A 43-year-old man is believed to have murdered his short-term girlfriend in 2008 because he wanted to then sexually assault her two-year-old daughter. The horrific details of the murder of 20-year-old mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and daughter Khandalyce Pearce in the December of that year by Daniel James Holdom have finally been made public after a suppression order was lifted at the New South Wales Supreme Court last week.

The bodies of the pair were found five years apart, with Pearce-Stevenson's body only identified after her daughter's skeleton was discovered in a suitcase on a highway in South Australia in 2015. After murdering both of them, Holdom dumped their bodies 1,200 kilometers apart from each other, making it impossible for investigators to connect the crimes until both bodies were uncovered.

According to the Daily Mail, Pearce-Stevenson was found in the Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales in 2010. Police were unable to identify the corpse, and she infamously became known as the 'Angel of Belanglo' because of how she was wearing a t-shirt with the word 'angelic' on it at the time.

When Khandalyce was later unearthed in 2015, the gruesome nature of the crimes became apparent. The toddler was wrapped in a bloodstained towel, with her head covered by a nappy that had been secured with duct tape. She also had dishcloths stuffed inside her mouth, with crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC telling the court it was 'highly unlikely' that the two-year-old was alive when she was gagged, taped, and sexually assaulted.

Holdom was subsequently tracked down and arrested. He pleaded guilty to the crimes one week before his murder trial was scheduled to start in July. While several details of the murders should become public as the case proceeds, the contents of a notebook that police found in his possession were released.

Described as a 'child-sex hit list', the notebook reportedly contained a list of children's names which had words such as 'consent', 'rape', and 'forced' written next to them. Police say that Khandalyce was on the list as well and had the word 'rape' noted down next to her name.

"The exact circumstances of Khandalyce's death remain unknown but there can be no doubt her last moments must have been horrific," said Tedeschi. "Karlie's murder was motivated by a number of factors which included gaining access to her young daughter Khandalyce, in whom the ­offender already expressed sexual interest."

The 43-year-old got a taste of what he can expect after having to listen to victim impact statements from Pearce-Stevenson's father, stepfather, and grandmother last week. Her father, Bruce Pearce, wrote a powerful statement that read, "I wake from nightmares with the fear that you will get away with what you've done. The one question that I want you to answer for me is a simple one - Why? I would like to see the death penalty for you but even that would not be enough." 

Tedeschi is seeking two life sentences for Holdom, who is expected to be sentenced on November 9 before Justice Robert Allan Hulme.