A 53-year-old-man linked to a cold case homicide investigation in Victoria has admitted to murdering a Perth woman whose body was found in bushland eight months after she disappeared from her home in mysterious circumstances.
Dianne Barrett, 59, was reported missing by a neighbour in May last year and when police went to her home, they found her car in the driveway, the fire and the television on and her dog still inside the house.
Her last reported sighting was in a hardware store where she was captured on CCTV footage.
Ms Barrett's family said her disappearance was out of character, but searches of bushland near her Ridley Way home failed to find any trace of her.
A new search was conducted in January this year, and her remains were discovered in bushland in Karrakup, about 30 kilometres away.
Darren John Chalmers, who police said "lived in close proximity" to Ms Barrett, was subsequently arrested in Wembley and charged with her murder.
Chalmers questioned over Annette Steward's death
At the time, Victorian detectives flew to Perth to question Chalmers in relation to the death of 28-year-old Annette Steward in Geelong West in March 1992.
Ms Steward was strangled and her body found when a friend went to her home.
Police said at the time, she was working at a factory in Point Henry and after she left there, she went shopping before returning home.
In 2015, police offered a $1 million reward for information relating to the case, but no-one was ever charged over her death.
Chalmers faced Perth's Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court today via video link from Casuarina maximum security prison and pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Barrett on May 12, 2019.
No further details of the murder were revealed.
Chalmers was remanded in custody until January next year, when he is due to face the Supreme Court for sentencing.
His lawyer asked that pre-sentence and psychological reports be prepared on Chalmers for the sentencing judge to consider.
