Jean Priest finally knows for certain her daughter was taken by child killer Derek Ernest Percy 46 years ago but she doesn't think she'll ever get the full answers she craves.
A coroner has declared that the man linked to some of Australia's most notorious child murders did kill seven-year-old Linda Stilwell, who vanished from the St Kilda foreshore in 1968.
Ms Priest only hopes someone will eventually find Linda's remains so she can bury her daughter with the respect she deserves.
"I would have liked to have got the full answers, but it doesn't look as though we'll ever get them," Ms Priest said.
"But this has been marvellous today."
The family said Thursday's inquest finding gave them some closure after decades of hell.
Linda's brother Gary Stilwell said it was the outcome they had been hoping for, but the fact Percy took her final resting place to the grave was his "ultimate infliction of pain".
"The last 10 years we've been treading water and hoping against hope that there would have been a slight amount of decency in Derek Percy's self that would allow him to give us closure," Mr Stilwell said.
"He couldn't do it."
He said deputy state coroner Iain West's finding that Percy did kill Linda was vindication after the family's lengthy legal battle to have Percy's evidence included in the inquest.
Percy denied being involved in Linda's disappearance at an emergency bedside hearing before he died last year aged 64, despite earlier saying he couldn't remember.
He was Victoria's longest serving prisoner, being incarcerated for 43 years after he admitted killing 12-year-old Yvonne Tuohy in 1969 but was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity.
Forensic psychologist Professor James Ogloff told the inquest it was unlikely to have been the first attack by a man with a very rare and serious form of sadistic paraphilia.
The killing of Yvonne showed Percy had a capacity to commit a heinous act, his writings showed an intent to torture and kill children, and he was in the St Kilda foreshore area when Linda vanished, Mr West found.
Witness descriptions of a man seen loitering near Linda before she vanished matched Percy's appearance at the time, and witness descriptions of his vehicle matched the one Percy drove.
"It is highly unlikely that another child molester was in the vicinity when Linda disappeared," Mr West said.
"I am satisfied it is more probable that Derek Percy would have taken advantage of an opportunity presenting itself than anyone in the vicinity not so affected by such a rare and dangerous condition."
Percy was a suspect in the deaths and disappearances of nine children in four states in the mid to late 1960s, including those of the three Beaumont children.
The Victorian detective who led the Stilwell cold case review, Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne Newman, identified similarities between the cases in the nature of the victims' injuries, the modus operandi, geographical comparisons and identikit comparisons.
Det Sen Sgt Newman said investigators in other states continued to look into those crimes.
Mr Stilwell believes Percy's death means that they won't find Linda's remains as they'd hoped.
"But it has now been proved that Derek Percy preyed on Linda and other innocent children," he said.
Ms Priest remembers her daughter as a bright child who smiled a lot and was full of life; "just the nicest seven-year-old child".
"She loved everybody."
