Could The Mystery Of The Girl In The Suitcase Be Solved?

There wasn’t a family in Australia that didn’t mourn for the unidentified little girl found in a suitcase on a remote highway in South Australia earlier this year.

The mystery that surrounded her violent death, and how she came to be abandoned on the side of the road, was enough to make any parent shiver.

But the mystery that horrified and captivated Australia has been solved.

Police in South Australia have revealed that they are working together with police in New South Wales on a link between the little girl in the suitcase and another murder victim. The other victim was a young woman whose bones were found in the Belanglo State Forest in 2010. For five years police worked tirelessly to figure out who she was and how she came to die. They were troubled by the indications left on her bones that her death had been violent, but had nothing to go off, not even a name. Based on a shirt she was wearing, they began to call her Angel.

Now, they have confirmed that Angel is the mother of the girl in the suitcase.

Both police departments have been running separate investigations into the deaths of the two females, found more than five years apart and in different states. However, they cannot ignore the strikingly similar situations of the victims. Both were found dumped in remote locations, and their bones showed signs that they had suffered a violent death at the hands of perpetrators unknown.

Now police have confirmed in a press conference that not only are the two victims links, but they have both been identified and are indeed mother and child. The little girl’s name is Khandalyce Pearce, and her mother is Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson. From what police can gauge they were last seen together on Saturday November 8th 2008 when Ms Pearce-Stevenson was driving on the Stuart Highway close to Coober Pedy.

This amazing breakthrough is the result of both dedicated police work as well as the help of the public. On October 8th of this year a call to Crime Stoppers suggest that the girl in the suitcase might be Khandalyce Pearce. The called claimed that although the little girl was not a part of a missing persons file, her and her mother had not been seen for some time.

Police were able to uncover Khandalyce’s medical records at her 18 month immunisation, but no other records were found. Through this line of enquiry they also found a witness who had seen both Khandalyce and her mother at the Marion Shopping Centre in Adelaide in November of 2008. The witness had snapped a photograph with Khandalyce in the background wearing the dress that was found in the suitcase. Later police were also provided with a photo of Khandalyce in a stroller with the handmade quilt that was also discovered with the body.

The final confirmation that solved both mysteries was blood samples taken from both victims that were conclusively matched with the DNA profile of both Khandalyce Pearce and Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson.

Police confirmed following their announcement that the family of the two victims have been contacted and are now grieving the loss of Karlie Jade and her daughter. However they did outline that both came from a loving family, who would miss them very much. Police have requested that their privacy be honoured as the investigation continues.

Obviously there still remains the question of who killed Khandalyce Pearce and Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson, and although police are following a number of lines of enquiry there isn’t anything yet that indicates a clear suspect. They are asking the wider community to inform police if they have any information that may help in solving the case. They particularly requested that hotels, landlords, motels and caravan parks check their records from 2006, when the victims may have been travelling.

With community assistance the case has gone from being a tragic mystery of two unknown victims, to a confirmed identification that can give their families some closure. Now it’s time to catch the person, or people, behind this crime.

Featured picture from SA Police News