An MP has revealed that teenager Isla Bell spoke to her on social media about violence against women, before she was allegedly murdered.
Ms Bell was last seen leaving her home in Brunswick, Melbourne, around 6pm on October 4, just days before her 20th birthday.
Her remains were found at a landfill in Dandenong on Tuesday night and two men are in custody charged with her alleged murder.
On Thursday, Victorian MP Georgie Purcell revealed Bell had been a passionate advocate for ending violence against women.
“I didn’t know Isla personally, but I saw her participate on my own Instagram page,” Purcell said.
‘She made jokes and offered solidarity. And he also liked my posts about ending femicide and attending national protests against violence.
“But the reality is that while women are devastated when this happens, we are not surprised.”
Ms Purcell, who represents the Animal Justice Party in the Victorian Parliament, added: “Isla turned 20 during the time she was missing.”
Isla Bell (pictured) was last seen leaving her Brunswick home in Melbourne at around 6pm on October 4, just days before her 20th birthday.
On Thursday, Victorian MP Georgie Purcell (pictured) revealed Bell had been a passionate advocate for ending violence against women.
“I had a family trip planned to the Great Barrier Reef and was so excited,” she wrote.
‘I want to say more about the person I was told she was as a friend, daughter, aunt, but that shouldn’t really matter.
On Wednesday, Marat Ganiev, 53, from St Kilda, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with Bell’s murder.
His co-defendant, Eyal Yaffe, 57, of Hampton, faces a charge of assisting a felon in murder.
Daily Mail Australia revealed police will allege the 19-year-old sent a text message to her friend just hours before her alleged murder expressing her happiness at finding the man of her dreams.
In a Snapchat post sent on October 7, Ms Bell, who was last seen leaving her Brunswick home in Melbourne three days earlier on October 4, told her friend she had “found the best sugar daddy,” according to court documents.
Bell told her friend that this “sugar daddy” had lavished her with gifts and “saved her from sex traffickers.”
She had supposedly hooked up with Ganiev just two days earlier, a day after her desperate mother reported Bell missing to the police.
Purcell, who represents the Animal Justice Party in the Victorian Parliament, made the post on Instagram.
Marat Ganiev, 53, from St Kilda, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with Bell Island’s murder.
Eyal Yaffe (pictured) is accused of helping the man who allegedly murdered Isla Bell hide his alleged crime.
Police allege Ganiev murdered Ms Bell shortly after midnight on October 7. For now it remains a mystery why he is alleged to have done so.
His remains were found at a landfill site in Dandenong six weeks later, on November 19, and have yet to be formally identified.
On Wednesday, Bell’s heartbroken mother, Justine Spokes, issued a heartbreaking statement in memory of her daughter as Ganiev appeared in court.
“I am so sorry, my dear daughter,” he said.
‘I couldn’t protect you from your complex illnesses and this cruel world.
‘I felt very proud of your decisions this year, of your strength to resist despite your suffering.
‘All you ever wanted was to create, make and nurture life, love and be loved.
‘We were looking forward to being reunited as a family again; My heart hurts and I can’t reconcile that it’s not going to happen.’
He said his daughter was “the gentlest soul, the kindest, free-spirited human.”
“I will connect with you in spirit, my Care Bear, and no one can take that connection away from us,” he added.
During the six weeks Bell was missing, streetlights and walls across Melbourne were covered with missing persons posters asking her to come home.
His mother told The Age that he had the “deepest empathy for all forms of life.”
“An exquisitely beautiful soul, it is an indescribable torment to know that despite my daughter’s love for the world, she felt the depth and breadth of its cruelty,” Mrs. Spokes said.
‘I have two dear daughters, one in the flesh and the other in spirit, both live in my heart and walk by my side, always.’