More than two years after six-year-old Joshlin Smith vanished from Saldanha, a yellow ribbon said to carry the child’s DNA has become the centre of a renewed search — and a prison visit left convicted mother Kelly Smith visibly shaken.
Search activist Reverend June Dolley-Major has revealed new evidence recovered from the Saldanha dunes after the court case ended. She is calling for the area to be searched again, for the items to undergo thorough forensic testing, and for police and members of the public to work together to find answers about the missing child.
Joshlin disappeared from her home in Middelpos shortly after 5pm on 19 February 2024. She was a Grade 1 learner at Diazville Primary School. At the time, she was only six years old and was known as a green-eyed little girl whose disappearance led to a huge search across Saldanha and surrounding areas.
Her mother, Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen ‘Boeta’ Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were arrested about a month later. On 2 May 2025, all three were convicted of kidnapping and trafficking in persons. On 29 May 2025, they were sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking, with an additional 10 years for kidnapping.
Kelly is being held at the Worcester Female Correctional Centre, while Appollis and van Rhyn are detained at Brandvlei Prison.
Kelly Still Says She Knows Nothing
Dolley-Major recently visited Kelly in prison after Kelly asked for prayer and communion. During the visit, Kelly reportedly maintained that she had no knowledge of what happened to Joshlin and said she hoped to appeal her sentence.
“She’s hoping to get an appeal”.
Dolley-Major added: “I have been to Kelly as recently as three weeks ago. Her story remains the same: ‘I know nothing’. I went there three weeks ago because she had asked for prayer and communion. I will not deny anyone communion. It was a spiritual visit three weeks ago,” Dolley-Major said.
The activist also said Kelly had told her that a private investigator had visited her. According to Dolley-Major, the investigator claimed that Appollis and van Rhyn had been fighting in prison, with van Rhyn allegedly saying he would not spend life in prison for something Appollis had done.
“She said the private investigator was by her, and he said Boeta and Steveno were fighting [in prison], and Steveno said he was not going to sit for life in prison for something Boeta did,” Dolley-Major said.
Kelly has also asked about her other children, although Dolley-Major does not believe she has seen them since being imprisoned.
“I don’t think she has seen them, but she does ask about them”.
The Moment Kelly Went Pale
One of the most striking moments came when Dolley-Major told Kelly about the yellow ribbon found in the dunes. The ribbon is believed to have belonged to Joshlin, whose school wore yellow ribbons. A bloodstain was visible on the item, and a small piece was tested for what was reported to be Joshlin’s DNA.
Dolley-Major said Kelly did not have access to information about the items found after the trial. She said Kelly regularly repeated the same claim that she had not sold her child and knew nothing about Joshlin’s disappearance.
“Remember, she doesn’t have access to what was found afterwards. She constantly says she doesn’t know anything. She never sold her child. She remembers things in parrot fashion. It’s word for word, verbatim,” Dolley-Major said.
The activist then told Kelly about the ribbon.
“So I mentioned the ribbon and that it was found. She got this twitch in her eye; her whole facial expression changed. She is fair, but she went pale-pale. She started shaking. Then I knew something was up. Then she said: ‘Maar Boeta het gesê sy het nie ‘n lint aan gehad nie’ (Boeta said she wasn’t wearing a ribbon). I told her I did not want to hear about Boeta, because you saw her,” Dolley-Major said.
The exchange has raised fresh questions because Kelly’s response referred to what Appollis had allegedly said about Joshlin’s clothing. During the trial, it also emerged that Kelly had seen Joshlin before the child disappeared.
Dolley-Major said Kelly first told her that she had never seen Joshlin. Moments later, she allegedly described the last memory she had of the little girl.
“She told me she never saw Joshlin. I kept quiet. Then, minutes later, she said she will never forget the last thing she remembers about Joshlin was when she and the little girl went there, and Joshlin said: ‘bye mommy’. I thought to myself, but you just told me you never saw her,” Dolley-Major explained.
New Items Found In The Dunes
The activist said members of the search team repeatedly returned to the dunes because several items connected to Joshlin, Kelly, Appollis and van Rhyn were found there. These included clothing, a jersey, a men’s T-shirt believed to belong to Appollis, a duvet cover, plastic bags, a piece of sponge or mattress material, rope, pants believed to belong to Kelly, and a wooden log said to have come from Kelly’s floorboard.
Some of the items appeared to have blood on them. Dolley-Major said the search team kept records showing when each item was found, who found it and who identified it. She stressed that not every item recovered from the dunes was claimed to belong to Joshlin.
Some objects were reportedly found below the surface, buried about knee-deep and covered by large concrete building blocks. A yellow ribbon was recovered shortly before the trial began in March 2025. A piece of sponge or mattress material found later was also said to have produced a positive result for Joshlin’s DNA during testing.
Three plastic bags were found among other items. Dolley-Major said two of them tested positive for Joshlin’s DNA and that the items also tested positive for blood. The material was later handed to police officers.
A piece of rope with what appeared to be blood splatter was found in the dunes on 26 February 2026 and was bagged as evidence before being handed to police. The search team also reported difficult conditions after industrial acid was allegedly poured over part of the site. The team members suffered severe headaches and vomiting, while some shoes were reportedly damaged by the substance.
A trained cadaver dog was brought to one area and went directly to an item that had been found. Dolley-Major wants the dunes searched again with proper equipment, including a machine to loosen the hard soil, a trained dog and advanced forensic testing.
Pressure Builds On The Convicted Trio
Dolley-Major believes the three convicted prisoners could eventually blame one another as pressure increases.
“I feel like they are going to turn on each other because it looks as if Kelly and Steveno are blaming Boeta. They must put pressure on them,” she said.
Kelly, meanwhile, is reportedly trying to prepare for life in prison. Dolley-Major said she wants to study education and hopes to continue her studies from behind bars. She has also taken up sewing and modelling in prison.
“She said she wants to study education. I told her adult education because she will not be able to work with children. She has also taken up sewing in prison and modelling,” Dolley-Major said.
But outside the prison walls, the search for Joshlin continues. Her family is still without the one answer that matters most: where she is and what happened to her after she disappeared.
The yellow ribbon, the reported DNA results and the items recovered from the dunes have placed renewed attention on the case. Whether the evidence leads to Joshlin will depend on careful testing, a complete search and answers from those who know what happened.
Until then, the little girl from Saldanha remains missing — and the dunes still hold questions that have not gone away.
