Police link toddler dumped in suitcase to mother buried in woods

A child whose decomposed body found in a suitcase in southern Australia roused the suspicions of police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been identified as the daughter of a woman whose skeletal remains were found in a forest 1,200km away.

The identities of both bodies had long baffled police in two states until they received a tip on a crime prevention hotline two weeks ago.

The caller suggested the girl in the suitcase might be a missing two-year-old named Khandalyce Pearce, South Australia state police said.