17 March 2023
Stella Murders (2023)
Stella Murders investigates the deaths of best friends Sharnelle Hough (17) and Marna Engelbrecht (16) at their hostel at Stella High School in North West. On Saturday morning, 26 May 2018, Sharnelle was found hanged by the staircase and Marna was discovered in a bathroom, with both deaths initially looking like suicides.
The 90-minute documentary features interviews with Ronnie and Sonja Hough, Sharnelle’s parents; Stefaans, Rianet, and Riané Engelbrecht, Marna’s father, mother and sister; Captain Zagaries Human, the Stella South African Police Services station commander; Captain Markus Ferreira, the investigating officer; private investigator Chris Saunders; and Advocate Johan Smit, the state prosecutor, now retired. Also look out for Marizka Coetzer from Devilsdorp, who covered the Stella Murders case for Huisgenoot.
Home to just over 4 000 people, Stella is a small, quiet cattle-farming dorpie near Vryburg in North West. “In such a close-knit community, danger is expected to come from the outside,” says clinical psychologist Elmarie Claassens in the trailer. “But the thing about danger is: it doesn’t come exclusively from the outside.”
Stella Murders is a new true crime documentary from David Enright and IdeaCandy, the director and production company respectively behind the breakout hit Devilsdorp, one of Showmax’s ten most streamed titles of 2021, which sold internationally and won the 2022 SAFTA for Best Made for TV Documentary.
Devilsdorp: Murder, mayhem, Christianity and cults
Last Blue Ride: The Hannah Cornelius story
More addictive documentaries to stream
The best documentaries about our online lives
These thought-provoking HBO documentaries examine the ways we interact on the internet, and how it has infiltrated our daily lives.
HBO and HBO Max shows and documentaries to stream
Showmax is the home of the best HBO and HBO Max content in Africa – from The White Lotus to Barry, Game of Thrones and Peacemaker.
The best international documentaries on Showmax right now
Be informed and entertained by our pick of the top documentaries streaming right now – from Steve McQueen’s Uprising to HBO’s Allen v Farrow.
Eye-opening homegrown documentaries to stream
These unmissable South African shows and movies deliver surprising insights on the country we’re living in today.
Made in South Africa