FOR an agonising 24 years, Peter Falconio’s elderly parents have clung to the hope that his killer might finally reveal where their son’s body is hidden.
But when monster Bradley Murdoch, 67, died in a prison hospital this week, so too did any chance of him admitting what he did with their beloved boy’s remains.
Peter Falconio’s parents’ hopes of finding his body have faded after killer Bradley Murdoch, above, died, seemingly taking the secret to his graveGetty
Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees in the Australian Outback in 2001 – a trip from which the British man would never return
The scene of a police re-enactment of Peter’s murder and the attempted abduction of Joanne near Barrow Creek, Central Australia, in July 2001AP:Associated Press
Heartbroken Luciano and Joan Falconio just want to lay Peter to rest back home in Huddersfield, West Yorks, where he belongs.
Instead, they bear the pain of knowing he is likely buried in an unknown spot, amid a 1,200 square mile area of Australia’s vast and largely uncharted Outback.
Speaking from their home yesterday following Murdoch’s death from throat cancer, Luciano, 83, who has three other sons, said: “He’s gone now.
“I don’t feel any sadness or hate, I am a generous person. But he should have admitted his crime.
“He is the only one who knows where my son is.
“I don’t think he will have shared anything with police, but he may have told someone. I really hope so.”
Luciano added: “I am in pain for my wife. I hope I find my son, for both of us. We need an end while we are still here.”
Finding Peter’s body would not only help bring peace to his parents. It would also end two decades of speculation about his murder.
Ever since his girlfriend Joanne Lees told police in Australia’s Northern Territory how she was tied up after Peter, 28, was shot in the head on the Stuart Highway near remote Barrow Creek in 2001, this case has generated controversy.
‘Weight’s been lifted’
The calm demeanour of Joanne, now 51, when she spoke to officers led some people to suspect she had somehow been involved in her boyfriend’s death.
And there were numerous fake “sightings” of Peter in the wake of his killing that only increased the pain for his family.
Questions were raised about what motive Murdoch could possibly have had for shooting a stranger dead at point blank range.
Plus, there were discrepancies in Joanne’s account of her terrifying ordeal at the killer’s hands.
Murdoch went to his grave maintaining he was innocent.
And if you were to believe the glowing tribute from his family last night, you would think he was a saint.
They described him as a “gentle giant with a heart of gold” who “earned the affectionate title of uncle from many indigenous prisoners.”
That would be the same Bradley Murdoch who had a tattoo of an Aboriginal man hanging from a noose and was convicted of shooting at people celebrating at an Australian rules football match in 1995.
Police, prosecutors, the jury, Peter’s parents and many others who had the misfortune of crossing paths with Murdoch have no doubt that he was guilty of the British man’s slaying, regardless of what he claimed.
Luciano and Joan Falconio made their feelings clear when they said last night: “Upon hearing that Bradley John Murdoch had died, our first feeling was of relief. It’s like a weight that’s been lifted.”
Born in Geraldton, north of Perth, Murdoch worked as a mechanic in Broome on the northern coast of Western Australia.
Peter and Joanne, who had been touring Australia in a VW Kombi campervan, had the misfortune of being on the same road as Murdoch
He was a self-confessed drug smuggler who would put amphetamines into his tea to keep him awake as he transported cannabis long distances across Australia — a move which reportedly made him increasingly paranoid.
In 2003, he was cleared of raping a 12-year-old girl, who prosecutors had claimed he abducted with her mother “for insurance” as cops probing Peter Falconio’s murder closed in.
Justice for the killing finally caught up with him in 2005.
Peter and Joanne, who had been touring Australia in a VW Kombi campervan, had the misfortune of being on the same road as Murdoch north of Alice Springs on July 14, 2001.
He flagged Peter down and told him there were sparks coming from the old vehicle, before shooting him dead.
PAPeter and Joanne, who were touring Australia in a 30 year-old VW Kombi campervan, had the misfortune of being on the same road as Murdoch north of Alice Springs[/caption]
Getty Images – GettyAfter being bound at gunpoint and bundled into Murdoch’s truck, Joanne Lees fled into the pitch‑black Outback, hiding for hours before finally flagging down a driver[/caption]
Getty – PoolThe VW Kombi camper van belonging to Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio was impounded as evidence[/caption]
He tied Joanne up at gunpoint and bundled her into his truck.
But she was able to escape into the pitch black Outback, hiding for almost five hours until she flagged down a passing vehicle.
Snipers on rooftops
Senior Sergeant Erica Gibson, the first police officer to speak to Joanne about the terrifying ordeal, described her as “absolutely shell-shocked” but not “hysterical or overtly emotional”.
She said that victims “express their trauma and emotion in a different way, so it wasn’t for me to judge how she reacted”.
Joanne’s appearance at a press conference about the attacks, at which she wore a tight-fitting Cheeky Monkey T-shirt, led some people to suggest she was not really mourning.
Her version of events was not helped by a couple of shopkeepers claiming they had seen Peter buy a Mars bar a week after the murder.
But Joanne’s description of the killer matched that of Murdoch and his white Toyota.
This placed him on a list of 100 suspects and made the police nervous when they went to arrest him in 2002 for the alleged rape of the 12- year-old.
They considered him to be so dangerous that they placed snipers on rooftops and under vehicles with their rifles trained on the car park of a Woolworths where Murdoch was shopping in Port Augusta.
In the back of the fiend’s Toyota pick-up, the police found handcuffs made from cable ties, a pistol, gloves, a shotgun, crossbow and a rifle with a telescopic sight.
He was found not guilty of the alleged rape, but detectives had much better evidence to link him to Peter’s murder.
At his trial in 2005, the jury heard how Murdoch’s DNA was found on Joanne’s T-shirt.
CCTV footage also showed he had been at Alice Springs prior to Peter’s murder, and other witnesses put him in the area of the crime.
His defence tried to cast doubt by claiming Joanne had slept with another man a few months prior to the killing.
But she insisted: “I did love Pete with all my heart and, when that happened, I did overstep the boundaries of friendship, but it made me love Pete even more and value what we did have.”
The jury took just eight hours to find Murdoch guilty, and he was sentenced to at least 28 years in prison.
A year later, Joanne published a book titled No Turning Back, in which she gave her account of the traumatic events.
She said in an interview with The Times: “Others have their opinions about that night, about what happened, about what I did or didn’t do.
‘But they weren’t there. They can never know what I saw, the terror I felt, or what Pete and I meant to each other.’’
The night that Joanne escaped and we lost Peter, [Murdoch] lost control and as a result of that he felt wronged and angry. To gain some control was to never co-operate and have that power over the Falconio family.
Colleen Gwynne, Lead Investigator
It didn’t stop the doubters. A four-part Channel 4 documentary titled Murder In The Outback: The Falconio And Lees Mystery questioned Murdoch’s conviction in 2020. It repeated claims Peter may be alive.
‘Future taken away’
And it revealed that truck driver Vince Millar, who found Joanne by the side of the road, had seen a red car in the vicinity.
He speculated that Peter’s body might have been in this unidentified vehicle.
Murdoch went to his grave maintaining he was innocentHandout – Getty
Murdoch was found to be in possession of a pistol, holster and ammunition
The killer was also found to have plastic cable ties, like those Joanne was bound by
None of this has changed the mind of the detectives who knew Murdoch.
The lead investigator in the case, Colleen Gwynne, said last night that she had suspected the killer would take his secrets to the grave. She added: “I’m not surprised, just disappointed.
“I always said I don’t think he’ll ever speak to police.
“The night that Joanne escaped and we lost Peter, he lost control and felt wronged and angry.
“To gain some control was to never co-operate and have that power over the Falconio family.”
There is still a £243,650 reward available to anyone with information that leads to the discovery of Peter’s body.
It is possible that Murdoch bragged to a friend or cellmate — or that a former associate might have an idea where he buried the remains.
The police said in a statement: “The Northern Territory Police Force remains committed to resolving this final piece of the investigation.
“We continue to appeal to anyone who may have information that could lead us to Peter Falconio’s remains to come forward, no matter how small the detail may seem.”
Peter is not the only person to have gone missing in the Outback.
And he may not have been Murdoch’s only victim.
Today, though, Luciano and Joan want to forget about the killer, saying: “We are only forced to think about him now that he’s died.
“We don’t want to let him ruin our lives more than he already has.
“The awful thing is, our family’s future with Peter was cruelly taken away.
“Today we instead focus on the three children we have left and our grandchildren.”
AP:Associated PressThe Falconio family arrive at Darwin Supreme Court in, 2005[/caption]