The family of Nora Quoirin have said they hope to have “more answers to our many questions” over the death of their daughter in a Malaysian jungle.
The 15-year-old’s unclothed body was discovered on Tuesday 1.6 miles from a holiday resort where the family had been staying.
Malaysian police say the teenager starved after her disappearance and there was no evidence of abduction or kidnapping “for the time being”.
After meeting Malaysia’s deputy prime minister and minister for the state on Friday, her family said they are “struggling to understand the events of the last 10 days”.
“But our beautiful innocent girl died in extremely complex circumstances and we are hoping that soon we will have more answers to our many questions.”
A former police officer advising the family has appealed for authorities to retain an “open mind” about the cause of death.
Jim Gamble told the BBC’s Breakfast programme: “The family themselves have always had a question mark of whether there was any criminal activity and I think everyone should retain an open mind.”
Malaysian police said Nora is likely to have spent a week in the jungle on her own.
The 15-year-old had died between two and four days before her body was discovered, a post-mortem examination revealed.
Mr Gamble said: “In the villa we do know that the downstairs window was broken so it couldn’t have been locked by the family and could have been opened from outside.
“We know why Nora died, in simple terms from starvation, we know where she ended up, but we don’t necessarily know how she got there.”
The family said they will be bringing Nora’s body home “where she will finally be laid to rest, close to her loving families in France and Ireland”.
They also thanked Malaysian authorities and search parties for their efforts locating the teenager.
“Tragically, as we know, this wasn’t enough to save Nora,” they said.
Negeri Sembilan state police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop said on Thursday that the post-mortem examination had found no evidence that the teenager had been abducted or raped.
He said she had died between two and four days previously, from intestinal bleeding, most likely due to starvation and stress.
He added: “The cause of death was upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal ulcer, complicated with perforation … it could be due to a lack of food for a long period of time and due to prolonged stress.”
He said there were some bruises on her legs but these would not have caused her death.
Further analysis is due on samples taken from her body, he added.
