Missing Woman Alex Van Heerden Found Safe After Kidnapping Caught on CCTV in Johannesburg

• Alex van Heerden, 26, was abducted by at least three men outside her home in Northcliff, Johannesburg
• The kidnapping was caught on video as she stepped out of an Uber after a night out in Rosebank
• Specialised Security Services confirmed she was found safe on 6 August 2026 after the public's rapid response

GAUTENG - A 26-year-old Johannesburg attorney was snatched from outside her own front gate in what police and private security described as a brazen kidnapping caught on camera.

Alex van Heerden was last seen at 18:57 on Wednesday, 5 August 2026, leaving News Cafe in Rosebank and boarding an Uber to her home at 123 Mimosa Road, Northcliff. The moment she stepped out of the vehicle at her gate, at least three unidentified men forced her into a white Renault hatchback and drove away. The entire incident was captured on video footage.

Read also

Soweto man arrested for faking his own kidnapping to extort R100k from family

The Uber driver, who witnessed the abduction, immediately drove to the nearest police station to report what had happened.

Public response helped bring Alex home

Specialised Security Services (SSS), led by Mike Bolhuis, coordinated the public appeal and confirmed on 6 August 2026 that Van Heerden had been found safe. In their statement, SSS credited the rapid sharing of information by the public as playing a crucial role in her recovery.

Reports say she was found in Vosloorus however no further details about the circumstances of how she was found, or whether any suspects had been apprehended, had been made public at the time. SSS indicated that further information would be released once the investigation was complete.

The incident drew widespread alarm, not only because of the violence of the abduction, but because of where it happened: at Van Heerden's own front door, in a residential street, in the early evening.

See post here:

Police trace missing teen's vehicle

In related news, police have traced the vehicle believed to have been central to 17-year-old Sarah Rose Starrett's disappearance, with the search now extending beyond Western Cape into KwaZulu-Natal. Sarah was last seen in Blanco, George, on 19 July after a scheduled visit with her biological mother. She failed to return to her foster home, where she had lived for the past five years, by the agreed 16:00 deadline. Police have since confirmed she was not abducted from the foster home. Sarah went missing in the same month as a 22 year-old woman who was last seen in KwaZulu-Natal.

Read also

CCTV footage shows missing woman Alex Van Heerden being abducted outside Johannesburg home

8-year-old missing boy found safe

Briefly News also reported that an eight-year-old boy from Nyanga spent 48 hours was locked inside a school classroom after going missing on a Friday afternoon. He was found alive on Sunday at Hleliisa Primary School in Cape Town, bringing a frantic two-day search to a relieved close. The search began after the boy's foster parent reported him missing to Nyanga police when he failed to return home from school. SAPS and the Hope Missing Persons Unit immediately began searching, with investigators and volunteers walking the streets and following up on possible sightings throughout Friday night and into Sunday morning.

Source: Briefly News