Belanglo State Forest 4.59

Belanglo State Forest is a planted forest, of mainly pine but some native forestry around the edges in the Australian state of New South Wales; its total area is about 3,800 hectares. The Belanglo State Forest is located south of Berrima in the Southern Highlands, three kilometres west of the Hume Highway between Sydney and Canberra. The forest is owned by the New South Wales Government and contains some of the earliest pine plantings in the state. The public has free access to the forest; it features two to four wheel drive tracks, creek crossings, and forest camping. It is popular among recreational trail bike riders.HistoryThe first radiata pines were planted in this area in Belanglo State Forest in 1919.MurdersIn 1992 and 1993, seven skeletons were found in the forest, in what was described by media as The Backpacker Murders and was considered to be the work of a serial killer. Eventually, Ivan Milat was convicted of the murders in 1996 and sentenced to life imprisonment.On 29 August 2010, trail bike riders discovered a human skeleton in the forest. Media reports at first linked the killing to Milat, but later forensic work disproved this theory as the remains were left there after he was in prison. On 21 October 2015, the bones were identified as the body of Karlie Jade Pearce-Stevenson, aged 22, from Alice Springs, Northern Territory. The body of Karlie's daughter Khandalyce Kiara Pearce, aged 2, was found in a suitcase near Wynarka, South Australia, on 14 July 2015.