For 20 years, they were the unsolved crimes that devastated families, changed the way women went out at night and left a city in fear: three young women plucked from the streets and taken to their deaths.
It began with Sarah Spiers, an 18-year-old receptionist who disappeared on January 27, 1996, after a night out in Claremont. The wealthy riverside suburb had a thriving night scene that included the iconic Continental Hotel and Club Bayview, where Spiers was last seen. Her body has never been found.
Six months after that, childcare worker Jane Rimmer, 23, vanished following drinks at the Continental. Her body was found two months later in bushland 40 kilometres away.
Then, on March 15, 1997, after a night out at the Continental, lawyer Ciara Glennon, 27, was last seen interacting with someone in a car before going missing. A man stumbled across her body three weeks later in bushland 50 kilometres north of Perth. Both Rimmer’s and Glennon’s necks had evidence of injuries consistent with knife cuts, and they both bore defensive wounds on their arms.
The murders sent shockwaves through the city, but as the Claremont serial killer loomed large, police grappled to find a suspect.
Twenty years later, following a breakthrough from improved DNA testing, police announced on December 22, 2016, that they had made an arrest. The suspected killer was 48-year-old Bradley Robert Edwards.
The former Telstra technician, who had been married twice and volunteered at his stepdaughter’s Little Athletics club, was charged with the murders, as well as two other historical crimes: the attack on an 18-year old at her home in 1988; and the rape and abduction of a girl, 17, in a Claremont cemetery in 1995. Edwards pleaded guilty to the two attacks but denied he was a killer.
This story is from the November 2020 edition of Marie Claire Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 2020 edition of Marie Claire Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
WHY WOMEN SHOULDN'T BE DISCOUNTED
Four game-changing women share why they want economic empowerment included in the conversation this International Women’s Day
home HAVEN
Sophie Bell, founder of Peppa Hart, invites us into her calming quarters, writes Samantha Stewart
BEHIND THE SCENES with PETER PHILIPS
An intimate backstage moment with the legendary creative and image director for Dior Makeup
MIAH MADDEN
The Australian actor on her biggest fashion crime, party tricks and the women who have shaped her
TAYLOR SWIFT
As she hits our shores in February, music writer Cameron Adams charts the unbelievable career of the world’s biggest music artist, from her Nashville country music roots to her record-smashing Eras tour
The road to NIRVANA
Editor Georgie Abay lands in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for the adventure of a lifetime
makes SUN sense
What if we saw a suntan for what it really is: a visible sign that skin has been damaged? Sherine Youssef looks behind the golden facade
RUNWAY to DEBT
Modelling agencies are ecruiting young people who have fled war-torn African countries and are living in extreme poverty. They are flown to Europe to take part n fashion castings, but some return within days or weeks, often laden with debt
CALLUM TURNER
The British actor shares tales from the front line, why you should play your heroes and his love for Free Willy
ALL ABOUT JESS
Chart-topping Australian singer Jessica Mauboy talks love, lonliness and music legend Whitney Houston on the eve of her new release, Yours Forever