Casefile True Crime - Case 44: Peter Falconio

Episode Date: January 28, 2017

The desert roads of the Northern Territory are as long as they are desolate. If you stand still, the loudest sound you’ll hear is your own heartbeat. For British tourists Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees, the prospect of driving from Adelaide to Darwin along the expansive, open road was the thrill of a lifetime and unlike anything, they’d ever experienced before. --- Episode researched and co-written by Anna Priestland For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-44-peter-falconio

I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel sea, her beauty and her terror, the wide brown land for me. The desert roads of the Northern Territory are as long as they are desolate. If you stand still, your own heartbeat is the loudest sound you'll hear. Alice Springs sits almost equal distance between Darwin and Adelaide and is close to the very centre of Australia.

It is the third largest town in the Northern Territory with a population of just under 30,000 people. It welcomes up to 475,000 visitors each year, which is 1,300 new tourists every day. Tourists are drawn to Alice Springs as it is the closest big town to Uluru, also known as Air's Rock. Uluru is the single sandstone rock that sits out of the ground, 450km, 280 miles, south-west of Alice Springs. It is a sacred, holy place for the indigenous Aboriginal people in the area and carries

great spiritual meaning. The rock's most famous feature is the way it appears to change colour at different times of the day, most notably when it glows red at dawn and sunset. And as a World Heritage site, Uluru sits at an enormous 348 metres high and has a girth of 9.4km or 5.8 miles. There is 2.5km or 1.5 miles worth of rock that sits beneath the surface. That's a mesmerising and sometimes eerie place. Most travellers tend to fly into Alice Springs and hire cars and camper vans for their 6-hour

drive to Uluru. The closest campground is 20km, 12 miles away. Many stretches of road have no services. You are given advice at the rental car depot to fill up where you can and to carry provisions at all times. Maps can be misleading and distances between two places can be much longer than they seem. The vast stretches of horizon and flat experiences of desert make things seem a lot closer than they really are.

And this, mixed with the crisp clarity of the air, means you can literally see for hundreds of quiet, desolate miles. More adventurous travellers make their way by road during their driving tour of Australia. Often driving north from Adelaide after coming from Australia's east coast, or more uncommonly across the Nullarbor Plain, about a 28-hour drive from Perth. The Northern Territory covers nearly 1.5 million square kilometres, or just over 520,000 square miles, of red, dry, hot, dusty, and mostly impenetrable desert in the north-central heart of the country.

Most of the residents, Territorians as they are known, live in the cities of Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs, Catherine, Nullamboy, and Tennant Creek, with small numbers living in more remote communities. The Australian Outback is one of the least populated places on Earth. This part of Australia is one of the driest, flattest, most arid, and least hospitable places on the planet. Temperatures vary dramatically, with the average maximum temperatures in summer of 36 degrees Celsius, 96.1 degrees Fahrenheit.

But temperatures can easily reach 45 degrees Celsius, or 113 degrees Fahrenheit. During the winter months of June, July and August, it plummets to an average of 5.1 degrees Celsius, 41.2 degrees Fahrenheit. And at night can easily drop to minus 5 degrees Celsius, 23 Fahrenheit. There are basic rules for driving in parts of the Australian desert. You need to have a suitable vehicle, carry enough water and enough petrol, have a map, tell somebody what route you are taking and when you expect to arrive at your destination, and have a two-way radio, because a lot of the area is without mobile phone coverage.

If you don't follow these rules, you risk death. The Australian desert has killed more than a few people over the years. There is a single highway that links southern Australia directly north through Alice Springs to Darwin, known to locals simply as The Track. The Track is the Stuart Highway, an almost straight road cutting through the Red Baron Desert for 2,834 kilometres, 1,761 miles. From top to bottom, there are only 17 junctions in total. Up until 2007, the roads of the Northern Territory actually had no speed limit restrictions.

The Stuart Highway is mainly used for transporting goods from one end of Australia to the other, most commonly fuel, mineral ores and cattle, but also food and other goods. You can drive an entire day on some remote stretches without seeing another vehicle. If you do happen to see another vehicle, it is likely to be an infamous road train. These enormous trucks, which can be over 50 metres long and weigh in at 200 tonnes, plough up and down the Stuart Highway at speeds so great that tourists are reminded in their guidebooks of the dangers of getting in the way of these monsters of the road. The thrill of the open road and the sheer expanse of the hot desert is an exciting draw

card for many, but for those used to big cities, busy beaches, or in this case, the relentless rain and dark clouded skies of England, driving from Adelaide to Darwin was the thrill of a lifetime, and unlike anything they had experienced before. On 6 October 1958, in the port town of Geraldton, Western Australia, 424 kilometres, 263 miles north of Perth, Colin and Nancy Murdoch brought a son into the world. Already in their 40s with two sons of 11 and 14 years, a new baby was a shock. Their third son, Bradley John Murdoch, was brought back to their humble three-bedroom fibro house, 52 kilometres north of Geraldton, to their hometown of Northampton, a small

rural community once thriving 150 years before as Australia's first iron ore mine. But the mine eventually ran dry and the community came to rely on wheat farming as its main source of income. Agriculture in dry areas like Western Australia is risky. When the rain is good, the wheat production thrived, but the many times of drought saw poor crops which resulted in hard times for the area. Bradley Murdoch spent his youth in the clicky town that was well known for its resistance to change.

Northampton had three pubs and three churches, and often the town would be closed by lunchtime. Murdoch's parents, Colin and Nancy, were liked in the area. They were not wealthy, but Colin, a mechanic, was never sure to work. He was a quiet man who the community came to rely on for fixing almost anything. Nancy was the only hairdresser in town and would convert her kitchen and bathroom into the local salon most days. They were firm but fair, but after already bringing up two teenage boys, they would find bringing up another son more difficult.

The eldest brothers, Robert and Gary, were close. They didn't have a lot of time for their younger brother, and Bradley Murdoch wouldn't receive much attention. Robert was born with only one ear and was a sickly kid. He spent his whole childhood in and out of hospital and had many operations. Bradley Murdoch became a bit of a nuisance and started to rebel. He would be described as having a false sense of bravado. He craved attention, was difficult to control, was defiant, disengaged, and felt like an

outsider even within his own family. He knew from an early age he had to be tough to survive, and he wasn't going to take any shit from anyone. He was a bully and would often get into fights. At 12 years old and increasingly harder to control, Colin and Nancy decided to move to Perth and give Murdoch a fresh start. He didn't cope well. He didn't fit in, rebelled further, and started getting involved with bikies.

In 1973, at 15 years old, he left school and made his way back up to Geraldton and Northampton. His time with the gang influence. He came to be known for his involvement with alcohol, drugs, and guns. Not long after this move, his brother Robert, after a lifetime of illness and operations, died. And Bradley Murdoch became even more bitter. He started to have brushes with the law, and in the late 70s he faced his first firearms offences.

Things got worse for Murdoch when in 1980, at 21 years of age, he received a suspended sentence for death by dangerous driving after he hit and killed a motorcyclist. He was at a crossroads, and he made the move to Albany, the southernmost tip of Western Australia, an isolated and remote harbour town, the oldest town in the state. Albany is named for its wild and unpredictable weather. There was lots of work there for a skilled mechanic like Murdoch. As a child, he had watched every single thing his father did fixing cars, and without even realising it, he had managed to become a more than competent mechanic himself.

He enjoyed the transient life. People didn't ask questions in these sorts of towns, and he could be left alone. In 1980, while visiting his brother Gary and Gary's wife Pamela, he met Diane, Pamela's niece. A spark flew that day, and within a year Diane had moved in with Murdoch on the outskirts of Perth. By now Murdoch had his own truck in business. He used his own truck and had contracts to bigger hauling companies.

However, the business didn't do too well, and he ended up filing for bankruptcy in 1983. Murdoch and Diane were married on the 14th of July 1984. They had a son in 1986, but soon after their son was born, their relationship was over. Murdoch had fallen back in with a bikey crowd. He started to disappear for days on end, and found it difficult to be a good husband and father. When their son was 18 months old, Murdoch hit Diane hard. It's unknown whether it really was the first time, but that day Diane left with their son

and was glad to see the back of Murdoch forever. They never had any contact again. There was no surprise, Murdoch didn't do well with routines, and found no thrills in the life of the family man. A member of a bikey gang offered Murdoch a job driving road trains up north. Murdoch was a model employee who never said no to work, and made him feel strong and powerful. A road warrior, always with a gun at his side. It's necessary to have a gun if what you're carrying is very important, and it was.

Large amounts of cannabis, amphetamines and cash were driven all over the country, alongside the legal roads some trucks carried. There was easy money, and there was a lot of it. Murdoch could drive 16 hour shifts a day easily, and if something went wrong with the truck, he was also the right person to fix it. Murdoch had gone almost 15 years without a brush with the law. He was a fairly unnoticed figure in the vast experience of the Australian Outback. He kept his head down, and his eye on the money he was able to earn driving back and

forth across the country. He was fuelled by alcohol and drugs on those long journeys, speed to keep him awake for sometimes days at a time, and cannabis for when he wanted to get to sleep. Murdoch was up and down, and when he wanted to escape, he was able to take his truck into the Outback and go camping, far away from anyone else. By 1995, Murdoch was living in the remote Kimberley region of Fitzroy Crossing, around 400km or 248 miles inland from Broome, Western Australia. There was a high demand for good mechanics where he lived on Brookings Springs, a large

cattle station. It was a good location for picking up driving jobs too, with its proximity to Broome. Murdoch didn't much like the local area. It was known to regularly reach temperatures in the higher 40 degrees Celsius, and it was becoming increasingly racist towards the indigenous locals. There were rumours of the KKK having members in the area, although no one would admit it. The non-indigenous community rarely saw eye to eye with the indigenous community. Bradley Murdoch didn't exactly hide his high level of racism.

He had a tattoo on his left arm of an Aboriginal man hanging from a noose over a fire, with the initials KKK. From the time of British settlement, Australian law considered all Australian land as Terranullius, meaning nobody's land, giving the British crown rights over the land. As black and white communities lived side by side through generations of divide, trouble started to brew over claims the indigenous community had to their own land. In 1992, the High Court of Australia made a monumental decision. They overturned the legal doctrine of Terranullius, meaning Aboriginal communities would be able

to lay claim to their sacred land. In response, the West Australian state government attempted to pass their own laws to stop this new agreement by issuing dummy freehold leases to land all over the state, challenging the federal law. One of these freehold leases was issued to Bradley Murdoch for a small piece of land he had hoped to build a petrol station on, just off the local highway. He had even received money from the bank to fund it. But this plot was earmarked for Aboriginal land entitlement, and when the federal law

was finally passed, voiding all the dummy leases the West Australian government had issued, Murdoch lost the land. He was furious. He personally blamed local Aboriginal leader Joe Ross, who had been vocally campaigning for Aboriginal rights. On the night of August 20th, 1995, a 500-strong group of the local Aboriginal community were celebrating the Magpies' second-grandfinal win, the Magpies being a local Australian rules football team.

Joe Ross and his girlfriend sat in the front seat of their car, chatting, a little way back from the main party. A Russian backpacker suddenly ran into the crowd yelling and waving his arms around. But he was yelling in Russian, so nobody could understand what he was saying. He ended up leaving. Shortly after that, Joe Ross's girlfriend leaned over in a passenger seat while talking, and a bullet suddenly went straight past her head into the seat. After Joe Ross yelled out to get down, another shot came, luckily missing again.

In the darkness, a drunken Bradley Murdoch was pointing his rifle directly at them, and then the crowd. As the crowd hid in the gully, they heard the thumping footsteps of the six-foot-four madmen running back to his car. Murdoch had been at his favourite drinking hole, the Fitzroy Lodge, where he would go most days drinking with mates. As he headed home drunk, he was stopped by a roadblock, telling him he had to go the long way home because of the grand final party.

He was furious. He drove home, collected his guns, and drove back to where the celebration was. On November 10th that same year, Murdoch found himself in court in Perth over the incident. He pleaded guilty to owning and operating stolen guns, but said he had only wanted to frighten the group, not kill anyone. He was charged with possession of a .22 magnum pistol with a telescopic sight and a .308 bolt action rifle, both stolen. The aboriginal community were outraged.

They knew Murdoch had targeted Ross and his girlfriend, and were horrified that he wasn't being charged with attempted murder. Until that point, Bradley Murdoch hadn't seen the inside of a jail cell, but that drunken act would seem sentenced to 21 months jail, of which he served 15 months before being released for good behaviour. When Bradley Murdoch was released, he was nudging 40. He was a large, intimidating man, six foot four, with large ears, a large forehead, and he no longer had any front teeth.

He had a permanent sneer and kept to himself more than ever. There was no question in his mind that he would move back to the Kimberley. It was where he felt the most at home in the untamed, rugged, harsh land. He set up home in Derby briefly before making the sea change to Broom in 1998. He was driving for a number of truck companies, and again he was recruited by bikies. He knew how to ferry drugs across the country amongst his loads, which at times were up to four trailers long. They would build false floors and walls surrounding legal goods and fill them with huge quantities

of cannabis and speed, a perfect combination for fueling his own drug needs. When Federmans to stay awake, cannabis to help him sleep. And a drink was never far away. Murdoch loved being his own boss. He was never short of a girlfriend either. He had women in a lot of different towns he passed through, and most would describe him as a good guy. Broom, a remote tropical town on the Kimberley coast, is famous all over the world for its

pearl farming and white, exotic beaches. It has a rich, luxurious tourist market where cruise ships dock on a jetty on the southern tip of the peninsula. Locals tend to live and shop on the outskirts, and it's known for its transient. It's the end of the road for a lot of truck drivers, both legitimate and drug couriers. Broom was another place where nobody asked too many questions. Small talk was the norm. This suited Murdoch perfectly.

A friend of Murdoch's brother, Brett Duffy, allowed Murdoch to live in a caravan on his property with his dog, a boxer, while he took driving jobs. Murdoch got work easily and quickly became well known for his skills as a mechanic. Locals said that although he was a moody bugger with a menacing look, he warmed after a while and seemed like a good bloke. One thing Duffy noticed was that Murdoch was forever updating his car. He had a white four-wheel drive Toyota Land Cruiser, which he often changed bits and pieces on.

In reality, it wasn't just a hobby to change his vehicle's look. Murdoch found that by updating its appearance, he would be able to stay under the radar of the police if someone had seen him doing something he shouldn't have been, like moving drugs. He changed his back tray and created a false floor so he could conceal drugs, money and weapons. He built a secret compartment by his driving seat. He added extra large fuel tanks, which could be taken off and refitted when he needed. This meant that he could travel an extra 1800km further than his regular petrol allowance.

None of this was suspicious to the people of the Outback. It was normal to go camping and fishing for weeks on end. And that's exactly what Murdoch did. He would work a few months or do a big truck trip to South Australia and back and then disappear for a few weeks. He had met Beverly Allen by then and by October 2000 she was his girlfriend. Someone would describe Murdoch as a gentle giant, but she did say that he would disappear in his four-wheel drive and reappear again weeks later.

She never asked any questions though and rarely did he tell her where he had been. Murdoch ended up moving into a small unit on the northern edge of town just near the Palms Resort. He walked out to the Palms most evenings for a drink. The owner said he never said much, but they always said hello to each other. Murdoch always had different guns stashed around the place and kept a Magnum 357 under his spare bed and a .22 revolver taped under the kitchen table. In 1998 Murdoch met James Hepi, a large, rough New Zealand Maori who had gone to Broon to

be a pearl diver. They first became friends and shared the ability to work hard and get the job done. Hepi moved into Murdoch's apartment and he told Murdoch of the property he had bought in the remote South Australian town of Sedan, an isolated property in a barren and desolate part of the state. Hepi had a business in Sedan, sourcing cannabis and amphetamines and driving them to Broon to sell. You can see why their relationship flourished.

Hepi introduced Murdoch to his wife and daughter and another friend. This South Australian crew took a liking to Murdoch and even gave him a puppy when he lost his beloved boxer, replacing it with a Dalmatian cross named Jack. Jack and Murdoch became inseparable and Murdoch made him a cushion to sit on in the cab of his truck for the long journeys they would share. He was a loopy dog who wasn't let out of the truck often as he would run away, but Murdoch loved him. James Hepi, nine years younger than Murdoch, felt his stars had aligned when he had met

Murdoch. Murdoch knew the roads of South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia like the back of his hand. He knew the back roads to avoid being pulled over by cops or rangers checking for fruit fly. They planned their drive from Sedan to Broon into the perfect route of back roads and tracks. By going north through the Simpson Desert and cutting left along the Tanamai track, they could shorten the trip by 1,050 kilometres or 652 miles.

There was a monotonous dirt road, but one they would be sure to see no one on very often. They could turn the 8,600 kilometre trip, 5,343 miles, around in about a week. As for the money, a pound or half a kilo of cannabis that they bought for just under $3,000 would easily sell for $15,000 to $20,000 once it reached Broon, and they could easily transport 10 kilos over 20 pounds if they needed to. Peter Falconio was born on the 20th of September, 1972, in the small West Yorkshire village of Hepworth, Huddersfield, in England. Born to Joan and Luciano, the second youngest of four boys got along well with his three

brothers Nicholas, Paul and Mark. Peter was a naturally bright kid with a larrican quality. At junior school he enjoyed being the class entertainer and had a lot of mates. His ambition and confidence took him to study locally for his diploma in building construction. While studying, he worked part-time at a bowling alley and a local nightclub. He was driven to succeed, and after graduating and working a while as a surveyor, he bought himself a small cottage close to his family. People didn't tend to move far in these areas.

Family was important, and with working class mindsets, the majority of people worked hard and stayed put. But Peter had the ambition for bigger and better things. In 1996, while in a local nightclub, Peter noticed a striking girl with a dark bob and piercing blue eyes. It didn't take long for him to build up the courage to approach her, and from that night on they were inseparable. Joanne Lees, born on the 25th of September, 1973, was a year younger than Peter.

She had lived the first 11 years of her life with her mum, Jenny, after the separation of her parents, but then her mum met her stepdad, Vincent. When Jenny married Vincent, Joanne gained a younger brother, Sam. They didn't have much money, but Jenny worked hard to make sure Joanne had a happy childhood. There were times when Joanne would catch her mum sitting at the kitchen table crying with a pile of bills in front of her. Joanne, although only a child, would always try to make her mum feel better. These difficulties only made Joanne a more independent person, who appeared to others

older than her years. Joanne enjoyed her small village life in Huddersfield. She went fairly unnoticed at school and was more interested in her social life than her studies. She was quiet, but happy. After school, she went on to study her A-levels while working part-time as a barmaid and filling in shifts as a bacon packer at a local factory. After her studies, she got a job at the local Thomas Cook travel agency, and there would

grow her love for travel. Peter decided that he would be better equipped to move up the ladder of success if he had a degree. After a brief stint at Northampton in the East Midlands, he decided he would move down to Brighton along England's south coast to Brighton University. Brighton was known as London by the sea and was a happening university city. For the first year, Joanne stayed in Huddersfield and Peter travelled the 400km, 248 miles to see her when he could.

Joanne was enjoying her job at the travel agency and was nervous to leave her mum. Jenny was suffering from arthritis and Joanne and her mum had always been there for each other. But her mum had remarried and the seed of independence began to grow inside Joanne. So when Peter asked if she would move to Brighton, she did. She got a transfer with Thomas Cook and was soon working in two bustling offices in Brighton. The once conservative and quiet Joanne was starting to find the sort of self-confidence that goes with becoming independent.

The infectious spirit of Peter and his motivation for travel and bigger and better things made them a perfect match. Peter and Joanne had travelled together on short trips to Italy, Greece and Jamaica and in 1998 they started planning for the world trip of their dreams. That night, after Peter had been at uni and Joanne had been hard at work helping to plan other people's trips, they would sit in their flat in a steep Brighton street full of houses and flat shares occupied with students and young people like themselves and make travel plans.

When they broke the news to their parents of their upcoming trip, their families were notably anxious. After all, the couple planned to spend most of their time in Australia and unfortunately the land down under had been making headlines for the wrong reasons. In the early 90s, seven young backpackers had been found murdered and buried in the Belangelo State Forest in New South Wales. Five of them were foreign tourists. In 1996, 35 people were killed and 23 more injured at the Tasmanian historical site

Port Arthur by a lone gunman. And only months before Joanne and Peter planned to leave in 2000, a drifter with a hatred of backpackers set fire to a Queensland hostel killing 15 people. Seven of those were British. But Peter and Joanne promised their parents they would take care, never hitchhike and always look out for each other. The trip would be a big stall in Peter's career and neither Peter or Joanne had been away for that long before.

They were due to go in the late summer of 2000, but when Peter got an offer to finish a colleague's project he had been working on, they agreed a few months would not make much difference and they would still make it to Australia for part of the hot Aussie summer they had heard so much about. The trip couldn't come quick enough for the couple. The last three months before they left were the wettest on record for England. The incessant rain and constant flooding only made the trip more worthwhile. And on the 15th of November 2000, Joanne and Peter, who was wearing the patron's

sign of travelling, St Christopher around his neck, boarded their plane. Their journey started with a trek in Nepal. Then they found themselves on a long bus journey from Singapore to Malaysia and then on to Thailand. They had started to get into the swing of backpacking life and decided to swap Bangkok with its constant flow of western backpackers for the temples, rice paddies and swaying sugar palms of Cambodia. But on their second day in Cambodia, Joanne realised that her travellers checks and return

flight tickets had been stolen and they only had a small amount of money on them. They reported it to police but struggled to replace them in Cambodia. It rattled the couple enough that they made a quick exit from the country with the help of a fellow traveller who paid their tickets back to Bangkok. In Bangkok they were able to easily sort themselves out and get the money checks reissued. After a brief thought of going home, Peter and Joanne decided that they would continue with their plans and not let this disaster ruin their trip. Off they flew to Australia and as dawn broke on the morning of the 16th January 2001, with

the Sydney Harbour Bridge like a beacon outside the plane window, they touched down in Sydney. Lending easily on their feet at the Springfield Lodge, a quiet English style lodge, it was in Potts Point, just a stone throw from the centre of Kings Cross and thousands of miles from the blustery winter back home. The area was unlike anywhere they had ever seen before. Kings Cross, the red light district of Sydney, was renowned for sex, drugs and mischief. The bars in the air was infectious but Peter and Joanne had their hearts set on finding a place of their own.

They settled on a flat share in Bondot. This way they could have their own space and a permanent base. They planned on finding work and travelling the vast landscape of Australia. Life was good, with Bondi Beach just a few minutes walk away and the Clifftop walks along to Bronte Beach and other coves, making their new home a dream place to live. Days after days of endless blue skies and the nights were filled with bustling nightclubs and hostile bars, they were having the time of their lives. Peter and Joanne were on a working holiday visa, which only allowed them to work in one

place for up to six months. This meant that finding a job in their careers was difficult, as employers didn't want to train you in their business, only to see you go a short time later. This encourages English working holidaymakers to take jobs in the many bars, clubs and stores around Sydney, as well as other transient jobs like fruit picking outside of the major cities. It's common to work a few months, then travel, and then work again. An easy way to fund your trip while meeting fellow travellers.

Peter found a job easily, installing office furniture around Sydney, while Joanne printed off her CV and went store to store looking for retail work in the main centre. She dropped the CV into the Dimmick's bookstore chain on George Street, and it wasn't long before the manager called her to start. They soon got into the swing of things and started making friends in Sydney. Joanne made some strong friendships at her job and started going out regularly. Her closest friend was Amanda, who was from New Zealand. They regularly went to the St Patrick's Tavern in central Sydney on Friday nights, and most

Thursday nights Joanne would go with her friends to the Cooper's Arms Hotel, a backpacker's in Newtown with a pool table, cheap drinks, and a fun mix of fellow travellers. She would stay the night at a friend's house sometimes with up to four other people, and then go to work in the morning from there. Peter didn't join her very often. He was more interested in planning the next leg of their adventure, and planning what sort of vehicle they needed for their big drive. Joanne had come out of her shell, and was even called a live wire by some of her friends

and workmates. It was on one of these nights out that Joanne tried ecstasy for the first time. Peter and Peter had never dabbled in recreational drugs, but the Sydney social scene was rife with party drugs, and they just went with the flow. Peter was restless, ready to take on the road, but Joanne wanted to prolong their stay in Sydney. Soon, their three months had almost become five. She was having too much fun to leave just yet.

Peter went to the Sydney Travellers Car Market, an underground car park in Kings Cross, especially for travellers to buy and sell vehicles. He had been told to try the market, rather than trawling the classifiers every week. He knew he would find the best vehicle for their trip, and he was excited. They would head down the east coast to Melbourne, across the Adelaide, and then up to Darwin. From there they would go across to Brisbane and sell the van. The plan was then to go over to New Zealand. Peter couldn't wait.

On a Saturday morning at the market, he spotted an orange Combi van that looked as though it had a new paint job. It looked well looked after, and after meeting the owners who had just finished their own backpacking tour of Australia, he took it for a test drive. It had around 85,000 miles, or 136,000km on the clock, which seemed too good to be true for a car 30 years old. The couple who owned it said it ran like a dream. It had a sink, a fridge, a fitted gas cooker, a camp bed in the back, and curtains across

the back window. They wanted $3,000 for it, but Peter wasn't a pushover. He knew his way around cars. He left it that day, thought about it, and within days he had bought the Combi for $1,800. Joanne was dubious about the old van. It didn't go over 80km per hour without shaking and shattering, and with around 5,000km or 3,000 miles in total to drive, many of them threw the desert. She didn't much like the idea.

But Peter was so confident, Joanne too became swept up in the excitement of their little home on wheels. Peter spent every spare minute tinkering with it. He installed a lamp in the back for reading, and a shelf under the dashboard for things like drinks, his vanilla inhaler, and his cigarettes. And Peter wasn't taking any chances with their money. He built a safety deposit box and was determined not to go through another incident like what happened in Cambodia.

On the morning of the 25th of June 2001, five months after they had landed in Australia, they left Sydney behind and set off south, driving through Canberra and onto Melbourne. It wasn't long before they had already travelled 1,500km, 932 miles, and found themselves in Adelaide. Six days before Peter and Joanne left for their trip, on the 19th of June 2001, on a remote stretch of road in Western Australia heading toward the South Australian border. 22 year old barmaid Julie was driving solo from Perth to Adelaide when she noticed a white four wheel drive approach her from behind in the rearview mirror.

She had consumed a lot of alcohol and was feeling weary. The four wheel drive overtook her and stayed in front of her, lighting up the road. She was grateful and at the next truck stop, a few hundred kilometres from the border, she stopped with the four wheel drive and met the male driver. They continued to stop at each truck stop when the driver shared speed, alcohol and cannabis with her to help her with the long drive. They agreed to stop over the border and camp the night. They stopped 200km over the South Australian border and parked next to each other.

They started chatting and realised that they knew some of the same people back in Perth. He seemed like a nice guy and when he set up his bed in the back of his ute under the heavy canvas canopy, Julie noticed how well equipped he was. He had everything he needed to live in that truck. Julie laid out a swag and slept between the two cars. Julie told the man she was meeting a friend and heading up to Alice Springs in a combi. She planned to travel in the van through the Barrow Creek area and visit Les Pilton, the owner of the Barrow Creek Roadhouse.

Julie said he was a top block. She remembers the man looking at her thoughtfully when she said this. They set off again in the morning and at their first stop of the day Julie mentioned she was looking to buy a revolver. She got spooked when the man pulled out a small silver gun and shot it into the bushes, asking if she wanted to buy it. Julie wasn't sure if she was spooked because of the man and the gun, or if it was just a come down of all the drugs she had taken the past 24 hours with him.

Either way, Julie had had enough and they parted ways. Joanne and Peter liked Adelaide, with its quiet, relaxed feel they saw most of the sights and took a walk down on Glenelg Beach. Glenelg Beach, apart from its whale watching and boardwalk, is most famed for the disappearance of the three Beaumont children, which resulted in one of the largest police investigations in the country and remains one of Australia's most infamous cold cases. They looked forward to driving through the Barossa Valley, the wine district of South Australia, responsible for a quarter of the country's wine production.

Adelaide has been referred to as the murder capital of Australia. A term shared in Chinese whispers through backpacker hostels all over the country. And whilst it has definitely had its fair share of bizarre murders and disappearances over the years, the Australian Institute of Criminology has said statistics don't support this claim at all. Studies actually show the Northern Territory is the murder capital of Australia. After visiting the Barossa Valley, Joanne and Peter travelled through Snowtown. See Case 19 for further information on that town.

The Stuart Highway is what lay ahead of them. It was a 17-hour drive to Uluru, and they knew that once they passed the sprawling towns past Adelaide, they would have little or no radio or mobile phone reception. It allowed them plenty of time to spend alone talking about what lay ahead, both on their trip and when they got back to the UK. Joanne knew that Peter was likely to propose before they got home, and she knew her life together back home was right for her. They stopped at Port Augusta for supplies for the desert drive ahead.

The drive to Cuba Petey, a town of 3,500 people, and the opal capital of Australia, if not the world, would give them a taste of the landscape to come in the Red Centre. Arid landscapes and hot springs, salt plains, sand dunes, and maybe even the odd stray camel. It was at this same time that three other British tourists were also doing a tour in a remote part of the country. They too were in a combi, but were a good 1,500km, 932 miles, northeast of Adelaide Springs, driving west towards Mount Isa, and further onto the Northern Territory border. Two women were in the front, and their male friend was lying down out of view in the back.

At first they were thrilled to see another driver in their revision mirror, but as he gained speed and drove close to their tail, they became spooked. The other vehicle was a white four-wheel drive with a green canvas canopy. The driver made the move to overtake the British backpackers. As he drew up alongside them, the driver leaned over at them with a long stare, before hitting the accelerator and speeding off. Filthy perv they thought. As they neared the top of a hill only a little further up the road, they got a fright to

see the same ute pulled to the side. The male driver was half out the door smoking a cigarette. As they passed him, he got back in his car and pulled back onto the road. Within a minute he was back on their tail. This time he felt so close they thought he was going to hit them. Once again he made the move to overtake, and as he pulled up alongside them, they looked over in horror as he held his hand up to his head, gesturing with two fingers he mimicked shooting himself.

They followed his gaze to the backseat of their combi, where their male friend had just put his head up to see what was going on. It was then that the man in the white four-wheel drive floored it and sped off. They were so spooked they discussed reporting it to police when they got to Mianoza, but they didn't end up reporting it for three weeks. Peter and Joanne's orange combi was slow and chugging, but it had been good to them, only backfiring a few times. Kubapeedy was unlike anywhere in the world they had ever seen.

The town, famous for its opal mining, had most residents living in bunker-type homes underground, a way to keep cool over long boiling hot days. Kubapeedy seemed like the middle of nowhere, and it was. A desolate, dusty speck in the vast desert. It even had to have water trucked in for the residents. It was no surprise for Peter and Joanne to learn that this is where Mad Max 3 was filmed. They treated themselves to staying at the local backpackers, where they slept in an underground room, not too different to a cave.

Joanne sent a postcard to her mum, stepdad Vincent, her brother Sam, and even the dog, saying they were looking forward to the hot weather up north. Both Joanne and Peter were good at staying in touch with their families back home, calling often, and always sending postcards from each major place they visited. A little further past Kubapeedy, the road takes you east along the hills to the dog fence. This 2m-high wire barrier stretches for over 5,300km, 3,293 miles, across three states, to protect the sheep country in the south from the native dog, the dingo. The desert-like moonscape along the fence, with its fossilised shells, grey soft-clade

dirt, and cracks that appear to be bottomless, has been nicknamed the Moon Plane. You get the feeling you're encountering a Mars landscape out there, a million miles from Earth. Huge rocky caverns, dry, dusty and cracked red desert floors as far as the eye can see. The occasional whirlwind, picking up dust and dry foliage in tiny, turbulent circles in the distance. Peter and Joanne were surprised how cold the desert was after the sunset, unbelievable that it was almost as cold as Huddersfield in the winter.

They were thousands of miles from home, and the landscape made them feel as though they were on another planet. They took a left turn at El Dunda towards Ilaru, and made it to the Yulara Campground in time to shower, eat and settle for the night. They decided to do the climbing walk of Ilaru, and wanted to do it at dawn to see the magical colours they had heard so much about, and to escape the scorching afternoon sun. They hadn't done a proper hike in ages, and the National Park around Ilaru, the Olgas and King Canyon was exactly what they were after.

It is difficult to stay at the Yulara Campground without thinking about the Azaria Chamberlain case, another infamous Australian case. Peter and Joanne also heard the standard campfire stories of man-eating crocodiles and the deadly snakes and spiders of Australia. Dawn at Ularu was as magical as they imagined. It was warm and clear, and when they reached the summit they took a picture of themselves. On July 11th, after hiking at the Olgas, they met Canadian backpackers Mark and Isabel, who were looking to travel to the King's Canyon, and then to Alice Springs, which is

the same plans Peter and Joanne had. Peter and Joanne invited them along, and they spent a couple of days together walking the sandstone gorges and the famous King's Canyon rim walk, before heading to Alice Springs, where they would part ways. Alice Springs would be their last major stop before Darwin. There, they would have creature comforts which they would utilise as much as possible before leaving on the last leg of their outback adventure. As the four travellers were approaching Alice Springs, Peter noticed the van pulling unusually

over to one side. They stopped, and Peter and Mark took a look at the steering road. They decided they would find a mechanic to take a look. Peter and Joanne dropped the Canadians off at their hostel and drove back out of town to a mechanic who said he should be able to see to it on the Friday morning, which happened to be Friday the 13th of July. Peter and Joanne stayed in a caravan park the next couple of nights. They used the couple of days in Alice Springs to sightsee and treat themselves to some creature

comforts. While in Alice, Peter called his parents, telling them everything was great and they were enjoying themselves. They met a couple who told them that they really shouldn't miss the Camel Cup races the next day. It was a yearly event in Alice, and the reason the town was buzzing with people. But Peter and Joanne weren't sure how they would fit the races in, and still leave Alice Springs in time to start the drive north towards Darwin before it got dark.

Peter and Joanne had also made a change to their plans. When they got to Darwin, Peter would fly on a loan to pop a new guinea to meet a friend for a walking trip. Joanne would fly to Sydney, then they would meet back up in Brisbane and fly to New Zealand together to meet her friend, Amanda. Early on Saturday the 14th of July, Peter picked up the convivian from the mechanics. The mechanic said that if they didn't push it too hard, it would easily make the journey. At 10am later that morning, Peter visited an accountant in Alice Springs, who told

him he owed the tax office money because he had been paying tax as an Australian resident, rather than as a non-resident while working in Sydney. Meanwhile, Joanne went to the library in Alice Springs to check her emails. Between 10.30am and 11am they met back up again to have breakfast together at the Green Frog Cafe. After breakfast at 11.30am, Joanne went to a pay phone and called her friend Amanda, who is in Sydney at the time. She told her that her and Peter were going to the Camel Cup races that afternoon.

Then they were heading back out into the sparse experience of the Aussie Outback. Peter and Joanne then went to the Alice Springs airport and purchased Joanne a return flight ticket going from Brisbane to Sydney. She collected her ticket, then they went on to the Camel Cup races for the afternoon. They were seen on video footage watching the races and the Miss Camel Cup beauty pageant. That same morning, Bradley Murdoch arrived in Alice Springs after camping the night before, 125km south at the Fink River Crossing. He was on one of his typical drug runs from South Australia to Broome.

He arrived at 10.30am. As always, the first thing he did was visit Red Rooster, then onto Kittle's garage to wash his car, then BBQ's galore, and then onto the BP petrol station to refuel. At 1.30pm he visited the repcoast store to buy some plastic fuel containers, then the Biolo supermarket at 2pm to purchase some provisions. He said he left Alice between 3pm and 3.30pm to travel back to Broome via the Tanamai track. It was after 3pm when Peter and Joanne realised how late it was. They raced back to the caravan park to shower and get on the road.

They went to the Red Rooster where they were seen by staff late in the afternoon. They would try and make it to a place called Devil's Marbles, also known as Kalu Kalu, another Aboriginal conservation reserve around 400km, 248 miles north of Alice. They wanted to see the sunrise over the marbles, but they knew in the slow combi it would take around 6 hours to get there, and they would have to split the driving shifts. They knew they shouldn't be driving at night, so were open to pulling over and sleeping if they had to. Joanne hated driving at night, mostly because of the kangaroos and other unpredictable wildlife.

As the sun started going down, Joanne got herself comfortable for the next leg of their adventure. She was driving, so Peter pulled out a book. They passed the last petrol station before exiting Alice, and then headed north. They knew they were behind schedule, but the trip had taught them to be laid back, and they didn't worry. Peter's head began to droop as they passed the right hand turn to the Tanamai track, just 20km up the road, which is the shortcut Murdoch and Heavy used.

Joanne put a CD on of Scottish rock band Texas, but it didn't keep Peter awake, so she suggested that he climb in the back, which he did, and before Joanne knew it, Peter was asleep. It was nearing 6pm when they approached the Tire Tree Roadhouse. Joanne was tired of driving, and the sun was setting in its vibrant colours across the sky. They were about half way, and she decided Peter could take over. She pulled over to the left, with the roadhouse on the right. Peter woke up, and got out as she made a drink.

They shared a joint as they watched the sunset. Peter got into the driver's seat, they did a U-turn back around to the roadhouse, where he bought some lollies and purchased fuel before heading back north again. The receipt was time stamped, 6.21pm. About 20 minutes down the road, they noticed a glow in the scrub on the side of the road. As they neared, they realised they were two small fires. Peter suggested that they stop to see what was going on, but Joanne begged him not to. She felt uneasy and a bit scared.

They saw two more, and this time Peter just kept driving without either of them saying a word. It was 7.30pm when they passed the Barrow Creek Roadhouse. Both a little buzzed from their joint and busy eating lollies, they drove straight by. Peter had put the Stone Roses CD in, and they were now passed halfway to their destination. Aboriginal tracker Teddy Egan, who will come up again later in this story, said that Indigenous Australians avoided Barrow Creek as it had bad spirits. Bad things happened there.

Horrific slayings had occurred in the area in the past, and it would forever carry a bad name. As they were passing Barrow Creek, Peter noticed headlights in his review mirror. Joanne turned around. They hadn't seen many people at all on the road, and on a moonless night, the lights were bright. As the vehicle approached, Peter slowed down, but the driver didn't pass. Peter complained that the lights were blinding him.

Joanne turned, but all she could see were the lights behind them. They were close, almost right at their back window. The car behind then accelerated and started to overtake them on the right. Only it didn't overtake. It kept at their speed, driving alongside. Joanne and Peter both looked to their right as the man slowly glanced over to them. He was pulling faces and gesturing wildly towards the back of their van. He wound down his window and started yelling out.

Peter and Joanne made out the words, sparks, and exhaust. Peter slowed down, as did the other driver. And as Peter pulled over to the left of the road, the white Toyota four-wheel drive with the dark green canvas canopy pulled up behind. Joanne didn't want to stop, but it happened so quickly. She didn't like the look of the guy. Peter immediately got out, leaving the door ajar, telling Joanne to stay put. With the door open, Joanne noticed how cold it was outside.

The interior light had stayed on, and Joanne looked back trying to hear what Peter and the other man were saying. As Peter bent down towards the exhaust, she heard the other man say he had been seeing sparks coming from their exhaust for a while back down the road. She heard Peter say, cheers mate, thanks for stopping. Joanne felt a quick sense of relief that the man had actually bothered to stop and tell them. Peter stood up and walked back to the driver's side door, opening it to reach under the dash

to grab his cigarettes. He then asked Joanne if she would rev the engine so they could see how bad it was. Peter walked to the back of the combi. Joanne got into the driver's seat and looked in the rearview mirror. She saw the man looking at her. She revved the engine, and it rattled loudly before she heard a loud bang. It sounded like it could have been the combi backfiring. She turned around quickly to see what had happened, but the man was at her window with

a gun pointed at her head. He pulled the door open and yelled at her to turn off the engine, but she fumbled and froze. The man pushed her across the seat as he started to climb in. She screamed for Peter as he angrily pushed her over and turned the combi off himself. He shoved Joanne right over to the passenger seat, and he got in behind the wheel. He leaned over grabbing her, telling her to put her head down and her hands behind her back.

She was in shock and struggled, so he started yelling, put your head between your legs and your fucking hands behind your back. She felt the end of his revolver hard up against the side of her head. She did as he said, and he fastened thick black plastic homemade handcuffs to her wrists. They were made out of cable ties and electrical tape. He opened the passenger door and threw it to the ground. Joanne hit the ground hard before he stepped out and got on top of her. She fought hard, kicking and screaming as he tried to tie her ankles together.

Over and over she would kick and scream out for Peter. As she kicked and thrashed, he tried harder and harder to tie her ankles together. Finally he let go of her legs, with one big blow he punched her hard in the side of the head before yanking her up and dragging her to his vehicle. He couldn't take the risk of someone driving past and seeing the mess he was in. It's unclear if Joanne blacked out at all, but she didn't notice whether Peter's body was lying anywhere between the two vehicles. The attacker pulled Joanne over to his vehicle, attempting to stretch wide electrical tape

over her mouth. She was thrashing and resisting as he struggled to find a face, and he got the tape stuck in her hair. Lifting up the corner of the back canopy, he retrieved a cloth bag which he shoved over her head. He opened the front passenger door of his four wheel drive and shoved her under the passenger seat. She was still screaming for help, screaming for Peter.

At this point she saw the dog in the front of the attacker's car, sitting on the driver's seat. The dog didn't move and didn't react to what was going on at all. The interior light was on and the man's face was only about 18 inches away from her. He had a scruffy face, grey specs all through his hair. His jaw was long and he had a mean scale. The next thing Joanne knew, she was in the back tray, under the canopy. She didn't know how she had gotten there.

Possibly he shoved her through the canopy on the side of the vehicle. She didn't know. She was lying on her stomach but rolled onto her back. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed a small light towards the back which she thought must have been the tail light. She heard the crunching of the ground under the man's feet outside. She heard scraping and dragging. She was absolutely terrified and for the first time had found some clarity over the seriousness

of the situation. She again found herself yelling for Pete. She heard the man say, be quiet or I'll fucking shoot you. It was at this point that Joanne became absolutely terrified that the man was going to rape her. She was more terrified of that than of him killing her. With the man still out of sight, she said, what is it you want? Is it money? The van?

Just take it. Are you going to rape me? Have you shot Pete? All she got in response was no. The dragging sound started up again and this is when she edged her feet towards the back of the U-Tray. Hanging her legs over the back, she waited until she heard nothing outside and she dropped herself over the edge, running for her life into the scrum on the west side of the highway.

She ran with her heart beating out of her chest for what seemed like forever, falling twice before not being able to run anymore. She hid under a bush that was about a metre tall and curled up into a ball. Her hands were still tied behind her back but she laid there motionless. She didn't want to move. Petrified he was going to come looking for her. She tried to control her breathing but the deafening silence meant that everything sounded loud to her.

The next thing Joanne knew, the man was flashing a torch around the area where she had run. The torch was lighting up areas close to where she was. She heard him say, good boy, stay. She could hear him crunch the gravel and then the sound changed as he stepped onto the undergrowth. She was shaking with terror and could not find it in herself to risk getting up and start running again in case he saw her. He continued sweeping his torch across the branches. Joanne expected he would find her any second.

He walked past her three times, not far from the bush she was curled under. But then he turned and walked back to the road. Joanne heard heavy sounds in the gravel and the man getting into his car. He slammed his door and started the engine. Slowly the white four wheel drive pulled out onto the road. But to her horror, instead of driving off, he backed up and faced the car so the headlights lit up the scrub. Joanne's whole body froze, he was looking for her again.

After what seemed like an eternity, he drove off. Confused and frightened, Joanne was too scared to move. It was at this time that a local family were driving south from a family trip. They'd had a flat tyre and received help from some nearby campers. By the time they got on the road again, it was dark. They drove slowly as they didn't want to risk another flat tyre, especially with nine people in the car. They saw another car approaching and commented how strange it was.

It didn't look like a tourist vehicle and it was strange to see locals driving out there at night. It was a white, high vehicle with a canopy. Not much further along, they noticed an orange convivian parked on the side of the road. They kept driving. Joanne, confused and disorientated, believed the man was coming back. She realized that the handcuffs he had put on her behind her back were fixed with cable tyres and tape.

She had a looped space of about ten centimetres in the middle. She twisted them around and tried to wriggle out, but she couldn't. She then tried to get her hands back up to her front and by curling her knees up to her chest and sliding her tired wrists down over her bottom and underneath her legs, she was able to pass one leg through at a time. She tried different ways to break the tyres, but nothing worked. She got the chapstick lip balm out of her pocket to grease up her wrists, but it was no use.

Joanne was sobbing and shaking. It was eleven degrees Celsius by then and she only had shorts and a shirt on. She remained hiding for over four hours in case he came back. She crawled towards the road where she hid in long grass. Enormous headlights then emerged up along the road. It was a 90 ton, three carriage road train travelling at a steady 90 kilometres per hour. She knew it couldn't be the man coming back. As it approached, she got herself up and took a couple of steps onto the road, holding her

handcuffed hands in front of her before stepping back to the road's edge and running alongside the truck. The driver saw her and slammed on the brakes. The truck took over one kilometre to stop. It was now 12.35am, Sunday the 15th of July. The driver, Vince Miller, was driving a load down from Darwin and his co-driver was asleep. At first he thought he had run Joanne over, but then he saw her running towards the truck hysterically sobbing.

He couldn't make much sense of what she was saying. She had cable tyres around her wrists and duct tape in her hair. He called out to his co-driver and together they helped her to remove everything. They knew something was wrong and they agreed to help her look around for her boyfriend who she was saying was missing. They disconnected the trailer and drove around noticing various different tyre tracks in the area. It wasn't until Joanne mentioned that the man had a gun that they stopped looking and

went for help. Three minutes after the truck had stopped for Joanne, 12.38am, a man bearing similar characteristics to Joanne's attacker was caught on security footage at the Shell truck stop in Alice Springs. The man purchased a large amount of fuel, ice and iced coffee. He paid $130 in cash. The driver left the roadhouse at 12.50am. The vehicle was a 75 series diesel Toyota Land Cruiser with a canvas canopy over the

tray. It was reported to be virtually identical to the vehicle that Murdoch owned at the time. Friends and family of Murdoch believe it was his vehicle and the man was him. At 1.30am, Joanne and her rescuers arrived at the Barrow Creek Roadhouse. The pub was open and the bar was busy. Vince Miller went inside and alerted the owner, Les Pilton. Pilton thought he was joking at first, but then rang the police. Joanne was terrified and didn't want to go inside the roadhouse.

Pilton made her a cup of tea and Joanne started to calm down, but she was still in shock. Kathy Curley, a barmaid, kept Joanne company. They took the Alice Springs police a couple of hours to get there. They arrived at 4.20am. They examined Joanne and her clothes, took statements and asked her lots of questions about what had happened. They noted that she was clearly in shock. They took her clothes as evidence so Joanne had to borrow some.

Miller drew a map for the police to show them where they had picked Joanne up. Joanne described her assailant to the police as being a tall man around 45 years of age. She said he had a longish face with deep-set eyes, sunken cheeks and scraggly hair coming out from under a black baseball cap. There was a lot of grey in his collar-length hair and he had grey flecks in his eyebrows and mustache. The mustache was Mexican style that drooped at the ends. His eyes were drooping and his face was very lined.

He wore a check pattern shirt with a dark t-shirt under it and heavy-duty trousers, possibly jeans. At 7am, Northern Territory Police launched a search for Peter and their gunmen. Senior Constable Abbott and Detective Sullivan set out with other officers to cordon off the scene. Together with Vince Miller, they looked for anything suspicious. They found a pool of blood covered with dirt beside the Stuart Highway. This blood was later DNA matched to Peter Falconeo.

The police also found the orange combi parked well off the road, 80 metres further on. It would be 8 hours after the last sighting of the attacker before Northern Territory Police set up checkpoints and roadblocks. It was entirely plausible the man had gone to ground or was hiding in a remote area of the outback. It was also possible he could have already gone into state. Around 12 roadblocks were eventually organised, covering the main routes from Catherine to the South Australian border to the Queensland border to the West Australian border.

Every roadhouse and cattle station in the area was also contacted. But the Tanamai Road was not blocked. Their prime concern at that stage was locating Peter Falconeo. The crime scene examiner from Alice Springs went to the Burrow Creek Roadhouse and interviewed Joanne, taking photos and videos of her injuries and taking DNA swaps. In the area around the crime scene, a team of officers walked 2 kilometres in both directions east and west of the road, doing a sweep of the land with sticks. Joanne's footprints being the only thing of note they found.

After this, Sergeant Bruce Grant and 8 other officers formed the team to comb even more of the area with metal detectors. For 6 days they searched, only finding rubbish. It would be 3 months later that a new search would locate the lid of Joanne's lip balm and some duct tape. A request was put in for Aboriginal trackers, but they were unable to get to the location for a few days. Joanne was taken to the spot where the combi was found to see if anything was out of place

and later taken to Alice Springs to help further with the investigation and to receive appropriate medical attention. Joanne didn't have a proper medical checkup for a couple of days. She was offered no cancelling, victim support or care. The Northern Territory Police were scratching their heads. They found her story so unbelievable that there was an air of uncertainty amongst the officers over whether or not she was telling the truth. No one was advising Joanne on what she should and shouldn't say to the press.

She was becoming increasingly anxious. Apart from the pool of blood, there was not a single trace of Peter or any of the belongings he had on him. Alice Springs Detective Colleen Gwynn received a call in the middle of the night from her Sergeant who said, a bloke is missing and his girlfriend reckons that someone shot him, but she's okay. Colleen had been back in Alice Springs for 6 months after a year working in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

She was a tough woman who had seen a lot. In Port Moresby, when she would go on her daily run, she would be accompanied by an armed guard with a rifle. She had a rate gate fitted on her living quarters. There were huge drug and alcohol issues there and attacks were common. A female cop was a good target. Colleen had no idea what she, the rest of the police or the town of Alice Springs were in for.

Away from all over the world would take no time to land in the town. There was an attractive English girl, small and shy, recounting a story that defied belief, escaping a nightmare attack in the middle of the desert by a huge man with a gun that had tied her up and shot her boyfriend. Everyone wanted the story and they dissected every word. Most of these people were dubious. Joanne remained tight-lipped to the media. She gave only one interview directly after the incident while still at the roadhouse,

but later her story changed while recounting details with the police, although she was in shock and could be forgiven for her slightly confusing account. Although the Falconios had given short press conferences in the immediate aftermath of the event, Joanne kept away. This pleaded a seed of doubt that would grow within the media. The girlfriend of the missing man not speaking for ten days. When Joanne gave an official press conference, there was a request for public help. She wore a t-shirt with the words Cheeky Monkey across the chest.

Although the press and the public found this hard to swallow, Joanne would reveal that the police had taken all her clothes and belongings and so she had practically nothing to wear. She never gave the shirt a second thought, but the press had a field day with it. Back home in England, the tabloids printed headlines, horror trips down under, reminding people of the terrifying backpacker murders as well as other attacks. People started to feel a reminiscence to Lindy Chamberlain and her cool, sometimes negative demeanor to the press and the public in the wake of the disappearance of her baby, Azaria. Joanne was not too different, avoiding the media and speaking through Falconios' brother

Paul who had arrived from England. Unfortunately for Joanne, inconsistencies in her story started to appear. The lack of explanation to the media caused them to draw their own conclusions from the information they had. Her description of the dog was muddled. People couldn't understand how she got her hands from the back to the front. She came across as cool and aloof in the midst of her world falling apart. When CCTV footage finally came out of the man who fit the description stopping for petrol

in the early hours of July 15th, Joanne initially told police it wasn't her attacker, then changed her mind and said it was. The media and the public saw it as Joanne being untrustworthy, even lying. Responding to early public alarm and media scrutiny, Commander Bob Fields, who led the investigation in its early weeks, relied on an analogy to explain the magnitude of the task that lay ahead. Quote, we're looking for a needle in a haystack and you don't get a haystack much bigger than the Northern Territory.

These accounts suggested a crime of opportunity, perhaps even impulse. The backpackers were in the wrong place at the wrong time, so the suspect population was defined merely by its capacity to be at the crime scene on that particular evening. The case was no ordinary investigation. There was unrelenting media attention in Australia and abroad. Police promised an extremely proactive inquiry, stating that they were determined to leave no stone unturned. There had been no further leads on Peter's body.

Aboriginal tracker Teddy Egan found signs of stones kicked over and footprints belonging to Joanne. Although he said that tracking humans was a lot easier than tracking animals because humans make such a mess, neither he nor the three other trackers used by police found any trace of Peter or the attacker. A photo fit had already been released based on Joanne's description, and on August 3rd another one was released showing how the man would look without a mustache and with short hair.

Joanne stayed in Alice Springs to help with the investigation for a few weeks before travelling back to England. This was viewed by some as her running away. But something else would start to evolve in the story that would take Joanne by total surprise and she would be so scared she would not tell a single soul until sometime later. The day before she was due to leave Alice Springs and return home, she was at the local RSL club for dinner with Paul Faulconio, Peter's brother. They had always had two police chaperones with them to protect them.

At around 8pm Joanne received a call from the police asking her to come down and give an interview. She was confused and scared. Throughout the interview she started to feel that she was being suspected. They asked her to clarify inconsistencies in her statement. It became apparent they were trying to get a confession out of her. The interview ended with them saying they wanted to get closure for Peter's family and could she tell them where the body was.

She felt betrayed and scared. She didn't want to tell the Faulconios because she was worried what they would think. While appearance, vehicles, movements and personality require time to observe and are fairly easy to disguise, DNA is impossible to mistake. A tiny cut on the back left sleeve of Joanne's t-shirt gave police the opportunity to use DNA identification. The resulting tiny brown smudge in an otherwise unstained section of the light blue t-shirt yielded the only significant DNA profile in the investigation up to that point.

It didn't match Peter, Joanne or her rescuers. It was a full profile belonging to an unknown male. This DNA profile was obtained in the police forensic lab in Darwin just a few days after the attack. It was plugged into the Australian DNA register but no match was found. Swabs taken from the gear stick, steering wheel and cuffs were tested. A little DNA was found to be present but the process was not sensitive enough to provide a reliable result.

However, the results did provide partial matches to the same unknown male whose profile was found on Joanne's t-shirt but they needed more testing to be done to link those pieces of evidence. So, the investigators had the assailants DNA profile but it didn't match anyone on the database. A little used alternative when there is no database match is a public appeal for volunteers to provide samples. There had only been two significant mass screenings of DNA in Australia at that time.

One being the screening of Perth taxi drivers in Claremont. A mass screening would also be used soon after this case on Norfolk Island whilst investigating Janelle Patton's motor. However, these initiatives were aimed at tightly defined and geographically narrow groups who were susceptible to both social pressure and a degree of police surveillance. But the geographical and social scope of this case was too wide and a public appeal for DNA wasn't going to work. The $250,000 reward for any information leading to a conviction and strategy of drip feeding

the media to generate new interest yielded over 2,500 phone calls in the first three weeks of the investigation. Before long, their person of interest list totaled several thousand names. Unfortunately the task force had trouble dealing with the influx of information and it was difficult also that Joanne's description of the attacker, although vivid in her mind, was somewhat generic. The initial Northern Territory Police investigation came under fire when in October 2001, three months after the disappearance of Peter, another examination of the crime scene found the lid

of the lip balm belonging to Joanne as well as duct tape the attacker had attempted to place on her. Colleen Gwynne would remember the investigation later saying quote, there was nothing about what the Northern Territory Police were doing at the time that was actually very flattering or made us look like a group of people who knew what we were doing. The police carried out covert suspect DNA testing with help from police officers across the country over the next year. There were approximately 30 people from the list of suspects who were considered hot prospects

based on their proximity to the crime scene description and vehicle. So this is who they focused on. The other crucial piece of evidence they focused on was the CCTV footage captured at the truck stop the night of the attack. Joanne's initial reaction to the footage was the man's too old, though enhanced footage shown to her later led her to concede he's somewhat of a man I described. Police believed it was significant that after the stills were released to the public, no one claimed to be the man pictured.

So he had somehow missed all the publicity or he had decided not to come forward out of fear of being linked to the Barrow Creek incident. Although there was one man who received phone calls from friends and family after stills of this CCTV footage were released to the media. Bradley Murdoch's father called him and said he had seen him on the TV. The good thing for Joanne and the investigation was that the man on the footage did fit her description. Examination of the footage revealed that not only was the vehicle a Toyota Land Cruiser

but it was a particular model, a HZJ75 series manufactured between May 1991 and November 1999. A list of registered owners of such vehicles included Bradley Murdoch, who had purchased a white 93 HZJ75 Toyota Land Cruiser second hand. Murdoch was also one of 36 men who callers had claimed to recognise as the man in the truck when the images were released. With this information, the police visited Murdoch in his broom flat on the 1st of November 2001.

While there are now official descriptions of this visit, one journalist's account is that local police officers attended on behalf of the task force. According to the account, Murdoch chatted politely with the officers who reported back to the task force that neither Murdoch nor his vehicle resembled Joanne's descriptions. Broom police collected information around town about Murdoch and tried to get information from close acquaintances. Although both housemate and drug-running mate Heppy and girlfriend Beverly Allen would later admit to Murdoch's absence from the broom area at the weekend of the crime and

his strange behaviour in the day's following, they didn't volunteer this information to police at the time. Murdoch was not asked for a DNA sample on the day as far as the record shows, but they did ask him to participate in an ID parade, to which he declined. Murdoch stayed on the list of suspects, but with no escalation. So after four months with the original investigation not getting very far, and constant criticisms of bungled police work, a new team needed to be formed. Colleen Gwynn was handed the reins of being chief investigator.

She knew that the original investigation could have been better managed, but there were not enough resources for a crime and manhunt of that magnitude. Colleen described receiving the case as a huge sugar rush followed by extreme crashes with periods of insomnia. She didn't feel very confident. She felt she didn't have a strong team of players on the Northern Territory Police Force, and Peter and Joanne's family in the UK had lost confidence in their ability. So she built a small, strong task force of officers she believed would help her solve

the case. When she took over the task force, the roadblocks had long been lifted and the trail was well and truly cold. So the investigators faced the difficult job determining movements and appearances of potential suspects from months earlier. The timing of the Barrow Creek attack, at night in the middle of the weekend, worked against relying on employment records. Instead, inquiries would turn on the recollections of potential suspects and their acquaintances,

as well as circumstantial evidence derived from documents such as receipts and video footage. The first step was to compile a list of persons and vehicles of interest, re-interview as many people as they could, and re-examine the scene. The task force had a lot of potential suspects that fit Joanne's description of her attacker. A British documentary later quoted the view of local police that the published photo fit looked like a third of the population of the Northern Territory. A local newspaper said, quote, there is no shortage of white four-wheel drive utilities

on top-end roads, as the vehicle of choice of both the bushy and the office worker who enjoys a weekend fish. Colleen Gwynn said the case got very real for her when she got dropped off alone at the scene of the crime and walked into the scrub to where Joanne was hiding alone. She got her colleagues to drive away. She could hear her own heartbeat and said that she had never been so terrified or vulnerable in all her life. She wanted to cry.

Even though she could use her phone at any time to call someone to come and get her. The task force analysed government and commercial records to identify approximately 17,000 people in transit in the Northern Territory in the weeks surrounding the attack. However, this methodology would not have detected people who were avoiding or simply not using public and private services. Many outback travellers would fit this category, including Murdoch, who was running cannabis from South Australia to Broome and always took stringent measures to avoid surveillance. The task force relied heavily on tips and informal ways of getting information, like chatting

to the public. Colleen flew to England to meet Joanne and the Falconeo family. She knew that Joanne had no confidence in the Northern Territory police. After a 12-hour interview, Colleen ascertained that there was no problem with Joanne's account of the incident. She was clear and her memory was strong. She found Joanne's recollection of small details uncanny. She heard no inconsistencies and from that moment on was convinced that the problem was

bad investigation. She believed Joanne was an amazing witness and regained her trust. The task force got their break on the 17th of May 2002. Police pulled over James Heppy after receiving a tip and found four kilos of cannabis in his ute. He was facing a lengthy prison term, so he decided to start talking. Heppy informed police he had once seen his former business partner, Bradley Murdoch, making handcuffs with cable ties, apparently identical to the ones used to bound Joanne.

He also said that Murdoch had once told him how he would dispose of a body, in a spoon drain like those on the edge of the Tanamai track. Other information Heppy gave was that Murdoch was on a drug run the weekend of the attack and when he arrived in Broom, he had mentioned he had gotten into some unspecified trouble during the run. He also dramatically changed his vehicle and his appearance immediately afterward. It was at this same time police learnt that Murdoch had fallen out with his brother Gary. So armed with this information, police asked Gary if he would provide a sample for DNA

analysis, which he did, possibly because he didn't believe his brother was responsible. Gary's DNA result confirmed that Bradley Murdoch was their suspect, as they had a partial DNA match. This match proved that the person who won the blood smudge on Joanne's t-shirt was a blood relative of Gary's. The police soon learnt that Gary had called Murdoch straight after the test and warned him that the police were after him. Murdoch disappeared, and he knew the area like no other.

It wasn't until several months later, the 22nd of August 2002, that Murdoch was arrested in South Australia for an unrelated case, the rape and abduction of a mother and daughter near Swan Reach. This offence allegedly occurred only weeks after Peter and Joanne's attack at Barrow Creek. A paranoid Murdoch bound a young girl and her mother so tightly with handcuffs, chains and ties that he had to use tools to free them. The mother was an acquaintance of Murdoch, and welcomed him often to her home in South

Australia. It was alleged that her and her daughter were kidnapped and sexually assaulted in a panicked idea Murdoch had to use them as insurance if the police closed in on him. He subjected them to a 25 hour ordeal, fuelled by drugs and alcohol, before finally letting them free. After his arrest for this crime, the task force investigating Peter's murder was finally able to catch up with Murdoch, and they were able to get his DNA. While Murdoch was in prison in Adelaide, Colleen and her team flew down to question him.

Colleen said, We arrived at the prison, the media was everywhere outside. I walked through the three sets of secure doors, my heart is beating like it wouldn't believe. I finally got to meet this man. Colleen was not just overcome with the intensity of meeting the murderer of an investigation that had consumed her, but also with a surprising and personal connection to her past that saw her having to battle demons she had not anticipated. Colleen said, There was a remarkable resemblance between my father, who was the most intimidating

and violent man who I've ever had anything to do with. My past flashed before me, and at the same time Murdoch was playing a game of intimidation with me. He stood over me, this tall intimidating figure, and I was so small under his frame. He was yelling at me, he was spitting on my face. And I was never going to take a backward step. And I didn't. I played the game and I won.

He took the backward step. In November 2002, police flew to the UK and Joanne was shown a photo board containing 12 photographs, including one of Murdoch. That process was filmed and a transcript produced. The officer conducting the exercise advised Joanne the following. What I propose to do is show you a number of photographs of persons. You should take as much time as you require and look at all the photographs before making a decision.

The person involved in the incident on 14 July 2001 may or may not be amongst these photographs. If you see a photograph of the person, you should indicate to me which photograph it is by clearly pointing to it or by touching the photograph. Do you understand? Joanne nodded and pointed to a photograph and said, I think it's number 10. That photograph was of Bradley Murdoch. The DNA was sent to England for testing by leading forensic examiner Dr Jonathan Whitaker

of Britain's Forensic Science Service based in West Yorkshire. He used what was then a new DNA technique called low copy number DNA analysis. Dr Whitaker was able to establish a DNA profile from previously undiscovered traces. More new traces that the Australian lab was unable to test. Australian forensic experts had already established that the DNA on the t-shirt was an exact match to Murdoch. 150 trillion times more likely to have come from Murdoch than anyone else. But they were unable to link his DNA to the handcuffs.

Dr Whitaker using his low copy method was able to retest the DNA found on the innermost layer of tape used to construct the handcuffs. He found it was 100 million times more likely to have come from Murdoch than anyone else. Dr Whitaker also carried out tests on swabs taken from the gear stick of the combi and found a partial DNA profile matching Murdoch. After a trial in the South Australian District Court in Adelaide, Murdoch was found not guilty of raping and abducting a woman and her 12 year old daughter. He was immediately arrested for the murder of Peter Falconeo and the unlawful detention

of his girlfriend Joanne Lees. Murdoch was extradited to Darwin where he was charged with murder and kidnapping. In May 2004, media descended on Darwin to cover the committal hearing of Bradley Murdoch. At this hearing it would be decided if there was sufficient evidence to send Murdoch to trial. It would take three weeks to hear witness testimonies and other evidence before a decision was made. During the committal, the Director of Public Prosecutions hired a PR firm to facilitate

the needs of the media, ensuring coverage didn't prejudice the trial and that the Northern Territory Justice System was seen as professional. To cope with the demands of the trial and the huge media contingent, the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin was renovated at a cost of $900,000. Two witnesses gave evidence at the committal hearing who claimed to have seen Peter Falconeo on July 22, 2001, a week after what was now known as the Barrow Creek Incident, the attack on Peter and Joanne. The couple Robert Brown and Melissa Kendall said they were working at a service station

2,500 kilometers away in Burke, outback New South Wales. They said a man they recognized as the missing tourist from newspaper photographs entered their shop. Robert and Melissa both said they were certain it was him. He was travelling with another man and a dog in a dark green utility vehicle. Robert said he noticed a slight accent and that he was not Australian. He said the man bought a chocolate bar and a drink. The man's companion was a very rough-looking person, skinny with dark hair, olive skin

and a dirty white t-shirt covered with red dust, who bought two packets of dog biscuits. Melissa said she was shocked and didn't know what to do. She had seen a photograph of Falconeo in the newspaper that day and immediately recognized him. Peter's mother Joanne and brother Nick left the court and remained outside for most of this testimony. Robert and Melissa's account of the sighting varied. Melissa described the man in his late 20s as solid with a shaved head and dark stubble,

a fair complexion and an injury to the left side of his face. Robert meanwhile described the man as being in his early 30s, solid with sandy coloured short hair and an injury to the right side of his face. Melissa said she sold the missing man a drink and then told Robert after he had left the shot what happened. The son was still up at the time. Robert meanwhile said the man was still in the shot when Melissa came and got him and he sold him a coke and a Mars bar and that it was getting dark when he left.

Melissa stated she didn't notice if he spoke with an accent whereas Robert recognized he had an accent but he couldn't place it. Melissa was adamant it was Falconio she saw that day. She said the people were acting very strangely and she was unsure what she should do. The people he was with, a man and a woman, were in an open back truck which they parked out of sight of the office part of the petrol station. They had to stretch the fuel hose right out to make it reach. It was as if they didn't want to be seen.

She stated that Robert and her both went out very carefully to look at them. The other man who was with the guy who looked like Peter matched the photo fit pictures the police had put out. She said when they drove off they didn't drive out onto the main road, they went up a back lane which led off in the direction of Brisbane. The policeman who took their statement apparently mocked them and made a comment about Elvis. Although labelled as a red herring this sighting fits in with rumours that had started circulating at the time.

Conspiracy theories that Peter Falconio had faked his own death because he had money troubles at home. A story that was spurred on by the tax agent in Alice Springs telling him he owed money for tax in Australia, so he faked his own death but never expected his story to make international headlines. Joanne and Peter's family have made repeated pleas for the rumours to stop. Murdoch's lawyer, Grant Algee, raised the fake death scenario when he suggested that the British couple had stopped by the side of the road near Barrow Creek to meet with

the third man, who they had arranged to take Peter away alive. What would also emerge was the secret Joanne had been keeping. Joanne admitted she and a friend called Nick overstepped the boundary of friendship back in Sydney, but that had now ended. She had confided in Peter's brother back in 2001 about this, but she had not wished to personally tell his parents. She let Paul Falconio do that. There was never spoken about, but Joanne knew she had the full support of the Falconio family.

During the cross-examination of Joanne by Murdoch's defence attorney, Grant Algee, she was asked if she had a sexual relationship with Nick while her and Peter were living together in Sydney. Joanne replied, I'm going to answer yes, but I wouldn't classify it as an affair or a relationship. Nick was an Irishman Joanne had met on a night out in Sydney. When she was staying over with friends on her Thursday night out in Newtown, it was actually Nick's place where the group of friends would stay, and it would be Nick who

she would have coffee with at the cafe before getting the train to work on a Friday. Their affair grew in intensity, but Joanne wasn't sure if it was merely the thrill or if she truly had feelings for Nick. She briefly flirted with the idea of leaving Peter for Nick, but deep down she knew Nick was just playing the field, a young single guy who was about to leave Sydney and go travelling again. She soon dismissed the idea as a silly thought. They had a farewell together in Sydney and Nick set up a secret hotmail account under

the name Steph so that she could secretly email him without Peter knowing. She was then asked in court if she had emailed Nick or Steph when she was in Alice Springs to make arrangements to meet up with him in Berlin, to which Joanne said, no, she had merely made a suggestion. The media enjoyed the news of the affair immensely. Joanne also denied that she and Peter had an argument at the Backpackers in Alice Springs the night before reaching Barrow Creek, or that there was trouble in their relationship. She saw the affair with Nick more as a blip on her and Peter's otherwise smooth five-year

relationship. Murdoch's defence team were using the affair to try and plant reasonable doubt. Joanne was questioned at length about her account of the breed of dogs she saw on the front seat and why she had changed her mind over what breed the dog was. Her initial description of the dog at the time of the incident was medium-sized brown and white, or black and white and short-haired, which would then change the following day to medium-sized blue-healer brown and white, short-haired. Joanne explained that when she was taken to the Roadhouse at Barrow Creek and met Kathy

Curley, the barmaid who had been comforting her, she also met Kathy's dog, which she felt resembled the attacker's dog, and Kathy's dog was a blue-healer. Although more Dalmatian in appearance, Murdoch's dog was a Dalmatian blue-healer cross. After extensive back and forth, it was decided by the court that Joanne had identified Murdoch's dog. With the evidence heard at the committal, it was decided there was enough evidence to proceed to trial. The trial was set to start in October 2005.

Joanne would run for eight weeks and hear from 85 witnesses and have more than 300 exhibits tended. The world would see a very different Joanne Lees at the trial. Instead of ignoring the media and hiding in the back seat of a car and being hurriedly swept into an underground car park and back entrance of the court, Joanne would walk the front steps of the court, happily greeting the press. On the morning Joanne was due to give evidence a trial, a policewoman approached her and told her that back in Alice Springs, during the first few weeks of Peter's disappearance,

the Northern Territory police had bugged her room. The officer's justification for the bugging was in case her attacker tried to contact her. Joanne was livid. She paced up and down the room, swearing and crying. Then suddenly she decided she needed to focus her anger, channel it towards the person that caused all of this. And that was Bradley Murdoch. Murdoch formally pleaded not guilty to the murder and to assaulting Joanne and depriving

her of her liberty. He sat behind a glass enclosure flanked by two officers who stayed with him every minute. As Murdoch stood, he towered above them. Murdoch was described as having an immensely strong presence. He sat filling out exercise books, concentrating intensely as he studied the evidence and maps. He sat behind the glass watching Chief Justice Judge O'Brien Martin, prosecutor Rex Wilde, his own defense barrister, Grant Algy, the six men and six women of the jury, plus the

three reserve jurors. And sometimes he would glance over at the public gallery, where in the front rows sat Luciano and Joan Falconeo, and behind them, Joanne Lees. On day one, Murdoch shook his head as Joanne walked to the witness box. The prosecution presented the video footage that was captured at the Alice Springs truck stop in the early hours of July 15, 2001. Just the hours after the murder of Peter Falconeo. The defense argued that this footage could have been of anyone.

The judge ordered the jury to dismiss defense arguments and to accept the prosecution statement that the man in the video was in fact Murdoch, but stressed that this alone was not enough to convict Murdoch of the murder. They presented that Murdoch boasted to friends about how he would be able to easily make handcuffs from cable ties and actually explain to people how someone would be able to attack Joanne, kill her and get away with it. They also highlighted Murdoch was an admitted drug courier who always had a gun on him. Several eyewitnesses including a mechanic stated that Murdoch had major modifications

made to his car in August 2001, just weeks after the attack. Experts testified that road conditions across the top end of the Northern Territory were good on July 14 and July 15, 2001, making it possible to complete the trek from Alice Springs to Broom in less than 16 hours. And Murdoch actually had 20 hours to make that drive, so it was well and truly possible. Narcotics experts testified that people who are regular users of amphetamines are capable of driving up to 36 hours with high levels of concentration. It also came out that prior to Murdoch's arrest, police were tipped off by four different

people that he was the killer. British forensic scientist Dr Jonathan Whitaker took the witness stand to talk about the test he had carried out in his lap after receiving items of DNA. He confirmed the positive match for Murdoch to the bloodstain on Joanne's t-shirt, as well as the match to the blood found on the gear stick of the combi. He stated he did tests on the layers of the black tape that made up the cable ties, in particular the inner layers of the tape. And on one particular swab that he tested, he found a partial DNA profile.

Although not a complete match, he was able to calculate the probability that that particular DNA was 100 million times more likely to be Bradley Murdoch's than any other person in the population. Dr Whitaker was an expert in low copy number testing, or LCN. When you have very, very low amounts of DNA to test, he is able to extract what is there. It was a different type of test to the ones already carried out in Darwin, and in fact it's only been in use since 1999 in the UK. Dr Whitaker is one of the scientists that perfected this technique.

The high sensitivity of the tests put the result into question because of the probability of cross-contamination of other DNA. Grant Algee, Murdoch's defense lawyer, raised a lot of questions about the potential for cross-contamination between the cable ties in particular and other possessions that belonged to Murdoch, stating that the cable ties had been stored in the same freezer as a known profile of DNA from Murdoch. Thus, the sample was contaminated. The defense had a slew of arguments.

Their main defense was in relation to the DNA evidence, that the forensic labs that conducted all DNA testing in this case were not up to accreditation standards, and hence all DNA tests were unofficial, and that DNA from some samples could have contaminated others. They argued that DNA was mixed up, and when items were recovered at the scene three months after the incident, they must have been planted by police. They argued that both Peter and Joanne were heavy users of marijuana and occasional users of ecstasy.

They had a joint just 20 minutes prior to the offense, so Joanne may have been stoned at the time. They continued to point out the misidentification of the breed of dog and Joanne's confusion over the description of her attacker's vehicle, compared to what Murdoch's vehicle looked like at the time of his arrest. The prosecution had to remind the court of the changes Murdoch made to his vehicle prior to that arrest. Murdoch argued that he did not have a compartment from which he could go from inside his vehicle

to the back tray. Joanne had not been sure how she'd came to be in the back tray, and suggested that this could have been how. The defense made the point that police, nor aboriginal trackers, had found any trace of Peter's body. They also argued that Joanne did not have injuries consistent with the type of attack she suffered. The defense then said that Murdoch, Peter and Joanne were all positively identified

at the same fast-food restaurant, Red Rooster, in Alice Springs on the day of the attack. So Joanne and Murdoch may have bumped into each other there. The prosecution argued that the times they were seen were different. But even if this was true, they did bump into each other. This would only account for finding contact DNA, whereas they had Murdoch's blood. Murdoch claimed that he had been set up by James Hepi, that Hepi was gunning for a deal to reduce his own jail sentence, and the police were trying to pin the murder on him. James Hepi's ex-girlfriend, Rachel Maxwell, told the court that she met Bradley Murdoch

a number of times in 2001. She said she saw Murdoch and Hepi with a gun at Hepi's property at Sedan in South Australia. The gun had a silver barrel and wooden handle, kind of like a gun you see in a Western, a John Wayne-style gun. When Joanne gave evidence at the beginning of the trial, she described the gun used in her attack as having a silver barrel and looking like a Western-style gun. Julie McPhail was then called to the stand. Julie was the 22-year-old barmaid who had driven alongside Murdoch, shared drugs with

him, and camped with him one night four weeks before the incident at Barrow Creek. She told the court that she shared a campsite with Murdoch on June 19, 2001. It was there that she told Murdoch of her plans to travel in a convivian through the Barrow Creek area with a friend. As she was a witness, she was not allowed to hear other evidence given in the court. So that's why Julie said it was only that week, the week of the trial, when she read snippets of Joanne's book, which featured in the Herald Sun newspaper, that she realized how close she may have been to tragedy.

She stated that even the way Murdoch drove beside Joanne and Peter's combi was eerily similar to her own experience. She confirmed that Murdoch had scared her off when he pulled out a gun and fired her into the bush. Beverly Allen, Murdoch's girlfriend, said that Murdoch showed her the newspaper page containing the CCTV images. She was pretty convinced that it was Murdoch and his vehicle on the front page. But Murdoch sat her down and pointed out all the differences of the vehicle.

Murdoch also said that he was telling a camper trailer, so it could not have been him. But Beverly said that the picture of the person concerned her because it just looked like Murdoch. When asked what made her think that, Beverly said, I just remember the way he walked, the way he sort of held himself, you know, his body posture. When James Hepi took the witness stand, he stated that in August 2001 he saw the same newspaper images seen by Beverly Allen. He said the images on the front page of the newspaper were discussed between him and Murdoch. Murdoch also denied to Hepi that it was him or his four wheel drive in the images.

In court, Hepi was shown in the same images. Asked if he recognized the man in the picture, Hepi responded that it was Murdoch. Asked how he recognized him, Hepi said he knew by the stance, by the look, and by the mustache. Hepi also said Murdoch had told him the best place to bury a body was in a spoon drain and that he saw Murdoch making cable tie handcuffs. After his testimony, Hepi and Murdoch shared this exchange in the courtroom. Murdoch, you're a fucking liar.

Hepi, fuck you. Judge, alright, thank you, that's enough. When Murdoch took the stand, he was relentlessly cross-examined by the prosecutor, Rex Wilde, who questioned Murdoch in close detail about his movements in Alice Springs on Saturday, the 14th of July, 2001. Murdoch admitted he was in Alice Springs that day, but he left around half past three and was hundreds of kilometers away when the attack occurred. Rex Wilde challenged Murdoch about the timing of his trip on the Tainamai track, suggesting

it could have been much quicker than he claimed. Murdoch testified that he took 24 hours to travel the 1,100 kilometers, 683 miles from Alice Springs to Halls Creek, saying he'd let the tires down because of the rough track and had to stop twice for repairs. After further questioning, Murdoch raised his voice at the prosecutor, you're pinpointing me on a hell of a lot of things here that was a long, long time ago. Murdoch repeatedly denied it was him in the shell truck stop security footage, and he gave numerous reasons why the man and the vehicle in the footage were different.

But after more cross-examination, he started to admit that there were similarities. He admitted that parts of the vehicle were similar, like the shape and the height of the vehicle. He admitted that the wheels and the rims were the same, but said the tires and zips on his canopy were not the same as the one in the video. When asked directly if it was his vehicle, Murdoch said firmly, it's not my vehicle, because I know I was not there at that particular time. The jury would then show the video footage, the prosecutor said it looked like Murdoch,

to which he replied, the image looked like a lot of people. Murdoch was then reminded that his own father called him to tell him he had seen him on the television. When asked to explain his DNA on Joanne's t-shirt, Murdoch simply said, I can't. Another deeming piece of evidence was found when an officer of the task force meticulously trawled through the thousands of belongings confiscated as evidence from Murdoch's car and trailer. The officer found a single twisted hair tie with a silver clip that Joanne had lost in

her struggle to get away. It was wrapped around Murdoch's shoulder-gun holster. When presented with this small elastic at trial, Murdoch recalled and wouldn't touch it. During their closing argument, the prosecution said that Murdoch saw Joanne and Peter while in Alice Springs and believed they were following him, so he drove behind them as they travelled along the Stuart Highway and then stopped them because he feared they may be spying on him and may contact police in relation to his drug-running.

After stopping them, he panicked and killed Peter, then abducted Joanne, bonding her with cable ties and putting her in the back of his vehicle, after which Murdoch was trying to dispose of Peter's body. Joanne then escaped into surrounding trouble and Murdoch searched for her with his dog and a flashlight, but gave up. Murdoch then buried Peter in a place unknown in the Central Australian Outback, having wrapped Peter's head with Joanne's denim jacket so as to prevent any blood getting in his vehicle.

Then Murdoch panicked, and rather than driving through the bush straight to Broom, he drove all the way back to Alice Springs, where he was spotted on closed-circuit television at a truck stop, hitting suppliers before heading out to Broom, where he travelled non-stop at great speed, taking amphetamines to keep himself awake and alert. Murdoch then altered his physical appearance as well as his vehicle's appearance so as to avoid detection, and immediately stopped running drugs because he feared that he might be linked to the Murdoch. The prosecution said that there was no evidence whatsoever of any police corruption or planting

of evidence, and urged jurors to dismiss any suggestions as an unfounded conspiracy theory. They said that all of the evidence pointed to one obvious conclusion, that Murdoch killed Peter Falconeo, and that whilst nobody had been found yet, it would be eventually, it was only a matter of time. They asked the jury to ignore the evidence of the sightings of Peter after the attack, to dismiss them as not accurate, highlighting discrepancies in the stories of the various people who said they saw him alive.

The DNA was a match, there was no chance that it was not Murdoch's DNA, and hence the jury must find him guilty. In their closing argument, the defense said that Peter Falconeo faked his own death, and that when Peter and Joanne stopped by the side of the road near Barrow Creek, it was to meet with a third man of description unknown in order to take Peter away, alive. Police planned evidence with the assistance of Murdoch's former drug-running partner James Heppy, who had both motive and opportunity to frame Murdoch. They pointed to the lack of a body, the alleged sightings of Falconeo in the days thereafter,

the inconsistency of Joanne's testimony, and the poor police procedures in handling evidence. They suggested to the jury that from time to time, for reasons best known to themselves, people just disappear. Sometimes they are found again, sometimes they aren't. After all of the evidence was heard, Judge Brian Martin gave the following instructions to the jury. How you approach the evidence is a matter entirely for you.

There are many issues that have been raised for your consideration. You may or may not be able to resolve all the issues. You must put aside the flamboyant suggestions of counsel that we do not need experts from the mother country to teach us colonials a thing or two. Please put aside all the hype verbally and concentrate on the evidence before you. That's why you look at all the evidence, not just the experts. The question to be considered by you is whether you were satisfied the accused's blood came to be on the t-shirt in the course of attacking Miss Lee's.

Are you satisfied that the DNA came to be on the item because of contact in the course of the accused's attacking Miss Lee's? Or is it a reasonable possibility that the DNA came to be on the item through an innocent contact, or through some form of contamination, either deliberate or accidental? If you are satisfied the Crown's submission is correct, and you are satisfied that the man who attacked Miss Lee's killed Peter Falconeo, then the Crown will have proved its case of murder. You must not reason that because of those other activities, the accused is the type of person

who is likely to have committed the offences charged. It provides the setting for the accused to travel and explains why he was on the road that weekend. If from a consideration of all the other evidence you are satisfied it was the accused and his vehicle at the truck stop, it will follow that you are satisfied that the accused has not been truthful with you and others. On the 13th of December 2005, over four years after Peter Falconeo disappeared, the jury spent eight hours deliberating before reaching their verdict.

They found 47-year-old Bradley Murdoch guilty. He was sentenced to 28 years jail without the possibility of parole. Judge Brian Martin said to the jury, I entirely agree with your verdict. There would be no temporary or permanent release of Murdoch before the expiry of his sentence, meaning Murdoch will be 74 years old when he is released. Murdoch showed no emotion when his sentence was read. Currently, the Northern Territory is one state that is considering following South Australia's lead, introducing a no-body, no-parole law.

This law sees that any convicted murderer who has not revealed the location of their victim will never be granted parole. Bradley Murdoch is the only person in the Northern Territory who this law would apply to if passed. When the jury's verdict was read out, Joanne, who was sitting in the public gallery, lent forward and put her head in her hands. Peter's brother Paul placed his arm around her shoulder, and his parents Joan and Luciano gripped her hands in a gesture of support.

Colleen Gwynne was also in the gallery. After the verdict was read, she glanced over to Joan Falconeo, who mouthed the words, thank you. At that point Colleen removed herself from the courtroom, unable to contain her emotions. Outside court, Joanne Lee said to the press, I would like Bradley John Murdoch to seriously consider telling me, Joan and Luciano and Pete's brothers what he has done with Pete. On the 12th of December 2006, Murdoch appealed against his life sentence in the Supreme Court. His lawyers lodged eight grounds of appeal.

The appeal was dismissed a month later. A further appeal to the High Court of Australia was also unsuccessful. Police said Murdoch's methodology and criminal profile would be carefully scrutinised for possible links to several missing women across the state. In 2010, 28km north of the spot Pete of Falconeo was shot, two plumbers retrieved an old fashioned Remington new army model 44 dated to 1858 and with all six chambers loaded. It bore a striking resemblance to the western style gun described at trial. It was found way down in a long drop dunny or outdoor toilet, wrapped in a rag.

Due to its poor condition, it couldn't be determined if it was the gun used. The location of Peter Falconeo's body remains a mystery. However, in mid August 2007, some sections of the media speculated that Murdoch may reveal the location of his body in exchange for a transfer to a prison in Western Australia, seeing that all avenues of appeal for Murdoch have now been exhausted. But Murdoch denies this speculation. He maintains his innocence and says that although he would love a transfer back closer to where his terminally ill mother lives, he cannot give information on something he knows nothing

about.