Melbourne
AP
—
Bradley John Murdoch, referred to as the “Outback Killer” and convicted of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio who vanished in arid central Australia 24 years in the past, has died, authorities mentioned Wednesday. He was 67.
Murdoch died on Tuesday evening within the palliative care unit of the Alice Springs Hospital, in response to a press release from the Northern Territory Division of Corrections. He was identified with terminal throat most cancers in 2019 and was just lately transferred to the hospital from the Alice Springs jail.
His loss of life leaves the thriller of the whereabouts of Falconio’s physique unsolved. The territory’s police didn’t instantly reply to queries from The Related Press whether or not Murdoch had supplied any clues earlier than he died.
In 2005, Murdoch was convicted within the territory’s Supreme Courtroom in Darwin of the 2001 homicide of 28-year-old Falconio, from Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and the tried kidnapping of Falconio’s girlfriend Joanne Lees, then 27.
The crime captured world consideration and was one of many inspirations for the 2005 Australian horror film “Wolf Creek,” a couple of serial killer who preyed on backpackers and left a single witness who grew to become a suspect.
Lees, who wrote about her ordeal in her 2006 memoir “No Turning Again,” complained that police handled her as a suspect within the years earlier than Murdoch was charged.
A court docket order prevented the film’s launch within the Northern Territory throughout Murdoch’s trial, fearing it may affect jurors. Murdoch, who was arrested in 2003 within the case, was not accused of every other killings.
Sustaining his innocence
Murdoch constantly maintained his innocence and didn’t assist authorities seek for Falconio’s stays.
On the time of the killing, Murdoch was an interstate drug runner, utilizing amphetamines to remain awake for dayslong drives and hashish to sleep.
On the evening of July 14, 2001, he tricked Falconio and Lees into stopping their campervan on a darkish and distant freeway north of Alice Springs.
Lees watched her boyfriend depart the van to examine a supposedly sparking exhaust pipe. She testified that she heard a gun shot and by no means noticed her boyfriend once more.
Murdoch, an imposing 193 centimeters (6 foot, 4 inches) in top, certain her wrists with cable ties earlier than she managed to flee and hid within the desert scrub for hours. She testified that she watched Murdoch looking for her with a flashlight and his canine.
Lees later waved down a truck and raised the alarm.
Final month, police doubled the reward for info resulting in the situation of Falconio’s stays to 500,000 Australian {dollars} ($330,000), following information that Murdoch was in palliative care.
“Police nonetheless maintain out hope that somebody could possibly present some very important info to help on this search,” Police Commander Mark Grieve mentioned. He added that over time he spent in jail, Murdoch had not revealed the whereabouts of his sufferer’s stays.
Colleen Gwynne, a former police officer who led the investigation on the time of Falconio’s disappearance, mentioned Murdoch might need panicked after Lees escaped and in his confusion forgot what he did with the physique.
“As soon as that panic set in … he might have disposed of a physique someplace he’s not completely sure the place that’s,” Gwynne instructed 10 Community Information tv earlier this month.
In 2005, Murdoch was sentenced to life in jail for Falconio’s homicide and was ordered to serve at the very least 28 years earlier than he may very well be thought-about for parole. He was additionally sentenced to 6 years, to be served concurrently, for assaulting Lees.
The earliest he may have utilized for parole would have been 2032, however with out offering info as to what he had carried out with Falconio’s physique, Murdoch was not prone to have been launched. The territory handed legal guidelines in 2016 stopping prisoners convicted of homicide from qualifying for parole except they supply police with the situation of their victims’ our bodies.
Murdoch was born within the west coast city of Geraldton, the third youngster of an vehicle mechanic and his spouse, a hairdresser.
As a teen, he grew to become concerned in biker gang crime and was first sentenced to jail in 1995 for taking pictures at a gaggle of Indigenous individuals at Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia. He served 15 months of a 21-month sentence.
In sentencing Murdoch for Falconio’s killing, Chief Justice Brian Martin mentioned he doubted any phrases may specific the trauma and terror Lees had suffered.
“It should have been near the worst nightmare conceivable,” the decide mentioned.
