Australian authorities have finally identified their slain Baby Doe victim whose skeletal remains were found this year stuffed in a suitcase and left at the side of a remote highway near Wynarka.
Police announced Wednesday that the dead toddler is Khandalyce Kiara Pearce.
She was the daughter of a woman also found murdered but whose bones were discovered five years ago -- roughly a year after they think the ‘Suitcase Girl’ herself was killed.
Investigators further disclosed that both mother and child had suffered “violent, deliberate deaths” and that “a male suspect” already in prison for an unrelated offense is being questioned now.
Baby Doe’s mom, Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson, was born in 1988 and died a horrific death sometime before 2010; the year her bones were discovered partially buried in Belanglo State Forest.
For Australians, that gravesite should conjure up a chilling recollection: It’s where the notorious “Backpack Killer” also deposited the bodies of his raped, tortured and mutilated victims during the early 1990s.
Since 1996, however, convicted serial murderer Ivan Milat has been serving seven consecutive life sentences. Thus, police are warning the public not to draw any “premature” conclusions about these two more-recent and still-unsolved homicides.
This case is developing -- tips can be submitted directly to Crime Stoppers at 1300-333-000.
@EponymousRox
Cold Case, Baby Doe, Serial Crime
