{"id":791741,"date":"2026-07-10T16:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/791741\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:57:14","slug":"layla-jeffery-teenage-boy-arrested-after-human-remains-found-in-search-for-missing-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/791741\/","title":{"rendered":"Layla Jeffery: Teenage boy arrested after human remains found in search for missing girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested after human remains were found in the search for a missing 13-year-old girl in rural Victoria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Layla Jeffery was last seen on McCracken Street in Donald, about 280 km north-west of Melbourne<\/a> on July 4. She was reported missing by her family the next day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Layla Jeffery.\u00a0Victim’s family via Victoria Police<\/p>\n

Police found human remains late on Thursday afternoon after an extensive search scouring local bushland. <\/p>\n

They are yet to be formally identified, but police believe they belong to Layla.<\/p>\n

Officers are treating the death as suspicious.<\/p>\n

A 16-year-old boy, who was known to Layla and police, has been arrested. <\/p>\n

He will be interviewed by detectives.<\/p>\n

A 53-year-old Donald woman and a 55-year-old woman from Melbourne, who are both known to the boy, are assisting police with their enquiries.<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector Dave Dunstan said police were \u201cquietly confident\u201d they have identified those responsible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone else that may be involved in the situation,\u201d Dunstan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a tragic outcome for the Donald community and we implore people to reach out for support if they are affected by this.\u201d<\/p>\n

A home in Donald was raided around 11am on Friday as part of the investigation into Layla\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n

Investigators are waiting for the results of a pathology examination to determine Layla\u2019s cause of death and to determine how long her body had been lying in the parkland.<\/p>\n

Police do not believe Layla\u2019s family have any involvement in her death.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While the remains are yet to be formally identified, they are believed to be that of missing girl Layla.\u00a0Police media<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in contact with Layla\u2019s family and our thoughts are with them at this heartbreaking time,\u201d Dunstan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detectives will continue to search the area for evidence for the remainder of the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information in relation to the matter is urged to contact authorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 16-year-old boy has been arrested after human remains were found in the search for a missing 13-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-791741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}