Suitcase body linked to body in forest

A child whose body was found in a suitcase is the daughter of a woman whose remains were found in a forest, say Australian police.

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Sydney - Police say a child whose decomposed body was found in a suitcase in southern Australia earlier this year is the daughter of a woman whose skeletal remains were found in a forest 1 200 kilometres away in 2010.

The identities of both bodies had long stumped police in two states until they received a tip on a crime prevention hotline two weeks ago.

South Australia state police said on Wednesday that the caller suggested that the girl in the suitcase might be a missing two-year-old named Khandalyce Pearce.

DNA tests confirmed that the remains were indeed Khandalyce’s.

DNA tests then confirmed that a skeleton found in a New South Wales state forest in 2010 belonged to Khandalyce’s 20-year-old mother, Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson.

AP