AN elderly man has ended a decades-long mystery by pleading guilty to the rape and murder of six-year-old girl Kylie Maybury on Melbourne Cup Day in 1984.

Kylie was found dead in a Preston gutter the day after her disappearance in 1984.

Gregory Keith Davies, 74, entered on Monday a plea of guilty to her rape and murder on the first day of his pre-trial committal hearing.

One charge was withdrawn by prosecutors.

Julie Maybury says that when she heard Davies’ plea of guilty, she felt shocked and numb inside.

“I just broke down,” she told reporters outside the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

“I’m so totally over the moon that he’s done it.

“It’s been 33 years and he’s put me through hell.”

His admission brings a sense of long-awaited relief, she says.

“It’s just made life so much easier and all the victims out there who’ve lost their children, I can understand exactly where they stand,” she said.

“We all can move on. The dark is nearly over.”

Kylie and her mother had visited their Preston neighbour on November 6, 1984. She was sent out to buy sugar and never returned.

Davies was arrested and charged in June with abducting and murdering Kylie. Magistrate Duncan Reynolds remanded Davies in custody for a directions hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The Herald Sun reports Davies was interviewed by police shortly after the young girl’s body was found. But last year, after being reinterviewed and denying any involvement, he voluntarily gave detectives a DNA sample which proved a match to that found on the victim’s body.

THE KYLIE MAYBURY MURDER INVESTIGATION

November 6, 1984 - Kylie and her mum visit their neighbour Lorna Simpson on Melbourne Cup day and Kylie is sent to a nearby shop to buy sugar. Kylie leaves the shop with the sugar but never makes it home. The alarm is raised and a search ensues.

November 7, 1984 - Police find the little girl’s body dumped in a gutter in Preston in the early hours of the morning.

Late November, 1984 - An anonymous caller tells police a white Holden Kingswood station wagon was involved in Kylie’s death.

1985 - Police announce a $50,000 reward for information. It’s later increased to $1 million.

May 1997 - A second anonymous caller nominates a person of interest, police say, without disclosing the name.

February 2001 - Convicted child killer Robert Lowe, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of another six-year-old, is DNA tested but cleared as the prime suspect in Kylie’s murder.

June 2016 - Gregory Keith Davies, 74, is arrested at his Waterford Park home and charged with the rape and murder of Kylie.

May 29, 2017 - Davies pleads guilty to both charges. Another charge was withdrawn by prosecutors.

Sources: Victoria Police, AAP file.