Site searched for missing Perth mum's body

Police are scouring an industrial site in Perth searching for the remains of suspected murder victim Rebecca Anne Delalande, who has been missing for 17 years.

On Friday night, cold case homicide detectives charged Rockingham man Chris Blennerhassett with murder, two days after they appealed for information from the public about her disappearance.

The 45-year-old appeared in court on Saturday and will next face court on November 28.

Machinery was brought to an industrial site on Mooney Street in Bayswater on the weekend to prepare for digging, with concrete slabs and a sea container removed.

"The investigation is ongoing but credible information has been received that's led us here," Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Stephen told reporters on Saturday.

The mother-of-one was 23 when she last seen at a Seville Grove home on November 5, 2001.

Ms Delalande's family had infrequent contact with her and they formed the belief she had moved interstate to start a new life.

Detectives only learnt late last year while investigating an unrelated matter that she was missing.

"I need to know if my daughter is alive or deceased because I've been carrying this for a long time in my heart," her mother Doreena Kunoth told reporters last week.

AAP