Teen Girl’s Body Found in Barrel, Queensland Police Launch Manhunt

Queensland Police are currently searching for a murder suspect after a woman’s body was found in a barrel, in the tray of a ute.

Officers had been searching an address in Logan, south of Brisbane, investigating a missing persons case when a man fled via a back gate in the aforementioned ute. It was later found in a caravan park in Stapylton, 20 minutes away. Officers searching the ute later found a barrel in the back covered by a tarp. Inside was a decomposing body.

A social media post about a missing 16-year-old girl from Sandgate was recently removed. She was reported missing from Sandgate almost two weeks ago, and has not contacted her family since June 18.

Detective Superintendent Mark White told the Herald Sun, “Police are still working to positively identify the deceased person located in the back of a ute in Stapylton. I’m not going to speculate on any particular aspect of it because it’s at a real critical stage."

Police have issued a manhunt for Zlatko Sikorsky, believed to be travelling in a late model silver Holden Commodore with the registration 966-WKB.

Detective Superintendent Mark White told the ABC that an investigation centre had been set up at Logan with detectives from the Gold Coast and the Homicide Investigation unit contributing to the inquiries.

"We are conducting some very extensive inquiries in relation to any person associated with that car and also the address at Buccan [Logan]—that process can take a while because it can be very wide-ranging, but we're at a very critical stage,” said Mark White in a press conference.

A woman who lives near where the ute was abandoned told the ABC that several men fled in the 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," said the woman.

Another resident saw the damaged ute, awkwardly parked on the property. As he told the Seven network, “The car was just there. I didn’t know there was a body in there. The car was pretty smashed up, the glass was broken. It was pretty bad."

Police have warned the public not to approach the man because he could be “armed and dangerous.”

If anyone with information is urged to contact police immediately on 000.