It was discovered Pearce-Stevenson's mobile phone was used for years following her death to send false "proof of life" messages to family and friends.
On 28 October 2015, Daniel James Holdom, reported to be Pearce-Stevenson's former partner, was arrested in Cessnock, New South Wales, and charged with her murder.
On 29 August 2010, trail bike riders discovered skeletal human remains in the Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales.
[4] On 15 July 2015, the remains of a young child surrounded by girl's clothing were discovered by a passing motorist who examined an abandoned suitcase at the side of the Karoonda Highway near Wynarka in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia.
[6] Soon after the discovery of the child's remains, police made a public appeal for information that could help identify her, based on items that were found with the suitcase including children's clothing and a distinctive hand-made quilt.
After more than 1,200 calls to Crime Stoppers, one caller was able to identify the quilt as one made by the child's grandmother, who had died in 2012 believing her daughter and granddaughter were living interstate.
The last confirmed sightings of the mother and daughter before their deaths were on 8 November 2008, when they were stopped by police on the Stuart Highway near Coober Pedy in the far north of South Australia, and in Charnwood, a suburb of Canberra, in December 2008.
Police believe they travelled to Darwin, Adelaide, the Murray and Riverland districts, Victoria and Canberra, and appealed to owners of motels, hotels and caravan parks to check their records in case the pair had stayed at their premises.
[10][14] Originally, investigators did not reveal details of injuries, or how the pair were killed; however, police said the child died a "violent death under terrible circumstances".
[16] The remains of the two victims were returned to Alice Springs and a funeral service and burial was held in December 2015 with the assistance of funds raised from the public and local government.
[20] Within days of releasing the identities of the victims, police reported they had several suspects, including one in a NSW jail awaiting sentencing on unrelated charges.
[10] Police allegedly traced a signal from the man's mobile telephone to the location her remains were found in Belanglo Forest at about the time of her death in December.
[23][24] The mother of the children sustained injuries that left her a wheelchair user and she is believed to be the same woman who impersonated Pearce-Stevenson at a credit union in 2010.
[30] During his committal hearing in August 2017, it was alleged that Holdom had told a witness he stepped on Pearce-Stevenson's throat, crushed her windpipe and buried her body in the Belanglo forest.
It was also alleged he stopped at a supermarket and bought duct tape and garbage bags before he suffocated Pearce in a motel in Narrandera, stuffed her body in a suitcase, and dumped it in Wynarka where it remained for nearly seven years.