Lateesha Nolan was murdered in 2015. Photo / Supplied
Australian police are searching the banks of the Macquarie River for remains of murdered woman Lateesha Nolan after a bone found in the area was confirmed as belonging to her.
The 24-year-old disappeared in January 2005. Her cousin Malcolm Naden was convicted of her murder in 2012 after seven years on the run.
Police said a member of the public found the human bone late last month and DNA testing and other analysis confirmed it belonged to Nolan.
Homicide squad detectives expect the riverbank search will take a number of days.
Squad commander Detective Superintendent Mick Willing said detectives were determined to find Nolan's remains.
"We now know we are looking at the right spot, which is near the 2012 excavation, but changes to the terrain have meant this area was unexposed at that time," he said.
"The loss of a loved one is never easy to deal with, but the grief can be even harder to overcome when you can't lay them to rest.
"For more than a decade, investigators have been following every line of inquiry in hope of ending the family's search for answers.
"We hope we will soon be able allow them to properly - and respectfully - say goodbye," Willing said.
Naden, a former shearer and abattoir worker, was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 after facing court on two murder charges.
The then 39-year-old had pleaded guilty to the murder of Nolan, whom he strangled in her car in Dubbo before dismembering her body and burying it beside the Macquarie River.
Naden was also sentenced for the murder of Kristy Scholes, 24, who was staying with him at his grandparents' house in Dubbo when he strangled her in June 2005. Naden then went on the run before being captured in 2012 after one of NSW's biggest manhunts. He committed a spate of break-ins in bushland and shot a police officer during his seven years as a fugitive.