Michael Foltin

Michael Foltin (1952 – 2013)

Brief overview:

Michael (61), and his wife, Heidi (59), were shot dead on their orchard farm in Groblersdal on 7th October 2013.

Originally from Germany, the couple farmed fruit and flowers. Michael made a phone call, at 07h15, on 7th October 2013, to his friend, Thierry Smeets in Germany. "Call the police," he hears Michael say on the other end of the line. "Big sh*t is brewing here!" Then the conversation breaks off. "I called back immediately," Smeets told BILD. "Michael didn't answer. So I called the police.” 40 minutes later, a policeman calls him from the farm house. "I'm sorry. Your friends are dead. The man shot his wife. " "Impossible," Smeets says to BILD. "Michael was a pacifist. He never owned a weapon that big. And he never, never would have shot his Heidi."

Neighbour, Mr Stoffberg, also received a frantic call from Michael.

The police ruled the murders - a 'murder, suicide'. The police did not record any evidence and did not brush for fingerprints. The SAPS were also not interested in the final phone call Michael had made to his friend Thierry Smeets.

Steffen Foltin, the couple's son, flew to South Africa and detected further irregularities. These are his findings:

“The chief of the Groblersdal Police Department of crime investigation told me my father was a left hander. My father was right handed.”

“The .357 Magnum gun is registered to a guy with a criminal record in Johannesburg, but the police did not question him.”

“Blood spots were found outside the house”, said Steffen. “My father’s body also had injuries. He had a blackened eye and there were other punch marks”.

Steffan also reported that his parents had experienced “trouble with the black neighbours and the landlord’, who wanted to chase Michael of his land.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• http://archive.fo/DWh8n
• http://archive.fo/vs69k
• https://www.bild.de/news/ausland/mord/ehe-paar-in-sued-afrika-ersch...
• https://archive.is/KaTTx