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Body in barrel case: Horrified witness ‘saw dead arm’

Zlatko Sikorsy, who police was the driver of the Commodore ute. Photo: Queensland Police

Zlatko Sikorsy, who police was the driver of the Commodore ute. Photo: Queensland Police Photo: Queensland Police

A woman has told of her horror and fear at seeing “a dead arm” sticking out of a barrel as police hunt a man connected to the grisly death of 16-year-old Queenslander Larissa Beilby.

Police are hunting for a killer after the teenager’s body was found stuffed inside a barrel in the back of a black ute abandoned at a housing estate at Stapylton, south of Brisbane on Wednesday.

A female resident of the estate, who did not want to be named, said the driver of a black ute threatened her with a shotgun and offered her money to be let in.

She said the ute was badly damaged, “the windows were all shot out, bullet holes through the bonnet”.

body in barrel

Missing teenager Larissa Beilby. Photo: Instagram

“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.

“I was just scared, didn’t know what to do … and then we looked in the car, in the back of the ute, as he drove past and saw just a barrel and an arm,” she told the ABC.

“I went home and cried, didn’t know what to do.”

The witness spent Thursday morning at Logan police station, making a formal statement to police.

“He was a big white dude, tattoos everywhere,” she said.

“The bonnet was flipped up over the windscreen, he was right down looking through the arch. I was surprised he was still driving.”

body in barrel

The abandoned black ute at Stapylton where a woman’s body was found inside a barrel. Photo: ABC

The drama began at a house at Buccan in Logan on Wednesday, when police went to make inquiries about the disappearance of the 16-year-old.

A man at the Buccan property got into a black ute and fled. Police tracked the ute to Stapylton, where it was dumped. The man fled again, in a silver Commodore.

Police made the grisly find when they searched the ute.

Police have named the man they are looking for as Zlatko Sikorsky, 34. They have warned the public to call triple zero if they see him, and not to approach him.

Mr Sikorsky has distinctive tattoos around his neck. He might still be travelling in the silver 2014 Holden Commodore with a sunroof, with Queensland registration 966 WKB.

“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.

Police believe he is still in the Logan or Gold Coast area, and was associated with the Buccan address.

Police have not yet released the name of the victim, although it is widely reported to be Ms Beilby, who the ABC said was staying at a Sandgate house for teenage runaways. Acting Inspector Scott Furlong said Mr Sikorsky and Ms Beilby – who disappeared on June 15 – were “associated”.

“We know they’re associated. However, we don’t know the exact relationship,” he told the ABC.

Police yesterday pulled down a missing persons post about Ms Beilby.

“At the moment we don’t know the identity of the deceased, I won’t speculate on any individual person,” Acting Inspector Furlong said.

“We’re currently undertaking forensic examinations, and we can’t give you a timeframe.”

He would not confirm whether Ms Beilby’s body had been found, and could not say how long the body had been in the barrel.

-with agencies

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