A 60-year-old Richards Bay woman was found dead in her bathtub in what police are investigating as a murder linked to robbery.
Image: Supplied
The death of Sharon Uys has left a deep scar on a quiet Richards Bay neighbourhood — but for one man, the loss is far more personal, lingering in every corner of the home they once shared.
For Jan Johannes Page, grief is not something that comes in waves. It sits with him, constant and heavy, in the silence left behind.
Uys, 60, was found dead in her Veld en Vlei home on April 27, her body discovered in a bathtub in what police believe may be a robbery linked to murder. Authorities have since launched a manhunt for a 42-year-old man believed to have been in a romantic relationship with her.
But beyond the investigation, beyond the missing belongings and stolen vehicles, is a story of friendship, trust — and a loss that is still too raw to fully understand.
Page, who lived in a flatlet on Uys’ property, says the reality of what happened is only now beginning to sink in.
“I thought I could cope,” he said quietly. “But walking there now… it’s very sad. I miss my friend.”
In the days before her death, something didn’t feel right. Uys, he said, was a creature of habit — especially when it came to the cats she adored.
“She would never just leave without telling me to feed them,” he recalled. “Never.”
So when a message arrived, supposedly from her, saying she had gone to see a police officer friend, it only deepened his unease. Then came the silence.
That was when instinct took over.
“I had a horrible feeling in my stomach,” he said. “I knew something was wrong.”
What followed is something he cannot unsee.
Walking through the property, he noticed items missing — small signs that something was not right. Then he looked through the bathroom window.
“At first, I hoped it was just washing in the bath,” he said. “But it wasn’t.”
Inside lay Uys’ lifeless body.
Now, Page is left not just with grief, but with questions that echo endlessly in his mind.
“What were her last thoughts?” he asked. “Did she call my name? Did she ask for help?”
There are no answers. Only silence.
To him, Uys was more than a landlord or a friend. She was family — a steady, caring presence in his life.
“She was like a mother, like a sister,” he said.
Known in the community for her warmth and kindness, Uys lived a simple life. She loved her cats, her home, and the rumble of motorcycles — a passion tied to her late husband and the biking community that would later honour her.
But Page believes it was that same kindness that may have made her vulnerable.
Months before her death, she had opened her home to a man he says she trusted.
“I warned her,” he said. “I told her something didn’t feel right. But she believed in people.”
Over time, the man became part of her life — living in her home, relying on her generosity. But in her final weeks, Page says something changed.
“She started crying,” he said softly. “I had never seen her like that before.”
Now, the house that once carried laughter and life feels hollow.
Over the weekend, that silence was broken — if only briefly — as friends, neighbours and members of the biking community came together to remember her.
Engines roared as riders passed her home in tribute, a final farewell to a woman who had touched so many lives.
For Page, it was a moment of both comfort and pain.
Because when the engines faded, the quiet returned.
And with it, the memories.
DAILY NEWS