Karlie Pearce-Stevenson murder: Homicide detectives question wheelchair-bound Adelaide woman Hazel Passmore
LATEST UPDATES: The wheelchair-bound former partner of the man accused of killing Karlie Pearce-Stevenson has been released without charge after hours of questioning by Major Crime detectives.
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The wheelchair-bound former partner of the man accused of killing Karlie Pearce-Stevenson has been released without charge after spending hours with Major Crime detectives inside Adelaide’s main police station.
Hazel Passmore, 33, of Davoren Park, arrived at the Wakefield St station at 1pm with defence lawyer Bill Boucaut SC.
At about 5pm she was driven home from the police station in the company of detectives.
It is understood detectives are investigating whether Ms Passmore was the woman in a wheelchair who allegedly impersonated Ms Pearce-Stevenson following her death in December 2008.
Major Crime detectives questioned Ms Passmore last week over allegations more than $90,000 was stolen from Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s bank account.
Just before 1pm, Ms Passmore — the former partner of alleged murderer Daniel Holdom — was wheeled across Wakefield St toward the station.
Her current partner, who did not give his name, told the media to “f--- off” as she was asked whether she was making a formal statement. Ms Passmore did not respond to any questions.
The couple, who had a young child with them, were met inside the station by Major Crime detectives. Inside the station, Ms Passmore and her partner waited in the lobby while Mr Boucaut spoke with detectives, before they all moving into an interview room.
Ms Passmore’s partner and their child left the station about 4pm through a side exit.
An hour later, Ms Passmore was driven away by detectives. A police spokeswoman confirmed she had been released.
Ms Passmore was crippled in Outback South Australia in September, 2008, in a vehicle rollover which killed two of her children.
The man who was behind the wheel of the Toyota 4WD was Daniel Holdom, who was charged on Wednesday night with the murder of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson.
Holdom’s 4WD rolled on the Stuart Highway about 55km north of Marla about 10pm on Wednesday, September 15, 2008.
Two of Ms Passmore’s children, Willow, 9, and Ryan, 7, were killed. Her third child, Lauren, survived.
Holdom, Ms Passmore and Lauryn were flown to Alice Springs for hospital treatment after the crash.
The crash happened just three months before Holdom — who has also gone by the names Daniel Bishop and Daniel Marshall — allegedly murdered Ms Pearce-Stevenson in the Belanglo State Forest in NSW.
Ms Passmore now lives at Davoren Park in Adelaide’s northern suburbs with a new partner, her surviving daughter and another son.
She was questioned last week by detectives investigating the murders of Karlie and her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce, whose body was found in a suitcase beside a highway near Wynarka in SA.
Major Crime detectives are focusing on how Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s bank account was repeatedly raided in the years after her death as fraudsters who impersonated her to welfare authorities and in phone calls to her family stole over $90,000.
It is understood Ms Passmore has been questioned over identity theft and the use of Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s phone and bank card in the years following the murder.
They said a woman in a wheelchair had visited a credit union in Adelaide’s northern suburbs and posed as Ms Pearce-Stevenson to update her records in June 2010.
A woman in a wheelchair also had gone to Centrelink at Salisbury claiming to be Ms Pearce-Stevenson in December 2010.
Holdom, 41, a former acquaintance of Ms Pearce-Stevenson, faced a NSW court charged with her murder on Thursday morning.
It is understood a police trace has allegedly placed Holdom’s mobile phone in Belanglo at the time Ms Pearce-Stevenson was allegedly killed.
Holdom was taken into custody by homicide detectives at 3.45pm (SA time) on Wednesday.
He was charged with one count of murder several hours later relating to the death of Ms Pearce-Stevenson — but has not been charged over the murder of Khandalyce.
Holdom was refused bail and appeared by video link in the Maitland Local Court, in the Hunter Valley, on Thursday morning.
He will appear again in the Central Local Court in Sydney on November 12.
Police are investigating whether Holdom played any role in Khandalyce’s death, but it is understood he is not co-operating and has refused to be interviewed.
He had formerly lived at a caravan park on the NSW Central Coast, according to his charge sheet.
In a short press conference in Sydney on Thursday morning, NSW Homicide Squad boss Det Supt Mick Willing said Khandalyce was kept alive for some time after her murder.
“We will allege Karlie was murdered between the 14th and the 15th of December, 2008,” he said.
“We believe that Khandalyce was murdered at some point after Karlie and we are trying to establish when.”
TIMELINE OF MURDER AND FRAUD
2006: Khandalyce Kiara Pearce born in Alice Springs to single mother Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson.
2008: Ms Pearce-Stevenson leaves family in Alice Springs and starts travelling around Australia with her young daughter.
Nov. 2008: The last photos of Ms Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce were taken at Marion Shopping Centre, Khandalyce wearing a pink dress. Last known sighting was driving on the Stuart Highway near Coober Pedy.
Sept. 2009: Following less and less contact, her mother files a missing persons report with NT police. The report is closed a week later. It was believed Ms Pearce-Stevenson was safe, but did not want contact.
Aug. 2010: The remains of a young woman were found by a group of trail bike riders in Belanglo State Forest in NSW. The woman’s time of death is determined to have been anywhere from six months to 10 years prior. A distinctive T-shirt with Angelic motif found with the remains prompts the victim to be known as ‘Angel’.
Dec. 2011: Her remains are still unidentified and a computer-generated image of the face is released.
July 2015: The skeletal remains of a child are found dumped in a Lanza suitcase alongside the Karoonda Highway, near Wynarka, on July 14. Several items of clothing and a distinctive handmade quilt are found. Detectives determine the child met a violent death aged 2 ½ to 4 and was killed up to seven years earlier at another location. DNA testing fails to yield her identity.
Aug-Sept. 2015: Police doorknock hundreds of properties in the Murray Mallee and receive more than 1000 Crime Stoppers calls. Clothing and quilt a key focus. Data-matching software identifies 6300 possible victims.
Oct. 8, 2015: One caller nominates Khandalyce as possibly being the little girl in the suitcase. Investigators then find a witness who had seen Khandalyce and her mother at Marion Shopping Centre in November 2008. She had photographed Khandalyce in a pink dress that was identical to that found in the suitcase. Police provided with photos of Khandalyce in a stroller with the handmade quilt that was also found in the suitcase.
Oct. 2015: A blood sample from Khandalyce’s medical records matches the DNA profile taken from the remains in the suitcase. Blood samples from Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s medical records is used for a DNA profile. Police confirm they match Belanglo remains.
October 27: SA Police reveal Karlie’s identity was stolen after her death and used to steal more than $90,000 — welfare benefits, wages and money from her family — from Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s account. The fraudsters impersonated Ms Pearce-Stevenson to authorities and her family members in brief phone calls.
October 28: A 41-year-old man is taken into police custody at Cessnock, NSW, for allegedly murdering Ms Pearce-Stevenson. He was charged with the murder late on Wednesday night.
October 29: Daniel Holdom appears in court charged with Karlie’s murder and is denied bail. It is revealed he was in a fatal car crash in SA’s Far North three months before Karlie’s murder that killed his girlfriend’s two children and left her in a wheelchair.