Body of missing British backpacker found in elevator shaft in Malaysia

In a police statement on June 5, Kuala Lumpur police chief Comm Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa confirmed that the body's identity was the missing British backpacker Jordan Johnson-Doyle, The Star reported.

British backpacker Jordan Johnson-Doyle who has been found dead after going missing in Malaysia. Photo by Leanne Burnett

The body was found around 5 p.m. on June 4 in a flooded elevator shaft at a construction site in Bangsar, a high-end neighborhood on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital. Police said the body was face down, partially unclothed, and located in a secluded area approximately one kilometer from Johnson-Doyle's last known location, the South China Morning Post reported.

The remains were then sent for a postmortem examination and formal identification.

Johnson-Doyle, 25, was last seen on May 27 after attending a pub quiz in the city. He had been backpacking solo across Southeast Asia for the past year, working remotely as a software engineer for a U.S.-based company. He arrived in Malaysia on May 17 after traveling through Vietnam.

His disappearance was reported on June 2 by his father, prompting a police investigation. His mother, Leanne Burnett, told The Liverpool Echo that she tracked his phone to a nearby block of flats, but the signal disappeared on May 30.

"This was the last place it had a signal. It was a block of flats in that same area, literally down the road from the bar," she said.

Family members have since flown to Malaysia.