Malaysia coroner: No foul play in death of French-Irish teen

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian coroner ruled Monday that the death of a French-Irish teenager whose body was found near a Malaysian jungle resort where she vanished while on vacation was most likely a misadventure that didn't involve other people.

Coroner Maimoonah Aid ruled out homicide, natural death and suicide and said Nora Anne Quoirin likely got lost after leaving her family's cottage on her own.

The 15-year-old disappeared at the Dusun eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan state on Aug. 4, 2019, a day after the family arrived for a vacation. After a massive search, her body was found on Aug. 13 beside a stream on a palm oil estate about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) from the resort.

Police believed she climbed out of the cottage window on her own, with no evidence of any foul play. But her parents said she was likely kidnapped because she had mental and physical disabilities and wouldn’t have wandered off on her own. They told the inquest that a third party could have dumped her body in the area following the search operation for her.

The coroner described the family's suggestions as “nothing more than probably theory" with no evidence.

Nora Anne was wearing only underwear when she went missing at nighttime, but her body was found naked. The coroner noted the family's contention that this lent credence to the possibility of sexual assault but said an extensive autopsy could find no such proof, nor evidence of struggle or smothering.

Maimoonah also said there were no suspicious circumstances prior to the teenager's disappearance, no ransom request and no signs of intrusion into the family's cottage.

“I ruled that there was no one involved in the death of Nora Anne. It is more probable than not that she died by misadventure, i.e. that she had gone out of the (cottage) on her own and...