Peter Falconio’s killer Bradley John Murdoch only has months to live
Outback killer Bradley John Murdoch will likely take his secrets to the grave after a long battle with cancer.
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Outback killer Bradley John Murdoch has only months to live after his terminal throat cancer diagnosis, with mounting fears the body of British backpacker Peter Falconio may never be found.
Murdoch, 67, was sentenced to life behind bars in 2005 for murdering Mr Falconio near Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs, four years prior.
The former mechanic had managed to waive down Mr Falconio, 28, and his girlfriend Joanne Lees, 24, as they drove their Kombi campervan along the Stuart Highway between Alice Springs and Darwin late at night on February 14, 2001.
He shot Mr Falconio in the head and bound Ms Lees’ hands with cable ties, before shoving her into the back of his ute.
While he dumped Mr Falconio’s body, Ms Lees escaped and ran barefoot through bushland while Murdoch tried to hunt her down with his dog.
It was five hours before she managed to waive down a truck and contact police.
Murdoch has always maintained his innocence, launching two unsuccessful appeals to overturn his conviction.
The last trace of Mr Falconio was blood on the road where he was shot.
With Murdoch set to die within the next year, according to Daily Mail Australia, it’s unlikely the backpacker’s body will ever be recovered.
The publication also revealed he is being treated at Alice Springs Correctional Centre, and is known as a master manipulator in prison.
Murdoch would have been eligible for parole in 2032, but he wouldn’t have been released under the Northern Territory’s ‘no body, no release’ laws.
On what would have been Mr Falconio’s 50th birthday, his mother launched an impassioned plea for information about her son’s body.
“His life stopped on a lonely road … shot dead by cowardly Murdoch, who will not reveal where or what he did with him,” Mrs Falconio said.
“Our pain is always with us. We want to bring Peter home where he belongs, near his family.”
Murdoch has long disputed key evidence in the case against him – namely, his own DNA on Ms Lees’ shirt and the Kombi gear stick, which was found dumped in nearby bushes the morning after the murder.
Ms Lees was traumatised after the ordeal, but has since published a book about her experience.
The horror film Wolf Creek was based on Murdoch and backpacker killer Ivan Milat.
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