The small North Western town of Stella has been rocked by the double murder of two teenage girls at the local school’s hostel last weekend, and it looks like the ex-boyfriend of one of the victims will be facing a trial for the crime.

According to a report by Times LIVE, 19-year-old Xander Bylsma [pictured above], who seems to have a penchant for guns and hunting animals if photos on his Facebook profile are anything to go by, has been arrested by the police after confessing to killing his ex-girlfriend Sharnelle Hough, aged 17, and her best friend Marna Engebrecht, aged 16 [both pictured below, left to right], at the Stella Hoërskool hostel.

Bylsma reportedly began sending threatening messages to the pair after Hough ended their year-long relationship a few weeks back.

At first, they were dismissed as harmless, but then the tragedy occurred:

It is believed [Bylsma] slipped into the Stella Hoërskool hostel in the early hours of the Saturday morning after drinking with friends and knocked out the two girls while they were sleeping. He then allegedly strangled both and made it look like a double suicide.

Sharnelle’s body, hanging from the staircase balustrade, was discovered the following morning by the hostel matron. Police later discovered the body of Marna in an upstairs bathroom. She is believed to have been Bylsma’s second cousin. A family friend said her jaw was broken.

The two had been alone in the hostel because the other boarders had gone home for the weekend. The matron had reportedly left a security gate open because the girls were expecting someone to drop off clothes for a trip out of town the following day.

Of course, members of the Stella community are still reeling from the double murder, with some saying that they are struggling to believe that Bylsma is a killer.

Says one resident:

[Bylsma] was always kind. He never talked back to anybody. He didn’t have many friends. He never swore or talked badly about other people.

But when Hough met someone else and broke it off with him, Bylsma “couldn’t accept it”, said one resident who reportedly knows the young hunter very well.

After the police discovered the girls’ bodies and arrived at the Bylsma farm in Louwna on the Saturday, the 19-year-old hunter allegedly ‘fessed up to the killings before taking them to the hostel to show them what he had done.

That’s incredibly bone-chilling.

On Friday, hundreds of people attended the double funeral at the local Dutch Reformed Church, letting off purple, pink and blue balloons while a drone took photos.

On the following Monday, Bylsma appeared in court and was remanded to August 6. Vryburg police spokesman Captain Kelebogile Moleko said the police were investigating only one suspect.

Here’s hoping the families of Hough and Engelbrecht find closure when the whole ordeal is over.

[source:timeslive]