Daniel Morcombe's disappearance has captured and held national attention for more than a decade in part because every family can identify with the Morcombes' plight, according to Stephen Stockwell – a professor of communications at Griffith University.
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Few parents have been spared that heart-stopping moment when a child disappears from view in a crowd, the neighbourhood, park or a shopping centre.
In most cases, the child is found safe, well and unaware of the angst caused.
What if the worst happened? Daniel's disappearance taps into that fear.
The lost child is also a “very strong theme" through Australia culture, drawing particular power from the country's size and bushland expanses.
But Professor Stockwell believes parental love is the main reason that Australians have connected with Daniel Morcombe's story.
From the outset, Bruce and Denise Morcombe had a very good understanding of how the media worked and used the avenue very effectively.
As time went on, the Morcombes realised they had national attention and decided to tap into that to promote child safety so other parents might avoid the same grief.
“Rather than bottling up and letting it eat away at them, they used that energy to…promote awareness," he said.
On Monday, attention will turn to a former Sunshine Coast tow-truck driver, Brett Peter Cowan, who has been charged with Daniel's murder, child stealing, deprivation of liberty, indecent treatment of a child and interfering with a corpse.
The 44-year-old, who legally changed his name to Shaddo Nunya Hunter sometime between 2003 and 2010, was arrested in a Perth caravan park on August 13, 2011.
Two days later he fronted Brisbane Magistrates Court, but did not enter a plea.
He'll do that, for the first time, on Monday, when he is officially arraigned.
