Student Inge Lotz has been dead for three years, but the mystery of who killed her is still tearing two families apart.

Now a former top cop-turned-private detective has vowed to capture the killer and bring closure to the families of Lotz and her boyfriend, Fred van der Vyver, who was acquitted of her murder.

Niel van Heerden, who runs the Western Cape franchise of a firm of private investigators , told The Times yesterday: “I believe we can resolve the case. We’ve got some leads. I told the police about them two years ago, but they didn’t follow them up.”

Van Heerden, who is undertaking the investigation at his own cost, would not elaborate on the direction it would take. He said it did not matter that three years had elapsed since the murder of the Stellenbosch student

“Let’s get the murderer so the Lotz family can have peace in their hearts,” he said.

Lotz’s parents, Jan and Juanita, last week brought a civil action against Van der Vyver, who was acquitted of the murder in November last year after a marathon criminal trial.

They are claiming R8-million damages for shock and mental trauma.

The Van der Vyver family is claiming R17-million from the minister of safety and security for the wrongful arrest of Fred.

The Lotzes hired Van Heerden to find the killer shortly after their daughter was bludgeoned and stabbed to death. He quickly ruled out Van der Vyver as a suspect, but the police continued to insist that the boyfriend was the murderer.

The judge in the criminal trial, Deon van Zyl, criticised the police investigation for being shoddy, and he dismissed as worthless the evidence against Van der Vyver.

Van Heerden said the Van der Vyvers welcomed his re-opening of the investigation.