AT FIRST there was hope. The little girl, dropped near the school gates, had not made it to class. Maybe she was with friends. She?d run away before, once or twice. But Tiahleigh Palmer *always came home within a few hours.
On that first day, Tia?s family and foster carers did everything to find her. They contacted police. Parents and friends from school. They drove to the places they?d found her in the past. They drove the streets.
They weren?t panicked. But they were worried. After all, she was only 12.
Tributes are laid outside the gates of Marsden High School. Picture: Glenn Barnes
When the day grew dark and she still wasn?t home, worry turned to anger. Was she at a friend?s house? Why hadn?t anyone called?
?If any of her friends are hiding her again, please do the right thing and let us know. She needs to come home where she belongs,? Tia?s foster carer posted on a Facebook group for residents in the Logan area.
Minutes earlier, the page?s administrator had uploaded a photo of Tia at the family?s request. In it, the little girl smiled for the camera in the same school uniform she?d been wearing that day. Her purple Mambo backpack hung from her shoulders.
Tia, the post read, had not been seen since that morning. Her carer had dropped her near the school gates at 8.10am ? 15 minutes before classes started. She hadn?t made it through the school gates.
A note left for Tiahleigh outside Marsden High School.
Family would later be told that Tia had stopped in at McDonald?s before boarding a bus.
But police say their last confirmed sighting of her was from her carer, as she got out of his car and headed to school. ?The moment she went missing, her Facebook was deactivated,? said Sharon, a mother at the school.
?Her mum did not know she was missing until that afternoon and her Facebook had already been deactivated.
?She was panicked. She didn?t stop, that mother. She just kept going and going and people were getting really angry with her because she kept messaging them, asking if they had seen her daughter.?
They looked for her all night. Tia didn?t like the dark. She was naive and eager to please. She was good at her school work and never got into trouble.
She?d stood up in class once, upset that her fellow students were misbehaving.
?Can you all behave for the teacher please?? she?d said. ?We?re meant to be good kids, not bad kids.?
Tia?s family were back online the next morning pleading for help. It was*not the first time they?d used social media to find her. But it was the first time she?d stayed away for an *entire night.
?We have usually located her within a few hours, so we are in a very worried space and are desperate to find her,? her carer wrote.
Tia?s mother, Cyndi Palmer, had also been posting frantically. Parents at the school said Ms Palmer had been working so hard to get her daughter out of care and back under her own roof. ?I?m so sickly worried for my daughter,? she wrote.
?At this point I don?t care if she doesn?t want to come home. I just need to know she is OK.?
Tia?s father also posted a desperate*message to the missing*girl.
After two nights without their girl, Tia?s family was still hopeful a friend was keeping her hidden.
They could not imagine she was likely already dead.
?She has to be at someone?s house. She has no money. She does not like being out in the dark alone. She (is) not familiar with too many areas, so (if) she is with someone, please anyone around the Logan area this morning keep looking. We and her mum are worried sick about her please,? her carer wrote.
On Monday morning, they asked the parents of Marsden State High School to keep an eye out for her. A relative of Tia?s was there, waiting.
As the days went by, Ms Palmer continued her desperate pleading with friends and parents from the school. When somebody told her about Tia being seen with another girl, she sent messages asking for information.
?We didn?t steal ya kid so f--- off,? one person wrote back.
It would be six days *before information on Tia?s disappearance was released to the media.
?IS THIS ON THE TV YET?? Tia?s aunt wrote on the fourth day. ?Please don?t assume this is a typical runaway. Over 72 hours since last seen!?
On November 5, police contacted media outlets with Tia?s school photograph. She?d been gone since October*30.
A social media image of Tiahleigh Palmer.
Yesterday, they defended the delay, saying they?d spent the week speaking with parents, teachers and students and investigating possible sightings of the girl.
But now they admit that Tia was most likely dead not long after she *disappeared.
The morning after police issued their missing person?s alert, a group of fishermen found a little body on the banks of the Pimpama River, a busy waterway in the northern Gold Coast.
Tia was badly decomposed and no longer wearing the school uniform she?d had on the morning she dis*appeared. It is understood police are now investigating the possibility she had gone to meet somebody and met with foul play.
Friends gathered at Tia?s school yesterday where they left flowers and tributes for her.
Her foster carers arrived with her teddy bear and a note.
?Tia,? it began, ?you were my mate.*We spent so many nights together. Although I?m just a bear, we comforted each other and you talked to me as if I was real. I?ll miss your hugs and talks. I?m with you always. Love forever, Bear