Updated
Rachel Antonio's mother said she "felt sick and got goosebumps" the first time she visited the Bowen dump after her daughter disappeared 20 years ago.
Heavy machinery is being used to help forensic officers who are testing the north Queensland dump today to determine whether a full-scale search of the site would be viable.
Cheryl Antonio said she felt she had to get out of the dump when she visited the site after her daughter disappeared.
"The first time I went to the dump after Rachel went I just felt sick and got goosebumps and I stank," she said.
"I didn't go to the dump for months and months and months after that."
Rachel's father Ian Antonio welcomed today's police search.
"We felt pretty good that there was a chance that we might find something. That's the last place we've left to look," he said.
Although wary of getting their hopes up, Mr Antonio said finding his daughter's body would allow the family to get on with their lives.
"That's what we need to do. We need to put it behind us and we can't put it behind us at the moment," he said.
Detective Inspector Nikki Colfs said the search team was not specifically looking for human remains.
"It's an exploratory examination around the age of the refuse during that time that Rachel Antonio went missing," she said.
"We're only looking at one area, and that's an area in front of the ponds at the Bowen refuse."
Police have been working on a detailed plan of action since receiving new information last year from the dump's former manager Hugh Smith.
Ten officers, including forensic officers from Brisbane, are taking part in the one-day exploratory dig.
The heavy machinery has been used to access rubbish layers down to where it is believed the 1998 refuse was buried.
Rachel's mother had dropped her off at the Bowen cinema on Anzac Day in 1998, and she was last seen walking along the town's foreshore.
Last year, a coronial inquest found that she died during a physical fight with former lifesaving captain Robert Hytch, who she had been in a relationship with.
Hytch was previously convicted and later acquitted of the manslaughter of Rachel, who vanished without trace.
A $250,000 reward has been offered for information which leads to the recovery of her remains.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, law-crime-and-justice, missing-person, bowen-4805, qld, mackay-4740, townsville-4810
First posted