Jane Rimmer, Ciara Glennon and Sarah Spiers disappeared in a popular nightlife area in Perth, Western Australia, in the 1990s. For almost 25 years, their unresolved deaths continued to appear in the minds of the inhabitants.
In September this year, following a seven-month trial by a single judge, 52-year-old Bradley Robert Edwards was found guilty of killing a 23-year-old childcare worker Rimmer and lawyer Glennon, 27, in 1997.
He was found not guilty of killing 18-year-old Spiers, a secretary whose body was never found because there was insufficient evidence.
On Wednesday, Edwards was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison before being eligible for parole, CNN confirmed in the Western Supreme Court of Australia.
While sentencing, Judge Stephen Hall of the Western Supreme Court of Australia told Edwards that he was a “dangerous predator looking for vulnerable young women”.
“Your actions have been meditated on beforehand, executed with relentless judgment, and have been without remorse in your ignorance of the pain and suffering you have caused,” Hall said in his remarks.
Hall said Edwards was “highly likely” to die in prison.
What happened
The disappearance of the women aroused widespread fear among the locals in Perth.
The three were last seen in the early hours of the morning, after spending a night in the wealthy suburb of Claremont, an area previously perceived as safe.
“The fact that three young women have disappeared from the streets of Claremont has created what has been described as an enigma of darkness,” Hall said in his September ruling when Edwards was found guilty. “I mean, there was a mystery about who took the three victims.”
A few weeks after their disappearance, the bodies of Rimmer and Glennon were found in the bushes. Both were killed by a severe neck injury, Hall said in a September ruling.
Spiers was last seen in the early hours of January 27, 1996. Her body was never found, but there is no indication that she is still alive, Hall said.
“She must have been abducted or killed, but the circumstances under which she was taken and how she died are not known,” he added.
For decades, the disappearances remained unresolved. Then, in 2016, the police made a discovery.
That year, Edwards was jailed for two rapes and appeared as a suspect in the Claremont murders because of his DNA.
Police associated his DNA with samples taken from under the nails of Glennon’s left hand. The prosecution claimed that the DNA had reached her fingernails during a violent fight before her death.
They also said that the fibers found on Rimmer and Glennon’s bodies match those taken from Edwards’ car, indicating that he abducted both women from that vehicle.
Samantha Beech and Angus Watson of CNN contributed to the reporting.