Man on the run after girl's decomposed body found in barrel south of Brisbane

Larissa Beilby, 16, was reported missing from Sandgate in Queensland on June 15. Photo / Supplied

The photo of the man wanted in relation to the body of a teen girl found in a barrel on the back of a ute has been released by cops.

Police are hunting for a man who fled from a property at Buccan in Logan when they went to make inquiries about missing person Larissa Beilby, 16, on Wednesday afternoon.

The man fled in a black ute with a barrel loaded onto the tray covered by a tarp.

SERT officers are at Pimpama

BREAKING: Officers are at Pimpama. No confirmation it’s related to the manhunt for Zlatko Sikorsky. Latest - If you see the wanted man, don’t approach and call 000 immediately: http://bit.ly/2IxsGuu #7News

Posted by 7NEWS Brisbane on Thursday, 28 June 2018

A woman who lives in the gated complex the man fled to described the horrific scene in the back of the black ute claiming she saw "a dead arm" sticking out of the barrel police believe contained the body of a teenage girl.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, told AAP the man had pointed a shotgun at her before offering her money to be let inside the Queensland home.

That's when the woman said she saw "a blue barrel … all I've seen is an arm flapping out … There was just the one barrel, it wasn't massive either, it was only small."

She said the ute was badly damaged and was surprised the man was still driving around.

"The windows were all shot out, bullet holes through the bonnet of the ute," the woman said.

"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, who spent most of today at Logan Police Station being interviewed by detectives.

Police would like to speak with Zlatko Sikorsky. Photo / Queensland Police

"There was a blue barrel with, all I've seen is an arm flapping out, it was a little bit scary.

"There was just the one barrel, it wasn't massive either, it was only small. I just seen an arm, a dead arm."

Police were able to track it to a mobile home park at Stapylton, 20 minutes away, where officers found a badly decomposed body inside the barrel. The man was able to get away once again but in another car.

In a press conference today, Queensland Police would not confirm the body in the barrel was that of Beilby but did admit the pair were "associated".

"I don't know the relationship, we know that they're associated but we don't know the exact relationship between them," Acting Detective Superintendent Mark White told reporters.

Detectives have released the identity of a 34-year-old man they believe may able to assist with their active inquiries into the case.

Zlatko Sikorsky is believed to be travelling in a silver 2014 Holden Commodore with a sunroof and Queensland registration 966 WKB.

Police have warned members of the public not to approach the man and said they believed he "had access to firearms".

"We consider him dangerous," White said.

Police believe he is travelling alone and believe he is in the Gold Coast and Logan areas.

White would not confirm if officers had found bullets and knuckle dusters in the ute Sikorsky allegedly left behind.

Police are investigating the discovery of a deceased person in a utility at Stapylton this afternoon. Anyone who may have seen a silver late model Holden Commodore sedan rego 966WKB please call 000.
MORE >>>https://t.co/L7FAkUeCCs pic.twitter.com/tdtDCQEndj

— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) June 27, 2018

Police earlier confirmed they found a female's body in the black ute after searching the vehicle.

"A further search of the vehicle uncovered a deceased person," police said in a statement.

"Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death."

The body found in the barrel was so badly decomposed police warned it could take a number of days to formally identify it.

White said the man who fled in the ute was at the centre of the murder investigation but that it was possible other people were involved.

"It's hard to say whether we're looking at one person, or more persons."

Larissa Beilby, 16, was reported missing from Sandgate in Queensland on June 15. Photo / Supplied

The body was reportedly found inside a barrel — which had a tarp over it — on the back of the ute's tray and has not yet been officially identified.

A Queensland Police spokesman told news.com.au that Beilby was still missing.

Police appealed for information regarding her whereabouts earlier this week.

In a statement released on Tuesday, police said Beilby was "last seen at an address on Kempster Rd and has not contacted family or friends since June 18".

"She is described as caucasian, is approximately 168cm tall, of a medium build with blonde hair, hazel eyes and a nose piercing," the statement read.

"Initial investigations indicate she may be in the company of a caucasian man in his late teens."

When questioned why Queensland Police had taken more than a week to send out a release appealing for information about Beilby, White said officers received a large number of reports.

"We get a number of missing person reports, around 130 a week. Out of respect for the family of missing persons I'm not going to go into that," he said.

Police appealed for information on Beilby on Tuesday. Photo / Supplied

On Thursday evening, White told reporters that police were treating the death as a homicide and an investigation centre had been established at Logan Central police station.

"Police are still working to positively identify the deceased person located in the back of a ute in Stapylton," he said.

"I'm not going to speculate on any particular aspect of it because it's at a real critical stage. We have a lot of information that's coming in, a lot of information we're processing."

Detectives are forensically examining the ute and have started "extensive inquiries" in relation to anyone associated with it.

White declined to go into detail about the person being sought over the matter.

"We don't know the identity of this person and we may not know that until tomorrow or possibly the next day," he said.

"As you can appreciate, there's a fairly intensive forensic examination that is occurring as we speak and will continue to occur possibly for the next 24 to 48 hours."

The black ute where a young woman's body was found in a barrel in the tray of car at Silky Oak Cres in Stapylton, Queensland. Photo / News.com.au

A witness told Nine News that things "just spiralled out of control" when the alleged offender fled the scene.

"I thought someone was on the run then I found out it was a body in the barrel," he said.

Another witness, Chris Anthony, saw the damaged vehicle parked strangely at the property.

'"The car was just there. I didn't know there was a body in there," he told the Seven network.

"The car was pretty smashed up, the glass was broken. It was pretty bad."

Resident Damien Smith has told the Gold Coast Bulletin the ute had "like a burnt bonnet on it or something wrong with the front end".

"It was strange. Then all the police turn up and we're thinking, what's going on here? We don't normally find dead bodies here. There's only three or four houses here on the street."