Australian Police Make Double Murder Link

Police in Australia have made a double murder breakthrough after detectives formally linked two bodies found five years - and more than 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) - apart.

In July this year, the decomposed body of a two-year-old girl was found beside a road in a remote area of South Australia.

She has now been identified as Khandalyce Pearce - the daughter of Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson, whose skeletal remains were found in a New South Wales state forest in 2010.

The discovery of the two bodies had baffled police in two states, until a tip-off on a crime prevention hotline a fortnight ago.

"This is one of the most shocking crimes imaginable and has torn apart and devastated a loving family," said Detective Superintendent Des Bray from South Australia Police.

"Those responsible for this crime are truly evil and remain amongst us in the community and must be held accountable for what they have done."

Police have now renewed an appeal for public help to solve the murder mystery.

Khandalyce's body was discovered after a driver spotted the suitcase dumped on the side of a highway near the small South Australian town of Wynarka.

Police checked through dozens of missing persons profiles to try to work out who the remains belonged to.

They even took a call from UK police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who vanished during a family vacation in Portugal in 2007.

At the same time in New South Wales, police had been working for five years to identify a woman's body that was found in Belanglo State Forest, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Sydney.

The forest became infamous after it was used as a dumping ground for one of Australia's most notorious serial killers Ivan Milat.

The last confirmed sighting of Ms Pearce-Stevenson and her daughter was in November 2008 in South Australia.