JANE Rimmer was a childcare assistant who became the first known victim in a series of crimes which rocked Australia in the 1990s.
Bradley Robert Edwards, a serial killer, murdered her, and his crime spree is depicted in the Channel 5 special The Girls Who Disappeared: Murder in a Small Town.
Jane’s disappearance
Jane was just 23-years-old when she disappeared on the outskirts of Claremont, Australia.
She vanished during the early hours of June 9, 1996, whilst on a night out with her friends.
They had visited the Ocean Beach Hotel, before moving onto the Continental Hotel and the Club Bayview.
Her friends chose to head home when they decided that the queue for the nightclub was too long, but Jane decided to stay out longer.
She was last seen on security footage outside The Continental at midnight.
Fifty five days later, her body was discovered 40 kilometres south of the hotel..
Jane’s killer had left her body naked in bush-land where it was found by a family picking wildflowers on August 3, 1996.
The search for the killer
Jane’s death baffled police as there was no obvious killer.
However, just nine months later, on March 15, 1997, the murderer struck again.
Ciara Glennon was drinking with friends at the Continental when she decided to make her own way home.
She was last seen by three men at a bus stop at half past midnight, talking to a man in a light-coloured vehicle.
Ciara’s body was found weeks later on April 3 by a bush walker.
By this time, the police had become convinced that a serial killer had been active in Claremont for some time,
When the first victim Sarah Spiers disappeared in January 1996, a task force named Macro was launched.
Sadly, decades would pass before the serial killer would be caught.
Jane’s killer is caught
In December 2016, Bradley Robert Edwards was arrested in relation to Jane and Ciara’s murders.
It was revealed that Edwards had a violent history which included breaking and entering as well as sexual assault.
A 25-year-old woman named Liz Kirkby discovered Edwards in her toilet wearing one of her bathrobes.
He then attacked her before escaping from the house when she fought him off.
After his arrest in 2016, fibres matching those found on Jane and Ciara’s body were discovered in Edwards car.
He was also found to be driving a car matching the one belonging to the killer at the time of the murders.
Edwards was convicted of Jane and Ciara’s murders and sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after forty years.
Although there was not enough evidence to link him to Sarah’s death, the judge suggested that it was “more likely” than not that he was involved.
Murder in a small town
The Girls Who Disappeared: Murder in a Small Town is a Channel 5 documentary which will dive into the horrifying case.
The 125 minute special will air on December 10, 2024, at 10pm.
However, true crime fans who miss the episode can catch up on Channel 5’s streaming service My5.
