'I wish he left something': Peter Falconio's dad speaks on heartbreak after outback killer Bradley John Murdoch dies without revealing location of slain body

Sky News AU

16-07-2025

Peter Falconio's father Luciano Falconio has expressed remorse over still not knowing the location of his son, after outback killer Bradley John Murdoch died overnight without ever revealing what happened to his victim's body.
Just hours after finding out Murdoch died from throat cancer on Tuesday overnight, Mr Falconio told Newscorp: 'He has died, oh dear."
'You heard I said, 'oh dear', that's my goodwill towards anybody.
'I don't wish anybody dead because you have only got one life and I think if you've been given that gift of life...I don't even know what to say'.
On the same day, a couple hours prior to Murdoch's death, Mr Falconio told Newscorp he wishes something was left behind for him to help find his backpacker son's body.
However, Murdoch died having taken that secret to the grave, by maintaining his innocence on the murder till the very last day.
'I tell you what I think, I wish he (Murdoch) left something for me to find him,' Mr Falconio said.
'I wish he left something.
'My vocabulary is not that good, what can I do, I'm only a human being'.
Mr Falconio, 28 at the time, and Ms Lees, then 27, were exploring the Northern Territory outback– about 300km north of Alice Springs – on February 14, 2001, when Murdoch approached the young couple and tricked them.
He waved the pair down by falsely convincing them there were sparks coming from their van.
After Mr Falconio stopped the car, he walked to the rear of the van where he met his deadly fate.
Ms Lees last saw him alive when he approached the driver's door and asked his girlfriend to rev the engine.
Shortly after returning to the rear, Mr Falconio was shot in the head by Murdoch.
Murdoch then approached the driver's door, pointed a gun at Ms Lees and abducted her into his four-wheel drive, but she managed to escape when Murdoch momentarily stepped away from the vehicle.
Murdoch was found guilty of the murder of Mr Falconio and assault of Ms Lees on December 13, 2005, and was sentenced to life in jail, with a non-parole period of 28 years.
He unsuccessfully appealed his conviction twice and was never eligible for parole due to the "No body, no parole'' legislation.
Colleen Gwynne, who led the investigation that caught Murdoch, told Sky News Murdoch was definitely the killer.
"You get a lot of people saying you don't have a body so you don't have a case,' she told Laura Jayes on AM Agenda.
'Bradley Murdoch was convicted by a jury after extensive evidence, both circumstantial and forensic evidence, and there are a whole range of things in that complex case that says that Bradley Murdoch absolutely committed this crime."
'There was a well-known journalist, Paul Toohey, who wasn't a believer and he said to me 'I think you've got the wrong man' so I said 'well sit in on the trial', which he did, and he wrote a book as a result of that and it's a pretty comprehensive perspective of the evidence and who Bradley Murdoch was.'
Ms Gwynne said on the day news broke of Murdoch's death it was hard to listen to claims he was innocent.
Mr Falconio's father previously made an emotional plea to find his young son's body just days before his killer died, adding he dosen't know if him and his wife will 'live long enough' to ever find out where he is.
'Today is an important day,' he told News Corp.
'It is very significant, I wish I could find him and make an end to it, bury him. (I want to) find where he is buried and what happened to him, even me, I don't know.
'I know what happened, but I don't know where he is."