A child whose decomposed body found in a suitcase in southern Australia roused the suspicions of police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been identified as the daughter of a woman whose skeletal remains were found in a forest 750 miles away.
The identities of both bodies had long baffled police in two states until they received a tip on a crime prevention hotline two weeks ago. The caller suggested the girl in the suitcase might be a missing two-year-old named Khandalyce Pearce, South Australia state police said.
Police had sifted through dozens of missing persons profiles to try to identify the child's remains - even receiving a call from British police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who vanished during a 2007 family holiday in Portugal.
DNA tests confirmed the remains were Khandalyce's and police then used blood samples from the medical records of Khandalyce's mother, Karlie Pearce-Stevenson, to confirm a skeleton found in a New South Wales state forest in 2010 belonged to the 20 year old.
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