Grace Millane’s chilling last Instagram post including death quote

‘Murdered’ British backpacker Grace Millane made a chilling final Instagram post – featuring a skull painting and a quote about death.

Grace, an advertising graduate and talented artist, is believed to have been killed between December 1 and 2, court documents show.

She vanished from a hostel in Auckland, New Zealand, where a 26-year-old man today appeared in court charged with her murder.

Only weeks before her death, Grace, 22, had uploaded her last post to her Instagram art page – a watercolour artwork of a human skull.

She had captioned the image "Two can keep a secret, if one of them is dead" – a quote from the theme song of the hit TV show, Pretty Little Liars, which follows the lives of four girls after their friend vanishes.

The post was made on the Art By Millane page – where Grace would upload images of her impressive artwork – on October 23.

It has since been ‘liked’ and commented on by hundreds of users, with one writing: "Omg such a beautiful talented lady."

Another posted: "Your artwork is amazing! You’ve touched so many here in NZ young angel x RIP beautiful x."

Grace, whose other artworks include depictions of an elephant, a giraffe, a dog, an ’emotionless face’ and a ‘burnt gun’, had been in near-daily contact with her family before her disappearance.

This morning, a man appeared at Auckland District Court, charged with murdering her between December 1 and 2, her birthday.

A body – said to be Grace’s – wasn’t discovered until Sunday, meaning the young woman may have ‘lay dead’ for up to one week.

Sitting only feet away from the backpacker’s family during the court hearing, the suspect was branded a "scumbag" from the public gallery.

The man cannot be named in New Zealand for legal reasons.

Although a judge refused an interim name suppression, he decided to appeal the decision. It means he will keep his anonymity in the country for at least 21 more days.

Speaking to members of Grace’s family in court today, Judge Evangelos Thomas said: "Your grief must be desperate. All of us hope justice for Grace is fair, swift and ultimately brings you some peace."

The suspect was living at the hotel where the University of Lincoln graduate was last seen alive, according to a charge sheet.

As he was taken back to the cells by prison officers after the hearing someone in the public gallery yelled: "Scumbag," MailOnline reports.

Earlier today, it emerged a post-mortem had been carried out on Grace, after the body was found in the Waitakere Ranges.

However, her cause of death will not be revealed as the results of the examination are not being released, officers in New Zealand said.

Detective Inspector Scott Beard, of the Auckland City Police, said: "The enquiry team working on the murder of English tourist Grace Millane have continued investigations throughout the day.

"The scene examination on Scenic Drive is ongoing and will continue tomorrow.

"The 0800 number has received a number of calls from people with information about the 2016 red Toyota Corolla hatchback.

"Police would like to hear from anyone who travelled along Scenic Drive on Monday 3 December, between 6am and 9.30am.

"The vehicle was rented for a 24-hour period and was returned to a central Auckland rental car company on Monday 3 December at lunchtime."

DI Beard added: "The post-mortem examination has been carried out today. We will not be releasing the results of this examination."

Detectives earlier said they had identified a "location of interest" after the investigation led them to a spot on Scenic Drive, a country road about 12 miles west of the city centre, on Saturday night.

Speaking at the scene on Sunday afternoon, Detective Inspector Scott Beard said investigators had "located a body which we believe to be Grace" about 10 metres from the roadside.

The last confirmed sighting of Grace was at 9.41pm on December 1 at the Citylife Hotel, when she was seen with a "male companion".

Since arriving in New Zealand from Peru on November 20, the young woman, from Essex, had been in regular contact with her loved ones.

Police received a missing person report on Wednesday and launched a major search and public campaign, which saw dozens of calls made to a helpline.

Grace’s dad, David Millane, flew to Auckland and made a public appeal for help finding his "lovely" and "family-orientated" daughter.

Her brother, Declan Millane, paid tribute by sharing pictures on social media of him and his sister, adding the lyrics of You Are My Sunshine.

He wrote on Instagram: "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away."

A stretch of the road was closed on Sunday while forensics officers scoured the area.

Two large blue and white tents had been erected, with investigators wearing white overalls seen nearby.

Scenic Drive snakes through dense rainforest in the Waitakere Ranges, which lie to the west of Auckland.

The spot where police found the body was in the vicinity of the Waitakere Reservoir and dam, a beauty spot with hiking trails.

Earlier, New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern gave an emotional apology to the backpacker’s family.

Ms Ardern said: "Your daughter should have been safe here, and she wasn’t, and I’m sorry for that."

Speaking to reporters, she added: "I cannot imagine the grief of her family and what they would be experiencing and feeling right now.

"My thoughts and prayers are with her father David, who is in the country, her mother Gillian, who cannot be here, and her wider family, friends and loved ones.

"From the Kiwis I have spoken to, there is this overwhelming sense of hurt and shame that this has happened in our country, a place that prides itself on our hospitality, on our manaakitanga (a Maori term meaning kindness and generosity) especially to those who are visiting our shores."

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Disappearance of Grace Millane

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