Police release photos on 25th anniversary of Falconio murder

Australian police have released a series of previously unseen photographs from their investigation into the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio, marking the 25th anniversary of the crime in a renewed effort to locate his remains. Falconio was killed on July 14, 2001, on a remote stretch of the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory.

The 28-year-old and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, were traveling across Australia in an orange Volkswagen Kombi van when they were flagged down by a motorist, Bradley John Murdoch, who reported vehicle trouble. When Falconio went to assist, Lees heard what she believed was a gunshot. Murdoch then assaulted Lees at gunpoint and bound her wrists, but she managed to escape and hide in the surrounding bushland for several hours before flagging down a passing truck for help. Falconio’s body has never been found.

Murdoch was convicted of Falconio’s murder and the assault of Lees in 2005 and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for at least 28 years. He died in prison in July 2025 after being diagnosed with terminal throat cancer, having never disclosed the location of Falconio’s remains.