Karlie’s alleged killer charged over Khandalyce’s murder
The man charged with murdering Karlie Pearce-Stevenson will face a New South Wales court over the murder of her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce, whose remains were found in a suitcase east of Adelaide this year.
Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson (left) and her daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce. Supplied: SA Police
Daniel James Holdom, 41, was placed in police custody at Parramatta Police Station, New South Wales, around 10am today.
Holdom was charged with Pearce-Stevenson’s murder in October, five years after trail bike riders found her body buried in the notorious Belanglo State Forest in NSW.
Police will now allege Holdom killed her two-year old daughter, Khandalyce Kiara Pearce, just days after killing the 20-year-old mother.
He was charged with the second murder and is expected to appear at Parramatta Local Court later this afternoon.
NSW Police will be alleging in court that it is their belief that Khandalyce was murdered in NSW.
The little girl’s remains were discovered in a suitcase dumped on the side of a South Australian highway near Wynarka in July.
Sa Police Detective Superintendent Des Bray, said the investigation has been “very intense to this point”, thanking the public and the media for their assistance to date.
“South Australia Police will continue to work closely with homicide detectives in NSW to complete the investigation and prepare the brief of evidence,” he said.
The latest development comes only days after the mother and daughter were laid to rest in their home town of Alice Springs.
“These dark and unforgiving years will never be forgotten,” celebrant Meredith Campbell told Friday’s funeral service.
Bray has described the murders as “one of the most shocking crimes, shocking and unimaginable”.
Pearce-Stevenson was 20 when she was last seen near Coober Pedy, with her then two-year-old daughter Khandalyce in November 2008.
Her identity, bank account and mobile phone were used for years after her death to mislead family and defraud social services.
It’s estimated up to $100,000 was taken from her bank account between 2008 and 2012.
A woman in a wheelchair also impersonated Pearce-Stevenson in a Centrelink interview in 2010.
Pearce-Stevenson was born in Alice Springs in 1988 and gave birth to Khandalyce there in 2006.
Investigators believe Pearce-Stevenson died on December 14 or December 15, 2008, and Khandalyce was killed some time later, which means today’s arrest coincides with the likely anniversary of Karlie’s death.
– with AAP
