Girl in suitcase: Detectives identify a main suspect in killings of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and daughter Khandalyce

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Girl in suitcase: Detectives identify a main suspect in killings of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and daughter Khandalyce

By Nick Ralston, Lisa Visentin and Ava Benny-Morrison
Updated

Detectives investigating the murders of a mother and her young daughter have made a major breakthrough in their inquiries identifying a key suspect in the killings.

Police in NSW and South Australia have been inundated with information and tip-offs from the public a day after they went public with the identities of single mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and her daughter Khandalyce Pearce-Stevenson.

Fairfax Media has learnt that investigators in both states have made rapid progress in the investigation and have identified a male suspect.

It is understood the man is in custody in a NSW jail, serving a prison sentence for unrelated offences.

Bodies identified: Karlie Jade Pearce-Steven and her daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce.

Bodies identified: Karlie Jade Pearce-Steven and her daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce.Credit: NSW Police

A spokesman on Thursday night said police were "keeping an open mind" to their inquiries.

"Police are following a number of lines of inquiries in relation to the deaths of Karlie and Khandalyce Pearce-Stevenson," the police spokesman said.

The revelation came 24 hours after they revealed that the body of a woman dumped in Belanglo State Forest that was discovered by trail bike riders in 2010 was single mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson.

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Investigators said that she was the mother of Khandalyce Pearce-Stevenson, whose body was found in a suitcase in July off the Karoonda Highway, near the South Australian town of Wynarka.

NSW and SA investigators show a photo of Karlie Jade Pearce-Steven and her daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce.

NSW and SA investigators show a photo of Karlie Jade Pearce-Steven and her daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce.Credit: Brendan Esposito

Police only learnt the identities of both victims in the last fortnight and that both homicide cases were related. The breakthrough came via a tip-off to CrimeStoppers on October 8.

Their deaths are now the subject of a joint murder investigation by SA and NSW police and also involving their counterparts in the ACT and NT.

South Australian police said on Thursday they had received 30 Crime Stoppers calls relating to Ms Pearce-Stevenson and her daughter.

Dozens of calls have been received by police in other states, including NSW.

The last known sighting of Khandalyce and her mother was on 8 November 2008, when they were stopped by police while driving down the Stuart Highway near Coober Pedy in South Australia.

At that time, Karlie was aged 20, and Khandalyce was aged two.

Ms Pearce-Stevenson went through primary school in Braitling in Alice Springs' northern suburbs, where she also spent part of her childhood.

The keen netball player went to Alice Springs High School before leaving the Northern Territory town after 2006 with Khandalyce.

A man who knew Ms Stevenson-Pearce as a teenager said she was a nice girl who met a horrific end.

The man, who did not want to be named, said he knew her and a close friend from parties when they were younger.

"I know she had her kid and then her and Andrew (the child's father) had troubled times," he said.

He said he didn't know she had been missing until police revealed the breakthrough on Wednesday.

"That's why the story shocked me yesterday," he said.

Ms Pearce-Stevenson's step-brother, Luke Povey, still lives in Alice Springs and works as a glazier.

Her step-father is also to believed to live in the town, along with extended relatives.

Her mother Colleen Povey died in 2012.

Police said Ms Pearce-Stevenson's extended family had believed mother and daughter had been living interstate alive and well.

The family appealed for donations to assist with the costs of repatriating their bodies back to Alice Springs.

According to the crowd-funding page, believed to be organised by Ms Pearce-Stevenson's cousin, the family "spent the last six years desperately trying to locate their whereabouts" after the pair went missing in 2009.

"Our family is asking for assistance to help us raise the funds to bring Karlie and Khandalyce's remains home to Alice Springs so that they can be reunited and laid to rest together with family."

In 24 hours, the family raised $3,940 from 41 donations. The family has since closed donations to the page after a local government offered the remaining assistance required to bury Ms Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce in Alice Springs.

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