On April 4, 1998, South African alleged serial killer Nicholas Lungisa Ncama escaped from police custody. Nick, age 29, was arrested in November, 1997, after a three-month police hunt in connection with several murders around Port Elizabeth. Ncama is alleged to have murdered 15-year-old Sonia Zanto of KwaMagxaki, whose semi-naked body was found in an empty room in KwaZakhele in October.
His second alleged victim -- killed in September -- was the wife of a Port Elizabeth Methodist minister, Cynthia Ndlaku. Ncama has also been linked to the deaths of provincial legislature secretary Nompumelelo Mpushe, whose body was found near Fort Jackson; Prasella Dayal (41) and her 5-year-old daughter Rishmi, both of East London, and a policewoman, Constable Gloria Ngcizela, whose body was found at a bus stop at Empa near Umtata in May.