A South African mother of three was stabbed 21 times and had her eyes gouged out in a home invasion robbery that police said was the grisliest crime they’d ever seen, according to published reports.

The nude body of Tanya Wiers, 45, was discovered inside her daughter’s bedroom in Polokwane, about 150 miles north of Pretoria, after her teenage son, Rolf, had returned home from school Feb. 9, the Bosveld Review reported.

She had suffered stab wounds to her neck and under her chin and her eyes had been cut out with a knife, the newspaper said. She also had numerous defensive wounds.

“I went into the house, thinking she might have died from a heart attack. What I saw was like something out of a horror movie,” a family friend later told Bosveld Review.

“She was lying in her youngest daughter’s room covered by a duvet beside the bed. It was clear that there had been a struggle as the bed was not where it used to be in the room,” said the friend, who requested anonymity.

“Tanya’s clothing was lying in front of the closet in her and her husband’s room. The closet doors were still open and it is evident someone had searched through,” the friend said.

One of the suspects, Frans Maela, 25, was arrested later that day and charged with her murder after police found Wiers’ stolen property in his possession. It was unclear what he had taken.

More arrests were expected in the coming days.

“This is the most gruesome thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t think that there will ever be anything worse. It was evident that the victim put up the fight of her life, there was so much blood and her defensive wounds tell their own horrifying story,” a police spokesperson, Brig. Motlafela Mojapelo, told Bosveld Review.

A memorial service for Wiers will be held on Tuesday at AFM Terberna Dei Mother Campus Polokwane.