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HAPPIER TIMES: Mick Peet with his daughter Lateesha Nolan when she was younger.Last words to dad: I love youINGRID BOWNWednesday, 31 August 2005When Lateesha Nolan was growing up her father was "pretty strict" with his "precious girl".
He'd make sure she was home before dark and when she didn't arrive one evening, he searched all over town before finding her at a friend's place.
"I had a premonition something was going to happen to one of my children," he said yesterday.
Now Mick Peet's Queensland home is a "shrine" to his daughter, the young Dubbo mother of four who vanished eight months ago in bizarre and tragic circumstances.
"My heart stops every time the phone rings, I wake up during the night in a sweat and I've been losing my hair from stress," he said.
"Sometimes I sit at my computer until the sun comes up thinking of things I could do to try and find her."
Mr Peet remembers a beautiful girl growing up who loved fishing, camping and trips to the coast.
"She loved camping with her pop and we'd go driving to the coast, the kids loved Movieworld," he said.
"She had so much life yet to live ... and her whole future has been taken away from her.
"It's been taken away from her children, too."
The last contact he had with his "baby girl" was a phone call in the days before her disappearance.
"The last thing she ever said was, 'I love you Dad," he said.
"I hadn't seen her and the kids for five years but we had great old chats on the phone - we were still very close."
When Lateesha went missing, Mr Peet was in anguish over what to do.
"I wanted to come down straight away and look for her," he said.
"I had the car packed but the police and the family talked me out of it - they said there was nothing I could do.
"I went into shock and felt pretty useless being up here. My clothes went mouldy sitting in the car while I was waiting for news."
He said "all his heart" now went to Lateesha's four young
children.
"They haven't let go of the security blanket of having their mother," he said.
Mr Peet was on the verge of abandoning hope of ever knowing Lateesha's fate, but said the manhunt for her cousin, Malcolm Naden, had renewed it.
"I hope they find him to give us some clue," he said.
Mr Peet said he simply wanted his and his family's nightmare to come to an end.
"I have dreams about her all the time," he said.
"She's trying to contact me but the dream ends before I can speak to her.
"We just need to find her. All I want is to lay my girl down to rest, to bring her home."
Anyone with any information on Lateesha Nolan's disappearance, or the whereabouts of Malcolm Naden, should call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.