Alice Springs mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson was murdered just one month after she was last seen, but police are still unsure when her daughter Khandalyce suffered the same fate.
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Daniel Holdom, 41, appeared briefly in Maitland Local Court, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) north of Sydney, on Thursday on a charge of murder in the slaying of Pearce-Stevenson.
Police said the investigation into her daughter’s murder was continuing.
Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s body was discovered in the Belanglo State Forest in NSW in 2010 and Khandalyce’s remains were found near a suitcase beside a South Australian highway five years later.
It is believed Ms Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce were killed at different times and in different locations. They convinced Pearce-Stevenson’s mother to deposit money into the dead woman’s bank account, which continued to receive government benefits, South Australia Police Detective Superintendent Des Bray said on Tuesday.
Police revealed the new information as the man charged with Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s killing faced the Maitland Local Court in New South Wales on Thursday morning.
The time to do that is now, ‘ Det Supt Willing said.
“We know … a few of the SMSs were sent to family members, again to suggest Karlie was still alive and that on at least a couple of occasions that we know of a female falsely represented herself to be Karlie in communication with family”, he said.
Her daughter was murdered sometime later, he said. Although he has not been charged with Khandalyce’s death, there are hopes police may come closer to finding out who killed the child and why the two bodies were found so far apart. The forest was the infamous dumping ground for victims of Australia’s most notorious serial killer, Ivan Milat, who was convicted in 1996 of murdering seven backpackers. Pearce-Stevenson’s mother withdrew a missing person’s report she filed in 2009 because of texts indicating her daughter was alive.
Police said the bank card had been used at McDonald’s, KFC, petrol stations and a handbag store.
Wages from a job also went into the account and a woman even phoned the family several times claiming to be Karlie and persuading them to transfer money to an account. “The account was closed earlier this year due to inactivity”. Police allege the same woman used identity documents for Khandalyce and her mother to claim payments at a Centrelink office in 2010.
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Nearly $100,000 has been withdrawn from Karlie’s bank account over the past few years.
