Police have arrested a man over the murder of Alice Springs mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson.
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“He is expected to be charged with Karlie’s murder later tonight”, a police statement read.
Police said inquiries into the death of Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s daughter, Khandalyce are continuing.
The man, who has served time for child sex offences, is now in Cessnock jail for unrelated crimes.
The body of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson was found in a state forest in New South Wales in 2010.
“We believe that the phone was kept by the offenders and used to provide a few proof of life and to mislead family, friends, law enforcement by suggesting that Karlie was still alive because of activity on her phone”, Det Supt Bray said on Tuesday.
The last sighting of the pair was shortly before that in the ACT when Pearce-Stevenson was 20 and her daughter was aged two. The post said the family had “spent the past six years desperately trying to locate their whereabouts”.
Detectives have said they believe the pair were killed at different times and at different locations in December 2008.
Along with benefit payments, wages of a person and other sources of money also went into her account.
“It’s clear that a few of the people involved in the frauds knew without doubt that Karlie and Khandalyce were dead and continued with their role”.
In addition to the bank access, police say her mobile phone was used on a number of occasions to send text messages to family members in a bid to dupe them into believing she was still alive.
A woman impersonated the young mother at a Centrelink interview in Adelaide in 2010.
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It has also been reported two women and a man are thought to have been involved in the identity theft and in the use of the mobile phone.
