Peter Falconio’s mum in heartfelt plea to help find his remains

The parents of the murdered British tourist say they don’t have long left to find answers, as one former sleuth reveals a bid to a rich reward offered in the case.

The mother of slain British tourist Peter Falconio has made an impassioned plea for public help to locate the body of her beloved son.

Just over 21 years since her son’s death in one of the nation’s highest profile murder cases, Joan Falconio has broken her silence and appealed to “anyone with a conscience’’ to help her locate her son’s remains.

“Peter has a beautiful niece and two lovely nephews who he never got to see or know,’’ Mrs Falconio said.

“Peter’s father is now 80 and I am 75. We want to bring Peter home where he belongs near his family.

“Our pain is always with us. I am appealing to anyone with a conscience to help me however small, to tell me where he was put.’’

Peter Falconio’s parents Luciano and Joan Falconio hold hands and walk away from the Darwin Supreme court after Bradley Murdoch was given a 28 year nonn-parole period.

The murder of Peter Falconio and the kidnapping of his girlfriend Joanne Lees on the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory in 2001 attracted international headlines because of its brazen and bizarre circumstances – and the fact Mr Falconio’s remains were never recovered.

The young couple, who were touring Australia in an orange Kombi van, were near Barrow Creek in the NT on July 14, 2001, when small time drug runner Bradley John Murdoch gestured for them to pull over.

Ms Lees told police Mr Falconio got out of the van to talk to Murdoch, before she heard what sounded like a car backfiring, but it was in fact Mr Falconio being shot in the head. Pooled blood found at the location matched Mr Falconio’s.

Ms Lees was threatened with a handgun by Murdoch, and punched and restrained with cable-tie handcuffs, before she managed to escape from his four-wheel drive vehicle. She hid in scrubland for several hours until she waved down a passing road train and raised the alarm.

Bradley John Murdoch arrives under police escort at Darwin Airport to face murder charges. Picture: Patrina Malone

Murdoch was arrested in Adelaide in 2003 as he stepped from the District Court when an unrelated rape charge was dismissed. He was convicted in the NT Supreme Court in 2005 of murdering Mr Falconio and abducting Ms Lees and given a life sentence with a 28-year non-parole period that was upheld on appeal.

He will be 73 years old when he is eligible to apply for parole in 2031, but is unlikely to be released under the NT’s no body, no parole legislation. He has consistently refused to reveal where he disposed of Peter Falconio’s remains.

Evidence used to convict Murdoch included the fact his DNA was found on a blood stain on Ms Lees T-shirt and surveillance vision of him refuelling his vehicle at a Shell truck stop in Alice Springs, 280km south of Barrow Creek, two hours after the incident occurred.

The stained T-shirt Joanne Lees was wearing when abducted.

Mrs Falconio made her heartfelt plea for public assistance to locate her son’s remains in an email to SA Best MLC Frank Pangallo, asking him to help with her request.

Mrs Falconio, who came to Australia with husband Luciano for Murdoch’s sentencing in the NT Supreme Court, said her son would have turned 50 on Tuesday if he were still alive.

“He was murdered 21 years ago aged just 28 years,’’ she said.

“His murderer Bradley Murdoch is, as far as I know, in Darwin Prison.

“His life stopped on a lonely road, the Stuart Highway, on 14th July 2001, shot dead by cowardly Murdoch, who will not reveal where or what he did with him.’’

While Mrs Falconio says she feels NT police have given up searching for her son’s remains, it can be revealed detectives conducted an extensive five-day search of a well on a property 1km from the crime scene in 2019 for Peter Falconio’s remains.

The search was conducted after Mr Pangallo obtained a statutory declaration from a witness who claimed to have seen Murdoch’s distinctive four-wheel drive near the well on the nearby cattle station on the night of the murder.

Frank Pangallo and a witness during a Today Tonight report on the case.

Mr Pangallo, who covered the story in his former career as a journalist at Today Tonight before entering parliament in 2018, visited the well with the witness in 2014 but a thorough search could not be conducted at the time because it had 15 metres of water in it.

“When the story was raised again by British media three years ago, Mrs Falconio contacted me and asked if I could convince NT police to undertake a full search of the well to eliminate the clue,’’ he said.

“I then arranged an affidavit from the eyewitness, a truck driver who had been contracted by the cattle station, and sent it to senior NT Police.

“The police found him to be credible and emptied the well in a five-day operation in 2019, but unfortunately found nothing. It was the right thing for them to do and I can only praise their efforts.”

Mr Pangallo said he planned to ask the NT government to post a $1m reward for information that leads to Peter Falconio’s remains being discovered.

He is also urging NT Police to launch a fresh media campaign calling for information and to consider engaging specialist forensic archaeologists with expertise in locating gravesites to conduct searches of likely burial places.

“Murdoch hasn’t got the guts to confess to his cowardly crime and he should rot behind bars if he is unwilling to tell the truth about what he did or where he left Peter that night,” he said.

“Somebody must know where Peter is or might have some information or recollection that could be useful to police, no matter how insignificant they might think it is.

“Joan, Luciano and Peter’s brothers Mark, Nicholas and Paul deserve closure after all these years of grieving and uncertainty.”