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- Bradley Murdoch, 67, the ‘outback killer’ who murdered backpacker Peter Falconio died of metastasized throat cancer in July.
- More than two decades since his murder, Peter Faclonio’s body has still not been found
- In 2016 the Northern Territory implemented ‘No Body, No Parole’ laws in the hope Bradley Murdoch would reveal the location of Peter’s body.
- Peter’s parents, Joan and Luciano Falconio desperately held out hope for a deathbed confession from Murdoch.
- But Bradley Murdoch delivered a final blow to Peter’s parents and died taking his evil secret with him.
- Now the Northern Territory Police Force have offered a $500,000 reward for new information on the location of Peter Falconio’s body.
As the orange VW Kombi campervan sped along the remote highway the two backpackers inside were brimming with excitement as they gazed at the raw beauty of the Australian outback.
It was July 2001 and British backpacker Peter Falconio, 28, and his girlfriend 27-year-old Joanne Lees were on the Stuart Highway, near Barrow Creek, NT, 300km north of Alice Springs bound for the Devil’s Marbles.
Peter met Joanne at a Huddersfield, UK, nightclub in 1996 and whilst Peter studied building construction management Joanne worked as a travel agent.
Saving hard for a year the couple embarked on big adventure around Asia, America and Australia in November 2000.
Peter had religiously telephoned his parents Luciano and Joan, speaking to them two days before when the couple were in Alice Springs.
When a white Toyota Landcruiser slowed and flashed the couple around 730pm on July 14 Peter stopped the Kombi van.
The male driver explained he’d seen sparks coming from their exhaust and Peter walked round the van as Joanne slipped into the driver’s seat, ready to rev the engine.
But as a terrifying gunshot rang out a horrific crime unfolded that was to send shockwaves around the world and tear Peter Falconio’s family apart.
READ MORE:JOANNE LEES RETURNS TO THE DESERT
The sinister stranger held Joanne at gunpoint, punched her in the head, before restraining her with cable-tie handcuffs, bundling her into the back of his Landcruiser as he dealt with Peter’s lifeless body.
Incredibly Joanne managed to escape from the car whilst Murdoch was outside and hid in roadside scrub for five hours before flagging down a truckie who took her to the Barrow Creek Hotel where Police were called.
When police arrived at the scene they found a pool of blood on the road.
Back in Huddersfield, UK, when Joan and Luciano Falconio answered the phone they were expecting a call from Peter.
Tragically it was Australian police instead, informing them their son was missing presumed dead.
‘Murdoch… psychopathic, charming to meet at first, but deeply violent’ Detective Collen Gwynne
After an extensive manhunt police arrested Bradley Murdoch in 2002 for an unrelated rape case, allowing police to collect his DNA.
This DNA matched samples from Joanne’s shirt, the gearstick in the van, and homemade hand restraints.
Born in Geraldton, WA, in 1958, Murdoch spent most of his life working as a mechanic. With a history of violent crime he’d served time in a Western Australian jail in the mid-1990s for shooting at a crowd of Aboriginal football fans and was believed to be a drug runner.
Bradley John Murdoch was charged for the murder of Peter Falconio and abduction of Joanne Lees in 2003.
Detective Colleen Gwynne, who led the investigation, described Murdoch as psychopathic, charming to meet at first, but deeply violent with an addiction to methamphetamines .
READ MORE:JOANNE LEE’S HORROR IN POLICE VIDEO WHEN SHE REALISES SHE’S A SUSPECT
A bloodstain on the back of Ms Lees’s shirt was ‘at least 150 quadrillion times’ more likely to be Murdoch’s than anyone else’s.
Bradley John Murdoch appeared at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in Darwin, in October 2005. Luciano and Joan Falconio travelled to Australia for the trial where Murdoch pleaded not guilty.
But CCTV footage showed him at the Barrow Creek roadhouse and Joanne’s hair tie was recovered on his gun holster in his belongings.
Despite the defence team trying their best to implicate Joanne Lees in the case and even hinting that Peter Falconio was alive somewhere.
But forensic scientist Carmen Eckhoff concluded a bloodstain on the back of Ms Lees’s shirt was ‘at least 150 quadrillion times’ more likely to be Murdoch’s than anyone else’s.
In December 2005,Bradley John Murdoch, then 47, was found guilty of murdering Peter and attempting to kidnap Joanne.
Chief Justice Brian Martin said the killer put Mr Falconio’s body into his vehicle before dumping it somewhere between Alice Springs and Broome — a distance spanning almost 1,700 kilometres.
Chief Justice Martin joined the jury in rejecting Murdoch’s claim police had ‘deliberately fabricated evidence’ and sentenced Murdoch to life in jail, with a non-parole period of 28 years which could have seen him released in 2032.
Two subsequent appeals by Murdoch were denied and in 2016 the Northern Territory introduced ‘No Body No Parole’ laws in the hope of eliciting a confession from him..
In 2017 Joanne returned to the Australian outback and visited the scene of the murder. Speaking of the impact of the tragedy to 60 Minutes she explained how she felt like a suspect herself and said: ‘Pete lost his life that night but I lost mine too. I’ll never be fully at peace if Pete’s not found.’
That year the Northern Territory newspaper published details of an anonymous letter suggesting Peter Falconio’s body had been dismembered, dumped and transported across three states.
A complaint, lodged by Joan Falconio was partially upheld by the Australian Press Council (APC) finding the NT News ‘failed to take reasonable steps to avoid causing substantial offence and distress to the complainant’s family.’
‘Our pain is always with us’ Joan Falconio.
Murdoch was diagnosed with metastasized throat cancer in 2019.
As the years passed Joan and Luciano Falconio remained desperate to bring their son home. In 2022, Peter’s mother Joan contacted South Australian politician Frank Pangallo, sparking a call for the reward to be raised even further.
‘We want to bring Peter home where he belongs near his family,’ she wrote. ’Our pain is always with us.’
In recent years it has been revealed that Murdoch’s son had visited him in prison.
In June 2025, he was moved into palliative care at Alice Springs Hospital .
Bradley Murdoch passed away on 15 July 2025 in the Alice Springs hospital’s palliative care unit , a day after the 24th anniversary of Peter Falconio’s killing.
In a final bitter blow to Peter’s parents he took the secrets of the murder and the whereabouts of Peter’s body to his grave.
In a statement to the ABC, Luciano and Joan Falconio thanked the Northern Territory Police for their support and continued efforts to investigate their son’s murder.
‘Upon hearing that Bradley Murdoch had died our first feeling was of relief, it’s like a weight that’s been lifted,’ the couple said.
In June the Northern Territory Police Force announced a $500,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of Mr Falconio’s remains.
‘Even now, we still hold out hope that his remains will be found’
‘It is deeply regrettable that Murdoch has died without… disclosing the location of Peter Falconio’s remains,’ a police spokesman said . ‘His silence has denied the Falconio family the closure they have so long deserved.’
The NT Police Force said ‘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.”
And for the Falconios, they’ll never give up searching for their son telling the ABCnews, ‘Even now, we still hold out hope that his remains will be found.’
If you have any information please contact Crimestoppers NT 1800 333 000
