'A Day for Daniel' – 29th October 2010

Daniel Morcombe – aged 13 years - missing since 7^th December 2003 

The family of Daniel Morcombe have asked for a day of remembrance and awareness on 29^th October this year. The Daniel Morcombe Foundation was established in 2005 by Daniel's parents, Denise and Bruce Morcombe, and has organised the annual awareness Day for Daniel to promote helping to make the world a safer place for our children.

As well as the annual awareness day, the Foundation continually promotes child safety. In 2008 Denise and Bruce Morcombe travelled to schools and other organisations across Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia. They met with police, politicians and principals to talk about the work of the Foundation they established in their son’s name after his abduction. They also spoke about the child safety message and protective behaviours all children can adopt in an effort to ensure no other family suffers the loss they have. The Foundation is also used to help families and children who have been victims of crime.

Daniel Morcombe was abducted from a bus stop at the Kiel Mountain Road overpass, on the Nambour Connection Road, Palmwoods, Queensland (2km north of the tourist attraction the Big Pineapple) on Sunday 7th December 2003. Daniel was to catch the 1.30pm bus to the Plaza Shopping Centre in Maroochydore but failed to arrive. The bus which should have collected Daniel was running late after a break-down and the driver was instructed not to pick up any further passengers so he ignored Daniel’s ‘hailing’ signals but radioed to the following shuttle bus driver to say that there was a young boy who needed to be picked up. When the shuttle bus arrived at the bus stop just a minute and a half later, Daniel was no longer there.

Two men were seen near to Daniel at the bus stop. They were standing beside an old, blue car parked just metres away and one was closely watching the teenager. This man was unkempt in appearance, is described as aged between 25 and 35 years, with lean to muscular build, about 175cm tall, with a gaunt face and dark brown wavy hair. The police released sketches of the man at the time but did not lead them anywhere.

The Day for Daniel is even more important this year as the Coronial Inquiry into his disappearance opened on Monday 11^th October 2010. Although Daniel’s body has never been found, his parents are hoping that the inquest will provide some answers.

The inquest, which is being held at the Maroochydore Coroner’s Court, was arranged at the request of Daniel's parents, who have fought determinedly to solve the mystery of their son's disappearance. Dozens of people who could hold the key to cracking the case will be questioned during the hearing. This will include ‘persons of interest’. The inquest is to investigate whether Daniel is still alive. If not, authorities are hoping to determine how, when and where he died, and what caused his death. The inquest will also examine the adequacy of the immediate police response to the report that Daniel was missing, and the subsequent investigation. As a result, the inquest may make general recommendations relating to community safety or police processes.

Bruce Morcombe, Daniel’s father, was the first to give evidence at the inquest. He told the hearing when his son had not returned home at 5.45 that evening the family knew something was amiss. He said the boy had caught the bus from the same location numerous times and would phone home when he was running late. Mr Morcombe also told the inquest he and his wife went to the police at 7.30pm that night but at that stage officers were very casual about the boy’s disappearance and did not think it was necessary to report the teenager as a missing person.

Mr Morcombe and his family have conducted their own searches of bushland out of desperation for clues about Daniel's disappearance. They have followed numerous leads. He told the coroner that he was given a bag of clothes that were allegedly worn by Daniel after he had been abducted. When he took the bag of clothes to Maroochydore Police Station, Mr Morcombe says “it was not greeted with enthusiasm”. He says an officer said to him words to the effect: “Do you expect me to examine every piece of clothing you bring in here?”

Detective Senior Sergeant Tracey Barnes outlined strategies used by police during the seven-year investigation. She said almost 18,000 job logs had been created in that time, each representing a piece of evidence or information relating to the case. Detective Snr Sgt Barnes said extensive forensic examinations of the abduction site had been conducted, more than 10,000 people had been interviewed throughout Australia, 35 persons of interest identified, and help had been sought from the FBI, which sent an agent to the Sunshine Coast to review the investigation process. The coroner's court has heard more police resources have been invested in the Morcombe investigation than any other in the state's history, with some strategies never tried before.

So far, the police will follow-up on one new lead that has come to light during the inquest. The police will search a Sunshine Coast bus company's phone records to identify a mystery woman who called about a missing child about an hour before Daniel Morcombe's parents realised their son had disappeared. Mrs Morcombe has confirmed that she did not make that call, so the coroner has asked for further investigation of the phone records.

As well as failing to follow-up on the phone call to the bus company, it would appear that the police also ignored an FBI agent's advice on how best to deal with a prime suspect. In February 2006 Special Agent Beasley had reviewed evidence from a series of interviews conducted with a key suspect known as Person of Interest 1, or P1, and found a number of "conflicting accounts". Agent Beasley then made specific recommendations on what detectives should focus on when the suspect was re-interviewed. P1 was not interviewed again until nearly 2 years later during a Crime and Misconduct Commission hearing in November 2007. The inquest heard that P1 is currently in jail and has given inconsistent evidence in the seven-year case.

At least 35 persons of interest have been identified, plus dozens of other associates of those people. P5 was placed under surveillance almost as soon as the investigation into Daniel’s disappearance started. He was released from jail on November 7, 2003, one month before Daniel disappeared. P5 is now behind bars for an offence against his sister. P20 committed suicide three days after being interviewed by police. Police say that he was not elevated as a suspect. An associate of P20, his daughter’s former partner P21, was also investigated because he was said to have an old blue sedan that has never been able to be located. P23 and P24 had driven to Maroochydore and Alexandra Heads to look at young boys, particularly at surf clubs. Another man accompanied them from New South Wales, and all were members of an internet paedophile chat room whose purpose in coming to the Sunshine Coast was looking for young boys. None of these were elevated as a suspect either.

The good news arising from the long-awaited inquest into the suspected abduction and murder of Daniel is that police have received more than 100 pieces of information since the coronial inquest into his case began. The surge in calls to police comes almost seven years after the investigation started. The website set up for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation crashed twice last week, apparently because of a huge increase in traffic resulting from the inquest.

The inquest has been adjourned for a week and is expected to continue next Monday.

View Daniel's thread on the Find Madeleine forum HERE!  

Please remember Daniel and all other missing children on 29^th October. Consider how you can do something extra that day to promote the plight of missing children and their families.

More information about the Daniel Morcombe Foundation can be found at the following website: www.danielmorcombe.com.au/index.html