Free State police are trying to establish whether a display sword was used to kill an elderly farmer, whose stab-wound-riddled body was found in the passage of his farmhouse over the weekend.
Klaus Meier, 81, who lived on a farm in Ladybrand, was last seen alive around 17:00 on Friday, Captain Phumelelo Dhlamini said.
"His body was discovered by his wife [on] Sunday morning when she went home," he said.
The family dog had also been stabbed multiple times, but it was not immediately clear whether it survived.
Dhlamini said they found a display sword in the home.
However, they have not yet established whether it was the murder weapon.