He was the country’s most successful police detective.
When he retired in 2010, he had a 99 percent success rate in a career spanning almost 40 years.
Byleveld was best known for nabbing serial killers such as Moses Sithole, Cedric Maake and Lazarus Mazingane.
He also solved the murders of Leigh Matthews and Pretoria school girl Sheldean Human, but his detractors labelled him ‘the docket carrier’, suggesting he would take the solved dockets to court for the media while others did the real work.
He was honoured by the International Police Association, the FBI and Scotland Yard.