They never stood a chance.
At first, there was no connection between the deaths of Khandalyce Pearce and Karlie Pearce-Stevenson…
In 2010 the skeletal remains of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson were discovered in the Belanglo State Forest, on Australia’s eastern side. Then, in July 2015, the remains of her daughter Khandalyce ‘Candy’ Pearce were discovered alongside a remote outback highway near Wynarka, South Australia, over 1,000km from her mother in Belanglo State Forest.
The young woman and her toddler were killed in 2008, and the family of the victims has said that the killings were so savage that even the death punishment “would not be adequate”. The killer was found and is now in jail for life.
Details of the horrific killings and the assaults that came before them have finally come to light, presenting a picture of a killer of “extreme dangerousness” who had a sexual interest in children, committed a “thrill kill,” kept “trophy photographs” of the young mother, and then used foreign objects to sexually assault her as she was dying.
Court records described the different grocery store items used in Candy’s murder, including trash bags, duct tape, and antibacterial wipes. The killer’s notebook, which was filled with a depraved list of children’s names and ages, listed separately along with terms like “rape,” “forced,” and “consent.”
Karlie was murdered on December 15, 2008, when she drove into the Belanglo State Forest with the killer, who stepped on her throat and crushed her windpipe, before dumping her body in bushland. At the time of her murder he used foreign objects to sexually assault her and took “trophy photographs” of her body, which were later discovered on an SD photo card.
Police were able to connect the setting of the photos on the photo card to the crime scene where Karlie’s body was discovered. They also compared a t-shirt with the word “Angelic” that was discovered in the Belanglo State Forest in 2010, with the one shown in the images.
Candy, who was just 2 years old, was suffocated by the killer four days later. Candy’s tiny body was placed in a suitcase and dumped 1,200km from where her mother was murdered. Although Karlie’s remains were found in the Belanglo State Forest in 2010, it wasn’t until 2015 that they were connected to Candy, after the discovery of the suitcase containing the toddler’s remains.
The court was informed that killer and Ms. Karlie had been living together in the ACT for a brief time before to her murder. Both Karlie and the killer’s mobile phones were tracked on the day of her murder, as they traveled from the ACT to the Belanglo forest.
Young Candy was later taken by the killer, who had pretended to be sending her to her paternal grandmother in South Australia. Instead, he used duct tape, dishcloths, and a hotel towel to “possibly” suffocate the toddler in a motel room, in the NSW town of Narrandera, close to Wagga Wagga.
“Both murders fall within the worst case and can aptly be described as atrocious, detestable, hateful, gravely reprehensible and extremely wicked,” the court prosecutor said. The murder of Karlie was motivated by a number of factors, including the desire to get access to Candy, and the sick goal to profit financially by accessing Karlie’s welfare benefits and her financial accounts.
The killer confessed to using a mobile phone to give “false indications” to Karlie’s family that she and Candy were still alive. He also used personal papers to take more than $70,000 from her accounts. In 2009, Karlie’s mother filed a missing person report for the 20-year-old, but when fraudulent contact was made by the killer “using Karlie’s phone,” the claim was withdrawn and she was removed from the list of missing people.
The father and grandfather of the two victims, Bruce Pearce, read a victim impact statement to the court on behalf of the family, saying the hatred he has felt since their death is “all consuming”. Pearce said, “I have never disliked somebody the degree that I detest you. It hurts to breathe as I consider what the girls went through, and my fury transforms into physical pain. Even the death sentence, which I would like to see applied on you, would not be sufficient.” As the statement was read, the killer sat impassively in the dock with his arms crossed, dressed in prison garb, his left hand bandaged.
Colleen Povey was the mother of Karlie, and spent four agonizing years fighting cancer and wondering why she hadn’t heard from her daughter. Candy, just two years old, and Karlie had been deceased for four years by 2012. Three more years would pass before anyone found them.
Mrs. Povey, who lost her battle with cancer in 2012, passed away without ever learning what happened to her cherished daughter and granddaughter, or the heinous abuse they endured at the hands of a single man in their final moments. Perhaps this was a blessing, of sorts.
