Father of Queensland schoolgirl who vanished from Blue Mountains vows to ‘get answers’ after death

The ‘shattered’ biological father of a schoolgirl allegedly murdered and dumped in a barrel on the side of a river has vowed to ‘get answers’ about her tragic death.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, shared a withering tribute on Wednesday morning, hours after learning his daughter’s body was found a week after she vanished from a property in Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains.

‘Goodbye beautiful girl… We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,’ he said.

‘You have captured the hearts of the nation and the world, and now those hearts are breaking with mine.’

Shocking new details emerged about the girl’s death on Wednesday after sources told Daily Mail Australia distressed police found her body inside a barrel in scrubland near the Colo River.

The ‘shattered’ biological father of a schoolgirl allegedly murdered and dumped in a barrel on the side of a river has vowed to ‘get answers’ about her tragic death in a tribute posted alongside this photo

Daily Mail Australia can reveal shocking new details about the nine-year-old girl’s alleged murder as a 32-year-old man prepares to face a Sydney court on Wednesday morning 

The grisly discovery was made about an hour from where she vanished.   

The young girl usually lives with her grandmother in Coolangatta near the Gold Coast but was staying with her mother and stepdad over the school holidays.

She attends a local primary school south of the border, where she’s known as a spritely and cheerful student. 

Just weeks before she vanished, the little girl won a literacy award at the end-of-year celebrations at her school. 

Her father vowed this ‘would not be the end of [her] or [her] story’ in his statement on Wednesday.

‘This doesn’t happen. Kids need to be safe. What is wrong with people?’ 

Police had already scoured the Colo and Hawkesbury Rivers after information that a boat was used in the hours after she vanished, but returned to the scene following new information on Tuesday

The 32-year-old man was arrested at an apartment in Surry Hills on Tuesday night. He will face court on Wednesday

A 32-year-old man was arrested in a Surry Hills unit about 8.30pm on Tuesday night and charged with murder.

He will face Central Local Court on Wednesday morning. Neither he nor the girl can be identified for legal reasons.

It’s understood the accused was allegedly trying to get the barrel to the river, but couldn’t drag it through the dense bushland and abandoned it in the scrubs.  

The victim, who was holidaying with her mother and the mother’s fiancé, went missing from a multimillion dollar property in Mount Wilson on Thursday afternoon.

She wasn’t reported missing until 8.20am the next morning.

Police had already scoured the Colo and Hawkesbury Rivers after information that a boat was used in the hours after she vanished.   

Police made the grisly discovery near the Colo River in Sydney’s west on Tuesday night. A child’s remains, which are yet to be identified, were found in a barrel on the riverbed

NSW Police also carried out a search at Colo River, about an hour from the Blue Mountains but it’s unclear what they were looking for and if anything was found

Police told volunteers that the little girl would likely be exhausted lying still if she was lost in the bush

Her grandmother shared a sweet photo just two weeks ago on January 5. With the ocean as a backdrop, the nine-year-old leaned back and kissed her beaming grandmother on the cheek.

Five days later, after the girl had already made the trip to NSW to see her mother, the grandmother confessed to a friend she was ‘struggling’. 

‘A bit of silly business was needed to lift the mood,’ she said alongside a photo of herself using a comedic Snapchat filter. 

‘Struggling a bit to be quite honest.’  

Earlier this week police seized a vehicle and boat as part of the investigation. 

A man has been charged with murder after a nine-year-old girl disappeared in the Blue Mountains. Emergency crews are seen in Colo River near the Blue Mountains