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Three of the homeless victims of the so-called "nocturnal prowler" in Muckleneuk, Pretoria have been identified.
Police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo confirmed to News24 that the identities of three of the five victims, whose bodies were found in different parts of Muckleneuk since the beginning of June, were known to police.
"Unfortunately, we cannot release their names because of the sensitivity of the case and we don't want to jeopardise the investigation," Masondo said.
"What we can confirm is that we are in the process of locating their families."
"Anyone who has information that can assist in the investigation can call the Crime Stop number, which is 08600 10111."
READ: Homeless killings: Night crawler a balaclava-wearing lone wolf
He added that no arrests have been made and that the investigation was ongoing.
News24 previously reported that while police have not said whether the spate of murders was the work of a serial killer, they have called the killer the "nocturnal prowler".
According to police, the first body was found on June 1, in a veld near the Mears Park train station. Two more bodies were found in Magnolia Park on June 8 and 9.
A fourth body was found on a pavement on the corner of Justice Mohammed and Troye streets on June 18.
A fifth body was found on June 19, at a bus stop near Unisa's main campus.
Police have also confirmed that the five victims were homeless, middle-aged males. They were all killed at night.
News24 understands that all of the victims were either stabbed, suffered blunt force trauma or both.
However, post-mortems conducted by the task team will conclusively identify the cause of death in each case.
