Nora Quoirin's Grandfather: View on Her Death Is 'Absurd'

He says there is just no way a girl who couldn't button her clothes could have left resort
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 16, 2019 7:09 AM CDT
Family Says It's Unlikely Dead Teen Was Alone
This aerial image shows the tropical forest surrounding the Dusun eco-resort in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, on Sunday.   (Joshua Paul via AP)

The Irish-French parents of a teenager found dead in the Malaysian jungle still don't believe she left her hotel room on her own. An autopsy showed Nora Quoirin, 15, died of internal bleeding likely triggered by stress and starvation roughly a week after she was discovered missing from her room at the Dusun eco-resort, where her London-based family was vacationing. Though a window was found open, Meabh and Sebastien Quoirin said their daughter—whose brain didn't properly divide into right and left hemispheres—would never have left her family. They "remain convinced that it is improbable that Nora left the bungalow voluntarily," lawyer Charles Morel now says, per the Telegraph. "Taking into account the importance of tourism in Malaysia and its image, the authorities may tend to prioritize the thesis that she left [voluntarily] over the criminal hypothesis."

In a Friday statement, the family said the autopsy provided "some information that helps us to understand Nora's cause of death," per Sky News. But they said questions remain as the teen "died in extremely complex circumstances." Morel questioned how Nora made it down "an extremely steep path through the jungle." So, too, did Nora's grandfather. The teen who "could not button her own clothes" couldn't have wandered from the resort surrounded by gates and fences, Sylvain Quoirin tells the Irish Times. "She clung to her parents and sister," he adds. The idea of her "walking [1.5 miles], naked and barefoot, over rocks, in the middle of the night" is "absurd." The police chief of Negeri Sembilan state noted this week that Nora was found with "some scratches on her body." But he said that "for the time being, there is no suspicion of foul play." (More Malaysia stories.)

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