ActionScript 3.0 :: Removing Image Loaded From XML?

I'm trying to make a flash feature, slideshow, news thing. I think I have ait all done apart from I'm loading images from xml as the background (different one for each story). The problem is I used a tutorial and the code seems to simply add an image on top of the old instead of replacing it. I'm using an alpha transition when the image changes so the image behind is visible for a short time, which isn't the desired effect.Is there a way to either replace the image instead or at least remove the old image?This is the code to load the image url from the xml

Code:
function loadImage(url:String):void
{
imageLoader = new Loader();
imageLoader.load(new URLRequest(url));
imageLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, imageLoaded);
}

...and this code simply sets the imageArea MC to the loaded image

Code:
function imageLoaded(e:Event):void
{
imageArea.addChild(imageLoader);
}