The search for Siam Lee, the 20-year-old Durban woman who went missing on January 4, has ended in a gruesome discovery.

Her badly burnt body was found in a sugarcane field in New Hanover, KwaZulu-Natal, by a farmer, who was on a fishing trip with his grandson at the time.

The man was struggling to come to terms with what he saw, speaking anonymously to Times LIVE:

The scorched patch of earth where she was found still bears ruts from where her body had been dragged from the dirt road. Two stalks of sugarcane had been broken under her weight before she was set ablaze…

The elderly farmer who found her…said that he had first noticed a patch of charred cane on a secluded district road near New Hanover.

“I was in the military and I saw some terrible things but what we found that day really shocked me‚” he said…

The farmer said that the smell of petrol was pervasive‚ something he assumed had been used to ignite the fire. Had it not been for drizzle during the night that her body was dragged into the sugarcane‚ the entire field would most likely have burnt.

“They must have dumped her there at night‚” he said.

[Her disappearance] has exposed a secret brothel in a posh Durban neighbourhood.

Pictures of a topless Siam and her mother, Carmen Nan Lee, in lingerie have surfaced following her disappearance last Thursday.

The Crawford College matriculant was last seen 10 days ago outside a Durban North house, barefoot and in a summer dress. Initial appeals by her family described an “abduction” from the house by a spurned lover…

But central to the police investigation of her murder is a six-bedroom house on Margaret Maytom Avenue, close to a prominent high school. The house is believed to be a brothel.

Attempting to piece together Siam’s final hours, police and a team of private investigators made a tour of the city’s sex houses.

They established that Siam and her mother allegedly performed “sensual massages” in a room of the house.

Police sources confirmed that Carmen was taken in for questioning on Friday. She was not detained or charged.

Siam featured in an advert on an adult website, redvelvet.co.za, a portal which claims to make all manner of “fantasies come true”.

“Make all your fantasies come true with our very gorgeous and ready to please escorts and modles [sic] in South Africa. Redvelvet escorts give you the best in adult entertainment,” it reads.

Anyone with information can contact Durban North’s Captain Raymond Deokaran on 083 632 2849 or 031 560 8004.

They can also contact Crime Stop at 0860 010 111.

[sources:timeslive&timeslive]