Charge dropped against man over ‘body in barrel’ teenage girl killing

A man accused of being an accessory to the murder of a 16-year-old Queensland girl whose body was found in a barrel on the back of an abandoned ute in 2018, has been acquitted.

Joseph Dean Geiger was charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder and faced a hearing in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday to decide whether he should go to trial.

Larissa Beilby's death sparked an outpouring of grief and support for her family.

The body of the victim, Larissa Beilby, was found in June 2018 inside a barrel on the back of a black ute that was abandoned at a residential complex at Stapylton on the northern Gold Coast.

Zlatko Sikorsky was charged with her murder and was due to stand trial, but he was killed in prison earlier this year, allegedly murdered by another inmate.

While on the run from police, Sikorsky travelled up to the Sunshine Coast with his then-girlfriend and went to Mr Geiger’s Mooloolaba apartment.

Mr Geiger did not know Sikorsky and had not met him before. Sikorsky was introduced to Mr Geiger as “John” and not by his real full name. Mr Geiger let Mr Sikorsky stay at his apartment.

Joseph Dean Geiger leaves the Brisbane Magistrates Court a free man on Thursday afternoon.Credit: Toby Crockford

The next day, Mr Geiger and his girlfriend got into an argument about Mr Sikorsky staying at the apartment and their yelling was reported to the apartment block manager, who came to investigate.

The apartment block manager recognised Sikorsky from media reports identifying him as being wanted for questioning over Miss Beilby’s death, and the manager phoned police.

Before police arrived, Mr Geiger and his girlfriend had left the unit and when they tried to go back, they found heavily-armed officers and a strict exclusion zone had been set up.

Zlatko Sikorsky allegedly tortured and murdered his teenage girlfriend, Larissa Beilby.Credit: QPS

The court heard this prompted Mr Geiger to search the internet and social media in an attempt to find out why the police had surrounded his apartment block.

It was then he discovered Sikorsky’s true identity and what crimes he was accused of committing.

The prosecution argued on Thursday that Mr Geiger must have known who Sikorsky was and that he was wanted by police, due to the sheer volume of media coverage the story attracted.

Mr Geiger’s defence counsel argued he only found out when he checked the internet and social media and this prompted him to immediately approach police and give them a key to his apartment.

A crucial piece of evidence came from the police statement given by Sikorsky’s girlfriend at the time, who drove him to Mr Geiger’s Mooloolaba apartment.

“At one point, John [the fake name Sikorsky used] told me to be careful about what I said because Joe [Mr Geiger] didn’t know that he was wanted by police and that he [Sikorsky] was worried that he [Mr Geiger] would called the cops if he found out.”

Magistrate Michael Quinn concluded the prosecution was unable to prove what Mr Geiger had or had not seen of the media coverage surrounding Sikorsky and the criminal manhunt for him.

Magistrate Quinn ruled he was not satisfied a jury could convict Mr Geiger of the offence he was charged with and ordered the charge be dismissed and Mr Geiger be free to go.