General News
5 August, 2026
Town pauses, falls silent for Layla’s final journey
AS THE hearse carrying Layla Jeffrey on her final journey travelled down McCulloch Street on Friday afternoon, Donald fell silent ... in the distance the teen’s favourite songs still playing in Donald Soldiers’ Memorial Hall.
AS THE hearse carrying Layla Jeffrey on her final journey travelled down McCulloch Street on Friday afternoon, Donald fell silent ... in the distance the teen’s favourite songs still playing in Donald Soldiers’ Memorial Hall.
Traffic was stopped as police stood at corners around the hall to allow more than 200 mourners, many wearing black hoodies or Hello Kitty clothing, to remember Layla.
Many had penned special messages on Layla’s white casket during the service that pastor Lisa Woods said was to remember the “precious life of a young girl”.
Aunt Kaitlyn Cheyne, in the eulogy, spoke of Layla’s love of fashion, movies, music, singing and taking photos.
She said Layla had a strong sense of self but also determination that friends were never left out or forgotten.
Kaitlyn said Layla was a “bright spark of life, like attracting moths to a flame.”
“She was so many things to so many people; she was both shy and confident in many different ways, funny, sassy, kind, generous, stylish, sweet, cheeky, loving and considerate,” she said.
“I could go on and on, but it would still never be enough words to express the depth of her character or the loss we are all feeling.”
Layla’s father Aaron read the poem She is Gone before a photographic tribute shown to those attending the service.
“You can share tears that she’s gone or you can smile that she has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back, or you can open your eyes and see that she has left. Your heart could be empty because you can’t see her, or it can be full of the love that you show. You can remember her for only that she is gone or you can cherish her memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind … or you could do what she would have wanted, smile, open your eyes, love and go on,” was Aaron’s reading.
On the eve of her funeral, Donald’s silos were lit up in pink.
The funeral came almost a month after Layla, 13, was reported missing.
A police search later found her body in bushland near the town’s main street. A 16-year-old was later arrested and has been charged with her murder,
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