Gruesome search for bushman Malcolm Naden’s grim secrets

Fugitive Malcolm Naden

Lateesha Nolan has not been seen since she disappeared in January 2005. Picture: The Daily Telegraph
Source: The Daily Telegraph


Nolan children

The Nolan children show a photo of their missing mother Lateesha Nolan in Dubbo, Central West NSW. Picture: Brad Hunter
Source: The Daily Telegraph


Naden dig

A police car is pictured blocking the entrance to Butler’s Falls where the dig is taking place. Picture: Brian Harvey
Source: The Daily Telegraph


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Malcolm Naden

Malcolm Naden was captured last month after years on the run. Picture: File
Source: The Daily Telegraph





FOR Lateesha Nolan, the secluded picnic area at Butlers Falls was a favourite spot.


It is on the banks of the Macquarie River, just south of Dubbo, NSW. Lateesha would visit the picturesque swimming hole as a girl, her father Mick Peet said.

Yesterday family members held their breath as police searched with excavators and sniffer dogs to discover if it was also her grave.

Lateesha, 25, was last seen on January 4, 2005, outside the Dubbo home of her cousin Malcolm Naden. Her disappearance left behind four children.

It is understood that the possible breakthrough in the hunt for her body came after Naden, 38, who was captured last month after a seven-year hunt, was interviewed by homicide detectives. He is being held at Goulburn’s Supermax jail.

Police moved into the picnic area about 5km south of Dubbo late on Wednesday after a debriefing of officers who had worked on Strike Force Durkin, which hunted Naden.

Yesterday they continued clearing an area about 100m by 20m, digging out the sand and putting it through a commercial sifter as they looked for evidence.

They refused to comment officially on whether anything had been found.

An emotional Mr Peet, who now lives at Bundaberg, Queensland, couldn’t hide his emotions when asked about the police search.

“I can’t describe how I feel. The hairs on the back of my neck are still standing up and there is this tingling sensation that won’t go,” he said.

Naden has not been charged over Lateesha’s disappearance. He has been charged with the murder in 2005 of another cousin, Kristy Scholes, 24, whose body was found in the bedroom of the Dubbo house where his grandparents lived.

Naden has also been charged with two counts of aggravated indecent assault of a 15-year-old girl.

And he has been charged with one count of shoot with intent to murder a police officer during the hunt at Nowendoc on December 7, 2011.

Ms Nolan’s mother Joan, who has been caring for her daughter’s children Jayden, Kiesha, Shaqkaila and Erica since their mother went missing, had not told them of the development late yesterday.

“I’m not going to tell the kids yet, you just don’t know if it really is there or not,” Mrs Nolan said.

“When we know exactly what is going on, I’ll sit them down, but not yet.”

She said the children, all still aged under 12, had always maintained hope that their mother would be found alive and they could have her back.

“If they had somewhere to go and visit her, it might be better for them, I think,” Mrs Nolan said.

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