Suspects should not sleep easy

FAYE WHEELER

14/08/2009 4:00:00 AM

Number one suspect Malcolm Naden, wanted in relation to the disappearance of Lateesha Nolan, should never have reason to “sleep easy” according to NSW Opposition spokesman for police Mike Gallacher.

In the wake of the disappearances attracting the notice of Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich both the NSW Opposition and Dubbo MP Dawn Fardell have expressed concern about homicide resources.

Mr Milovanovich called on the Government to set up a “special taskforce” to “look at a number of unsolved homicides and missing persons (suspected deaths) of young women in NSW” last week.

While the Government seeks advice on the recommendation, yesterday Mr Gallacher stopped short of backing the task force absolutely, but he stressed the importance of have enough homicide crew members available.

“It’s unclear exactly what has become of the resources that were previously identified in the Orana area,” he said.

“Whether they have been amalgamated, moved to another area or simply done away with is unclear.

“It is important for the community to know how many cold case investigations are still outstanding in the Orana area.

“The first question is, is there a dedicated officer and if not, why not.

“We do need information about the status of resources to re-investigate the matters.”

Earlier this week the father of Ms Nolan, Mick Peet, backed Mr Milovanovich’s recommendation and spoke of his devastation since his daughter’s disappearance in January 2005.

“The family and the community and the offenders must all know that resourcing should never be an issue in relation to the re-examination of these matters,” Mr Gallacher said.

“I say offenders because there must be no doubt in their mind despite the passage of time that the police never give up.

“That it’s not forgotten about, that they can’t sleep easy.

“We want them to be constantly looking over their shoulder and the family needs to know their loss does matter.”

Ms Fardell also cast doubt on the Government’s handling of the matter.

Mr Milovanovich’s recommendation suggested there were not enough resources being put into investigating missing persons, she said.

Ms Fardell recommended any step along the path to a special taskforce should involve consultation with police to ensure it was well carried out.

faye.wheeler@ruralpress.com

Case remains cold as missing persons taskforce uncertain

FAYE WHEELER

13/08/2009 4:00:00 AM

Relatives of missing women, including Lateesha Nolan from Dubbo, are yet to hear if a renewed effort to find their loved ones will be mounted.

NSW Police Minister Tony Kelly gave no indication yesterday if he would support Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich’s recommendation that homicide police set up a taskforce to re-investigate a string of missing young women.

Mr Milovanovich made the unusual recommendation last week after delivering an open finding into the disappearance of 24-year-old Kellie Carmichael in 2001.

Ms Nolan was last seen on January 4, 2005 at the home of her grandmother in West Dubbo.

Her abandoned car was later found near the Macquarie River.

This week Ms Nolan’s suffering father, Mick Peet, backed Mr Milovanovich’s call for a homicide taskforce, but the NSW Government is yet to decide if police should try to unfreeze the cold cases.

“The Government is currently reviewing the findings of the Deputy State Coroner and are seeking advice from the Commissioner of Police and the experts from the Homicide Squad,” a spokesman for Mr Kelly said yesterday.

Nor was there any indication from Mr Kelly that the disappearance of Ms Nolan would be included in any future taskforce when the Daily Liberal asked the question yesterday.

Mr Milovanovich did not specify any names of missing or dead victims, nor the number of cases he wanted investigated or whether there were links, the Daily Telegraph reported on Monday.

He also recommended that Ms Carmichael’s disappearance be referred to the homicide squad’s unsolved homicide team and that consideration be given to offering a $200,000 reward in the case.

Police have warrants in place for the arrest of the main suspect in both the Ms Nolan disappearance and the murder of Kristy Scholes, Malcolm Naden.

The Police Minister already put a $50,000 reward in place in 2007 for ‘Information leading to the arrest of Malcolm Naden’.

Ms Nolan is one of at least 11 missing women in NSW, six of whom were last seen between Katoomba and Dubbo.

The parents of missing Bathurst woman Janine Vaughan would also like to see the case investigated by a taskforce.

Ms Vaughan has not been seen since she walked from The Tavern Nightclub early on Friday, December 7, 2001 and accepted a lift in a small red car.

An inquest into her disappearance and possible murder has been adjourned part heard before State Coroner Mary Jerram at the Bathurst Court House and is due to resume on Monday, September 14.

faye.wheeler@ruralpress.com

Will Never Give Up

Father of missing Dubbo woman wants police to set up search taskforce

ANNA YEO

12/08/2009 4:00:00 AM

The father of missing woman Lateesha Nolan yesterday backed a NSW coroner’s call for a homicide taskforce to be set up to investigate a string of cold cases involving missing women, including that of his daughter.

Lateesha Nolan went missing from Dubbo on January 4, 2005, leaving behind four children.

Four years of the pain later her father, Mick Peet, who now lives in Queensland, still devotes hours of his time every day to finding his daughter.

Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich has recommended police set up a task force to reinvestigate her case and a string of others involving young women he fears have been murdered.

NSW Police are yet to make a decision on the coroner’s recommendation.

Mr Peet said he more than welcomed the push for a police taskforce, saying for Lateesha’s sake he hoped more publicity of wanted man Malcolm Naden came of it.

Naden is wanted by police for questioning in relation to Lateesha’s disappearance and the murder of former Dubbo woman Kristy Scholes.

“I travel to Brisbane a lot and if you ask someone around there who Malcolm Naden is they have no idea,” Mr Peet said.

“I am doing everything I can to get his face out there, I have started a Facebook group and I spend hours on my email.

“I believe if they find Malcolm Naden they will find Lateesha.”

Me Peet has also run a blog in search of his daughter, which has received a number of responses from people across the NSW and interstate.

In one blog entry eight months after Lateesha went missing, Mr Peet spoke of how he couldn’t sleep and how he longed for his daughter to come home.

“Since that terrible day when I was told she was missing, I have not been able to sleep, my hair is falling out, I feel I am living in a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” he wrote.

“Every time the phone rings, I think maybe they have found her, which is a mixed blessing - have they found a body or have they found my precious girl alive, by some miracle?

“Will she one day walk back through that door, the beautiful girl I have watched grow up and blossom into a beautiful young woman?

“Will I ever get to tell her again how much I love her?”

Following on from newspaper reports that Naden had been seen in bushland around Kempsey and Port Macquarie, Mr Peet said he believed the wanted man was hiding out in someone’s roof.

He said for six months before Lateesha went missing Naden would block out light to his bedroom every day, which he believed was training to cope with the life he is supposedly living today.

“I had heard reports from a woman who believes she woke up to Malcolm leaning over her bed,” Mr Peet said.

“He had planned to live his life in the dark through the day and come out at night,” he said.

To join the Facebook group about Lateesha’s disappearance, visit: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/202473/4697402 or visit http://coastmick21.blogspot.com.

anna.yeo@ruralpress.com

Family’s questions need answering

FAYE WHEELER

27/06/2009 4:00:00 AM

Four years on from the death of Kristy Scholes-Walker in Dubbo her family still has unanswered questions about her final hours.

The 24-year-old was found dead behind a locked door of a family member’s home, her young children discovered in another part of the house.

Her murder came six months after the mysterious disappearance of another family member, Lateesha Nolan.

Today the Scholes-Walker families feel only the main suspect, missing man Malcolm Naden, can answer their haunting questions.

Police have warrants in place for his arrest in both the Scholes and Nolan homicides.

There is a $50,000 reward in place that was released by the Minister for Police on January 3, 2007 in the terms ‘Information leading to the arrest of Malcolm Naden’.

These terms are broad and rewards of this nature are few and far between, Orana crime manager Detective Inspector Rod Blackman said.

In four years of grieving, Kristy’s children, Libby and John, were the strength that kept them going, Kristy’s mother-in-law Margaret Walker revealed.

Kristy disappeared while housesitting while partner Reg and other family members were away from Dubbo.

She was later found dead in the room Malcolm Naden, her partner’s cousin, lived in at his grandmother’s.

The family was told at first Kristy had committed suicide but later declared her death suspicious and the search for Malcolm Naden continues.

“We never believed it was suicide,” Mrs Walker said.

“Malcolm would have the full story. We don’t have a full story, we’d like that.”

While the family “didn’t know if Malcolm was in the house or not” they “never expected anything like this to happen”.

“We didn’t know that he was dangerous, capable of murder,” Mrs Walker said.

Mrs Walker has treasured memories of Kristy, who she’d known for about seven years.

“She was a quiet girl who liked going out with her friends,” she said.

“She loved Take 5 magazines and a coffee, she was always on her phone.

“The Newcastle Knights were her football team.”

Tragically Kristy’s own mother had died when she was young.

“She wanted to be around for her children,” Mrs Walker said.

Her children, Libby and John, aged 9 and 7 this year, are growing up fast.

“They’re mostly happy. They know where (their mother) is, we told them she’s in heaven,” Mrs Walker said.

With their father Reg they moved to Kempsey to be closer to Kristy’s family, but are now back in Dubbo.

“They go to visit the grave when they go to Kempsey,” Mrs Walker said.

Libby and John are both getting on well at school and Reg’s life had gone forward, Mrs Walker said.

“Libby is a good little reader, her mother was a good reader,” she said.

“I take it one day at a time.”

Detective Inspector Rod Blackman said yesterday that as of November 2008 Malcolm Naden was hiding in bushland in the hills behind the Kempsey region.

Tragically Kristy’s own mother had died when she was young.

“She wanted to be around for her children,” Mrs Walker said.

Her children, Libby and John, aged 9 and 7 this year, are growing up fast.

“They’re mostly happy. They know where (their mother) is, we told them she’s in heaven,” Mrs Walker said.

With their father Reg they moved to Kempsey to be closer to Kristy’s family, but are now back in Dubbo.

“They go to visit the grave when they go to Kempsey,” Mrs Walker said.

Libby and John are both getting on well at school and Reg’s life had gone forward, Mrs Walker said.

“Libby is a good little reader, her mother was a good reader,” she said.

“I take it one day at a time.”

Detective Inspector Rod Blackman said yesterday that as of November 2008 Malcolm Naden was hiding in bushland in the hills behind the Kempsey region.

faye.wheeler@ruralpress.com

John,7 and Libby,9 Scholes-Walker with grandmother Margaret Walker.

Will Never Give Up

TOWN TERRORISED, MANHUNT FOR THE STATE’S MOST WANTED

TOWN TERRORISED, MANHUNT FOR THE STATE’S MOST WANTED