{"id":792724,"date":"2026-07-11T03:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792724\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T03:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:40:14","slug":"peter-falconio-murder-25-years-on-new-footage-shows-dying-australian-outback-killers-refusal-to-reveal-bodys-location-the-peter-falconio-murder-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792724\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Falconio murder 25 years on: new footage shows dying Australian outback killer\u2019s refusal to reveal body\u2019s location | The Peter Falconio murder case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Infamous killer Bradley John Murdoch<\/a> aggressively denied knowing where the body of still-missing backpacker Peter Falconio was during a police interview weeks before he died.<\/p>\n

NT police released body-worn camera vision of the interview on Saturday, days before the 25th anniversary of the killing of the 28-year-old British man on the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek, in July 2001.<\/p>\n

Murdoch served a life sentence for murdering Falconio and the assault and attempted kidnapping of his girlfriend Joanne Lees but maintained his innocence and refused to divulge where he hid the body.<\/p>\n

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He died in Alice Springs hospital in July 2025<\/a> from throat cancer.<\/p>\n

Less than a month earlier, NT police made a last-ditch attempt to pry a confession from Murdoch and have him reveal where Falconio\u2019s body was.<\/p>\n

A screen grab shows Bradley John Murdoch denying he knows where Peter Falconio\u2019s body is in an interview with NT Police, weeks before he died from cancer in 2025. Photograph: PR HANDOUT\/AAP<\/p>\n

\u201cI need you to have a think about if Peter Falconio was your son \u2026 and somebody knew something about where his body was,\u201d an officer can be heard asking Murdoch.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t beat around the bush because I\u2019m just going to cut you short every time OK?\u201d Murdoch replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know nothing. I\u2019ve said this for 22 years. I know nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the officer asked Murdoch to think about his answer, he launched a foul-mouthed tirade strenuously denying any knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not thinking about it. I\u2019ve thought about, I thought about it for 22 fucking years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been with these fellas for 22 years. They\u2019ve all understood what\u2019s going on, I\u2019ve said the same story over and over and over, and now you\u2019re here at the last minute because I\u2019m fucking dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees. Photograph: Jayne Russell\/Alamy<\/p>\n

The July 2001 incident gained worldwide attention and partly inspired the horror movie Wolf Creek.<\/p>\n

The backpackers were travelling along the highway when Murdoch drove up behind them and indicated they should pull over, saying their van might have an engine problem.<\/p>\n

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Falconio went behind the car with him to investigate and Lees heard a gunshot. Murdoch then cable-tied her and covered her head.<\/p>\n

She escaped and hid in bushland for five hours while Murdoch hunted her with his dog, before she flagged down a truck driver.<\/p>\n

Murdoch was arrested in November 2003 over Falconio\u2019s disappearance after a South Australian jury acquitted him of raping and falsely imprisoning a 12-year-old girl.<\/p>\n

The SA case allowed NT police to obtain his DNA, which was later found on the makeshift handcuffs worn by Lees, as well as on her T-shirt, leading to his arrest.<\/p>\n

NT police are urging anyone with information to come forward, noting a $500,000 reward for knowledge of where Falconio\u2019s body is.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty-five years is a significant milestone and NT police remains committed to bringing this investigation to its fullest conclusion and will continue to pursue every avenue available,\u201d the force said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may still be someone who knows something, whether that be information they have never previously shared with police or something Murdoch said to them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Infamous killer Bradley John Murdoch aggressively denied knowing where the body of still-missing backpacker Peter Falconio was during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-792724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}