A retired cop who has been roped in to help find Joshlin Smith says he has found her “static DNA” in the Saldanha Bay area.
It has been more than two months since the six-year-old went missing from her Middelpos home in Diazville.
She was at home with her mother’s boyfriend Jacquin Appollis at the time of her disappearance.
Her mother Racquel Kelly Smith, 33, reported her missing the following day.
On Wednesday, activist Reverend June Dolley-Major revealed that retired police officer Danie Krugel “made a breakthrough in the case” after he used a special machine to detect Joshlin’s DNA.
Dolley-Major says: “We got a breakthrough. He’s got this machine that does different types of stuff, that is also used in cancer research but this can also detect a person by the hair.
“What he does is that if he gets the strand of someone’s hair, he can pick up where the DNA is anywhere in the world.
“I also have in my possession various letters from the police, in different places where they sent letters of thanks to Danie and they mentioned cases of rape, of kidnapping, missing children and adults where he actually found the person who was missing.
“Some were found alive while some were unfortunately deceased.
“Danie was trying to find hair samples of Joshlin to try and see if he could pinpoint exactly where Joshlin is.
"I was given his number, and we contacted each other. I found two elastic bands with Joshlin’s hair on it.
“And Danie received them, he is in Bloemfontein, he ran it from there and he picked up Joshlin’s DNA in Saldanha Bay and gave us the exact location, which I will reveal if the police don’t do anything in two weeks time.
“The DNA [of Joshlin] is static, it’s not moving. So we got a breakthrough.”
She adds: “He was able to pick up the younger sister of the missing girl.”
Dolley-Major said Krugel did all of this out of his own pocket.
Krugel invented the Matter Orientation System (aka Krugel Theory Tester), which he said could track down a person’s location by simply using their DNA based on intricate quantum entanglement mechanics.
Krugel said: “My work is to use the DNA of people to help to find them or link the DNA to evidence.
“We found Joshlin’s hair and we have our findings but we can only share it with the police.”
Krugel hit the global limelight a decade ago when, at the behest of her parents, he became involved in the case of Madeleine McCann, who was snatched from her bed in a holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007. Madeleine is still missing.
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The police say they couldn’t comment on the accuracy of Krugel’s machine.
Spokesman Captain FC van Wyk says: “This office cannot comment on the accuracy of the device quoted in the media enquiry.
“However, in the quest to find Joshlin Smith, all information received is followed up immediately by the investigation team irrespective of the source or methodology used to source the information.
“Investigations and search continues.”
Joshlin’s mom, Appollis, their friends Steveno van Rhyn and Lourentia Lombaard were arrested and charged with kidnapping and human trafficking.
The four are expected to appear in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court on 13 May.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za