Australia's 'Outback Killer' dies in custody
16 Jul 2025 12:46pm
Court drawing of truck driver Bradley Murdoch (L) in Darwin Magistrates' Court, May 26, 2004, accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio in July 2001, watching the prosecution's star witness Joanne Lees (R) giving evidence. Murdoch is also accused of abducting and assaulting Lees. - (Photo by ELIZABETH HOWELL / LIZ HOWELL GRAPHICS / AFP)
SYDNEY - An Australian man who murdered a British backpacker on a remote highway in 2001 has died without revealing where he left his victim, police said Wednesday.
Former mechanic Bradley Murdoch killed Peter Falconio in 2001, shooting him dead after waving his car down on a deserted road in the vast Australian outback.
Falconio had been driving with his British girlfriend Joanne Lees, who fled into the bush after Murdoch tried to abduct her.
Murdoch -- who would come to be known as Australia's "Outback Killer" -- was in 2005 convicted of Falconio's murder.
Police never found his 28-year-old victim's body.
"It is deeply regrettable that Murdoch has died without, as far as we are aware, ever disclosing the location of Peter Falconio's remains," Northern Territory Police said in a statement.
"His silence has denied the Falconio family the closure they have so long deserved.
"Our thoughts are with the Falconio family in the United Kingdom, whose grief continues."
Murdoch was sentenced to life in prison and died in custody of throat cancer on Tuesday night.
Lees escaped Murdoch and hid in bushes until she was rescued -- later telling a story of brutality and fear that was carried by media around the world.
The ordeal partly inspired the 2005 horror film Wolf Creek.
Northern Territory Police are still offering an Aus$500,000 (US$320,000) reward for information on Falconio's remains. - AFP
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