Lauren Patterson: 24-Year-Old British Primary School Teacher 'Found Dead In The Desert' In Qatar & 2 Locals Arrested

By Jared Feldschreiber | Oct 17, 2013 12:57 PM EDT

The body of 24-year-old British primary school teacher Lauren Patterson was reportedly murdered and found in a Qatari desert, The Daily Mail reported. Patterson was reportedly last seen with two men, including an ex-boyfriend at a nightclub in Doha on Saturday night.

Two local men were arrested over an apparent murder.

There were "suggestions" from friends that Patterson left a nightclub at La Cigale, a five-star hotel in Doha, with a group of Qatari men. Her friends reportedly received a text from Patterson saying that she had been taken to the wrong house, The Daily Mail also reported.

"Lauren was raped and brutally murdered," one friend posted on Twitter.

News reports said that Patterson, who taught in Doha, was killed hours after flying back from her grandmother's funeral in Kent, England.

Her disappearance on Saturday night prompted friends and family to launch a campaign via social social media, like Facebook, in hopes of finding her.

James Grima, her boyfriend, posted a message 40 hours after making the plea, said she was dead.

"I can't believe that it had to end this way Lauren, I really don't," Grima wrote on Facebook, according to The Daily Mail.

"I was so happy that I had finally found someone that could change my life so much, and in such a positive way too...'Rest In Peace babe ... I will always look up at the sky cause you always were the brightest star and always will be," Grima added.

Her mother Alison Patterson reportedly flew to Qatar to formally identify her body.

"She was a remarkable girl, my rock, always there for everyone. I know she's in heaven now in her Daddy's arms," her mother wrote in an online tribute.

40-year-old Jennifer Brown, an American preschool teacher, was killed by a Kenyan security guard last November in Qatar.

The Qatari authorities have launched an investigation into Patterson's murder.

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