Police charge man in 20-year-old murder case
A MAN was charged with two counts of murder yesterday in a notorious, 20-year-old case that terrified residents of Western Australia and became one of the country’s longestrunning investigations.
The development in the socalled “Claremont serial killings” case comes two decades after three women vanished from the Perth suburb of Claremont in WA.
The remains of two of the women – Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon – were found in remote areas; the third, Sarah Spiers, remains missing.
Through the years, hundreds of police officers tried and failed to crack the case.
Authorities offered hefty cash rewards for information, took DNA samples from 2000 Perth taxi drivers and even recruited a convicted Perth serial killer, David Birnie, for his insight.
Finally, yesterday, police charged 48-year-old Bradley Robert Edwards with murder in the deaths of Rimmer and Glennon, and with the sexual assault of two other young women.
Police did not elaborate on what led them to Edwards.
“There is still much work to be done, but this has already been the biggest and most complex investigation in WA history,” Western Australia Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan said.
“These crimes shocked the west Australian public.”
Edwards lives in the Perth suburb of Kewdale, about 20 km east of Claremont.
Police have accused him of abducting Rimmer, a 23-yearold childcare worker, on June 9, 1996, as she was on her way home from a night out.
Police say he abducted Glennon, a 27-year-old lawyer, on March 14, 1997, after she, too, had spent the evening out.
The investigation into the disappearance of Spiers, an 18year-old secretary, is ongoing.
Edwards appeared briefly in Perth Magistrates Court. He did not enter a plea and will return to court next month.