Police urge public's help in suitcase mystery

Using DNA, police have confirmed it was Khandalyce Kiara Pearce whose body was discovered alongside the Karoonda Highway near Wynarka in SA's southeast in July. Photo / YouTube

Investigators have urged the public to be part of the next step in solving the mystery behind the brutal deaths of the mother and daughter, whose remains were found five years apart in NSW and South Australia.

Karlie's skeletal remains were found by trail bike riders at Dalys Waterhole in the Belanglo State Forest in 2010, followed five years later with July's discovery of Khandalyce's remains near a dumped suitcase on the side of a highway in Wynarka in South Australia.

"This is one of the most shocking crimes, shocking and unimaginable," Detective Superintendent Des Bray, of South Australia Police, said in Adelaide on Wednesday.

Information from an anonymous caller led police to photos of Khandalyce wearing a pink dress and with a handmade quilt, identical to those found in the suitcase at Wynarka.

This week investigators matched blood samples from their medical records to DNA profiles, solving part of the mystery of the deaths.

Police have now urged anyone who saw Karlie or Khandalyce travelling around Australia in the last 10 years to call Crimestoppers.

Karlie was born in Alice Springs in 1988 and gave birth to Khandalyce there in 2006.

Sometime between 2006 and 2008 she moved out of home and away from her loving family, deciding to travel around Australia and work.

Karlie was 20 when she was last seen driving near Coober Pedy with her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce in November, 2008.

Her car was pulled over by a police officer near Coober Pedy, NSW Police Homicide Squad Commander Mick Willing told reporters.

An unconfirmed sighting placed her at a shopping centre in the ACT a month later.

"Investigators...are determined to find and locate the person or persons responsible for these horrific crimes," he said.

"I can't comment about the cause of death for either the mother or the child other than to say they were violent, horrific deaths.

Family, including Khandalyce's father and Karlie's stepfather and stepbrother, have been ruled out as suspects.