AUSTRALIA 
Britt's family face anxious wait while body is identified
Tuesday, 7 October, 2008
Britt Lapthorne (AAP / Facebook)
Britt Lapthorne's father will provide Croatian police with a DNA sample and the Australian backpacker's dental records in a bid to determine whether a body found in the sea off Dubrovnik is his daughter.
An autopsy is due to be carried out at 10am tomorrow (1900 AEDT Tuesday) after human remains were recovered today.
Police say the remains are unlikely to be those of the 21-year-old, who has been missing since the early hours of September 18, because they are too badly decomposed.
But the family faces a hellish wait for confirmation one way or another.
"The body is quite badly decomposed which appears to be inconsistent with somebody who has been missing for the time Britt has," Ms Lapthorne's father Dale said.
"We have been asked to provide a dental history of Britt and I will give a DNA sample tomorrow as well.
"A very quick and easy ID for Britt is her teeth. Her teeth are perfect, she's had them straightened, she's never had a filling, and that's reasonably unusual for people so that's a very quick ID for Britt."
Mr Lapthorne revealed he found out a body had been discovered through the media but when he contacted police, he was told there was nothing to report.
The only information the family had received from police was that the autopsy was to take place, he said.
"I'm totally numb ... it's just the weirdest sensation," Mr Lapthorne told reporters while son Darren looked on.
"We're just totally drained and exhausted.
"People say I've been quite strong and, compared to how I feel now, I imagine I have been."
The pair woke Ms Lapthorne's mother Elke in Melbourne at about 3am and told her there was a possibility the body was not her daughter.
"We have to live on some hope," Mr Lapthorne said.
Police spokesman Ivan Kukrika told an earlier press conference: "For sure we can almost tell that it's not Britt because it's in a high state of decomposition.
"We can't even tell if it's male or female.
"What we know from our knowledge of decomposition of a body after it has been in the sea, we can tell it's not her, but we cannot tell anything for sure before the autopsy gives a result."
A local fisherman alerted police just after 11am local time (2000 AEDT Monday) when he saw the body floating in the Bay of Boninovo, just around a point from the walled town centre where Ms
Lapthorne was last seen at a nightclub.
Police recovered the remains near a popular local swimming spot and in front of two five-star resorts a short time later.
They then took the body to the local morgue.
The discovery came just an hour after Ms Lapthorne's father emerged from a meeting with police expressing hope that his daughter would be found alive.
Mr Lapthorne flew into Dubrovnik from Melbourne on Friday with his daughter's boyfriend, Simon Imberger.
Darren Lapthorne arrived about a week earlier.
After meeting the senior detective investigating the disappearance, Mr Lapthorne, who has vowed not to return to Australia without her, said he had confidence in the specialist officer.
Source: AAP
An autopsy is due to be carried out at 10am tomorrow (1900 AEDT Tuesday) after human remains were recovered today.
Police say the remains are unlikely to be those of the 21-year-old, who has been missing since the early hours of September 18, because they are too badly decomposed.
But the family faces a hellish wait for confirmation one way or another.
"The body is quite badly decomposed which appears to be inconsistent with somebody who has been missing for the time Britt has," Ms Lapthorne's father Dale said.
"We have been asked to provide a dental history of Britt and I will give a DNA sample tomorrow as well.
"A very quick and easy ID for Britt is her teeth. Her teeth are perfect, she's had them straightened, she's never had a filling, and that's reasonably unusual for people so that's a very quick ID for Britt."
Mr Lapthorne revealed he found out a body had been discovered through the media but when he contacted police, he was told there was nothing to report.
The only information the family had received from police was that the autopsy was to take place, he said.
"I'm totally numb ... it's just the weirdest sensation," Mr Lapthorne told reporters while son Darren looked on.
"We're just totally drained and exhausted.
"People say I've been quite strong and, compared to how I feel now, I imagine I have been."
The pair woke Ms Lapthorne's mother Elke in Melbourne at about 3am and told her there was a possibility the body was not her daughter.
"We have to live on some hope," Mr Lapthorne said.
Police spokesman Ivan Kukrika told an earlier press conference: "For sure we can almost tell that it's not Britt because it's in a high state of decomposition.
"We can't even tell if it's male or female.
"What we know from our knowledge of decomposition of a body after it has been in the sea, we can tell it's not her, but we cannot tell anything for sure before the autopsy gives a result."
A local fisherman alerted police just after 11am local time (2000 AEDT Monday) when he saw the body floating in the Bay of Boninovo, just around a point from the walled town centre where Ms
Lapthorne was last seen at a nightclub.
Police recovered the remains near a popular local swimming spot and in front of two five-star resorts a short time later.
They then took the body to the local morgue.
The discovery came just an hour after Ms Lapthorne's father emerged from a meeting with police expressing hope that his daughter would be found alive.
Mr Lapthorne flew into Dubrovnik from Melbourne on Friday with his daughter's boyfriend, Simon Imberger.
Darren Lapthorne arrived about a week earlier.
After meeting the senior detective investigating the disappearance, Mr Lapthorne, who has vowed not to return to Australia without her, said he had confidence in the specialist officer.
Source: AAP
