Woman says she saw a ‘dead arm’ hanging from ute before teenage girl’s body was found in Stapylton

Chilling footage has emerged showing the dramatic moment a tattooed armed suspect speeds and swerves through traffic with a body in the back of his ute.  

A dashcam captured the black utility truck at about lunchtime on Wednesday on Brisbane’s M1 motorway, with a tarp covering a barrel in the back of the vehicle.

Detectives are hunting Zlatko Sikorsky, 34, who they believe may be able to assist them with their investigations, after the body of a teenage girl was found stuffed inside a barrel in the back of a truck abandoned at a housing estate at Stapylton, south of Brisbane, on Wednesday. 

Officers were searching for missing 16-year-old Larissa Beilby when they made the grim discovery.

Police are hunting Zlatko Sikorsky to assist with their inquiries after the body of a teenage girl was found in a ute south of Brisbane. A woman said a ‘big white dude’ offered her $2,000 to let him inside her home before she saw a ‘dead arm’ hanging from the back of his truck

Dashcam footage has captured the moment the black utility ute was seen swerving down the M1 motorway in Brisbane with a barrel in the back 

Dashcam footage has captured the moment the black utility ute was seen swerving down the M1 motorway in Brisbane with a barrel in the back 

Police were investigating the disappearance of 16-year-old Larissa Beilby (left and right) when they made the grisly discovery

Police were investigating the disappearance of 16-year-old Larissa Beilby (left and right) when they made the grisly discovery

The man who owns the car which captured the dashcam footage said the utility vehicle was ‘flying’ down the motorway just before 1.50pm.

‘I was doing 110km/h and he flew past, I reckon at least 150km/h,’ the man, who did not want to be named, told Seven News.  

‘It was bizarre, he was just flying, weaving through traffic and then took off down the Stapylton exit.’

The man said he did not realise at the time the vehicle had a badly decomposing body in the back.  

‘That’s just insane thinking about it – scary really,’ he said.   

The Courier-Mail reported that Larissa was in a relationship with Sikorsky and she had been living in a Brisbane halfway house.     

Sikorsky was sentenced to five years in jail in September 2016 after pleading guilty to 14 offences.

He was eligible for parole the month after having already spent 596 days in custody, which counted as time served.  

His criminal rap sheet included the offences of robbery and extortion.   

The driver of the vehicle who captured the dashcam footage said the black ute was 'flying' down the motorway 

The driver of the vehicle who captured the dashcam footage said the black ute was ‘flying’ down the motorway 

The badly decomposed body of a teenager was found in the back of this black utility truck

The badly decomposed body of a teenager was found in the back of this black utility truck

A year earlier, Sikorsky was in court for charges including assault occasioning bodily harm in company, robbery with violence, deprivation of liberty and possessing tainted property, The Age reported.

And two years prior to that, in 2013, he was sentenced to under a year in jail for more than 60 offences including disqualified driving, possessing dangerous drugs and entering a property to commit an indictable offence. 

Sikorsky was found guilty in 2012 of offences including possessing unlawful explosives, unlawful weapon possession and possessing drug utensils. 

In 2010, he was disqualified from driving for a month and fined after he was caught behind the wheel of a vehicle without a licence.   

A woman has also relived the terrifying moment an armed and heavily-tattooed ‘big white dude’ offered her $2,000 to let him inside her home – before she saw a ‘dead arm’ hanging from the back of his ute.

This resident of the Stapylton estate said the driver threatened her with a shotgun and offered her $2,000 to be let into her home

This resident of the Stapylton estate said the driver threatened her with a shotgun and offered her $2,000 to be let into her home

Detectives' hunt for the teenager took them to a house in Buccan, south of Brisbane at 1.30pm on Wednesday. A body was later found on the back of a ute in Stapylton

Detectives’ hunt for the teenager took them to a house in Buccan, south of Brisbane at 1.30pm on Wednesday. A body was later found on the back of a ute in Stapylton

The drama began at about 1.30pm that day at a house in Buccan – 20 minutes away – when police were making inquiries into the disappearance of Larissa. 

A man at the Buccan property got into a black ute and fled, but police tracked it the Stapylton gated community, where it was dumped.

A resident of the estate said the driver threatened her with a shotgun and offered money to be let in to her home, before he fled the scene. She then saw ‘a blue barrel’ when she went to inspect the vehicle.

‘All I’ve seen is an arm flapping out… There was just the one barrel, it wasn’t massive either, it was only small. I just saw an arm, a dead arm,’ the shaken woman said. 

She said the vehicle was badly damaged: ‘The windows were all shot out, bullet holes through the bonnet of the ute’.

‘He pulled out a shotgun and said to me and my partner ”I’ll give you two grand if you let me in the gate right now”. So we lifted up the gate and let him in,’ said the woman. 

She spent Thursday morning at the Logan police station, making a formal statement to back up what she told detectives on Wednesday.

‘He was a big white dude, tattoos everywhere,’ she said.  

Detectives said the suspect switched vehicles and is now driving a silver Holden Commodore with the registration 966WKB. 

Police were searching for Larissa Beilby (pictured) before they found a body in a barrel on the back of truck at a mobile home park. The body has not been identified

Police were searching for Larissa Beilby (pictured) before they found a body in a barrel on the back of truck at a mobile home park. The body has not been identified

A Police dog handler is seen at the mobile home park at Stapylton, south of Brisbane where the body of a teenage girl was found in a barrel on the back of a ute

Police tape is seen at the house in Buccan, south of Brisbane, on Thursday morning 

Police tape is seen at the house in Buccan, south of Brisbane, on Thursday morning 

The body of the teenage girl found in the back of the ute is yet to be identified.  

Larissa hasn’t been seen since she vanished from a home in the Brisbane suburb of Sandgate on June 15.

A Queensland Police spokesman said the 34-year-old, who has tattoos around his neck, ‘may able to assist with their active inquiries into the case’.

Members of the public have been warned not to approach Sikorsky, who may be armed. 

‘At this stage we believe he may present a risk to the public… we have information that he has access to firearms,’ Logan Detective Acting Inspector Scott Furlong said  on Thursday. 

Sikorsky’s father told The Courier-Mail his son was a ‘decent person’.  

It is understood detectives know the identity of the victim, but are yet to release a name. 

Before the body was found, a Facebook post by Larissa’s sister Deanna, 20, showed a picture of the missing teenager.

‘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,’ she captioned the photo.

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

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.

Dashcam footage captured the black truck swerving through traffic on the M1 motorway before turning down the Stapylton exit  

Approximately 2pm: The vehicle is tracked 15km east to a gated community in Stapylton, where police found it abandoned, the tray covered by tarpaulin.

A resident of the estate said the driver threatened her with a shotgun and offered her $2,000 to be let into her home. 

Police 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: Detectives release a photo of Zlatko Sikorsky, who they believe is behind the wheel of the Commodore. 

Larissa’s sister Deanna comments at 9am: ‘We have not been told anything.’

A shed is seen behind a house in the suburb of Buccan, where police say a man fled from on Wednesday 

A shed is seen behind a house in the suburb of Buccan, where police say a man fled from on Wednesday 

Sikorsky is believed to be travelling in a silver 2014 Holden Commodore with a sunroof (pictured)

Sikorsky is believed to be travelling in a silver 2014 Holden Commodore with a sunroof (pictured)

‘If you have ANY information please inbox me as it may help. I just want my baby sister found safe and alive.’ 

At around 9am on Thursday, Larissa’s sister commented on a social media post: ‘We have not been told anything.’ 

The teenager lost her mother at a young age, public records have revealed.

Larissa’s mother Karen died at age 32 in 2006, a death notice said, with her three children writing a powerful tribute.

‘To a mother with endless love who has made us who we are,’ the tribute said. ‘We love and miss you and will never forget who you are.

‘We love you now and always, mum’.

Karen’s husband Peter said his ‘heart and soul are broken’ following his wife’s death.

The funeral notice said Karen died suddenly and attendees were invited to donate to the Heart Foundation in lieu of flowers.

The family later moved from South Australia to Queensland.

Detective Acting Superintendent Mark White said the man 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 on Wednesday. 

A woman who lives near where the ute was abandoned at the mobile home park in Stapylton told the ABC that several men fled in the silver Commodore.

A woman who lives near where the ute (pictured) was abandoned said several men fled in a silver Commodore

A woman who lives near where the ute (pictured) was abandoned said several men fled in a silver Commodore

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'

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’

Police are seen searching the grounds of the mobile home park at Stapylton on Thursday

Police are seen searching the grounds of the mobile home park at Stapylton on Thursday

Police are pictured at the scene where a girl's body was found on Wednesday

Police are pictured at the scene where a girl’s body was found on Wednesday

‘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. 

‘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.

‘The car was pretty smashed up, the glass was broken. It was pretty bad.’

Resident Damien Smith 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,’ he said.  

Other residents told of seeing a hotted-up black ute coming in and out of the complex over the past week or two.

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

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

It is understood detectives (pictured at Stapylton) know the identity of the victim, but are yet to release a name

It is understood detectives (pictured at Stapylton) know the identity of the victim, but are yet to release a name

Jacqueline and Christopher Anthony said good morning to the driver of the ute on Wednesday morning, before the vehicle with the body in the back returned to the estate in the afternoon.

‘We thought he was someone who lived here. He’d been staring us very intensely and now… it’s very nerve-wracking and scary,’ Jacqueline said on Thursday. 

Two brothers who also live at the estate said they first noticed the ute a couple of weeks ago, due to the distinctive sound of its engine.

One of the brothers said he heard the vehicle leave about 6am or 7am, and heard it return again between about 1.30pm and 2pm.

On Thursday morning a woman arrived at the low-set, brick Buccan property from which the suspect fled.

She said she was looking for her son who lived there and didn’t know where he was, and police would not say if they knew.

Forensic officers are now examining the remains in an ‘intensive process’ to identify the victim which could take two days.   

Police appealed for information on the teenager (pictured) on Tuesday. Detectives said she was last seen at an address on Kempster Road

Police appealed for information on the teenager (pictured) on Tuesday. Detectives said she was last seen at an address on Kempster Road

A shed containing cars is seen behind the house in the Brisbane suburb of Buccan is pictured on Thursday 

A shed containing cars is seen behind the house in the Brisbane suburb of Buccan is pictured on Thursday 

One witness at the gated community  said police (pictured at the scene) arrived with dogs and helicopters when they searched the truck

One witness at the gated community said police (pictured at the scene) arrived with dogs and helicopters when they searched the truck



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