It’s been 24 years since British backpacker Peter Falconio was brutally murdered during a trip through the Northern Territory in 2001, and his family may never find closure as to his killer Bradley John Murdoch has died before revealing where he buried Peter.
Earlier this week, Murdoch, 67, was moved from Alice Springs Correctional Centre to the palliative care unit at Alice Springs Hospital to be treated for terminal throat cancer.
Upon hearing the news of Murdoch’s death, Peter’s dad Luciano, 83, was lost for words.
“I don’t wish anybody dead because you only have one life and I think if you’ve been given the gift of life… I don’t even know what to say,” Luciano told News Corp.
“I wish Murdoch left something for me to find him,”
When approached for comment, Peter’s girlfriend Joanne Lees, who was travelling with him in their orange VW Kombi, looked downcast and remained silent.
Despite Murdoch not revealing where Peter’s remains are, NT Police are still hopeful the Falconio family will get the answers they so desperately want.
“It is disappointing for the Falconio family that this case remains unresolved and they are still without the closure they deserve,” NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said in a statement.
Late last month, NT Police increased the reward for information that leads to finding Peter’s body from $250,000 to $500,000.
“We remind the public that the reward for information relating to the disappearance of Peter Falconio has been recently increased.”
PETER HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND
Peter, 28, and his girlfriend Joanne Lees were driving between Alice Springs and Darwin in their VW Kombi van when Murdoch shot Peter dead, then tied up Joanne with cable ties and put her in the back of his ute.
Joanne managed to escape while Murdoch supposedly buried Peter in the bush.
There have been several searches for Peter over the years, including a five-day investigation in 2019 when police emptied an outback well to no avail.
However, no trace of Peter’s body has ever been found, apart from a small blood stain on the road where the shooting took place.
Murdoch was convicted of Peter’s murder in 2005 and sentenced to a life sentence in prison.
His non-parole period would technically end in 2032, but he would never be allowed to walk free without revealing the location of Peter’s body under the Northern Territory’s “no body, no release” laws.
Peter’s parents Joan and Luciano Falconio have begged for information about the location of their son’s body.
On what would have been his 50th birthday in 2022, they issued a plea for the Northern Territory police to offer a $1 million reward to begin a fresh search for Peter’s body.
IMPOSSIBLE TO MOVE ON
Peter’s girlfriend at the time, Joanne, has rarely spoken about their ordeal, apart from telling the story in her book No Turning Back in 2006, which she wrote in order to “reclaim her life from other storytellers”.
She has never married or had children and lives in the North of England.
While Murdoch has taken his secret to the grave with him, for Peter’s family, their pain will live on.
“His life stopped on a lonely road… shot dead by cowardly Murdoch, who will not reveal where or what he did with him,” Mrs Falconio has said previously.
“Our pain will always be with us. We want to bring Peter home where he belongs, so he can be near his family.”
