WILLIE and Julie le Roux, the couple found murdered in their home on Monday, moved to Plettenberg Bay for a more peaceful life, their family said yesterday.

They will be buried from the Reformed Church next Wednesday afternoon.

Monica Roux said her sister Julie, 50, and brother-in-law Willie, 53, had moved to Plett from Potchefstroom in 1998.

“They moved to Plett for the promise of a life in paradise and for the peaceful lifestyle. They lived there for 10 years and they were happy, but now this has happened.”

She described the couple, who married in 1980 and did not have children, as the “most wonderful people” who were filled with compassion for their fellow man and who loved animals. “Julie was always one to rescue a stray dog. Whatever dog was abused, she’d go to great lengths to rescue it and take care of it.”

Julie, who started her career as an Afrikaans teacher at the Botoka and Tlokwe high schools in Potchefstroom, taught part-time at Wittedrift High in Plett.

“Julie was an excellent creative writer; she wrote about her own life. I really wish we can get her laptop back because her whole mind was contained in the stories she wrote on her computer,” Roux said.

Willie was a quantity surveyor before moving to Plett, where he joined his brother in their own business, BK Constructions.

“Julie and Willie did not have a lot of money but they were building chalets on their property a bit at a time. They wanted to make provision for the rest of us to join them in Plettenberg Bay, especially my 80- year-old mother. They wanted to create something beautiful for her.”

Roux said the family had been shocked by the murders.

“We still can’t believe what happened. These are the things we read about, the things we write about, but now it’s happened to us,” said Roux, a former crime reporter.

Willie’s brother, Hennie, said the people of Plett had been wonderful to the family, transporting them to and from the airport in George and opening their doors to family in their time of need.

Willie is survived by his mother, Hetti, Hennie and another brother, Bennie, while Julie is survived by her mother, Kintie, brothers Niel and Viljoen Roux, as well as Monica and another sister, Marthi Klynveld. She was also the godmother of Paul Siebert.

Southern Cape police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie said forensics experts had completed their work at the house but were still examining the couple’s stolen car. He said post-mortem examinations had been conducted but a report was still pending.

On Tuesday, police offered a substantial reward for information leading to the successful conviction of the killers.

Police discovered the couple on Monday after finding their car abandoned at the old community college outside KwaNokuthula in Plettenberg Bay.

Both had been tied up and shot in the head. Two laptop computers, two cellphones and a .38 Special revolver had been stolen. Oddly the house had not been ransacked. Other valuables, including a shotgun, had been left untouched.