Eleven years later, the case has gone cold and family members remain without answers.

On Thursday Mr Bourke, along with dozens of other Riverina residents, was able to provide a familial DNA sample to the Missing Persons Registry in the hopes of finally being able to lay a loved one to rest.

The samples were collected through a NSW Police pop-up centre in Wagga and will be compared to the 350 unidentified bodies and human remains in the state.

Detective Sergeant Rachel Lenaz said NSW police have 750 long-term missing person cases- long term being 90 days or more dating back to 1930.

Police also have 350 unidentified bodies and human remains in NSW.

"The purpose of this exercise is to collect familial DNA from biological relatives of historic missing persons," Detective Sergeant Lenaz said.

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"With the family members who provide their samples at the pop-up centres, their samples are only used for comparison against unidentified bodies and human remains. We cannot legally compare that to crime scenes or other things."

Under the Forensic Procedure Act this kind of voluntary sample can only be searched against unidentified bodies and human remains.

The first-of-a-kind program for NSW first rolled out in 2020 on the North and South coasts but came to a halt when COVID-19 interrupted.

Detective Sergeant Lenaz said with technology has significantly improved and relatives of missing persons being given an opportunity to provide DNA, they are hopeful they may be able to bring closure to some.

"The main part is getting people to come and trying to solve these cases," she said.

"For a lot of them, it's still really traumatic for them. It's really hard and if we can provide some sort of closure for them then that's really rewarding."

Mr Bourke is living proof that the pain of losing a loved one without answers as to what happened to them never subsides.

"If it can help then by all means," he said.

"I want to be able to lay him to rest and have some closure.

The pop-up DNA collection centre also visited Albury and Griffith this week.

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