Murderer admits to raping, killing Gold Coast woman Linda Reed

A major breakthrough came when detectives discovered that a vaginal sample taken from Mrs Reed during the post-mortem remained in the possession of police.

It was sent to New Zealand researchers, who compared it with O’Meara’s DNA and the results were there was a high probability O’Meara’s DNA was in the mixed sample.

Progress in forensic science, such as DNA profiling and fingerprint analysis, led to the arrest of O’Meara in August 2018.

Detectives do not believe O’Meara knew Mrs Reed before their fatal meeting in 1983.

Mrs Reed’s husband, Robert, said in his victim impact statement that O’Meara took away his chances of having a family with Mrs Reed and he vowed to not have children with anybody else.

“No one could…