A teenager was waiting at a bus stop and then disappeared forever. 8 years later, an undercover -sting finally revealed what happened to him

On December 7, 2003, Daniel Morcombe went from the family’s home on Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. The 13-year-old went less than a mile to a bus stop and planned to go to the Sunshine Plaza Shopping Center to buy Christmas presents and get a hairstyle, according to a report on the case from Coroners Court of Queensland obtained by people.

Daniel had made this trip more than a dozen times before, but this time he never got on the bus.

The boy was last seen with a red t-shirt and stood at the unofficial bus stop near a transition shortly after 14.00, the authorities said. The bus he planned to catch had broken. But when a replacement bus arrived, it blew past the stop because it was late on its route.

Daniel’s family became worried when he had not returned hours later and initiated a search for him. Daniel was reported missing that night and started one of the largest police investigations in Queensland’s history, reported by local news sites.

“Over 100 police officers were involved in the investigation and over 10,000 individuals were interviewed,” the report said. The authorities also identified over 33 people of interest who may have played a role in Daniel’s disappearance.

One of these people of interest was Brett Peter Cowan, then 29, whose vehicles were seen in video films that travel near where Daniel disappeared. However, the authorities did not have enough evidence to identify Cowan as suspected at that time.

The case eventually became cold and Daniel’s parents demanded a survey of his disappearance, which began in 2010. Before the investigation, “No account of Daniel’s movements from Kiel Mountain Road overpass had proven to be sufficiently reliable to find Daniel, or to start criminal procedures Against any person, the report says.

During the survey, Cowan was questioned about its criminal history, which involved sexual crimes against young children. He claimed that none of the two previous crimes involved, according to the report.

In July 2011, Police Service Queensland launched a secret operation in Cowan, which resulted in his arrest and confession to undercover officers. Cowan admitted that he abducted Daniel after seeing him at the bus stop. He said he had parked in a parking lot at the Christian Outreach Center and went down to the bus stop, where he offered Daniel a ride to the mall, according to the report.

Cowan said he then drove Daniel to an abandoned house and invited the boy inside to have a glass of water. When Daniel was inside, Cowan said he sexually attacked the boy and suffocated him after he opposed himself and tried to escape, according to the report.

The authorities said that Daniel was killed within an hour after he was abducted and his cause of death was determined to be suffocation.

Cowan told the authorities that he put Daniel’s body on the back of his car and discarded the remains in thick Bushland near an old sandbreak site, says the report. Later he threw Daniel’s clothes and shoes from a bridge to Coochin Creek. Cowan added that he returned to the area a week later with a shovel to discard the remaining evidence.

In addition to the confession, the Cowan led authorities where he left Daniel’s residues. “(Cowan) offered no insight into his acts other than saying that he was an” opportunistic criminal, “the authorities said in the report.

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Cowan was arrested in August 2011 and accused of Daniel’s murder, undue treatment and disruption of a corpse, the report says. He was convicted of these crimes in March 2014.

According to Australian broadcasting companiesCowan was sentenced to life in prison by at least 20 years without parole.

“You knew that if he ran away, you would be caught. So you killed him. You killed him because you didn’t want to get stuck,” said Brisbane Supreme Court Justice Roslyn Atkinson at Cowan’s judgment, Per ABC.

“Everything you did to that boy is horrible and shameful. I have not seen any evidence during the months you have been in this court that you ever felt any regret for what you did,” added Atkinson.

Daniel was finally added to rest in 2012 at a memorial service where hundreds of people in the region. the Brisbane Times reported.

Daniel’s parents, Bruce and Denise, have since launched the Daniel Morcombe Foundation to ensure that others do not experience the tragedy they went through.

The foundation “provides personal child safety training to children and adolescents to prevent abuse and promote lifelong health and well -being,” says its website. “We support teachers, parents and caregivers by providing resources and education and also directly supports young victims of crime.”

The organization also honors Daniel’s memory through an annual walk called “Day for Daniel”, which has become Australia’s largest child safety and awareness event.

If you or someone you know has been attacked sexually, please contact the national hotline for sexual abuse of 1-800-656-Hope (4673) or go to rainn.org.