Queensland police have charged an 18-year-old man with the murder of 16-year-old Jayde Kendall from Gatton, west of Brisbane.

Jayde’s body was found in Upper Tenthill, south of Gatton. The man has been charged with one count each of murder and misconduct with a corpse by interfering.

He is due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court tomorrow.

• Cinema shooting in USA
• Gun crisis is Obama’s ‘greatest’ frustration

The 16-year-old’s body was found at Upper Tenthill, near Mount Sylvia and Allens Road, 14 kilometres south of Gatton, this afternoon.

Detective Acting Inspector Matt Howard asked the community to respect the privacy of Jayde’s family.

“I have spoken to Jayde’s father and her extended family and as you can imagine, they are very upset to hear this news,” he said.

“I would like to thank members of the community who contacted Crime Stoppers throughout this investigation.”

He said Jayde’s body was found after police appealed for locals to check their land and properties for anything out of place.

“As a result, a member of the community contacted Crime Stoppers and led us to this area where we conducted a search and located the body,” he said.

“At this stage, there is no evidence that the male person wasn’t acting alone … It’s been a very complex investigation – I’d like to thank everyone’s patience.

“It’s been very hard on investigators and obviously the family.

“Obviously there’s no winners in this investigation but we’ve ended up with a result, we’ve arrested a male person for the murder of Jayde.”

Jayde went missing almost a fortnight ago, sparking a major police investigation.

She was picked up from high school by the 18-year-old now in custody.