According to Matthew Searle, CEO of the UK-based Lucie Blackman Trust charity which is acting as a liaison between the London-based family and the media, Nora told her family that she wanted to see a waterfall during her holiday to Malaysia.
Acting on this previously undisclosed information, a volunteer searcher combed the area near the waterfall and made the grim discovery.
Nora's Belfast-born mother Meabh Quoirin and French father Sebastien Quoirin endured the grim task of formally identifying their daughter's body which had been airlifted to the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital in Seremban, about 70km from the capital Kuala Lumpur.
They are absolutely broken," Mr Searle told the Irish Independent.
National deputy police chief Mazlan Mansor said yesterday that the body "was not in any clothings" and while it remained a missing persons case, police were looking into all possibilities including the "angle of criminal investigation".
The police investigation will now focus on her final movements and a post-mortem examination, which is due to be conducted today, may provide clues as to how she died.
The rugged area where her body was found had been searched previously as part of a massive search operation that swelled to around 350 people as fears grew for the missing girl.
Meanwhile, a forensics team cordoned off the area where the body was discovered after winching the remains to a helicopter to remove it from the dense bush.
Mr Searle - whose charity helps families of people who die or go missing abroad - said the area where Nora was found "may have been covered in the early part of the search".
But why her body wasn't found earlier - especially when sniffer dogs were deployed - remains a mystery.
"It may have been they just got lucky," he said of the discovery yesterday.
However, how Nora - who was born with the congenital brain defect holoprosencephaly and had severe developmental delays - died was not disclosed by police, pending the outcome of today's autopsy.
"We have no indication as to how she died," said Mr Searle, who is speaking on behalf of the Quoirin family.
However, he said there were no reports of obvious damage to her body - from a struggle, injury or mauling by an animal.
"We heard the body is in good condition. We'll know more tomorrow," he said last night.
The mystery of Nora Quoirin's last hours: Family are 'broken' after teenager's body found - Independent.ie
