Peter Falconio killer dies never revealing location of British backpacker's body
A man who murdered a British backpacker in Australia has died - having never revealed where he hid his victim's body.
Bradley John Murdoch, 67, repeatedly maintained his innocence in the death of Peter Falconio on July 14, 2001. He refused to help authorities in searching for the 28-year-old's remains, with no traces of him ever found.
At the time, Murdoch was an interstate drug runner, and became known as the "Outback Killer". However, he was only convicted of Mr Falconio's murder in December 2005.
On Wednesday, July 16, authorities confirmed his death from throat cancer, which he had been living with since 2019. His condition deteriorated in recent months, and he was admitted to the palliative care unit of the Alice Springs Hospital in Central Australia, where he died on July 15.
His death leaves the location of Mr Falconio's body an unsolved mystery, the Mirror reports. He and his girlfriend Joanne Lees, who Murdoch attempted to kidnap, were on a backpacking trip, and had already visited Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia.
The couple were travelling in an orange Volkswagen campervan, and became aware they were being followed on a country road near Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory. They stopped on a dark, remote road as Mr Falconio left the van to examine a supposedly sparking exhaust.
Ms Lees, aged 27 at the time, said she heard a gunshot and never saw her boyfriend again.
Murdoch then bound her wrists with cable ties before she escaped and hid in the desert scrubland for hours, claiming she watched him searching for her with a torch and his dog. She later flagged down a passing truck and raised the alarm.
He was arrested in 2003, with the crime later inspiring the 2005 Australian horror film Wolf Creek, about a serial killer who targeted backpackers and left one witness who became a suspect. Writing in her memoir No Turning Back, Ms Lees said police treated her as a suspect in the years leading up to Murdoch being charged.
A court order was issued to stop the film being released in the Northern Territory during Murdoch's trial in the fear it could influence the jury.
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In June 2024, police doubled the reward for information which would uncover the location of Mr Falconio's body to 500,000 Australian dollars (£245,000), after it was revealed Murdoch was in palliative care.
Speaking last month, Police Commander Mark Grieve said: "Police still hold out hope that someone may be able to provide some vital information to assist in this search."
He added that Murdoch had given nothing away regarding his victim's whereabouts during all the time he spent behind bars.
Colleen Gwynne, a former police officer who led the investigation after Mr Falconio went missing, said he could have panicked after Lees escaped, and forgot what he did with the body in his confusion.
Mr Falconio died just weeks after graduating from university with a degree in building construction management.
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'Today we instead focus on the three children we have left and our grandchildren.' 10 The Falconio family arrive at Darwin Supreme Court in, 2005 Credit: AP:Associated Press
