Deaths of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce Pearce

The deaths of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce Pearce were initially treated as unrelated. The skeletal remains of Pearce-Stevenson were found in Belanglo State Forest, New South Wales, Australia, in 2010. Her daughter Khandalyce's remains were found near Wynarka, South Australia (1,100 kilometres (680 mi) from Belanglo) in July 2015. The two cases were not linked until positive identification was confirmed by DNA testing in October 2015. The mother and daughter were last seen by family in 2008 in Alice Springs, Northern Territory and reported missing in 2009, however the report was withdrawn. It was discovered Pearce-Stevenson's mobile phone was used for years following her death to send false "proof of life" messages to family and friends. The mother and child's identities were exploited by third parties to commit social security and other types of identity fraud.

On 28 October 2015, Daniel James Holdom, reported to be Pearce-Stevenson's former partner, was arrested in Cessnock, New South Wales, and charged with her murder. On 15 December he was also charged with the murder of her daughter, Khandalyce.

On 29 August 2010, trail bike riders discovered skeletal human remains in the Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales. Media reports at first linked the killing to serial killer Ivan Milat and the backpacker murders, but later forensic examination found the remains had been left there many years after Milat was jailed in 1996 for the seven murders in the forest. In a 2010 appeal for information, police called the woman "Angel" after the motif on a t-shirt she was wearing.

On 21 October 2015, the bones were identified as the body of Pearce-Stevenson, aged 22, from Alice Springs.

On 15 July 2015, the remains of a young child surrounded by girl's clothing were discovered by a passing motorist who examined an abandoned suitcase at the side of the Karoonda Highway near Wynarka in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia. From the beginning, investigators believed the child had suffered a violent death several years before the remains had been dumped in the suitcase. It was not until October 2015 that the victim was identified as Pearce, aged two, who, with her mother, had been reported missing from Alice Springs more than five years earlier, in 2009.

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