School friend of Jayde Kendall to plead not guilty over teen's alleged murder

A former schoolmate of Gatton teenager Jayde Kendall has faced court charged with her murder, as the rural community mourned her death.

Brenden Bennetts was arrested at his lawyer’s office and charged with the 16-year-old girl’s murder last night.

Jayde’s body was discovered yesterday, 13 days after her disappearance, by local farmer Marty Warburton on his Upper Tenthill property, 17km from Gatton.

Jayde was last seen getting into Brenden Bennetts’ red Toyota Corolla on Friday, August 14, outside Lockyer District State High School in Gatton.

Mr Bennetts’ lawyer Brendan Ryan has given consent for the prosecution to collect and use DNA samples from the 18-year-old.

Mr Bennetts briefly appeared in court today and his matter will return to court next week.

Mr Ryan told reporters outside court today his client would plead not guilty and an application for bail would eventually be made.

"Unfortunately as of yesterday we all discovered that young Jayde Kendall had passed away," he said.

"I know that there will be a lot of speculation (but) there is always a defence case, and there is certainly a defence case to be made in this particular matter."

He said Bennetts was agitated, extremely depressed and prone to moments of reserved silence.

Mr Ryan said the young man had "significant remorse" for the tragic loss of Jayde and described the pair as friends, despite a "limited acquaintanceship".

He conceded the arrest had not come as a surprise because he had been dealing with police in the wake of Jayde's disappearance.

Bennetts stared straight ahead as he was driven to a watch house by officers last night as a media scrum gathered around the Queensland Police car in which he was traveling.

His father told The Courier Mail that he would stand by his son and that the family loves him.

"We will continue to support him and we're sorry for the (Kendall) family and friends and the loss that they have had," he was quoted as saying.

Police said the farmer’s tip-off led detectives to the body.

“I’ve spoken to Jayde’s father, and her extended family, and as you can imagine, they are very upset at this news,” Inspector Matt Howard said in a press conference.

“As previously reported, we asked members of the community to search their land and property for anything that was out of place.

“And as a result, a member of the community contacted Crime Stoppers, and led us to this area, where we conducted a search and located the body.”

Police said the search for Jayde had been a very complex investigation that was particularly distressing for officers and her family.

On Tuesday, police revealed Jayde's bank account was accessed twice on the day she disappeared, at a Commonwealth Bank ATM on Railway Street in Gatton.

Her account was accessed at 5.45pm and 5.47pm. Police did not reveal further details about who made the transaction.

An item belonging to Jayde was found on a service road off the Warrego Highway in Walloon, more than 40km from where she disappeared, five days after she went missing.

Jayde was reported missing by friends and family after she failed to turn up to her job at McDonald’s on the evening she disappeared.

Police said earlier that Jayde’s father was particularly distraught, having lost his wife to cancer some years ago.