The sister of a missing 16-year-old girl issued a desperate plea to find her hours before a teenager’s badly decomposed body was found in a barrel on the back of an abandoned truck.
A massive man hunt is underway for a suspected murderer who fled from a property at Buccan, south of Brisbane, when police arrived on Wednesday to investigate the disappearance of Larissa Beilby.
The man escaped in a black ute with a barrel loaded on to the tray. Police tracked the vehicle to a mobile home park at Stapylton, 20 minutes away, where officers found the body inside the barrel.
Before the grim discovery, a Facebook post by Larissa’s sister Deanna, 20, showed a picture of the missing teenager with the caption: ‘The girl pictured is my 16-year-old sister.
‘She hasn’t been on social media for a week which is very weird for her, no-one has seen her since 15th of June. If you have ANY information please inbox me as it may help. I just want my baby sister found safe and alive.’
The sister of a missing 16-year-old Larissa Beilby (left and right) issued a desperate plea to find her moments before a teenager’s body was found in a barrel on the back of a truck
The badly decomposed body of a teenager was found in the back of this black utility truck
A Facebook post by Larissa’s sister Deanna, 20, showed a picture of the missing teenager with the caption: ‘The girl pictured is my 16-year-old sister’
It is understood police know the identity of the victim found in the barrel, but are yet to release a name.
Just before 9am on Thursday, Larissa’s sister commented on a social media post: ‘We have not been told anything.’
Police believe the man who fled in the ute is now driving a silver Holden Commodore with the registration 966WKB. One witness has said several men fled in that vehicle.
Members of the public have been warned not to approach the man, but police have not confirmed reports he is armed.
A shed is seen behind a house in the suburb of Buccan, where police say a man fled from on Wednesday
Police tape is seen at the house in Buccan, south of Brisbane, on Thursday morning
Police believe the suspect in now driving a silver Holden Commodore sedan, registration 966 WKB
Detective Acting Superintendent Mark White said the man who fled was at the centre of the murder investigation, but it’s possible other people were involved.
‘It’s hard to say whether we’re looking at one person, or more persons,’ he said.
A woman who lives near where the ute was abandoned at the mobile home park told the ABC that several men fled in the silver Commodore.
‘One of our neighbours, he’s seen the car parked up there and he went to go and close the door. That’s when he noticed there was gunshot shells and knuckle busters (sic) inside the vehicle,’ the woman, identified only as Sharon, said.
Detectives’ hunt for the teenager took them to a house on Grassdale street, Buccan, south of Brisbane at 1.30pm on Wednesday. A body was later found on the back of a ute in Stapylton
Police tracked a truck 15km east to a gated community in Silly Oak Cresent, Stapylton where they found it abandoned with the tray covered by tarpaulin. Pictured, the Buccan property
‘So he rang the cops straight away because he’d actually touched the vehicle.’
Police have doorknocked people at the mobile home park.
Chris Anthony saw the damaged ute parked strangely at the property.
‘The car was just there. I didn’t know there was a body in there,’ he told the Seven network.
A shed containing cars is seen behind the house in the Brisbane suburb of Buccan is pictured on Thursday
This is the teenage girl that police were searching for before they found a body in a barrel on the back of truck at a mobile home park. The body has not been identified
‘The car was pretty smashed up, the glass was broken. It was pretty bad.’
Resident Damien Smith has told the Gold Coast Bulletin the ute had ‘like a burnt bonnet on it or something wrong with the front end’.
‘It was strange. Then all the police turn up and we’re thinking, what’ s going on here? We don’t normally find dead bodies here. There’s only three or four houses here on the street.’
Forensic officers are now examining the remains in an ‘intensive process’ to identify the victim which could take two days.
THE DESPERATE SEARCH FOR MISSING SCHOOLGIRL LARISSA BEILBY: A TIMELINE
Larissa Beilby (pictured) has been missing since June 15. Police found a body, which has not yet been identified, in the back of a truck on Wednesday
June 15: Larissa Beilby is last seen at a home in Sandgate in Brisbane’s north.
June 27 – 1.30pm: The desperate search for the 16-year-old leads police to a house in Buccan, south of Brisbane.
As detectives arrive, a man escapes through the back door and speeds away in a black truck.
Approximately 2pm: The vehicle is tracked 15km east to a gated community in Stapylton, where police found it abandoned, the tray covered by tarpaulin.
They discovered a barrel containing what is thought to be the body of a teenage girl – but it has not been identified.
6.30pm: Police issue a statement saying they believe the man driving the black ute switched cars and fled in a silver Holden Commodore sedan.
June 28: The manhunt continues. Just before 9am, Larissa’s sister Deanna comments: ‘We have not been told anything.’
One witness at the gated community said police (pictured at the scene) arrived with dogs and helicopters when they searched the truck
Police appealed for information on the teenager (pictured) on Tuesday. Detectives said she was last seen at an address on Kempster Road