DENISE MORCOMBE stood in bushland on the Sunshine Coast yesterday, wondering if she was looking at the place where her son Daniel's remains have lain for almost eight years.
Then she and her husband Bruce said a quiet prayer.
The couple visited the rugged terrain at the end of Kings Road in the Glass House Mountains as the renewed search for their son's body entered its second day.
Mrs Morcombe said she did not find any closure at the scene which they visited for 20 minutes away from media crews who were camped at the main entrance.
''I didn't feel anything, no,'' she said. ''We just looked, we couldn't walk down there, I just looked and wondered if Dan was down there and whereabouts he would be. I would have liked to walk down further but we couldn't because it is a crime scene.''
More than 50 SES volunteers, forensic investigators and police will continue to scour today what Mr Morcombe referred to as a ''muddy jungle''.
The area has been flooded at least twice in the past eight years and police have acknowledged the search could take months.
The Morcombes spoke about how they felt when they found out charges had been laid for the murder of their son and about the search for his remains.
''We would like to find him and bring him home,'' Mr Morcombe said. ''We would like to know what sort of area he was taken to.''
Mrs Morcombe said any hope she had that her son was alive had died on Saturday when charges for his abduction and murder were laid.
The couple chose not to travel down to Brisbane yesterday morning as a 41-year-old truck driver made a brief appearance in the Brisbane Magistrates Court where his matter was adjourned until September 26.
The man plans to fight the charges of murder, child stealing, deprivation of liberty, indecent treatment of a child and interfering with a corpse.
Magistrate Brendan Butler demanded the man appear before him after hearing he was still in the watchhouse cells. His lawyer had said he did not need him to be brought in.
Wearing a prison-issued brown tracksuit top and jeans, the accused sat in the dock, his eyes cast downwards.
He cannot be named because he is charged with a sex offence.
Daniel went missing as a 13-year-old in December 2003.
The Sunshine Coast lawyer, Peter Boyce, who represented the Morcombes at the coronial inquest earlier this year, said he had never seen two people draw on such inner strength.
''Some days when I hear Bruce talk I just say to myself 'I wonder how he gets the strength to do that','' Mr Boyle said. ''It would be easy to be negative. But he's not, he stays positive.''
Much of the couple's courage comes from each other, and their other sons, Dean and Daniel's twin, Brad.
''They are a very close-knit family,'' Mr Boyle said.
