CASE PROFILE – Pearce family murder

Posted on 06/01/2021

At about 7.10am on Sunday 6 January 1991, the Metropolitan Fire Service attended a house fire at Jackson Street, Parafield Gardens.

The bodies of Meredith (31 years) and her three children, Adam (11 years), Travis (9 years) and Kerry (2 years), were found in the burnt-out shell of the home.

Meredith had been tied to a chair with a towel pushed into her mouth.

The three children were suffocated with plastic bags placed over their heads. They all died before the house was set alight with petrol.

A surviving child had spent the night at a friend’s house.

Stuart Pearce (pictured below) – the father of the children and husband of Mrs Pearce –  has not been located since the murders and remains under suspicion.

A warrant was issued on 22 September 1992 for the arrest of Stuart Pearce. An Interpol red notice is also in existence.

While there have been a number of reported sightings of Mr Pearce in country South Australia, interstate and overseas, none of these have been confirmed.

There is no evidence that Pearce went home when his night shift at a Wingfield BP petrol station finished – just 27 minutes before the fire started.

His Datsun 240K was later found abandoned at the Kilkenny shopping centre.

A rewards up to $1,000,000 remains on offer to anyone who provides information that leads to a conviction in this case.

 

---

---

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE TO READ