A 25-year-old man has tonight been arrested in connection with the death of a teenager after her remains were found in a park.
Hazel North, 19, from Dunfermline in Fife, last spoke to her sister on March 4, telling her she was travelling to meet a friend 60 miles away in Kilmarnock.
Her remains were discovered in the East Ayrshire town's Dean Park.
Police Scotland said a 25-year-old man has been arrested and is currently in custody over the death. He has not been named, but is due to appear before Kilmarnock Sheriff Court tomorrow.
The statement said: "We can confirm that a 25-year-old man has been arrested and is presently detained in police custody in connection with her death. A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal."
The news came hours after police made an appeal for information at a press conference.
Chief Superintendent Gillian MacDonald, from Police Scotland's Ayrshire division, said: "Officers have carried out a detailed search and excavation of an area within Dean Park and the body of a young woman has been found.
"We believe this to be Hazel North. Hazel's family has been advised of this and officers are supporting them at this difficult time.
"A full forensic examination of the site remains ongoing and a post-mortem examination will take place tomorrow to establish the exact cause of death.
"I can confirm that a number of people have been spoken to in connection with the inquiry into Hazel's disappearance and these inquiries are very much ongoing."
Forensic teams previously searched a flat and garden in Kilmarnock's Northcraig Road in the hunt for Ms North, from the Cairneyhill area of Dunfermline.
Officers have also been investigating a possible sighting on March 18 in Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, where the teenager used to live.
They are examining a report that she was seen in the town's Coronation Drive in the company of another woman.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article