Former forensic police officer Robert Hemelaar gave his evidence for the whole of day 21 of the Claremont serial killings trial.

He narrated an hour-long video from Ciara Glennon’s burial site, revealing graphic details and forensic clues as to how police collected and stored DNA samples found on the 27-year-old’s body.

Joined in the studio by forensic expert Brendan Chapman, Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Emily Moulton take you through exactly how forensic officers collect samples, and most importantly, how they avoid contamination.

A key piece of evidence was also hinted at during the trial - the fact that some of Ciara Glennon’s fingernails were broken, coupled with the defensive wounds on her arms, the prosecution said that Ciara fought for her life the night she died.

But under those broken fingernails, the prosecution says was Bradley Edwards’ DNA.

Join the Claremont in Conversation team as they take you through day 21 of WA’s trial of the century.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On day 20 of the Claremont serial killings trial, the court was given a glimpse into the life of Jane Rimmer through photographs taken from inside her house days after she went missing, a woman’s life frozen in time.

Images from the 23-year-old child care worker’s house and belongings were shown to the court by former forensic police officer Robert Hemelaar, who searched Jane’s Wembley flat.

Bills, papers, even a KFC voucher had been left on her dining table revealing the life frozen in time of a young woman who was never to return.

When Jane's body was found 55 days later, police swarmed the scene. Today one of those officers, former forensic police officer Robert Hemelaar told in graphic detail how her body was found, and how forensics went about moving her body.

The video officer for police also gave evidence on day 20. Justice Stephen Hall ruled that the vision he took was too distressing to be shown to the public gallery, but as Tim Clarke and The West Australian's court reporter Shannon Hampton explain, they didn't need to see the vision to get a picture of what was happening.

Join Tim Clarke, Natalie Bonjolo and Shannon Hampton as they take you through day 20 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Senior police officers who attended the burial sites of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennons' bodies have described the 'mayhem' and 'organised chaos' which became the crime scenes when the women's bodies were found.

In particular, when the body of the third woman to go missing, Ciara Glennon's body was found in shrub land in Eglinton, both police and the media started using the term 'serial killer'.

This intense interest by the media was brought up in court on day 19 of WA's trial of the century. As detectives tried to preserve the scene, camera screws also tried to capture every moment. One senior officer even mentioned one reporter by name, that was 7News journalist Adrian Barich, who he said was arrested on the scene of Ciara Glennon's burial site, but as Adrian explains, as a rookie sports journalist, it was something he'd never expected to witness, and gives us his account of what happened.

The case also focussed around contamination. It was revealed a key piece of evidence which the prosecution says links the Karrakatta rape the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon had been unaccounted for in the WA Police database for almost a year.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, special guest Adrian Barich along with Tim Clarke and Alison Fan as they discuss day 19 of the Claremont serial killings trial.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a two-week break, the trial of the century resumed at Perth’s Supreme Court, only to be adjourned again after just half an hour.

The reason? Prosecutors needed to go to a stationary store to buy projector screens to block out gruesome images of the burial sites of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s bodies that were set to be shown as evidence.

The families of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon had voiced their concerns about the evidence being shown to the public, and the judge agreed the vision and images would simply be too distressing.

The court was packed out for the resumption of the trial, so closing the court while the gruesome evidence was shown wasn’t going to be an easy option.

So instead, when video of the day Jane Rimmer’s body was found was shown, only the judge, the lawyers, the witnesses and Bradley Edwards could see it.

Tim Clarke, Natalie Bonjolo and criminal defence lawyer Damien Cripps discuss why this was an unusual move, and what it means for the rest of the trial.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was by pure-chance Jane Rimmer's body was found.

A woman driving with her husband and children driving in Wellard stopped on the side of the road after a rooster ran out. Kids being kids, they wanted to chase it.

The mother, Tammy Evans decided to pick some death lilies and out of the corner of her eye, 'the biggest death lily' she had ever seen popped into view.

Before grabbing onto it, something brushed her leg. She thought it was a stick, but it was a foot. That was the only feature that assured Tammy that what she had stumbled across was human.

She had found Jane Rimmer's body. While her husband went for help, she said she just couldn't leave Jane and stayed with her until police arrived.

That was August 3, 1996.

The third victim, Ciara Glennon went missing on March 15, 1997. With two women missing and one dead, the state was on high alert.

Then, the day police had been dreading, a second body found.

April 3, 1997, a man looking for wild cannabis leaves came across Ciara Glennon's body off a bush track in Eglington, 40 kms north of Perth.

The headline in the West Australian newspaper the next day said it all: "The State is in Mourning."

He said he thought a kangaroo had died, and being 'nosey' he went to check if a joey was in its pouch, but instead found the body of the 27-year-old.

On the final day of the trial for the year, the court also heard from the men the prosecution called 'The Burger Boys' - one of which yelled to her that she was 'stupid for hitch hiking'

The prosecution reached the end of their 'civilian witnesses'. Next year will see what has been described as 'the battle of the scientists', the DNA and fibre evidence which is so crucial to this case.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

March 14, 1997 was the last time Ciara Glennon was seen alive. She’s been at a work function and by all accounts she didn’t want to go out that night, because she had her sister's hen's night the next night. But she was convinced to go out to Claremont.

She’d only been back in Perth for two weeks, after travelling for six months. In this podcast, Tim Clarke and Damien Cripps ask whether she had known about the other missing girls as well as the rest of Perth, simply because she wasn’t in the country when Sarah Spiers and Jane Rimmer went missing.

In May 1997, WA Police released a re-enactment of Ciara’s final hours in a desperate attempt to jog someone’s memory of the night of March 14, and the early hours of March 15 1997.

Eleven people did see Ciara that night. On day 16 of the Claremont serial killings trial, they gave evidence of seeing a woman matching Ciara’s description walking alone on Stirling Highway. Some witnesses say they saw her talking to a man in a white car, even starting to get in.

In a tragic premonition, a worker at a Thai restaurant over the road from where she was last seen even made a passing comment that “she might be the next girl to go.”

Ciara’s body was found 19 days later near a scrub track in Eglington, 40 km north of Perth.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and criminal defence lawyer Damien Cripps as they dissect day 16 and answer listener questions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On August 3, 1996 - 55 days after 23-year-old child care worker Jane Rimmer went missing, a woman picking flowers with her family found her body.

She immediately told her husband who rushed for help.

Jane’s body was badly decomposed, covered in leaves and small shrubs.

Meanwhile a couple riding horses nearby found a knife on the ground not too far away.

When they reached the woman who found the body, she told them she had stayed with Jane because “she didn’t want to leave her alone.”

We heard a witness break down on the stand today as she recalled that day Jane’s body was found.

We also heard from the woman who could be one of the last people to see Ciara Glennon alive on March 14,1997.

During her testimony, for the first time, we heard about the police investigation and the man who was the prime suspect, subjected to years of being watched by police, pretty obviously as well.

As Alison Fan - the only journalist to interview Lance Williams while he was a suspect - explained, as soon as she finished talking to him, she called the Assistance WA Police Commissioner and told him they had the wrong guy.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Alison Fan as they wrap up week three of the Claremont Serial Killings Trial.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The night Jane Rimmer disappeared, on June 9, 1996, two couples - separately - heard blood-curdling, ’traumatic’ screams.

One witness recalled hearing a scream that just suddenly stopped. Then silence.

The two couples lived in the then-rural area on the outskirts of Perth called Wellard.

Fifty-five days later Jane’s body would be found in bushland in between their houses.

As The West’s Emily Moulton - who has been live blogging the court proceedings - explains, one couple remembered a smell coming from just off the road as they regularly drove past. They said they dismissed it as a dead animal.

Day 14 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial also recounted Ciara Glennon’s final night.

She was the last woman to go missing. She had only been home for two weeks from 6 months abroad when she disappeared.

Her parents were on high alert at this stage in March 1997, with two girls missing and one their bodies having been found, as soon as they reported their daughter missing, police swooped.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Emily Moulton and Tim Clarke as they discuss day 14.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.