Daniel THOMAS -  Tragically LOCATED deceased.

Above - Daniel and his parents, Kevin Ruffels and Donna Thomas

DNA confirms dead boy is Daniel

Daniel THOMAS

Age - 2 years

Last seen - at his home in Myrtleford, Victoria October 17th 2003

Daniel Thomas, aged 2yrs, vanished from his home, Standish Street- Myrtleford- VIC, on the 17th October 2003. He was being babysat at the time of his disappearance. He has not been seen since this time.

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The Age (8-7-2003) Selma Milovanovic

POLICE are to re-examine evidence in Myrtleford about the disappearance of toddler Daniel Thomas.
As the first anniversary of the mystery approaches, his father said detectives were likely to return to the town. "They've let us know that they'll be revisiting the area," Kevin Ruffels said.
Daniel, aged two at the time, was reported missing from his Standish St home on October 17, sparking an intensive investigation.
Police canvassed almost every house in the northeast Victorian town, searched Aboriginal sacred sites and scoured rubbish tips.
It is believed the investigation, led by Detective Senior Sergeant Rowland Legg, is progressing.
Mr Ruffels, still hopeful of finding his son alive, has no plans for a memorial ceremony.
"Until they find a body, we're still holding out hope that he's alive. We don't want to do any of that until we know," he said.
"This has been hell."
Mr Ruffels said he had not heard from his former partner, Daniel's mother Donna Thomas, since February when she returned to Myrtleford to follow up a tip about the location of her son's body. Nothing had resulted from the tip.
Ms Thomas has kept a low profile, despite a plea for public assistance in finding her son, who suffered asthma and eczema, in the week following his disappearance.
"This is a mother's worst nightmare. Please bring him back to me so this nightmare can end," she said at the time.
The last person known to have seen Daniel alive was babysitter Mandy Martyn, who shared a house with Ms Thomas and Daniel.
She was caring for the boy at the time he vanished.
Ms Martyn has been questioned repeatedly by police. Early this year she said she had nothing to do with the disappearance.
She suggested other people close to Daniel knew more about his disappearance than she did.
The Sunday Age
A couple of police cars were crawling the streets, along the flats and up the slopes of Myrtleford, their public address speakers blaring news that a small child was missing, beseeching the citizens to look in their backyards, to come out and lend a hand. And they did.
Meanwhile, 19 kilometres away, Kevin Ruffels was watching the television, unaware that his life would soon be playing there in horrible fragments, with the sweet pixie face of his son - 21/2 years old - staring back at him.

Ruffels, 48, already had a scar on his chest from a triple bypass, several on his heart from broken marriages, and a case of depression that had long held him in his armchair. And then the phone rang.

It was Friday, October 17, about 5.10pm - and this was the first of three phone calls that would break any heart for good.

"That's when the police rang to say Daniel was missing," Kevin Ruffels told The Sunday Age. "They asked me if I'd taken him. I hadn't seen him for six or seven weeks. It says in the papers that I hadn't seen him for seven months. But that's not right. I took some mail around, but when I got to the door (a woman) came out and abused me. I decided to leave it until Donna asked me around."

Ruffels said that he and Daniel's mother, Donna Thomas, "are good friends . . . they'd come over and have tea here, or I'd go over and have dinner with them".

But of late, the easy relationship had been interrupted by an "abusive" third party, "a shocking personality . . . with a record of violence". And that's the bare bones of what Ruffels told the police.

By then, more than an hour had passed since Daniel was reported missing from the Standish Street home of his babysitter Mandy Martin, where Daniel and Donna had apparently been living for some weeks.

Kevin Ruffels lives in the hamlet of Whorouly, on a back road to the west of Myrtleford. He doesn't own a car, and relies on his son and house mate David, 22, to either drive him around or lend him his vehicle.

It was about 8pm when he arrived at Myrtleford police station, to answer questions and look for answers. By then, there were torchlights flickering like fireflies in the streets and lanes, as the town continued its search.

Ruffels saw Donna Thomas, standing out the front of the police station. Of that encounter, all he said was: "Donna was very upset."

Meanwhile, not all of Myrtleford (population 3500) was aware of the crisis. Lifetime resident Tiff Rayner, 63, was at a Rotary meeting at the Savoy club on the western end of town. He said: "It wasn't until about 9pm that we learnt what was happening . . . with the arrival overhead of a police helicopter. It was going over the town with its searchlight.
Daniel with his parents, Kevin Ruffles and Donna Thomas.

"This is only the second time I can remember the police helicopter coming here after dark. The first time was an accident out at the speedway and an injured man had to be choppered out. When I drove home I saw two groups of people out in the street with torches. In my lifetime there's been nothing like this."

Kevin Ruffels wasn't sleeping when the phone rang again, about 3.30am on Saturday. "It was Donna . . . They'd put her up in a motel room because the house had been taken over as a crime scene . . . We talked about how we were coping."

Then, according to Ruffels, Donna Thomas told him that Daniel had been beaten and left with a black eye the previous weekend. "She said, '(The woman responsible) promised me faithfully she'd never do it again'."

A few days after the alleged beating, on Wednesday October 15, Thomas took the bus to Shepparton "to do a nursing course of some sort" - leaving Daniel with Mandy Martin and Martin's three children. "She was only supposed to go for two days."

Towards the end of the 3.30am phone call - which lasted about 10 minutes - Ruffels said Thomas told him she'd missed her bus back to Myrtleford, and had to stay an extra night. "I asked, 'How did you miss your bus?' She said she got talking to some people."

It was reportedly soon after Donna Thomas returned to the small brown house on Standish Street - where two white rabbits still frolic on the front lawn, under the jolly gaze of a garden gnome - that Daniel was reported missing.

Ruffels and Thomas were living in Melbourne when Daniel was born. They split up soon after the boy's first birthday. Two months later, in April 2002, Ruffels came up to Myrtleford, and lived for a time with his parents.

Donna and Daniel followed two months later, staying first in the caravan park at Everton, west along the Great Alpine Road.

"I think she believed that if we started a new life up the country, then we might get back together . . . And we really are good friends, but some people just can't live together."

In November, for about six weeks, Ruffels says that Donna and Daniel stayed with him, in his small unit at Whorouly. In February, they moved into a Ministry of Housing home in Lawrence Street, Myrtleford.

So why did Donna Thomas recently move to the crowded home of Mandy Martin? Ruffels quietly replies, "Donna gets very lonely."

And then, he refers back to that 3.30am phone call. "She told me that (a woman) had power over her . . . It was like she was keeping her like a prisoner."

Ruffels hasn't heard from her since that phone call. "I'd like to hear from her . . . I'd like to know how she's coping with everything. She may have been told not to call me, I don't know."

Five hours later - 8am Saturday - Ruffels was back in Myrtleford, parked across the street from Mandy Martin's house. He sat there through the day, watching the police scour the house for clues. In the evening he went to the police station. "Donna said she told the police about Daniel's black eye. They told me they were aware of it."

Ruffels said he hadn't been interviewed by police since that Saturday night.

On Monday, Donna Thomas faced the cameras to plead for anyone with information to come forward.

On Tuesday, the search took in dams and drains, and the Myrtleford tip - and the homicide squad had taken over the case. ("No one from the homicide squad had questioned me. I'm a bit surprised by that," said Ruffels.)

The Sunday Age met Ruffels on Wednesday, as police divers were taking a raft down the Ovens River in search of Daniel's body. Police were also raking through Wangaratta tip, while SES and police dog squads searched farm buildings and tobacco fields at the eastern fringe of town.

Also, on Wednesday, Donna Thomas (who police said had come forward with new information) was questioned for more than 12 hours, first at Myrtleford, and later that night at Wangaratta. Camera crews scrummed for a brief glimpse of Thomas through dark tinted windows as detectives drove her out of town.

Meanwhile, it was revealed by police that Mandy Martin had gone to Wangaratta with her three children, reportedly for a doctor's appointment, leaving Daniel alone for what was first reported to be up to 12 hours, then scaled down to at least three hours.

Meanwhile, members of the media - along with the citizenry - were speculating among themselves about the personalities involved in the case.

Why, they wondered, was Donna Thomas now dodging the cameras by putting a towel over her face? And was it really Donna Thomas, anyway?

Mandy Martin hasn't been sighted or photographed by the media - and rumours have her "kept in a safe house" in Myrtleford (as, say, Ruffels and a local taxi driver had heard) or in Wodonga (as one of the cafe owners shared with The Sunday Age).

And what about Kevin Ruffels? As one television reporter told me, Ruffels didn't seem to be grieving or otherwise displaying appropriate emotion.

In turn, Ruffels said, "I cried for the first two days. After talking to Donna, my heart sank. I don't believe Daniel left the house alive. When you sit down and think about it: there would have been kids walking home from school . . . people would have noticed a two-year-old boy wandering about on his own . . . You can only hope and pray for the best, but I'm just bracing for the worst."

Much of what Ruffels told The Sunday Age was echoed in the town gossip - notably, the story of a woman having power over Donna Thomas, and various sad and strange anecdotes of the woman's violence and damaged psyche.

And much of it was being fed to the weekly Myrtleford Times. The town's newspaper is treating the story "very carefully", said journalist Stacy Thomas, and rather than printing the rumours, various "leads" have been passed on to the police.

Indeed, one rumour - that Daniel may have gone missing (or hadn't been seen) since some time before October 17 - was a week later hosed down but not completely dismissed by the police. On Friday police said they were still seeking to "fix timelines" that would determine when Daniel was last seen, and when he left the house in Standish Street.

Myrtleford calls itself a tightly knit community, but it's certainly tight lipped with the media, at least in terms of going on the record. Citizens interviewed in the street by The Sunday Age either gave their version of the community mood - notably that by Saturday afternoon, few people thought Daniel had just wandered off - or pleaded ignorance with varying displays of gusto.

As one of Mandy Martin's neighbours told me, for example: "Every f---ing second of the f---ing day somebody's calling or knocking on the f---ing door and I don't have a f---ing thing to say. I don't f---ing know anything."

Only three of those interviewed were happy to share their names, and two of them didn't want to be identified in print. Tiff Rayner, the Myrtleford lifer, printer and sometime stringer for local TV station Prime: "People get frightened in situations like this. It spooks the town. And this town has had a tough year. We had nine weeks of fires, a tornado at Christmas, and now this tragedy. It's extremely stressful for the community." What apparently fills many locals with dread, said Rayner, is that "what's happening in Myrtleford is being likened to what happened in Moe".

A cab driver who asked not to be named said: "The feeling I'm getting from people is that they want more information from the police. . . . They don't trust the media. They want the police to confirm or deny some of the rumours going around. There's already pre-determined feeling about some of the people related to what's going on . . . and I feel there's some truth in what's being said. And it's going to lead to some serious ill-feeling."

Throughout the past week, we've been reminded in reports that Daniel was "a bright and bubbly personality" despite suffering from asthma, and that his legs and arms were bandaged because of the severity of his eczema. Early reports also mentioned a bandage around his forehead - "put on after the toddler fell and bumped his head", as a local policeman related it, when "foul play" was initially ruled out.

It was on Thursday that Kevin Ruffels got his third horrible phone call. The police told him that his son was most likely dead. He said he's no longer speaking with the media, that he's "washed out". He's back in Whorouly, thinking one thing, over and over: "How could anybody do something like that to such a beautiful little boy?"

But lessons have been learnt; there will be no hasty arrest in this murder inquiry. "All we know is the babysitter and her family were in Wangaratta that afternoon, Friday, and we're still working on timelines when Daniel might have been taken from the house," Legge said late last year.

Daniel's father Kevin Ruffels, who is separated from the boy's mother, is a sick man. A former Melbourne taxi driver, he no longer works due to chronic depression and heart disease. His son's disappearance has done nothing to improve his health. He looks older than his 48 years and is guarded in his remarks; he is the sort of man who doesn't like to cause a commotion, appreciates the work the police are putting in to find his son but who is slowly but surely dying inside.

Of all the things he has heard since Daniel went missing, one conversation keeps replaying inside his head. It was 3.30am and police had just given Ruffels the worst news any parent can receive. His former partner and Daniel's mother rang. "She told me a person living in the house with her and Daniel had given my son a black eye the week before." Ruffels' voice falters when he retells this horror. "I can't help but wonder what was going through Donna's mind to leave our child in that house. Poor little Daniel would have been terrified." It is a scenario unbearable to dwell on but, in the six months since Daniel vanished, Ruffels can do little else.

The Sunday Age (continued)
What hasn't been reported until now is the extensive history Daniel's mother had with Victoria's child protection authorities. The most disturbing revelation is that only weeks before Daniel vanished, the Victorian Department of Human Services received a serious child abuse notification about the toddler but no investigation began until after his disappearance. By then it was too late.

It is understood Daniel was admitted to Wangaratta Base Hospital three weeks before he disappeared. Daniel's infected skin had been bandaged in gaffer tape, presumably to stop him scratching his eczema. Doctors also discovered Daniel was suffering from malnutrition. "They said it was bad nurturing and that he needed building up, his hair was falling out," his grandmother Dorothy Ruffels says.

A child protection worker familiar with the case told The Bulletin the decision to investigate the latest abuse claims came after he disappeared. "It was a disaster," the worker said. "For some reason, the notification was not followed up even though there was a history of abuse allegations on the files."

The Department of Human Services has refused to comment while the police inquiry is continuing. The babysitter's three children have also been removed from their mother's care; like Daniel, these children had also been subject to child abuse notifications in the months before Daniel disappeared. Again, no investigation commenced until after he went missing.

According to Daniel's family, he had numerous admissions to hospital, in Melbourne and Wangaratta, for treatment for his eczema. "It was a vicious circle," Dorothy Ruffels says. "Daniel would get eczema and then his skin would become infected because it was not being properly managed and so Daniel would end up in hospital again. No one seemed to be doing anything about preventing this from happening.

"I remember visiting Daniel and I noticed the bath was full of putrid, days' old water. That was the bath he was being washed in. It's not surprising his skin never healed."

The Bulletin has also learnt that Human Services received a number of child abuse notifications concerning Daniel during his short life. At different times, social workers, doctors, nurses, counsellors and childcare workers all had cause to be concerned for Daniel's welfare.

One of the people who made these notifications confirmed this, saying that while Daniel was not being physically abused, he was being seriously neglected. "He didn't get proper medical attention, he lived in squalor much of the time, he was exposed to heavy drinking, verbal abuse and was left alone," the source said. "I rang Human Services at least three times and each time I was told they would follow it up."

It is understood that child protection workers did pursue the allegations and assistance was given to help improve Daniel's situation. But, the source said: "It didn't go far enough. Too many second, third, fourth chances were given." It is also understood that Daniel's mother had another child removed permanently from her care years earlier because of serious child abuse.

Dorothy Ruffels is in no doubt the child protection system failed Daniel badly. "He was our poor little boy, malnourished and neglected but loved, definitely loved," she explains quietly. "When Daniel came around here for tea, I'd make him an egg and draw a face on it, but poor Daniel, he'd never seen an egg before."

- The Bulletin

Missing Myrtleford toddler believed dead By Jamie Berry, The Age
October 24, 2003

Police now believe missing Myrtleford toddler Daniel Thomas is dead following another day of fruitless searching.

Homicide squad detectives interviewed the sick two-year-old's mother, Donna Thomas, for more than 12 hours on Wednesday night and yesterday morning.

Ms Thomas had come forward with new information about her son's disappearance from a house in Myrtleford, in the state's north-east, last Friday.

It is believed Ms Thomas and Daniel's babysitter may have sought legal advice.

Discounting the likelihood that the toddler could have wandered from his babysitter's home in Standish Street, detectives yesterday also ruled out Daniel being in someone's care.

"We believe it quite likely that he is in fact deceased," Detective Senior Sergeant Rowland Legg told The Age.

"We've almost discounted him being cared for by someone, who had taken him from the house concerned for his welfare or whatever reasons there might have been, which was one of our possible scenarios."

Daniel, an asthmatic, was wearing heavy bandages to cover severe eczema when he was last seen at the home a week ago.

Senior Sergeant Legg said that Daniel's babysitter told police she left Daniel for three hours to visit a doctor in Wangaratta last Friday.

The search for the toddler was scaled down heavily yesterday, but areas were searched again to ensure that nothing had been missed, Senior Sergeant Legg said.

Police as well as the State Emergency Service scoured mine shafts, backyards, the Myrtleford waste treatment plant and Nug Nug Caves - a culturally sensitive site for the local Aboriginal community in the Mt Buffalo National Park.

Daniel Thomas babysitter speaks out
Date: Sunday, February 29

A CENTRAL figure in the Daniel Thomas murder probe claims no one cared about the missing toddler more than she did.

Mandy Martyn, the last person known to have seen baby Daniel alive, says she cared deeply for the boy whose suspected murder continues to haunt Myrtleford, the north-east Victorian town from which he vanished. .....

"The only (expletive) who's mourned for this baby is me," she said in her first interview since Daniel's disappearance.

There has been no trace of the sick toddler, aged two, for four months. He is missing and presumed dead.

Ms Martyn's sensational outburst has outraged Daniel's dad, Kevin Ruffels, who has spoken frequently of his heartache.

"I'm blown away. It's shocking she could say something like that," he said.

It is no secret the pair do not get along - Mr Ruffels is sickened by the steady stream of foul language that flows from Ms Martyn's mouth.

For that reason, he seldom visited the Standish St home which she shared with her own three children, Daniel Thomas and his mum Donna Thomas.

Daniel was reported missing from that home on October 17. He had been in Ms Martyn's care while Donna was away on a parenting course.

Ms Martyn, 36, left him alone for up to three hours that day while she took her own children to the doctor.

She refused to discuss the circumstances surrounding the case, including why Daniel had bandages on his head the day he was reported missing.

But Ms Martyn continued to deny any involvement in the mystery.

Instead, she claimed she was the victim of a witch-hunt by police and the media.

"I'm eccentric, I'm not like anyone else, that's why I'm misunderstood."

She has always had a thorny relationship with authorities - she attacked three Myrtleford police officers in the street last year - but her disdain for the media is fresh and grows deeper by the day.

She attacked a television reporter outside the Wangaratta courthouse in October - her first public appearance since Daniel disappeared.

Even now, months after the dust has settled and the media storm has passed, local television crews still drive past her house.

She claims that is part of the reason the Department of Human Services has removed her children from her care.

"It's all this hounding from you people," she said.

She accused police of using her kids as a bargaining tool by having them removed until she provided information.

"I believe they're stealing my next generation with their white laws," she said.

She believed her children, aged 7, 11 and 13, desperately wanted to be with her at her Standish St home - a ramshackle commission house near the town centre.

They missed their mum and their menagerie of pets - three dogs, three cats, two rabbits and a turtle.

They are staying with her mother in Albury and she does not know when she will get them back, although she can visit them with department approval.

Still, she insists she knows nothing about Daniel's fate.

"I don't even want to speculate because then they'll blame me for something and I've done nothing."

One thing she does claim to know, however, is that she's a "good mum".

"My kids are near-perfect," she said.

During an hour-long conversation with the Sunday Herald Sun, her dialogue was peppered with obscene language.

She linked her swearing habit to one of the myriad of diseases and disabilities she claims to suffer.

Not only is she tired and depressed but she insists that she is plagued by arthritis and various bone conditions.

She claimed to be a proud indigenous Australian, and refused to pose for a photograph because "it takes away part of your soul".

Yet she would not name the tribe that she was born into in Western Australia.

She met Daniel's mum, Donna, through the Wodonga-based Aboriginal co-operative called Mungabareena and knew her for about eight months.

She questioned Donna's devotion as a mother, and why she had left town in the wake of the disappearance.

Ms Martyn and Mr Ruffels have heard little from Ms Thomas since the tragedy.

After a making a short public statement in the days after Daniel's disappearance, Ms Thomas went into hiding, although police know her whereabouts.

Efforts to contact Ms Thomas have been unsuccessful.

Homicide Inspector Bernie Rankin said the Daniel Thomas case was progressing.

Dad believes missing son is alive - The Sunday Mail

28nov03

THE father of Myrtleford toddler Daniel Thomas today said he still believed his son was alive, 39 days after his mysterious disappearance.

Kevin Ruffles said police were following every lead in the search for two-year-old Daniel, who went missing on October 17.

"Every day, I hope and pray for some news," he said from his Myrtleford home, north-east of Victoria.

"I won't give up until I see a body, but every day it gets harder and harder to take."

Daniel suffers from asthma and was heavily bandaged due to severe eczema when he disappeared.

He was last seen in the care of babysitter Mandy Martyn, who was minding him while his mother Donna attended a parenting course in Shepparton.

"I know police have questioned the babysitter and this week she has moved back into her home in Standish Street," Mr Ruffles said.

"But, I have no desire to speak to her."

Victorian Homicide Squad detectives questioned Ms Martyn for several hours again earlier this month. She told police she left Daniel alone at her Standish Street home.

The toddler was initially thought to have gone missing from Ms Martyn's home, but police later said he could have been abducted from the site as many as two days earlier than October 17.

About 80 police officers and volunteers spent more than a week scouring the area surrounding Standish Street searching bushland, wells, dams and a rubbish tip.

"The police and all the people who helped in the search have done everything they could to find Daniel," Mr Ruffles said.

"But there is no more news, nothing has turned up and every day it just gets harder.

"His mum is still very upset and emotionally drained, but the whole family is trying to cope as best they can.

"People have drawn comparisons between Daniel's disappearance and the Jaidyn Leskie case, but, really the circumstances in both cases are really very different."

Homicide Squad detectives are continuing their investigations.

No charges have been laid and no trace of Daniel has been found.

Monday, October 18, 2004. 12:07 PM (AEST)
Toddler disappearance prompts police reward
Police are urging anyone with information about the disappearance of Myrtleford toddler Daniel Thomas to come forward.

The police service is offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction over the two-year-old's disappearance.

Daniel was reported missing a year ago.

Police now say they believe he died before he was reported missing.

Police fear missing toddler may have been abducted
By Jamie Berry
October 23, 2003

Homicide detectives believe missing toddler Daniel Thomas was abducted from the house of his babysitter, who left him alone for three hours last Friday afternoon when he went missing.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rowland Legg said yesterday it was unlikely the sick two-year-old could have wandered from the house in Myrtleford, in north-eastern Victoria.

Daniel, an asthmatic, was wearing heavy bandages to cover severe eczema when last seen at the house in Standish Street.

Senior Sergeant Legg said that the babysitter had told police she left Daniel for three hours to keep a doctor's appointment in nearby Wangaratta.

"We just think that it's more likely that he's been removed from the house by someone," he said.

"We believe he wasn't in very good health... and that's one of the aspects that led us to believe it's most likely he hasn't wandered from the house alone."

Police last night were preparing to take the investigation in what they said was a new direction after the fifth day of searching Myrtleford and surrounding areas, including the Wangaratta tip.

Senior Sergeant Legg, who led the investigation into the murder of Moe toddler Jaidyn Leskie in 1997, said the search could be scaled down today.

Senior Sergeant Legg said this was not because police had given up hope of finding Daniel, "but because of the fact we have covered all areas we think are of significance".

Searchers used rafts to check the Ovens River, and completed an extended hunt through drains under the town.

"I think it's fair to say that Myrtleford has been fairly comprehensively and thoroughly searched," Senior Sergeant Legg said.

He said the investigation had included interviews with people in the street, family, and friends.

"We haven't given up hope of finding him alive," he said. "We always remain hopeful, but as time goes by, optimism reduces."

Daniel's mother, Donna Thomas, spoke to police yesterday. She and Daniel's father, Kevin Ruffels, have made pleas to the public to help find their son.

Senior Sergeant Legg said the babysitter had told police Daniel had been left alone in the house.

Daniel's age and poor health were other reasons police suspected foul play, he said.
Dad's plea on missing Daniel
Anthony Dowsley and Holly Lloyd-McDonald - Herald Sun
07mar06

THE father of a missing toddler desperately hopes a mystery phone call to police may solve his son's fate.

Two-year-old Daniel Thomas disappeared from his mother's home in Myrtleford in October 2003.
Police said an anonymous caller last week contacted Crime Stoppers and gave "credible information" about where Daniel's body was buried.

They appealed to the mystery caller to ring them back.

Daniel's father, Kevin Ruffels, said last night he hoped and prayed his son was alive.

But Mr Ruffels said police believed the caller had been genuine.

"If this caller does come through, which I hope they do, it will take a big burden off our shoulders and give us some closure," he said.

Mr Ruffels said he had been living a nightmare since Daniel's disappearance and wanted whoever was responsible jailed.

"No one just disappears off the face of the earth," he said, pleading with the caller to contact police.

"If what you're saying is true, don't hold back any longer," Mr Ruffels said.

"Put us out of our misery and let us have some closure so we can get on with our lives and give Daniel a decent burial."

Mr Ruffels said his former partner, Daniel's mother Donna Thomas, would have been hurting as well yesterday.

The pair have not spoken since shortly after Daniel disappeared.

At the time of his disappearance, Daniel was in the care of babysitter Mandy Martyn.

Yesterday, Ms Martyn reacted angrily to media crews outside her Myrtleford house.

Det-Insp Steve Francis, of the homicide squad, yesterday said he hoped the latest information would lead police to Daniel's body.

"Homicide squad investigators feel it is highly unlikely that Daniel just wandered away," he said.

"We believe he has met with foul play."

Det-Insp Francis said police were taking the phone call very seriously.

"We would definitely like to speak to this person (again) before we take the physical actions of moving towards a specific area," he said.

"This is important to us . . . I am hoping this person calls back.

"I am hoping we could meet with this person to get further details."

Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000.

Monday, March 6, 2006. 5:47pm (AEDT)
Tip-off may solve missing toddler case - ABC

The father of a missing Victorian toddler is hopeful a caller to Crime Stoppers can help end what he calls a "living hell".

Two-year-old Daniel Thomas, from Myrtleford, disappeared in October 2003 and police believe he is dead.

A woman called Crime Stoppers last week, providing what police call credible information about his disappearance and saying she knew where to find his remains.

Daniel's grandmother has praised the woman for having the courage to contact police.

The toddler's father, Kevin Ruffels, is urging the woman to tell police where to find Daniel.

"To have closure on the whole thing and finally have answers, it would just be a big weight off our minds," Mr Ruffels said.

Mr Ruffels says the past two-and-a-half-years have been a nightmare.

Police issue toddler murder reward reminder

Monday, 6 March 2006. 10:07 (AWST) - ABC

Police have renewed their offer of a $100,000 reward for anyone who can help them solve the disappearance of a Myrtleford toddler.

Police have received new information about the disappearance of Daniel Thomas, 2, from his home in October 2003.

Detective Inspector Stephen Francis says a caller to Crimestoppers gave details about where to find the toddler's remains.

He says they want to hear from the person again.

"For any person who has information in relation to what occurred to Daniel Thomas, or if they have information to his whereabouts. But I am appealing to the caller to Crimestoppers to call again. We believe the information that has been provided is credible," he said.

Mystery tip-off in toddler case - Border Mail

Insp Francis said the information would enable detectives to make other inquiries into Daniel’s disappearance.

The two-year-old was reported missing on October 17, 2003.

He was last seen alive by his mother two days earlier when she left him in the care of babysitter Mandy Martyn at a Standish St house in Myrtleford.

Extensive land, water and air searches failed to find his body and police believe he was possibly dead several days before he was reported missing.

Yesterday Ms Martyn lashed out at media crews outside her house driving her Holden Commodore station wagon out of the driveway and towards journalists and camera crews.

Reporters jumped clear of the car as Ms Martyn drove erratically, having previously thrown items from her front door in their direction.

A pit bull dog stood guard in the front yard of the house in the afternoon with rumours Ms Martyn had fled the town.

Finding the body of Daniel was the talk of Myrtleford yesterday as rumours began to circulate that police were searching an area of bushland behind the golf course.

A police media spokeswoman confirmed detectives had visited Ms Thomas and Daniel’s father Kevin Ruffels.

“There’s that balance of `don’t get the hopes up too high’, but we’re keen to speak to this person because of the value of the information,” said Insp Francis

“I guess as a parent with children ... you want that closure to a horrible chapter in their lives and, from a police perspective, it is valuable information if we locate the remains and forensically we can progress further.”

Police in 2004 offered a $100,000 reward in the case.

The anonymous caller or anyone else with information should call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

The police revelation came on the same day The Border Mail highlighted Daniel’s case among the unsolved murders in the North East and Riverina.

Daniel’s photograph appeared on the front page of yesterday’s edition.

Daniel Thomas, 2, was reported missing from Myrtleford in October 2003.

A $100,000 reward was offered on the first anniversary of the time he went missing for information about his death and disappearance.

Police confident on toddler Article from: Herald Sun
July 23, 2007 11:45am

POLICE acting on a "credible" tip-off have resumed a search for the remains of missing Victorian toddler Daniel Thomas.

Homicide squad detective Senior Sergeant Roland Legge today said police believed the tip-off was credible and could lead them to the remains of the two-year-old boy who went missing from his Myrtleford home, 280km north-east of Melbourne, in October 2003.

"We've had some information come to us that we've been investigating for some time," Snr Sgt Legge told ABC Radio.

"Part of that information suggests that Daniel's body may have been disposed of in an area that we haven't searched before. I can only say that we believe it's credible information."

The search, involving more than 50 homicide squad officers, search and rescue, the Force Response Unit, mounted police and State Emergency Service volunteers, is covering the Slaughter Yard Creek road and bushland area about 15km south-west of Myrtleford.

Snr Sgt Legge said police believed Daniel had been killed and his body dumped before he was reported missing.

"The alarm was raised on the Friday," Snr Sgt Legge said.

"Our belief was that Daniel was probably deceased several days before that and we believe that his body was probably disposed of in the intervening period.

"We believe it is quite likely that his body was disposed of in the Myrtleford area."

He said there were a couple of suspects.

"We have a couple of people who are of interest to us, but I can't go into their identities. But there are a couple of people that we believe are significant suspects."

He said finding Daniel's remains would help bring his family closure.

Daniel's father, Kevin Ruffels, told Southern Cross radio the child's disappearance had been a nightmare.

"It's been so long now, always wondering whether he's out there and what's happened to him," Mr Ruffels said.

"Always in the back of your mind you hope that he is out there, but you have to face reality and realise it's highly unlikely that he is still alive.

"We've had no closure and the main thing is to finally find closure and put an end to it all."

Daniel was last seen in the care of babysitter Mandy Martyn, who was minding him while his mother, Donna, attended a course in Shepparton.

He and his mother had been living with Ms Martyn and her three children for several weeks.

After raising the alarm, Ms Martyn told detectives that on the day Daniel disappeared, she had left him alone in the house for several hours while she took her children to Wangaratta.

Search begins for missing toddler's body - ABC

A search is under way near Myrtleford in Victoria's north-east for a toddler who disappeared in mysterious circumstances nearly four years ago.

More than 40 police officers are searching a large area of difficult terrain for the body of Daniel Thomas.

The two-and-half-year-old was reported missing from his home in north-east Victoria in October 2003.

Police began the search this morning near Slaughter Yard Creek about 15 kilometres south-west of Myrtleford.

Acting Sergeant Ian Veich says global positioning system (GPS) technology will be used to make sure the area is properly searched.

"Everyone will be in close proximity of other members, so there shouldn't be too many safety issues for us," he said.

"Probably the biggest thing will be the ground underfoot, if there is a mine shaft that's been covered up."

The search is expected to last several days, with local State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers joining the search tomorrow.

Police find bones, clothing in search for toddler
Posted 3 hours 15 minutes ago - ABC

Victorian police investigating the disappearance of a toddler from his home at Myrtleford in the state's north-east four years ago have found bones and clothing.

Two-year-old Daniel Thomas was reported missing in October 2003.

Police today began a large scale search near Slaughter Yard Creek, south-west of Myrtleford, following new information on the toddler's disappearance.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rowland Legge says it is still to be confirmed if the bones are from the boy.

"We have a pathologist with us who will be examining those overnight," he said.

"We'll also be showing the clothing to the mother of the child to see if they belong to him, but there's nothing at the moment to indicate a definite link to Daniel."

Pathologist called in to Daniel search - ABC
Posted 2 hours 12 minutes ago

A pathologist has arrived at the scene where police are searching for missing Myrtleford toddler Daniel Thomas.

The specialist will examine bones found near Slaughter Yard Creek, about 15 kilometres south-west of the town, during a renewed police search yesterday.

Police began searching the area after receiving fresh information regarding the disappearance of the two-year-old in 2003.

Detectives say they are not sure whether the bones are animal remains or human, but the search will continue for the time being.

Some clothes were also recovered yesterday and Daniel's mother will be asked if she can identify them.

Bones examined as new search for Daniel Thomas goes on
Article from: AAP - Melbourne Sun

A PATHOLOGIST will further examine two bones found at a pine plantation in Victoria's northeast during a renewed police search for the remains of missing toddler Daniel Thomas.

A child's T-shirt and about 20 bones were found by police search and rescue members yesterday at Slaughteryard Creek, near Myrtleford.

"All but two bones have been ruled out," a police spokeswoman said today.

The other bones were found to belong to animals, police said.

A police pathologist will further examine the remaining two bones to determine if they are human.

The two-year-old disappeared from his Myrtleford home on October 17, 2003, while in the care of his babysitter Mandy Martin.

An extensive search by police at the time failed to find him.

Rib bones may belong to missing toddler
Article from: AAP July 25, 2007 02:28am - Herald Sun

AN anthropologist will today examine two rib bones found in bush in northeast Victoria to determine if they belong to missing toddler Daniel Thomas.

Acting on a fresh tip-off, on Monday police resumed the search for two-year-old Daniel's remains near Myrtleford, where he went missing while in the care of babysitter Mandy Martin on October 17, 2003.

The search, involving more than 50 police and State Emergency Service volunteers, is covering Slaughteryard Creek Road and an area of bush near Myrtleford, 280km northeast of Melbourne.

A pathologist yesterday examined 20 bones, including a pelvis and vertebrae, found by searchers on Monday.

Of those, 18 were discounted as animal bones, police said.

An anthropologist will examine two rib bones today to determine whether they are linked with the case.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rowland Legg of the homicide squad said the T-shirt was not Daniel's.

“We've shown Donna Thomas (Daniel's mother) the piece of shirt that we found ... and she's definitely excluded that,” he said at the scene yesterday.

Sen Sgt Legg had earlier confirmed police had two suspects in the case.

He said yesterday that even if Daniel's remains were not found, murder charges could still result.

“We would always consider charges if there was sufficient evidence without having a body,” he said.

Daniel's uncle, William Mansfield, visited the search site to speak with police and volunteers.

“We just want to thank the police for what they have done. We just want to thank the volunteers,” he said.

Searchers will return to the site this morning.

**Articles continued in Part Four**
Babysitter released without charge
Chris Johnston, Wangaratta - SMH
July 26, 2007 - 10:05AM

Mandy Martin, the babysitter of missing toddler Daniel Thomas has been released without charge after being questioned by police.
She spent the day at Wangaratta police station being interviewed by homicide detectives.

Her mother, Maureen Martin, has also left the police station after attending of her own volition. She arrived at midday, accompanied by police and legal representatives.

Homicide squad detectives detained Martin after visiting her Standish Street, Myrtleford, home at 9am, after she had dropped her children off at school.

Three detectives then led her out of her home and into a waiting car before taking her to Wangaratta for questioning.

She was arrested without incident and taken to the Wangaratta police station for questioning.

Martin had a towel draped over her head as she was led away.

At this stage, she has not been charged with any offences.

"At the moment I'm not in a position to say whether these people will be interviewed again" Detective Senior Sergeant Roland Legg said. "But there will be other people interviewed. It's an ongoing process."

Daniel was reported missing from his Myrtleford home on October 17, 2003 by his babysitter, Mandy Martin.

At the time police were told Ms Martin left the house with her three children to attend a doctor's appointment in Wangaratta. Daniel's mother, Donna Thomas, left for Shepparton two days earlier for a three-day parenting course.

Police were also told that Daniel, who suffered from asthma and eczema, was left alone in the house for at least three hours before he was abducted.

Homicide detectives this week launched a fresh search for the body of the missing toddler after investigators received that they said was reliable information that the body was hidden in bushland at Slaughter Yard Creek, near Mount Buffalo, about 290 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.

Yesterday police found a nappy, which they believe may have been worn by Daniel, on an isolated dirt track while searching a 10-kilometre area at Slaughter Yard Creek, just outside Myrtleford.

Further tests will be carried out on the nappy, which police said appeared to have been there for several years and was about the right size for Daniel.

The make of the nappy has been identified. Police are now attempting to establish whether it was being manufactured during the time-frame of Daniel's disappearance.

A pathologist has also examined 20 bones found by searchers along with a small T-shirt.

Of those, 18 were discounted as animal bones, police said.

Two rib bones were sent to an anthropologist to determine if they are linked to the case.

Daniel's mother, Donna Thomas, said the T-shirt was not Daniel's.

Police and State Emergency Service volunteers will today enter their fourth day of the search in rugged terrain.

The search at the Slaughter Yard Creek, which was prompted by a tip-off to police, is now finished. Police say they do not discount the information they were given.

The investigation is continuing.

Daniel Thomas case stalls
Article from: Anthony Dowsley - Herald Sun
July 27, 2007 12:00am

THE prime suspect and her mother were interviewed by police over the mystery disappearance of toddler Daniel Thomas as a renewed search for his body ended.

Mandy Martyn, the last known person to see Daniel alive, was arrested by homicide detectives just after her children left for school yesterday and taken to Wangaratta police station.

The 40-year-old Myrtleford mother, five months pregnant, shouted at detectives before emerging from her Standish St house with a towel over her head.

Her arrest and release without charge five hours later followed a major search at Slaughteryard Creek south of Myrtleford for Daniel's remains.

It is the third time Ms Martyn, who was babysitting two-year-old Daniel when he vanished, has been questioned over the mystery. She spoke to legal counsel before the formal interview began.

Her mother, Maureen Martyn, of Tangambalanga, southeast of Wodonga, arrived at the station of her own volition several hours later and left before her daughter.

She was seen smoking outside the police station's side door with detectives by her side.

As the pair were questioned, police and State Emergency Service volunteers continued their search for Daniel's body.

Poor weather conditions slowed an already difficult search.

Nothing further was found to help investigators with a breakthrough.

No one has been charged over the suspected murder after a four-year inquiry.

The investigation began when Ms Martyn reported Daniel missing on October 17, 2003.

She told police she had left him alone in the house while she took her children to a doctor's appointment. Daniel's mother, Donna Thomas, who shared a house with Ms Martyn, was on a three-day parenting course in Shepparton.

Test on bones found by searchers on Monday confirmed the ribs were from an animal.

A nappy found on Wednesday was still being analysed.

Det Sen-Sgt Rowland Legg said the investigation remained active.

Detectives have probed several people over new information they received from a "credible" source more than a month ago.

"I'm particularly happy with the effort made and, as I've said earlier, the commitment of all involved from police and volunteers," he said.

"We're very happy with the way the area was covered and the progress that was made. Obviously we would like to find something that was definitely of relevance to us but all efforts were made to do that."

He said although he could not go into the details of the interviews conducted, Det Sen-Sgt Legg said he believed progress had been made during the week, mainly through elimination.

"It's a particularly distressing job. It's a particularly challenging job. Obviously we would like to solve any outstanding death investigations.

"But when we have a missing person, particularly a missing child, it makes it all that more distressing.

"It's lengthy, protracted and complex."

Police are likely to know next week if the nappy found on an isolated track on Wednesday belonged to Daniel.

Chris Johnston, Myrtleford - The Age
July 28, 2007

NEAR Myrtleford in north-east Victoria, up a quiet country road in the alpine foothills, is a poignant memorial to toddler Daniel Thomas, missing and presumed murdered. It's the only trace of the crime that has hung over the town like a dark cloud for four years.

The memorial is hidden in Liz Evans' garden out of sight. But up here the grim case of the helpless boy who vanished is far from out of mind.

The memorial is three small cherubs — a little boy with a dog, a bowl and a book, and two angels. In the time since he disappeared a wing has broken. A simple plaque bears his name.

Ms Evans used to look after Daniel; she ran family day care at her home. When he went missing the other kids wondered what had become of him. The shrine is as much for their benefit as it is to remember him.

"It would rain and the kids would say, 'Daniel will be getting wet'. They'd say, 'he must be getting hungry'," recalls Ms Evans. "We could show them the memorial and say, 'it's OK, he's up in heaven with the angels'. It was just to close it for them, to give them something hopeful."

The problem in Myrtleford is that there is no closure. The case is still wide open; the rumours, innuendo and conspiracy theories run rife.

Even after a dramatic week in which the case was reopened and police scoured a pine plantation chillingly called Slaughteryard Creek for evidence after a new tip-off — finding bones that turned out to be animal and a nappy that may or may not belong to Daniel — the town is still no closer to the end of a four-year saga.

On Thursday, the woman who has been the prime suspect, and the last person to see the 2½-year-old part-Aboriginal boy alive in October 2003, was arrested by homicide squad detectives, taken from her ramshackle Myrtleford home to Wangaratta police station, then released without charge after questioning seven hours later.

Mandy Martyn, 40, who has three children of her own and is five months' pregnant, was babysitting Daniel when he vanished. She has been interviewed by the homicide squad twice before.

The boy's mother, Donna Thomas, had gone to Shepparton for three days on a parenting course, leaving Daniel at her home in Ms Martyn's care. Ms Thomas is estranged from the boy's father, Kevin Ruffels, a Myrtleford taxi driver.

While Ms Martyn was supposed to be looking after Daniel she went to Wangaratta, 40 minutes away, for three hours, leaving him alone in the house. She told police that when she got back he was gone. Police, however, have not discounted the possibility that he disappeared — and was probably killed — several days before that.

Donna Thomas now lives in Wodonga and has been interviewed by homicide squad detectives repeatedly. Ms Martyn's mother, Maureen, of Tangambalanga, near Wodonga, has also been questioned.

Detectives remain in Myrtleford this weekend. With the right evidence they could lay murder charges even if no body is found.

"We have a number of persons who are of interest to us," said Detective Senior Sergeant Rowland Legg, describing the case as "protracted, complex and frustrating".

Senior Sergeant Legg also headed the investigation into the Jaidyn Leskie case in Moe. There are similarities between the two — small town babysitters, police searches in rubbish tips, dams and rivers and intense media interest in the odd relationships between those involved.

There have been elements of soap opera in both; a year after Daniel vanished a memorial service at a Myrtleford church descended into chaos after his aunt, Faye Lynham, shouted allegations of involvement at Donna Thomas and Mandy Martyn and was ejected from the church. Since then there have been incessant rumours about who did it and who else may have been complicit.

In Myrtleford, population 3000, a former tobacco-growing town that now runs on farming and timber milling, people still talk. They talk of "outsiders" and "strangers" and how the two women central to this case — Ms Martyn and Ms Thomas — have nothing to do with the real Myrtleford. They talk of Ms Martyn being a drinker who liked fighting. She has convictions for assaulting police, is banned from both Myrtleford pubs and this week attached a sign to her door: "F--- off media scum."

Daniel's father Kevin Ruffels, 51, said Ms Martyn was a bad influence on Ms Thomas and that she tried to keep him away from his son. He had the grim task this week of driving media crews and onlookers to the search site at Slaughteryard Creek. On Thursday, someone in the street told him Ms Martyn had been arrested.

"I was hopeful she would confess," he said, "but then when they released her I was disappointed."

For the locals, with no charges laid and the body of the toddler not yet found, it just drags on and on. "We're back where we started," said Zuvele Leschen, a shire councillor.

Bones believed to be missing toddler

Posted 4 hours 29 minutes ago - March 18th 2008
Updated 3 hours 29 minutes ago

Victoria Police believe they have found the remains of missing toddler Daniel Thomas, after bones were dug up by a pet dog at his mother's former home in Myrtleford in the north-east of the state.

The bones were found under a house in Lawrence Street in the centre of the town this morning.

A neighbour has confirmed that Daniel's mother Donna Thomas once lived in the property.

The current residents of the house called police after seeing the pet dog playing with one of the bones.

Police say the remains are likely they belong to Daniel Thomas but a forensic examination will be done to confirm the identity.

The two-year-old went missing from his babysitter's home in Myrtleford in October 2003.

His babysitter, Mandy Martyn, was questioned in July last year, but was not charged.

A crime scene has been set up where the bones were found and Homicide Squad detectives from Melbourne have arrived at the scene.

Daniel mystery: did police miss a vital clue?

Mandy Martyn stops to make a phone call yesterday on a side road off the Myrtleford-Yackandandah road.
Photo: Border Mail

Latest related coverage

Remains removed in a box
Video Bones believed to be the remains of toddler Daniel Thomas taken for identification.

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Little boy lost
 

Horrific end for Daniel Thomas

Article from:

Roger Franklin

March 19, 2008 12:00am

Lingering misery over a little boy lost

Article from:

Paul Anderson

March 19, 2008 12:00am

Tears for Daniel Thomas after remains discovered

Article from:

Mark Buttler and Roger Franklin

March 19, 2008 12:00am

Toddler's dad told of bones find on-air

Staff reporters - The Age
March 18, 2008 - 1:10PM

Kevin Ruffels, the father of Daniel Thomas, pictured at the scene of a renewed search for his son in July last year.
Photo: Jason South

Toddler's babysitter leaves town

Mandy Martin pictured in July last year.
Photo: File Image

 

The babysitter who was caring for Myrtleford toddler Daniel Thomas when he disappeared is thought to have left the north-east Victorian town after the discovery of human bones under the house she once shared with the boy's mother.

Police were this morning called to the Lawrence Street weatherboard cottage, which Daniel's mother, Donna Thomas, and Mandy Martin rented together when the toddler was reported missing five years ago.

Ms Martin was babysitting Daniel, two, when he was reported missing on October 17, 2003.

She is believed to be in Wangaratta this afternoon with her children.

Earlier, Ms Martin was seen driving in Myrtleford after this morning's discovery.

Ms Thomas was seen driving past the Lawrence Street house around 5.15pm.

The tenant now renting the housing commission property called police after her dogs found what appeared to be human remains under the house.

Police had cordoned off the scene by 10am. The tenant, who refused to speak to reporters at the scene, removed her two large black dogs at 11.30am, putting them into a council ranger's car.

The small house is next to a vacant block on a quiet street, which was much busier than normal today, with local residents driving past to view the crime scene.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said it was expected the remains would be sent to Melbourne for forensic testing. That could occur as soon as this afternoon, radio 3AW has reported.

Last month, the Office of Public Prosecutions decided not charge Ms Martin over the toddler's disappearance after a review of the case.

Senior lawyers from the OPP examined a detailed brief of evidence compiled by the homicide squad and concluded that it fell "just" short of providing sufficient provable facts to justify charging Ms Martin with murder.

But the lawyers left the door open to laying murder charges if further evidence was uncovered.

When Daniel - who suffered from asthma and eczema - first went missing, police were told he had been left alone in his home for three hours before being allegedly abducted.

Ms Martin told detectives she left her house with her own three children to attend a doctor's appointment in Wangaratta.

Ms Thomas had left for Shepparton two days earlier for a three-day parenting course.

But police alleged in the brief of evidence the child was murdered three or four days before he was reported missing as part of a hastily prepared plot to conceal the murder.

Family says body at house a set-up

Article from:

Mark Buttler

March 20, 2008 12:00am

THE family of missing toddler Daniel Thomas believes his body was dumped under his mother's house to implicate her.

Daniel's uncle Colin Thomas said he believed the killer had tried to set up his sister Donna by burying his body under the Myrtleford house she once shared with the boy.

"That's what we believe. (It was aimed at) throwing everyone off the scent," Mr Thomas said.

"It was really to point the finger at Donna. It's to make Donna look like she did it. I maintain that's what happened."

Mr Thomas said he did not think Daniel's body was dumped under the house in the days after he disappeared, but was put there some time later.

The two-year-old vanished on October 17, 2003, while in the care of babysitter Mandy Martyn, a friend of Ms Thomas, at her Standish St home.

The full skeletal remains of a child aged under five were uncovered by a dog on Tuesday under the Lawrence St house.

The bones, which had been buried under at least 15cm of earth, were wrapped in cloth and a nappy was also found.

Mr Thomas said he, police and State Emergency Service volunteers looked under the house soon after the disappearance and saw nothing suspicious.

The family is now facing a wait of weeks for DNA testing to reveal whether the remains are those of Daniel.

Ms Thomas said yesterday the apparent discovery of her son, while painful, was a positive step.

She had for four years held on to a slim hope he might be found alive.

"I'm actually hoping it is Daniel so I can get some closure and put him to rest and begin to start healing," Ms Thomas said.

"I've been hoping that he's alive all along but when I was told yesterday about the bones, I went numb.

"I only heard Daniel and house and bones and I went hysterical. I want answers."

Ms Thomas said her health had deteriorated and she had been in and out of hospital because of the strain of losing the little boy she called "Spunky Trunks".

No funeral plans have been made but Ms Thomas said she wanted to have a plaque mounted on a rock in Myrtleford.

Police yesterday defended the initial search.

Det Sen-Sgt Peter Harrington of the homicide squad said: "Everything that could be reasonable undertaken was done in the initial search. All places of interest -- including the houses at Lawrence St and Standish St -- were extensively searched."

He said police may not have searched underground during the first search.

"We will look at that side of things and if there are issues, we will review our practices and learn from anything we could have done better," Det Sen-Sgt Harrington said.

He said it was possible the body was moved to Lawrence St after the first search.

Ms Thomas said she wanted to remind people a $100,000 reward remained in place for anyone able to help police convict Daniel's killer.

Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppers.com.au

 

Mother's sad wish - Let it be my Daniel

Article from:

By staff writers and AAP

March 19, 2008 01:08pm

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