoing  

Police have yet to provide an update into the Weyers case, but said last week that no suspects have been arrested and that the investigation is ongoing. 

Weyers was last seen leaving an apartment on Pickering Street, near South Beach, at 5.30pm on Sunday 1 November, and her mother was forced to identify her daughter after she had been found at the sports field.