Father pays tribute to ‘beautiful daughter’ found dead and mauled by dingoes
The family of a Canadian backpacker found dead and mauled by dingoes on the Queensland island of K’gari has paid tribute to the “beautiful” and “precious” teenager.
Piper James, 19, had gone for an early-morning swim when her body was found surrounded by a pack of about 10 dingoes near Orchid Beach on Monday.
Her father, Todd James, said the family were shattered and in pain over her death.
“We will always remember her infectious laugh and her kind spirit,” he wrote in a touching post on social media this morning.
“So many are going to miss you, my precious little baby girl.
“May be gone, but how can we ever forget you?”
James added that he had supported her to travel to Australia and loved hearing about the bonds and friendships she was developing.
“I admired her strength and determination to go after her dreams,” he said.
“She was glad I was on board for her trip to Australia. Lol, she said, ‘Because I’m 18, and you can’t stop me!’
“Piper would work hard so she could play hard.”
Piper had worked as a firefighter in Canada before working with a friend from home at a backpackers’ hostel on K’gari for the past six weeks.
Her body, found covered in bites and scratches, will undergo an autopsy on mainland Queensland today.
The examination is hoped to provide answers as to whether she had died from drowning or being mauled by dingoes.
The potential that dingoes could be responsible has stunned locals and tourists alike.
The last fatal dingo attack on K’gari was 25 years ago, when a nine-year-old boy was killed in 2001.
Police said the incident has been traumatising to Piper’s friend, the two men who found her, officers and the wider community.
Locals and visitors have been warned to stay away from dingoes.
“Dingoes are wild animals, and whilst they are very culturally, and significant to the local First Nations people and to the people that live on the island, they are still wild animals and need to be treated as such,” Wide Bay District Inspector Paul Algie said on Monday.
News
“THEY MAY HAVE GONE TOO DEEP: Investigators are now reviewing what happened inside the Maldives cave after five Italian divers never resurfaced — and attention is suddenly shifting to one number from the dive data 👀 But it’s the final depth reached before contact was lost that people are now desperately trying to understand… 👇
Maldives investigates if Italian divers went too deep in fatal cave dive A speed boat moves in the waters of the Indian Ocean near Male, after a specialist team located the bodies of four missing Italian scuba divers who died…
THIS WAS HER FINAL MESSAGE: Monica Montefalcone’s fiancé has now shared a heartbreaking love letter after the Maldives scuba tragedy — and everyone is focusing on one photo attached to the post that appears to show the couple just days before the dive👇
Italian diver’s fiancé wrote heartbreaking love letter after she died in Maldives scuba tragedy The fiancé of one of the five Italian divers who died in an underwater cave in the Maldives declared his everlasting love for her in a…
“THAT WAS THE LAST TIME HE WAS SEEN.” 🌊😳 The video is believed to have captured the last images of a diver during the search operation in the Maldives — and everyone is now focusing on a strange detail on his oxygen tank that appeared just seconds before the footage ends 👀👇
Eerie video captures final image of military diver killed in Maldives scuba dive recovery mission An eerie video captures the final hours of the Maldivian Coast Guard diver who died Saturday during a dangerous mission to recover the bodies of the Italian tourists trapped…
The Mackenzie Shirilla case has just taken a new turn 🚨 Just days after The Crash premiered on Netflix, Mackenzie’s father was suspended from his job… but now viewers are constantly replaying that 7-second moment when his eyes drop to the table before he finishes his sentence
In the whirlwind days following the May 15, 2026, release of Netflix’s The Crash, the Mackenzie Shirilla saga has once again captivated true crime audiences. What was already a polarizing story of a deadly 2022 high-speed crash has now layered…
PEOPLE AREN’T ARGUING ABOUT THE CRASH ANYMORE 😳 Nearly 4 years after the 100-mph collision that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan, attention suddenly shifted to a single family interview clip and the folded tissue sitting beside Mackenzie Shirilla’s mother
In the spring of 2026, a Netflix documentary titled The Crash dropped onto screens worldwide, reigniting a case that had largely faded from headlines. What began as a horrific 2022 car accident in Strongsville, Ohio, had already been adjudicated as…
THE DRIVER-SIDE IMPACT IN ASHLIN KNUTH’S CASE IS WHAT HAS EVERYONE TALKING TONIGHT 🚨 Authorities released basic crash details, but the unanswered question surrounding the final 5 seconds before impact is becoming harder to ignore…
Authorities released basic crash details, but the unanswered question surrounding the final 5 seconds before impact is becoming harder to ignore… The devastating driver-side collision that claimed the life of 18-year-old Ashlin Jade Knuth mere hours after her high school…
End of content
No more pages to load
