She appears in my dreams’: A daughter’s quest to find her missing mother
Cecilia Lottering was last seen leaving her Wesbank home in September 2023.
Image: supplied
A Cape Town woman says her mother, who vanished almost three years ago, visits her in her dreams, telling her she is with her deceased father, as she and her family continue to search for answers regarding her disappearance.
Alicia Muller has been haunted by fears of what could have happened to her mother Cecelia Lottering, who was 56 at the time she vanished without a trace from her Wesbank home in the early hours of September 9, 2023.
According to Muller, her mom left her home between 1 and 2 am in the morning after returning home from a visit at a friend’s home.
Muller says her sister last saw their mother walking down the road with a man and thought she might be on her way to buy beer, but she never returned home.
Muller said that they have not received any feedback on her mother’s whereabouts these past three years.
“At the time when my mother disappeared, the load shedding was still very bad. I was at work, doing inslaap werk (home care), at the time when my sister informed me that my mother never came home, she said.
“We posted on community groups, hoping that someone saw something, but until now, there is still no information. They found a decomposed body close to Wesbank in January, and we did DNA tests, so we are waiting on the results, but we are praying and trusting God that we get feedback on whether my mother is alive or not.
“Sometimes when we get news of a body, we would contact the hospitals or mortuary, but then the DNA tests come back negative. It is emotional to go through this, especially when it is the holiday season or her favourite song starts playing, then the emotions get bad, and I start crying.
“My mother will be 59 years old in April. She never left her home unless she went shopping in Bellville or Kuils River, or we would fetch her to come visit us,“ Muller said.
She said that her mother appears to her in dreams with deceased loved ones.
“We are hopeful and said we will wait till the fifth-year mark to do something like a memorial, but not now.
“She appears to me in my dreams and says she is with my deceased dad. Every time she appears in my dreams, she appears with people who have died.
“We do not have confirmation yet, but it would be such a relief if we could at least find her body and give her a dignified funeral, but not knowing where she is and if she is alive or not is taking a toll on us.
“We want anyone to come forward with any sort of information because I can’t believe that she just disappeared, and no one saw anything.”
Regarding the case of Lottering’s disappearance, police spokesperson Thembakazi Mpendukana said: “The mentioned missing person hasn’t been found yet, investigation is still in progress.”
Anyone with information that might help with the investigation is kindly requested to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111, alternatively, utilise the MySAPS App.