The Pretoria Railway Killer: Satan, DNA & Serial Murder

Become a Channel Member:    / @profilerafrica   and help us keep this platform independent. Buy us a Coffee: coff.ee/profiler Join our Patreon: patreon.com/profilerafrica This week on Profiler Africa, South Africa's leading forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne unpacks one of Pretoria’s most disturbing serial murder cases — the case of Themba Vilakazi, known as the Railway Killer. Between July and November 2005, three males — including a schoolboy — were brutally murdered along Pretoria’s railway lines and open spaces near the zoo. Victims were stabbed in the chest or neck, often left partially unclothed, and abandoned along the rail corridor. Years later, a 2012 rape case finally linked Vilakazi to the murders through DNA. In this episode: • The Crimes: How three murders spanning just months terrorised Pretoria, culminating in the killing of an 11-year-old schoolboy. • The Modus Operandi: Vilakazi’s pattern of targeting strangers near railway lines, stabbing to the chest/neck, and leaving bodies exposed. • The Satanist Defence: Why Vilakazi claimed voices from the “underworld” ordered the killings, and how the court exposed it as malingering. • The DNA Link: How a later rape arrest cracked open the unsolved murders and sealed his fate. • Sentencing: Why Brigadier Labuschagne told the court Vilakazi was a serial murderer who could never be rehabilitated — and why he ultimately received life plus two 18-year terms. This is a chilling case that blends delusion, manipulation, and cold-blooded violence — and a reminder of how DNA, profiling, and police persistence finally caught the Railway Killer. 🎧 Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 📩 Questions or sponsorships: profilerafricainfo@gmail.com 🌍 Website: plotshift.co.za #ProfilerAfrica #SouthAfricanSerial #RailwayKiller #ThembaVilakazi #GerardLabuschagne #TrueCrime #Pretoria #SAPS #ForensicPsychology #JusticeForVictims #DNAEvidence #CriminalProfiling #TrueCrimeSouthAfrica #CrimeDocumentary #PlotShiftCrime