Homicide detectives investigating the double murder of the Alice Springs mother and daughter confirmed on Friday that they were following "a very strong line of inquiry" in relation to the case. The scene in the Belanglo State Forest where Karlie Pearce-Stevenson's bones were found. Credit:SMH Detective say they are "hopeful" of an early arrest, after raiding homes in South Australia and the ACT. Police are now almost certain the single mother was murdered in or near Belanglo State Forest, south of Sydney, but are yet to determine the year of her death. They do not know whether her young daughter Khandalyce Pearce – whose body was discovered alongside the Karoonda Highway, in South Australia, in July – was also murdered in the same location. Head of the homicide squad Detective Superintendent Mick Willing described the investigation as " fast-paced" and "complex" on Friday. He said the raids over the past two days had been "productive".

Police are exploring the possibility that more than one person was connected to the murders of Ms Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce, who was aged between two and four. NSW investigators show a photo of Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson and her daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce. Credit:Brendan Esposito Police are confident that those responsible for the murders are not from Ms Pearce-Stevenson's home town of Alice Springs. She is more likely to have met or befriended the killer or killers while travelling between 2006 and 2010, police say. More than one prisoner in NSW is considered to be a person of interest. It is understood that some of those prisoners are currently serving time for violent crimes committed in NSW. The homes searched in South Australia and the ACT are believed to belong to people associated with the unconfirmed sighting of Ms Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce at an ACT shopping centre in December 2008.

None of the homes are associated with the prison suspects. "There is every indication that friends or associates – people Karlie may have met or been in contact with while travelling between 2006 and 2010 – hold the key to their deaths," Superintendent Willing said. Police are yet to locate the car driven by Ms Pearce-Stevenson after she left the Northern Territory, between 2006 and 2008, but said it was a 1986 red or maroon Commodore VL station wagon. The car was initially registered to the young mother in the Northern Territory but had since been sold and re-registered in NSW to a person not connected with police inquires. Police have questioned a person who was connected with the car prior to it being re-registered in NSW. "We want to charge those responsible and ensure a conviction for what can only be described as the brutal murder of a young mum and her little girl," Superintendent Willing said.