Holdom killed 20-year-old in Belanglo state forest then killed her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce Pearce and dumped body in suitcase

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A man has pleaded guilty to the 2008 murders of a young mother and daughter whose bodies were found 1,200km apart in New South Wales and South Australia.



Daniel James Holdom, 43, pleaded guilty to murdering 20-year-old Karlie Pearce-Stevenson in mid-December 2008, in the NSW Belanglo state forest and Khandalyce Pearce, aged two, several days later in the Wagga Wagga area of NSW.

His NSW supreme court trial was listed to start next Monday, but he entered his guilty pleas on Tuesday and the matter was put over for a sentence hearing on 28 September.

Pearce-Stevenson’s remains were found in the forest in 2010 but were not identified for five years until after the discovery of Khandalyce’s remains some 1,200km away in 2015.

They were located with a suitcase on the side of the Karoonda Highway, west of Wynarka, in SA.

Before Holdom was committed for trial last year, Sydney’s Central local court was told he allegedly photographed the mother’s body in the forest “as a trophy of sorts”.

He also allegedly confessed to stomping on the mother’s throat and leaving her body next to a log, as well as suffocating the toddler before throwing her body on the side of the SA highway.

The local court hearing was told Holdom and Pearce-Stevenson were seen to argue while staying with people at Charnwood in the ACT on 14 December 2008, before they drove off in her car.

The housemates said Holdom returned alone after being gone for about 14 to 17 hours.

Holdom allegedly then cleaned her car, sold it and obtained another vehicle which he drove to Wagga Wagga, purchasing duct tape and a dishcloth, before checking into a motel with a child.

But he was alone when seen the next day before he drove on to South Australia.

Holdom was accused of using Pearce-Stevenson’s credit card for years after her death, during which time numerous benefit payments continued and $71,770 was debited from her account.



He also was allegedly involved in sending messages from her phone to her mother to curb police investigations into the pair’s disappearances.