An accused serial killer has been charged with the murder of an 18-year-old girl who mysteriously vanished on Australia Day 22 years ago.

Bradley Robert Edwards, 49, has been charged with the murder of Sarah Spiers, 18, who disappeared after calling a cab on a night out with friends in Claremont, Perth in 1996.

Ms Spiers was one of three women to go missing in the Claremont area between January 1996 and March 1997, in a spate of crimes that became known as the infamous Claremont serial killings.

Mr Edwards was charged in December last year with the murders of two other girls who both vanished after a night out in 1996 and 1997 respectively.

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Claremont serial-killer accused, Bradley Robert Edwards, 49, has been charged with the murder of Sarah Spiers (pictured) who disappeared 22 years ago after a night out with friends in Perth

Mr Edwards was charged in December last year with the murders of two other girls who both vanished after a night out in 1996 and 1997 respectively

'This development follows extensive inquiries by the Macro investigation team within the cold case homicide squad,' Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said on Thursday.

'Sarah disappeared after a night out with friends in Claremont on Friday, January 26, 1996.'

'She telephoned for a taxi from a phone box near the corner of Stirling Road and Stirling Highway just after 2am on the Saturday morning,' he said.

Mr Dawson said police were unable to provide further details about the breakthrough charge.

Just months after Sarah disappeared, childcare worker Jane Rimmer, 23, went missing after she was last seen outside the Continental Hotel in June 1996.

Childcare worker Jane Rimmer,23, went missing after she was seen outside the Continental Hotel in June, 1996

Ciara Glennon a 27-year-old lawyer disappeared after leaving the same pub. Both of their bodies were later found in bush-land around Perth

Her body was found in bushland in August 1996.

In March 1997, Ciara Glennon, a 27-year-old lawyer, disappeared after leaving Continental Hotel.

Her body was found in bushland at Eglington, in Perth's north, on April 3.

Edwards is also accused of two other sex attacks on other women - the 1995 abduction and sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl at Karrakatta Cemetery and the 1988 indecent assault of an 18-year-old woman in her home.

His case is still in the beginning stages and he will appear in court on February 28 charged over the three murders.

Sarah's body was never found. On top of the three murder charges, Edwards is accused of two other sex attacks on women, one of them a 17-year-old girl who he abducted and the sexually abused in a cemetery.

In 2008 police released CTV footage of Jane outside the hotel. She is leaning on a pole, her jacket swung over her shoulder. She can be seen acknowledging a man who is also standing out the front. The camera changes view and when it moves back, shes gone.

In February, cold case detectives asked for public help to find a white 1992 Camry Toyota station wagon they they believed in linked to her death. The car was de-registered in 2008 and has not been found.

Sarah made her last known phone call was for a taxi, after she was seen leaving the Club Bayview nightclub, but when the cab arrived she was gone.

Her body has never been found.

'This is a very traumatic time for the Spiers family, so I urge the media to please respect their privacy and do not attempt to contact them,' Mr Dawson said.

Jane's body was found in bush-land near Woolcoot Road, south of Perth. Ciara's was found off Pipidinny Road, north of Perth.

'Sarah Spiers's family has expressly told the WA Police Force that they do not wish to make any comment about today's development.'

Sarah's father Don released a statement last year urging anyone with information about the car to contact police.

'We have been kept informed by the police on the status of the investigation (and) we do not want to comment publicly about today's appeal,' he said.