Officers will search the banks of the Macquarie River, south of Dubbo, on Tuesday for Ms Nolan's remains after the shock discovery of the leg bone by a bushwalker on November 25.

The 24-year-old disappeared from her Dubbo home in January 2005 and, seven years later, her cousin Naden was convicted of her murder following one of the biggest manhunts in NSW history.

Forensic testing revealed the bone was human and further DNA testing and other analysis confirmed it belonged to Ms Nolan, a mother-of-four.

Ms Nolan's father Mick Peet, who has previously spoken of his daily agony over his daughter's missing body, told Fairfax Media that the call from homicide detectives on Monday was "a pretty big shock".

"I always had in the back of my mind about whether [Naden] was telling the truth [about where he told investigators he buriedLateesha]," he said. "I guess he was. I didn't think she would ever be found although there was always hope."

He will travel from Bundaberg in Queensland to Dubbo to watch the coordinated search of the riverbank near Butlers Falls that is expected to take several days. 

Homicide Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Mick Willing, said Naden voluntarily led detectives to the riverbank after his capture in 2012 but years of floods hindered their search.

The bone was found about two metres from the original search site.

"The river has dropped since the search in 2012," he said.

After Ms Nolan's parents were informed of the discovery officers then visited Naden in Goulburn SuperMax to let him know his initial information was correct.

Mr Willing said police won't give up until they can return Ms Nolan's remains to her parents.

"We hope, we finally hope, that we will be able to allow them to say goodbye respectfully to their daughter," 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.

In 2013 Naden, a former shearer and abattoir worker, was sentenced to life in prison after facing court on two murder charges.

The then 39-year-old had pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Nolan, who on the day of her death - January 4, 2005 - had a "chance meeting" with Naden at their grandparents' house.

She offered him a lift so he could go fishing and, during the drive, Ms Nolan questioned him about an indecent assault he had committed against a 12-year-old girl the previous year in the outer suburbs of Dubbo.

Naden strangled Ms Nolan and then drove to a location near Butlers Falls Reserve outside Dubbo, dug a hole beside the Macquarie River, dismembered her body and buried it.

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 the state's biggest manhunts.

He committed a spate of break and enters in rural bushland and shot a police officer during his seven years as a fugitive.

Last year, Ms Nolan's father Mick Peet, who lives in Queensland, told Fairfax Media he still agonised every day about losing his daughter, and was haunted by the fact her body had never been recovered.

He said at the time that he still held out hope that his daughter's body may be found, but he believed it was increasingly unlikely as time went on.

"With what he did to her, dismembering her body and burying it, it would be a very hard task to locate her," Mr Peet said at the time.

"I doubt they will ever find her but the police said they may be lucky. With the work going on at the weir somebody might find something. There is always hope.

"I have friends who fish on the river and whenever I see photos I wonder if she is there somewhere."

The death of his daughter had taken a huge toll on his health, he said.

"My health has gone downhill and every special occasion is hard - birthdays, Christmas - because it is so close to the time it happened. It's something you never get over," he said.

"Lateesha's mum said it takes a big piece of your heart and that is so true. You never get over it.

"For seven years [before Naden was caught] I barely sleep and I was constantly searching, looking on the internet to try and find answers. It was hard on my family and I am trying to catch up with that seven years.

"The biggest relief in the last 10 years came when they caught Malcolm Naden. To know that he won't be able to hurt anyone ever again is important."