Human remains believed to be those of a missing 13-year-old girl have been found in the rural town of Donald in Victoria, Australia, bringing a distressing end to a large-scale search. Layla Jade Jeffery was last seen on 4 July and reported missing the following day, and detectives from Victoria Police's Missing Persons Squad are now treating her death as suspicious, underlining serious concern about the circumstances.

The remains were discovered late on Thursday afternoon in bushland west of Byrne Street, around 280km north-west of Melbourne, during a search involving local police and specialist Dog Squad, Air Wing and Search and Rescue officers. Although not yet formally identified, they are believed to be Layla's. A warrant was executed at a residential property in Donald shortly after 11am on Friday as part of the ongoing investigation, while distressed locals who had helped search shared their grief online.