Final farewell message from young mum to her granddad before she was found dead on a beach four days later – as her shattered family beg for answers: ‘Terrible friends’
Payge Leembruggen, a 31-year-old mother, was found dead on a Queensland beach four days after she disappeared following a hair salon appointment in Mackay. Police are treating her death as suspicious and are investigating her final movements and the circumstances surrounding her death. The case has drawn significant attention due to the mysterious circumstances and messages she communicated in her final hours.
Ms Leembruggen was last seen at a salon in Mackay on Friday, 11 September at approximately 9am, having told her grandfather she would arrange her own transport home. Her body was discovered on Tuesday morning in scrubland at North Wall Beach by a dog walker, with a Snapchat message from over the weekend showing her dancing with an unidentified woman. Ms Leembruggen lived with her grandparents and mother, had a five-year-old son with category three autism, and had recently attempted to leave a domestic violence relationship to start a new life.
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