Justice has been served for the victims of Claremont killer Bradley Robert Edwards but the answer to what drove his decade-long reign of terror remains elusive.
Edwards will almost certainly die behind bars after a West Australian judge jailed him for at least 40 years, describing him as a ruthless predator of vulnerable women.
The 52-year-old was convicted in September of abducting and killing childcare worker Jane Rimmer, 23, and solicitor Ciara Glennon, 27, in 1996 and 1997.
He was acquitted of the 1996 murder of 18-year-old secretary Sarah Spiers.
All three women disappeared after a night out with friends in affluent Claremont, with the bodies of Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon discovered in bushland weeks after they were killed.
Ms Spiers' body has never been found but Justice Stephen Hall said the confessed rapist's propensity for violent abductions made it likely that he also killed her.
Edwards pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial to sexually assaulting two young women in 1988 and 1995, both of whom bravely delivered harrowing and eloquent victim impact statements at Wednesday's sentencing hearing.
The courtroom erupted into applause as Justice Hall condemned Edward to the longest-ever minimum term imposed in WA.
He will be 88 by the time he is eligible for parole.
But while emotions ran high in the public gallery, Edwards remained expressionless, embodying the description given by Justice Hall of a "stoic and controlled" person whose ordinary appearance concealed his depraved desires.
While Edwards' personal life and relationships were dissected during his seven-month trial, little is known about his state of mind.
Edwards declined to participate in a psychiatric report which might have provided insight into why he carried out his heinous crimes.
He also chose not to give evidence at trial.
Describing Edwards as having grown up in a secure home with supportive parents, Justice Hall noted there was little to suggest any significant trauma in his childhood.
In a police interview after being arrested for the murders, Edwards was "polite and cooperative" and gave apparently plausible denials which later proved to be lies.
Detectives are continuing to investigate the murder of Ms Spiers and will speak to Edwards in the hope that he can assist them.
It remains to be seen whether they will find any answers.
Australian Associated Press
