In the 1990s, the Claremont Serial Killer terrorised Perth. Women started disappearing from the wealthy suburb of Claremont, sparking Australia’s longest-running homicide investigation.
Three young women, Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer, and Ciara Glennon, vanished after nights out in 1996 and 1997. No one knew who was responsible.
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A police task force interviewed thousands of people, chased hundreds of tips, but nothing stuck. Until nearly 20 years later, when the case reopened and DNA technology had advanced.
The suspect was Bradley Robert Edwards, but he didn’t exactly fit the profile. He was a quiet Telstra technician – married, working, no prior convictions. He blended in.
During the trial, prosecutors revealed he’d once attacked a woman at Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth. But at the time, forensic science wasn’t advanced enough to use the tiny traces of DNA left behind. In the 1990s, those samples were basically useless.
It wasn’t until new DNA testing in the 2000s that investigators could link Edwards’ DNA to earlier crimes, including the cemetery attack, and finally secure a conviction on the Claremont killings.
The Claremont Killer, Bradley Edwards, was convicted for the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon.
There was not enough evidence to convict Edwards for the murder of Sarah Spiers, although Justice Hall ruled that he was likely her killer.
Western Australia Police said in 2020: “The quest for justice for Sarah will continue”.
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