Britt Lapthorne's family, mum Elke, father Dale and brother Darren have requested privacy after the confirmation the body found in the sea off Dubrovnik, Croatia, is the missing 21-year-old backpacking holiday maker.
Picture...ABC
Britt disappeared after visiting the Fuego nightclub in the old quarter of the city during the evening of September 18. Police are still investigating.
"She was at the wrong place at the wrong time," a distraught Elke Lapthorne told reporters.
Three things must be mentioned.
1. The 17,000 anxious Facebook entries from friends, family and acquaintances desperate to find the missing Melbourne University student. Anorak was alerted by the mother of one of Darren's pals. This is new, a significant development in the use of social blogspots. Britt's own travel diary was there.
2. The superb support given to the campaign aiding the search and help the family get to the truth surrounding the facts of her disappearance given by The Age, Melbourne's morning newspaper. It started the campaign after being alerted via an email from a worried friend who was in the UK. It was ably supported by it's sister media throughout Australia. Pressure was put on police and the Federal Government to help. It became first a national and then an international concern.
3. It is a matter of considerable shame European media did NOT pick up on the story and help to push for a solution to the mystery of Britt's disappearance. News coverage has always been victim to introspection and at times is downright parochial. Parish pump politics and flower shows sell more newspapers than motorway planning inquiries. What the European media missed here was item one in this list...the world is now a global village and the facts surrounding Britt's disappearance and now the certainty of her death does diminish us all.
Britt Lapthorne's friends, family and supportive media could have done no more,
Britt was probably lost before the campaign started, but the fact of the campaign itself is an enduring tribute. One extended family link friend who helped in the search told Anorak she would never ever again criticise the time youngsters spent on networking sites.
This first major use of social networks to search and drive the campaign forward in the bid to find a missing person is Britt's legacy.