Autopsy says dingoes likely didn’t kill Canadian, but there were ‘pre-mortem’ bites

The father of a young Canadian found dead on a beach in Australia on Monday said her family hopes to bring her remains home next week, after an autopsy suggested dingo bites on her body were likely not her immediate cause of death.

But the preliminary assessment of the body of 19-year-old Piper James, found on the island of K’gari, said there were “pre-mortem” bites in addition to evidence consistent with drowning.

A spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland said in a statement that the coroner “is now awaiting pathology results to further assist in determining the cause of death of Piper James,” adding the process was expected to take several weeks.

“The autopsy has found physical evidence consistent with drowning and injuries consistent with dingo bites,” the statement said.

“Pre-mortem dingo bite marks are not likely to have caused immediate death. There are extensive post-mortem dingo bite marks.”

The spokesperson said there was no evidence any other person was involved in James’s death.

In 2023, a pack of dingoes attacked a woman by chasing her into the surf on K’gari.

Police in Queensland state previously said James, from Campbell River, B.C., ventured out for an early-morning swim on a beach on K’gari, off Australia’s east coast, where her body was found surrounded by a pack of dingoes.

Her father, Todd James, said on Friday that he hoped drowning was the cause of death, considering the alternative, and the family would soon travel to Australia to collect his daughter’s remains.

James said a “smoke ceremony” would be held in Australia, which the family hoped to attend. 

While fluid was found in his daughter’s lungs, he said determining the final cause of death could be weeks away.

“We know her body was messed with (by) dingoes. It’s one or the other,” he said on Friday, citing the possibility of drowning. “We’ve just got to wait, and it could be one to two months.”

James had been travelling around Australia since October with a friend, also from Campbell River, and had found a job on K’gari, a world heritage site that is a popular destination for backpackers and other tourists.

K’gari, the world’s largest sand island, is known for its population of dingoes, a type of wild dog. The Queensland government warns visitors to be “dingo safe.”

Two beach camping areas have been closed until the end of February and ranger patrols have increased since James’s death, with Queensland parks authorities saying there is a “heightened risk of a habituated dingo pack damaging property, ripping tents, and accessing food from unsecured eskies (ice boxes) and fridges.”

There has been a series of dingo attacks on K’gari, also known as Fraser Island. In addition to the 2023 incident, they include the fatal mauling of a nine-year-old in 2001.

Australia’s most notorious dingo attack was the death of two-month-old Azaria Chamberlain in central Australia in 1980, which inspired the 1988 film “A Cry in the Dark,” featuring Meryl Streep as the infant’s mother who was wrongfully convicted of murder.

Friends and family of Piper James have said she was a “brave little girl” with an infectious laugh who dreamt of becoming a pilot.

Her mother, Angela James, has said her daughter was adventurous and loved motocross, camping and swimming.

Piper James’s grandmother, Penny Vanalstine Marshall, on Thursday shared a GoFundMe page to raise money so the teenager could be “brought home from Australia.” It had raised more than $5,000 by Friday.

Global Affairs Canada has said officials were providing consular assistance to the family.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2026.