Vigil for lateesha

Vigil for LateeshaCHRISANTHI GIOTISFriday, 6 January 2006 They came from every corner of Dubbo and even from the Central Coast, they caught lifts with friends and neighbours - the foam cups around their candles were decorated with Lateesha Nolan's name and the date of her disappearance. By the time Lateesha's family arrived at the Tamworth Street carpark almost 200 people had gathered in the dusk - a show of solidarity and love that immediately touched the hearts of everyone in Lateesha's family. Lateesha's Uncle Ted Lancaster said later the "feeling of driving across the bridge and seeing all the cars was just overwhelming". "I only expected around 20 adults so to see over 150 people here was way beyond my wildest dream," Mr Lancaster said. The candlelight vigil for Lateesha Nolan held last night - on the one-year anniversary of her disappearance - began with emotion and solidarity. As the night darkened and the candles illuminated the faces of so many people pained by her disappearance the emotion grew. The message of the vigil - the need for more information - the need to find Lateesha, so her four children and her family can finally have some closure was repeated again and again. Tears overwhelmed Mr Lancaster as he began the quiet ceremony by reading a message from Lateesha's mother Joan Nolan. "If only we knew where you were to bring you home," Mrs Nolan wrote. Friends and family were told of Lateesha's "happy go-lucky nature" and how she was "generous to a fault". Lateesha's greatest fear was that her children would be involved in a car accident. "But what has happened now is far, far worse with no answers to the questions that eat away at you," Mr Lancaster said. "I'm sure that someone must know what happened to Lateesha. "I pray that they will make it their new year's resolution to ease their conscience and tell us what happened." By the time Lateesha's cousin, Kirsty Peachey, read the poem, Our Stolen Beauty, children were openly crying. Accompanied on guitar by Brandon Trautman, Ms Peachey said she missed her friend and cousin more each day. "Picturing you in my mind should I smile or should I cry, do I think of happy past times or of the months that have gone by," Ms Peachey said. from page one "I remember the talks we used to have - I knew it was you we could always trust," she said. "'Teesha you will live forever in your kids and in our hearts. You know that we all love you wherever you may be." Ms Peachey said that she was inspired to share her very personal poem at the vigil in the hope that someone will come forward with information. "I just hope people will see us all hurting and how much we are hoping to get a bit more information," Mrs Peachey said. Eight-year-old Kiana Peachey was one of the Children crying during the poem. "I do miss her and I dream about her nearly every night that she's come alive," Kiana said. Her nine-year-old cousin Khadijah Towney was also close to tears. "I felt really sad and I felt like crying but I tried to be brave," Khadijah said. Before the vigil took place Lateesha's family were worried that the ceremony might cause more pain for Lateesha's four young children, Kiesha, Erica, Jayden and Shaqkalia, but those fears were allayed by the number of people who came to share their pain. "At least the kids will have a positive memory of something," Mr Lancaster said. "The strength you brought just by being here tonight I hope we can keep it going to support Joan and the kids," he said. "We need that help to continue throughout the lives of the children."

The last snapshot of man wanted over strangulation murder

January 3, 2006
Malcolm Naden's aunty talks about the man on the run, writes Jordan Baker.
THIS is Malcolm John Naden as his family remembers him.
For reasons known only to the man on the run from murder allegations, Naden posed for the photograph after gathering and destroying every picture he could find of himself.
It captures Naden, dishcloth in hand, as he looked when he disappeared a day before the strangled body of his cousin's partner Kristy Scholes was found next to his single bed in August.
Until now police have relied on a picture of a fuller-faced man with closely cropped hair to jog the memories of members of the public who may have seen Naden on the run.
The photograph is taken in the Dubbo home of his grandparents, who took him in when he fled his home after repeated clashes with his father.
Janette Lancaster, his aunty, said she "grabbed him on a good day".
By the time the photo was taken he was virtually a hermit, shutting himself in his sparsely furnished room, bolting the door from the inside and occasionally climbing through the window at night.
"You never knew whether he was there or not," Mrs Lancaster said. "He sometimes had blankets over the windows. He even used to put his clothes under the door so no one could see the light.
"The boys would give him food through the window. Dad would leave fruit on his door in a plastic bag.
"Before what happened with Kristy, he wouldn't take the food; it was just going rotten."
Naden disappeared more than four months ago. Police believe he is living rough using the survival skills he learned while camping and fishing, with perhaps some help from contacts.
He has been spotted across western NSW - at Moree, Coonabarabran and Coonamble.
The only two confirmed sightings have been at Grawin, near Lightning Ridge, and at Western Plains Zoo, where the former skinner and boner from Dubbo abattoir lived for up to two weeks.
Grawin's opal fields suit wanted men: empty camps, deserted mines the size of ballrooms, and furtive "noodlers" who scavenge through dumps for riches the miners missed.
"You could go months and months without seeing anybody out here if you chose the right spot," said Cheryl Bailey, the manager of a local club.
Police operations in both places failed to find him.
Relatives are begging Naden to turn himself in, and his grandparents cannot bring themselves to return to the house they have lived in for 30 years.
Mrs Lancaster said: "There's some that don't want to believe it, but there's others who say why would she be found in his room with the door locked? Nobody went into his room. His father doesn't want to believe it at all.
"You don't want to think someone you trusted and loved and helped raise can murder someone. It's so unbelievable it's not funny. Until we find him and he gives us his story we don't know what happened."
Police also want to question Naden over his cousin Lateesha Nolan, missing since last January. A vigil will be held for her tomorrow, the anniversary of her disappearance.

Police warn fugitive,s allies

Police warn fugitive's allies
From:
By Marnie O'NeillJanuary 01, 2006

POLICE hunting suspected double murderer Malcolm Naden have warned that those responsible for hiding him could face 25 years to life in jail.Naden, 31, is accused of murdering his cousin Kristy Scholes and causing the disappearance of Lateesha Nolan, leaving six children behind.
He has been on the run for six months and is considered an expert bushman.
Detectives believe he has sought refuge in Dubbo's Western Plains Zoo and that friends are helping to feed and hide him.
The zoo was temporarily shut last week as police scoured the scrub for clues to Naden's whereabouts.
"That person or persons faces charges of accessory after the fact to murder, which is akin to murder and carries a penalty of 25 years to life," Homicide Squad Detective Sergeant Bryne Ruse said.
At the very least, they face charges of aiding and abetting or perverting the course of justice."
Mother of two Ms Scholes, 24, was found strangled in Naden's bedroom at their grandparents' Bumblegumbie Rd home in Dubbo on June 23 last year. Her cousin Ms Nolan, also 24, disappeared on January 4 last year after dropping off her four children at the same house.
Her body has never been found and police fear she too has been murdered.
Naden is the prime suspect in both cases.
Naden's aunt, Janette Lancaster, said she felt for the two women.
"We will never give up, there is no way we will give up until we know what happened to Lateesha and the circumstances surrounding Kristy's death," she said.
Naden moved in with his grandparents while in Year 7 because of a poor relationship with his own parents.
The Sunday Telegraph understands the crimes he is accused of and his fugitive status have divided the family. Naden's father refused to comment last week.
The family will hold a candlelight vigil for Ms Nolan on Wednesday