A man has been charged with the murder of young mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson.
The 41-year-old man was taken into custody at Cessnock Police Station yesterday afternoon and was charged with murder late last night.
The man is believed to be an acquaintance of Ms Pearce-Stevenson, but is not facing any charges over the death of her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce Pearce.
He has been refused bail and will appear in Maitland Local Court later today.
An interstate investigation was launched after the remains of Ms Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce were identified last week, after their bodies were found in separate states in 2010 and 2015 respectively.
Investigations into Khandalyce’s murder are continuing, police advised.
The arrest comes after police announced Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s identity, bank account and mobile phone were used for years after her death to mislead family and defraud social services.
Almost $100,000 was spent or withdrawn from the 20-year-old’s bank account between November 2008, when she was last seen, and March 2012.
A female pretending to be Ms Pearce-Stevenson had conversations with family members on several occasions and duped them into transferring money into her account.
It was also revealed that a woman in a wheelchair had impersonated Ms Pearce-Stevenson in a Centrelink interview in Adelaide in 2010.
Police believe at least one man and two women were involved in the fraud, and that at least one of them were responsible for the murders.
Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s body was discovered in the Belanglo State Forest in NSW in 2010 and Khandalyce’s remains were found near a suitcase beside a South Australian highway five years later.
It is believed the mother and daughter were killed in December 2008 at different times and in different locations.
A multi-state investigation has been under way since police linked the two bodies this month with fresh DNA evidence.
