By Ava Benny-Morrison
Young mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson was stomped to death before her body was photographed like a "trophy" and left to decompose beside a tree log.
Five days later, the man charged over inflicting her death allegedly turned his sights on her two-year-old daughter Khandalyce.
Killed: Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce Pearce.Credit: NSW Police
By the end of 2008, the toddler, nicknamed "Khandles", was also dead and, like her mother, her remains were discarded in a remote and desolate location.
The allegations surrounding the high-profile case that was sensationally cracked open in 2015 have been revealed for the first time in a Sydney court.
Daniel James Holdom has been committed to stand trial for murder.Credit: Facebook
It comes as the mother's and daughter's accused killer has been committed to stand trial over the alleged murders in 2008.
Police allege that Daniel James Holdom was partly motivated to kill his girlfriend, Ms Pearce-Stevenson, to gain access to her money.
The trio had been staying together in Charnwood in Canberra's northern suburbs in late 2008 but initially met in Ms Pearce-Stevenson's home town of Alice Springs.
In Central Local Court on Thursday, crown prosecutor Victoria Engel outlined the horrific allegations against Mr Holdom while the 42-year-old sat calmly with his arms folded in the dock.
A memorial to Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and her daughter Khandalyce Pearce at the roadside, near Wynarka, South Australia.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Ms Engel alleged that Mr Holdom and Ms Pearce-Stevenson left Canberra on December 14, 2008, after having an argument.
The pair jumped in Ms Pearce-Stevenson's car and drove towards Belanglo State Forest in NSW's southern highlands.
Khandalyce Pearce was allegedly killed and her body dumped in a suitcase in 2008.Credit: Facebook
It is there police allege Mr Holdom killed the 20-year-old mother. It wasn't until two years later that trail bike riders found her skeletal remains on the Red Arm Creek fire trail.
Her rib bones showed signs of injury, possibly from being stomped on, and the cause of death was by "blunt force", the court heard.
Karlie Pearce-Stevenson, whose body was found dumped in the Belanglo State Forest in 2010.
Mr Holdom allegedly told a witness later that he stomped on Ms Pearce-Stevenson's throat and crushed her windpipe.
It is alleged Mr Holdom took a photo of the body before driving back to the ACT, where Khandalyce remained.
That photo was discovered on a SD card by a witness, who later gave it to a relative to keep in case "something happened" to the witness.
"The evidence, including photographing her body in situ, as a trophy of sorts, is indicative of an intention to kill," Ms Engel said.
Mr Holdom returned to Canberra alone in Ms Pearce-Stevenson's Holden Commodore and traded it in for another vehicle.
He allegedly told a witness he was going to drive Khandalyce back to her family in South Australia.
He had dropped Ms Pearce-Stevenson off at a bus stop, Mr Holdom allegedly told the witness, because they had a fight.
It is alleged Mr Holdom, with Khandalyce in his car, checked into the Narrandera Midtown Motel, near Wagga Wagga, on December 19, 2008.
Beforehand, he allegedly stopped at Woolworths and bought duct tape, dish cloths, soap and garbage bags.
At the motel he signed a registration form indicating he was checking in with one child and one adult.
"That appears to be the last record of any kind of Khandalyce being alive," Magistrate Les Mabbutt said on Thursday during the committal hearing.
Police tracked Mr Holdom's mobile phone activity the next day through South Australia.
In August, 2015, Khandalyce's skeleton was found stuffed inside a tattered suitcase on the roadside near Wynarka, south-east of Adelaide.
Two witnesses told police that Mr Holdom made admissions about the deaths, including that he suffocated Khandalyce.
One witness asked Mr Holdom about Ms Pearce-Stevenson months later and he allegedly replied, "gone ... she's dead".
Over the following years, Mr Holdom allegedly withdrew more than $70,000 from Ms Pearce-Stevenson's bank account.
In September, 2009, Ms Pearce-Stevenson's mother, Colleen Povey, made a missing persons report about her daughter.
Northern Territory police contacted Mr Holdom and he claimed Ms Pearce-Stevenson moved to Queensland.
The crown allege that someone pretending to be Ms Pearce-Stevenson then called her mother and used a whispering voice.
In a glaring error, the missing person case was closed.
"Review of the closure indicated that the file should've been kept open as there had been no actual physical sighting of Karlie or Khandalyce," Magistrate Mabbutt said.
At that point Mr Holdom still allegedly had Ms Pearce-Stevenson's phone. Ms Povey, who had breast cancer at the time, received a message or phone call from Ms Pearce-Stevenson's number requesting $500.
The sender or caller stated they needed the money to fly home to Alice Springs to see her grandmother.
The money was transferred but "of course, Karlie and Khandalyce didn't come home", Magistrate Mabbutt said.
Ms Povey died in 2012.
A tip-off to Crime Stoppers in 2015 helped police identify and link Ms Pearce-Stevenson's and Khandalyce's remains, dumped 1200 kilometres apart.
In October, 2015, Mr Holdom was interviewed by police and claimed he hadn't seen the mother and daughter since 2008.
Magistrate Mabbutt said Mr Holdom later contradicted that, claiming he saw Ms Pearce-Stevenson in Adelaide in 2009.
After reviewing 42 volumes of evidence, Magistrate Mabbutt found there was a compelling circumstantial case.
"I am satisfied on both charges the prosecution case is capable of satisfying a jury properly instructed that the accused murdered Khandalyce and Karlie," he said.
The case was adjourned for arraignment in the NSW Supreme Court on October 6.