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Accused Karlie killer remanded in custody

A 41-year-old man charged with the murder of young mum Karlie Pearce-Stevenson has been remanded in police custody.

Karlie’s remains were found in the Belanglo Forest in NSW in 2010, while the remains of her daughter Khandalyce, believed to be aged about two, were found near a suitcase alongside the Karoonda Highway in South Australia’s Murray Mallee earlier this year.

Daniel James Holdom, 41, was arrested at Cessnock police station on Wednesday, NSW police said, and charged with murder over Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s death. He was not charged with the murder of Khandalyce.

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Holdom appeared in Maitland Local Court via video link on Thursday morning. He did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

The matter will return to Central Local Court in Sydney on November 12.

On Thursday, News Corp revealed Holdom was the driver of a car that rolled, paralysing his girlfriend and killing her two children in 2008.

The crash happened in September 2008, three months before Holdom allegedly murdered Mr Pearce-Stevenson.

In the car were three other passengers, who were airlifted to hospital. The two deceased children were aged nine and six.

His wheelchair-bound girlfriend is reportedly assisting police with investigations into the murder of Ms Pearce-Stevenson.

Speaking before the court appearance, Detective Superintendent Mick Willing said police would allege Ms Pearce-Stevenson was murdered between December 14 and 15, 2008.

“She sustained certain injuries to her body, but I cannot go any further into those injuries as the investigations are ongoing,” he said.

“We believe that Khandalyce was murdered at some point after Karlie but we are trying to establish the exact time.”

Detectives continue their investigation into the brutal murder of Pearce-Stevenson’s two-year-old daughter.

Daniel James Holdom. Karlie Pearce Stevenson

Holdom was at the wheel of a fatal car crash months before the alleged murder of Ms Pearce-Stevenson. Photo: Facebook

In October police said they believed the pair were most likely murdered in December 2008 because there were no confirmed sightings of them after that date.

Officers made a breakthrough in the murder investigations when forensic scientists were able to create a DNA profile from the child’s bones, which was later linked to the bones of her mother discovered years earlier in NSW.

Both Khandalyce and Karlie were reported missing in the Northern Territory in 2009 but police said the report was later withdrawn.

The pair moved away from her family between 2006 and 2008 with Karlie intending to travel and work.

Khandalyce Kiara Pearce and her mother were reported missing late 2009. SA Police

Khandalyce Kiara Pearce and her mother were reported missing late 2009. Photo: SA Police

On Tuesday, police alleged that Karlie’s bank account was used over the years to access almost $100,000 and her phone was used to contact family to make it look like she was still alive.

The woman’s bank account was accessed on hundreds of occasions after she was last seen alive late 2008, Detective Superintendent Des Bray of the Major Crime Investigation Branch told reporters in Adelaide.

Police also said her mobile phone was used to send text messages to family members to fool them into thinking she was alive and well.

Detective Superintendent Bray also confirmed Ms Pearce-Stevenson was last seen alive in Canberra in December 2008.

Police allege a woman posed as Ms Pearce-Stevenson during a bank visit in 2010 and at Centrelink later that same year.

A member of her family sent money to her bank account and it was later withdrawn, police said.

Police also said a bank card was used several times at the Royal Adelaide Hospital during 2010 and later used, in March 2012, at Charnwood in Canberra.

Detective Superintendent Bray said the victim’s mobile phone was kept and used, including to contact the young woman’s family to provide “proof of life”.

He said the message bank was accessed from time to time.

“We know … some of the SMSs were sent to family members, again to suggest Karlie was still alive and that on at least a couple of occasions that we know of a female falsely represented herself to be Karlie in communication with family,” he said.

A death notice was printed on Tuesday in the Northern Territory News for Karlie and Khandalyce.

-ABC and AAP

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