A fundraiser has been launched to help care for the five-year-old son of Payge Leembruggen after the 31-year-old mother was found dead in sand dunes near Mackay Harbour, as police continue trying to account for the final four days of her life.

Ms Leembruggen’s body was discovered shortly after 8am on September 15 near North Wall Beach at Mackay Harbour. A man walking his dogs found her in a remote area around the sand dunes, prompting police to establish a crime scene and begin an investigation into what authorities have described as an unexplained death.

Queensland Police said Ms Leembruggen was last confirmed alive four days earlier, at about 8.55am on September 11, when she was seen in Celeber Drive at Andergrove after visiting a hair salon. Investigators are working to establish where she went, who she may have met and how she came to be at the coastal location where her body was found.

Detective Inspector Emma Novosel said police were treating the death as suspicious until evidence established otherwise. That description does not mean police have concluded a crime occurred or identified another person as responsible. At the time of the latest public information, the cause of death had not been determined and an autopsy was expected to provide investigators with further information.

Fundraiser created for her five-year-old son

As the investigation continues, family and friends have turned their attention to Ms Leembruggen’s five-year-old son, Nakoa. A GoFundMe campaign organised by family friend Safiira Shah says the boy is non-verbal and has autism, and will now be cared for by his great-grandparents and grandmother.

The fundraiser was established with a target of $15,000 and had received more than 50 donations by September 17. The total continued to change as people contributed. The campaign says money will be used to reduce financial pressure on the family and help meet the child’s care needs, including specialist support such as counselling where appropriate.

Ms Shah described Ms Leembruggen as a loving, empathetic and selfless friend who put other people’s needs before her own. The campaign says her son was the centre of her life and asks donors to focus on supporting the family rather than speculating about the circumstances of her death.

The fundraiser also states that the family is working to nominate the child’s great-grandmother, Colleen Leembruggen, as the beneficiary. GoFundMe identifies the campaign as donation protected.

Police are focused on a four-day gap

The central investigative question remains what happened between Ms Leembruggen’s last confirmed sighting on September 11 and the discovery of her body on September 15.

Police said she had been seen near the hair salon in Andergrove, a Mackay suburb several kilometres from North Wall Beach. She was reported as wearing red yoga pants, a white shirt, a red hair scrunchie and white shoes at the time of the last confirmed sighting.

Investigators have appealed to anyone who saw Ms Leembruggen during those four days to contact police. They are particularly interested in dashcam footage and other information that could help establish her movements, including material from the Celeber Drive area and routes that may connect Andergrove with Mackay Harbour.

Police and State Emergency Service volunteers searched dense vegetation around the sand dunes after the body was found. The terrain is difficult to move through, which adds to the challenge of locating evidence that may help reconstruct the sequence of events.

Detective Inspector Novosel said Ms Leembruggen had been living with her son and extended family on a property at Mount Jukes, north of Mackay. Her disappearance had not resulted in a missing-person report before her body was discovered, leaving investigators to work backwards from the last confirmed sighting.

Authorities have not announced a cause of death

The absence of a confirmed cause of death is an important part of the case. Police use the term “suspicious” in some unexplained-death investigations while they preserve evidence and rule possibilities in or out. It should not be interpreted as confirmation that Ms Leembruggen was killed by another person.

An autopsy can assist investigators by identifying injuries, medical conditions, toxicology findings and other evidence relevant to the cause and timing of death. Police have said the examination is expected to provide further insight, but no public finding had been announced when this article was updated.

Officers have also sought to reassure people using North Wall Beach and the surrounding area. Police said there was no information indicating a continuing threat to the public, even as the death itself remained under investigation.

The location where Ms Leembruggen was found is a popular coastal area but includes steep dunes and dense bush. Images from the search showed officers and emergency workers operating around the dune system while the crime scene remained in place.

Friends remember a devoted mother

Tributes published since Ms Leembruggen’s death have focused on her role as a mother and the relationships she maintained with friends and family. People who knew her have described her as warm, generous and capable of lifting the mood of those around her.

The fundraiser’s message is particularly centred on the bond between Ms Leembruggen and her son. It says the five-year-old now faces a major change in his life and that his relatives are preparing to take on his day-to-day care while grieving their own loss.

That combination of grief and practical responsibility is the reason the organiser says financial assistance is needed. Costs can include ordinary living expenses as well as specialist services, transport, appointments and other support required by a child whose established family arrangements have suddenly changed.

The campaign has also become a place for community members to express condolences. Its organiser thanked people for messages of support and thanked Queensland Police for their work on the investigation, while explicitly asking contributors not to use the fundraiser page for theories about how Ms Leembruggen died.

By the afternoon of September 17, the public fundraiser had passed $4,000 from more than 50 donations toward its $15,000 target. Because crowdfunding totals change as new donations are made, that figure is a snapshot rather than a fixed final amount. The campaign remains publicly accessible and continues to describe its purpose as supporting the child and the relatives assuming responsibility for his care.

The organiser has also stressed that the fundraiser is not intended to become an alternative forum for the police investigation. That request is significant in a case where the cause of death is still unknown. Public speculation can quickly move beyond the available evidence, while detectives are still gathering material and awaiting forensic findings.

Police appeal remains active

The investigation remains open and police are continuing to seek information from the public. Anyone who was in relevant parts of Andergrove or around Mackay Harbour between September 11 and September 15 may hold information without realising its significance.

That can include dashcam recordings, security-camera footage, sightings of Ms Leembruggen or observations of vehicles and people in areas investigators are examining. Even information that appears routine can help police establish a timeline when there are several days still unaccounted for.

For Ms Leembruggen’s family, the police investigation and the fundraiser are addressing different parts of the same sudden loss. Detectives are trying to determine how and why the 31-year-old died, while relatives and friends are preparing for the long-term care of the young son she leaves behind.

Until the autopsy and further investigative work provide clearer answers, authorities have urged the public to avoid speculation and allow evidence to guide the inquiry. The fundraiser, meanwhile, continues to accept donations for Nakoa and the relatives who will care for him.