Lateesha missing for five years

Lateesha missing for five years

by Lea Emery | 4th August 2010

THREE times a year Mick Peet’s sleep becomes uneasy and he starts to feel sick to the stomach with anxiety.

The Innes Park father has spent the past five years in a hellish limbo after his daughter Lateesha Nolan went missing in Dubbo in early January 2005.

“It’s always in the back of my mind. We don’t know where she is,” Mr Peet said.

Each year, Mr Peet’s uncertainty about the whereabouts of his daughter increases around New Year, Lateesha’s birthday in May and National Missing Persons Week — this year held from August 1 to 7.

“I just want closure — they searched the river for two weeks after she went missing and they tell me they have been searching ever since,” he said.

“But we still don’t know what happened.”

Answers may be a step closer for Mr Peet, with the missing person case set for mention in the New South Wales Coroner’s Court on August 13.

Despite no conclusive evidence, Mr Peet and New South Wales police believe Lateesha, who would have been 30 this year, may have been murdered by one of the most wanted men in New South Wales, Malcolm Naden.

“I’d like him caught. I don’t know if he’s out there or if he’s doing this to another girl,” Mr Peet said.

“If he was caught I might be able to find out if it was him or not.”

Mr Peet said he was not sure if he would be able to move on until he knew what had happened to Lateesha.

With the uncertainty hanging over his head, his worry over his daughter’s disappearance has affected his relationship with his three other children, aged between 8 and 16.

“It’s terrible. I don’t want it to happen to the other kids so I’m a bit over-protective,” he said.

“I’ve got one on the internet and she doesn’t like me snooping into her accounts but I need to know who she is talking to.”

Mr Peet said every time he heard about a child going missing, his heart sank.

“I know exactly how they feel,” he said.

“For the kids who just take off — they need to let their parents know where they are. That’s the worst thing, not knowing.”

Mr Peet said this was the first year that there had been no reported sightings of naden.

Missing stats

Each year 4700 people are reported missing in Queensland

99.5% of Queensland’s missing are found

260 people are on the long-term missing register which dates back to 1970