Malaysia Police: Family Confirms Body Is of Missing London Teenager
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Version 0 of 1. SEREMBAN, Malaysia (AP) — The Malaysian police said Tuesday that the family of a missing 15-year-old London girl had positively identified a naked body found near the nature resort where she disappeared over a week ago. The police said rescuers earlier Tuesday found the body of a white female beside a small stream in steep terrain about 1.5 miles from the Dusun eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan State, where Nora Anne Quoirin went missing on Aug. 4. The body was airlifted to a hospital for identification and an autopsy. “The family members have been brought here to identify the body that we recovered earlier and the family has confirmed that the body is Nora Anne,” the Negeri Sembilan police chief, Mohamad Mat Yusop, told reporters at the hospital morgue. Nora Anne Quoirin’s family arrived Aug. 3 for a two-week stay at the Dusun, a small resort located in a durian orchard next to a forest reserve 39 miles south of Kuala Lumpur. The police believe the teenager, who had learning and physical disabilities, climbed out through an open window in the living room of the resort cottage. They listed her as a missing person but said the investigation included possible criminal aspects. The girl’s family said she wasn’t independent and wouldn’t wander off alone, and was probably abducted. Chief Mohamad said a senior pathologist would conduct a post mortem Wednesday morning to determine the cause of death. The national deputy police chief, Mazlan Mansor, earlier told reporters that the body, which “was not in any clothing,” was found by volunteers registered with the rescue team Tuesday afternoon in an area that had previously been searched by rescuers. He didn’t explain how long the body had been there or why rescuers apparently missed it. Nearly 350 people were involved in a huge search operation that included sniffer dogs, elite commando forces and thermal detectors, but no evidence had been turned up until the discovery of the body on Tuesday. Police officers from Ireland, France and the U.K. were also on site to assist in the investigation. The girl’s mother is from Ireland and her father is French, but the family has lived in London for 20 years. On Monday, the mother, Meabh Quoirin, announced a 50,000 ringgit ($11,900) reward, donated by a Belfast-based business, for information leading to the recovery of her daughter. |