ABC News
)The man accused of raping and killing Gold Coast woman Linda Reed in one of the state's oldest cold case murders has pleaded guilty before it was revealed he had killed another woman two years later.
Ms Reed, 21, was last seen taking a lunch break from her retail job at Pacific Fair in Broadbeach in December 1983.
Her body was found in bushland at Gaven three days after she disappeared.
After 35 years, police arrested and charged Troy James O'Meara, 54, in 2018.
On Monday morning, O'Meara pleaded guilty to her rape and murder.
During a sentencing hearing, the court was told O'Meara, who was 17 at the time, randomly approached Ms Reed when she was in her car, before threatening her and forcing her to drive to an isolated area.
The court heard he then bound her hands behind her back, raped her, then dragged her into bushland and forcefully pushed her head into a creek bed.
ABC News
)She had inhaled mud and debris into her lungs and died of either drowning, smothering, strangulation or suffocation, the court heard.
Two years after killing Ms Reed, the court was told he murdered another woman, Vanessa O'Brien, 22, in similar circumstances in Brisbane.
He was arrested in July 1985 and was serving a mandated life sentence.
Crown Prosecutor Jodie Wooldridge said: "This day has been 37 years coming for the family of Ms Reed."
Victim impact statements from Ms Reed's widower, Robert Reed, and her mother, Nancy Fein, were read to the court by Ms Wooldridge.
Ms Fein's statement said her family had lost a "beautiful and loving daughter".
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)"What can I say after 37 years, a thousand tears, anger and many prayers wondering what my daughter went through in the last minutes of her life," the statement read.
"Linda was a wonderful daughter, sister, and for a short time also a wonderful wife."
Ms Fein thanked investigators who had worked on her daughter's case and the witnesses who came forward over the years.
"My only regret is Linda's father never lived to see this day," she said.
Mr Reed said in his statement: "No-one could possibly know the pain and anguish that I've been through.
"Troy James O'Meara murdered my wife, my future children and my chances at being a father.
"I vowed never to have children with anyone else."
The court heard while in custody, O'Meara had committed further offences including assaults on guards and escaping jail for one day.
O'Meara's defence lawyer, Damien Walsh, told the court his client "wants to get out of jail".
"It is his hope to one day be released to at least see his mother again in the outside world," he said.
Supreme Court judge Justice Glenn Martin reserved his sentence decision for a date to be set.
Justice Martin said the murder involved a "high level of violence" but he would need time to consider his sentence due to "unusual circumstances" surrounding legislation changes in the last three decades.
