Jodie Fesus Husband Steven Fesus Charged With Murder Made a public appeal: daughter Kimberley. Photo: Sylvia Liber It was 16 years ago that an anonymous phone call led detectives to a beachside camping ground in Gerroa on the NSW south coast, where they dug up the body of a teenage mother-of-two. On Monday night at a hotel in The Rocks in central Sydney, police closed in on the husband of Jodie Fesus and charged him with murdering his then 18-year-old wife in 1997 before burying her body in a grave at the Seven Mile Beach camping ground. Ms Fesus' body was found one month after she disappeared from her home in Mount Warrigal, about 30 kilometres north of Gerroa. Police inspect the crime scene in September 1997 where Jodie Fesus' body was found. Photo: Orlando Chiodo The alleged killer had dug a shallow hole and buried Ms Fesus' body near the end of a dirt track leading to the beach, then erected a tent over her body. Under the tent, police found a skull and knee bone protruding from the earth. The body was wearing a nightie. Ms Fesus' husband, Steven Frank Fesus, was the last person to see her alive. He said at the time that he had left his young wife sleeping at their home and had taken their two children - Kimberley, aged two, and Dylan, one - on a trip to a local club to drop off some paperwork related to his work as a security guard. Ms Fesus was gone when they returned home later that morning, he said. Two days later, Ms Fesus' purse was found near Oak Flats railway station with her identification still inside. Police formed Strike Force Clanton II to investigate Ms Fesus' murder. How the Illawarra Mercury reported the story. Last week, detectives said they had received "new information" about the cold case, but they did not detail what that information was. But it led to the arrest on Monday night of Ms Fesus' husband in central Sydney. About 6pm, detectives from the Homicide Squad went to a hotel in The Rocks where they arrested the 42-year-old Lake Illawarra man. He was taken to The Rocks police station where Unsolved Homicide detectives charged him with one count of murder. He did not appear when his matter came before Sydney's Central Local Court on Tuesday. The arrest comes just one week after Ms Fesus' daughter Kimberley, who is now nearly 18 and bears a resemblance to her mother, pleaded for anyone who could help identify the killer to come forward. I am almost the same age that my mother was when she was murdered. The older I get the more questions I have," Kimberley said last week. I was just two years old when my mum was taken from me. I don't remember her. All I have is photographs to look upon and a few keepsakes that belonged to her. I want someone to be accountable for my mother's death. Like the police, I believe there are people in the community who know something about the death of my mum. I am confident that the police will not rest until they have solved my mum's murder. Kimberley said it was hard losing her mother at such a young age. "It was really hard not having a mum around, especially when you go to your year six formal ... or when you have your first boyfriend or something like that, it's definitely hard," she said. Ms Fesus's body was found just four months after she married Steven. At the time of the death, Fesus said he loved his wife "so much" and that only his friends, family and children were keeping him alive. "I still wake up thinking it's all a dream and she'll come back," he said. This whole thing is unbelievable. When no-one is around I get the wedding video out and just play and play it. Detectives have never identified the anonymous man who phoned police to say they would find a body at one of the public camping sites at Gerroa. Police were amazed at the time that the alleged killer chose to bury Ms Fesus in an open public access area with picnic barbecues nearby, rather than in dense tea tree and banksia scrub surrounding the camp site near the coastal village of Gerroa.