Aussie Outback killer who murdered British backpacker ‘just about dead’ – as police offer $500k reward for secret that killer could go to the grave with

A reward of up to $500,000 has been offered for information leading to the location of murdered backpacker Peter Falconio, as his killer remains silent on his deathbed. 

Convicted murderer Bradley John Murdoch, 67, has been transferred out of jail to palliative care at Alice Springs Hospital as he battles terminal throat cancer.

He is wheelchair-bound and ‘just about dead’, one source told NT News, but it is also claimed he is being allowed out into the town on supervised visits.

Murdoch also reportedly visited Alice Springs Correctional Centre a final time earlier this month to say goodbye to his fellow prisoners.

Acting Commander Mark Grieve made the announcement about the $500,000 reward on Wednesday.

‘NT police still hold out hope someone may be able to assist in … this search,’ Mr Grieve said.

‘A fresh reward for information (on the case) up to $500,000 for information that leads to the discovery of Peter’s body.’

Before today’s announcement, an award of up to $250,000 was on offer.

Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio, pictured in their distinctive orange Kombi van, were tricked into stopping by Murdoch. He killed Peter before Joanne escaped

Outback drug runner turned killer Bradley John Murdoch (above) is dying of throat cancer. He has never revealed where his victim’s body was hidden

Joan Falconio (pictured with Peter’s father Luciano) is still tormented by the loss of her son on a remote stretch of road between Alice Springs and Darwin. They have not been told that Bradley John Murdoch is dying and receiving palliative care

On July 14, 2001, Peter Falconio and his then-girlfriend Joanne Lees were driving between Alice Springs and Darwin in their VW Kombi campervan.

Murdoch signalled at their car instructing the pair to pull over on the Stuart Highway, north of Barrow Creek  

Once stopped, Murdoch shot Mr Falconio in the head and tried to abduct Ms Lees but she miraculously escaped.

Murdoch was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2005 for the killing, but never divulged the whereabouts of Mr Falconio’s body.

The Australian public, police and Mr Falconio’s grieving family have been consumed with questions about the whereabouts of the backpackers body. 

Despite almost two decades since Mr Falconio’s death, Mr Grieve said it was ‘never too late to reach out and start that conversation with police’.

Back in Britain, Daily Mail understands that Peter’s parents Luciano and Joan are still in the dark.

Speaking from their home in Huddersfield, Mr Falconio father told Daily Mail that they have heard ‘nothing from authorities’ about reports of their son’s killer dying from throat cancer – and that he is receiving end of life care away from jail. 

The remote stretch of the Stuart Highway (left) where the crime took place

Bradley John Murdoch tricked Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees (pictured together) into stopping on a remote Outback highway where he shot Peter in the head and tied up Ms Lees, who managed to escape  

This is despite the promise he would never walk free without revealing the location of Peter’s remains under the Northern Territory’s ‘no body, no release’ laws. 

He is not eligible for parole for another eight years. Murdoch is now expected to die from cancer before the end of this year.

Speaking today from their home in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, Mr Falconio told Daily Mail they had only found out about their son’s killer’s condition from media reports.

‘We don’t know anything about him receiving end of life care, we have not been told,’ he said.

His wife was too distressed to speak – fearing her 28-year-old’s son’s killer’s potentially imminent death will prevent them from ever finding out the truth of his fate. 

Mrs Falconio had previously told Daily Mail: ‘All we ever hope is that Peter will finally be found one day, in our lifetime.’

Murdoch, who was a ruthless drug runner turned killer, has been in jail for the past 20 years.  

After shooting Mr Falconio in the head, Murdoch threatened Ms Lees before he bound her hands behind her back with cable tie restraints and bundled her into the back of his vehicle.

Bradley Murdoch is incarcerated in Alice Springs prison just a few hundred kilometres south of where he murdered Peter Falconio near Barrow Creek and disposed of his body at a location which the killer has never disclosed

While Murdoch disposed of Mr Falconio’s body, Ms Lees managed to escape on the night of July 14, 2001. 

She ran barefoot through the bush where she hid while Murdoch hunted for her with his dog. 

Five hours after her boyfriend’s murder, Ms Lees eventually flagged down a truck and raised the alarm.

No trace of Falconio’s body has ever been found, and Murdoch has never provided as much as a clue. 

Now aged in her early 50s, Ms Lees has never married or had children following the tragic death of her boyfriend, and lives in a home she owns in Huddersfield, in West Yorkshire.

Mrs Falconio previously told how the couple, who have three other sons, had still been in contact with Peter’s former girlfriend, who was once a suspect over their son’s murder.

She said: ‘We’re doing alright, we’re okay as a family. We’re still in contact with Joanne, we get on, we still see her but our conversations remain private.’

The road trip-turned-outback nightmare has been the subject of multiple books, TV programs and documentaries, as well as wild theories about where Falconio’s body lies, and the fruitless searches for it. 

Bradley John Murdoch (pictured) is not expected to give up the location where he dumped Peter Falconio’s body

On their fateful road trip to Australia via South East Asia, Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees  visited Uluru, Alice Springs and then drove north into an ambush by Bradley Murdoch who was later charged, although acquitted, of abducting and raping a 12-year-old girl

Murdoch has steadfastly refused to end the mystery of what he did with Mr Falconio’s corpse, which remains one of the greatest riddles in Australian crime.

The only trace of Mr Falconio was a small blood stain on the tarmac of the highway where the shooting took place. 

Murdoch has always denied being the killer, and protested his innocence throughout a murder trial which saw him convicted in December 2005 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The former mechanic, who drove road trains and trucks across the Outback, lodged two unsuccessful appeals, and was refused special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia in 2007.

His life sentence carried a non-parole period of 28 years, which would expire in 2032, but he can never walk free without revealing the location of Mr Falconio’s body under the Northern Territory’s ‘no body, no release’ laws.

Mr Falconio’s mother broke a long silence about her son’s murder in 2022 to beg for information about the location of Peter’s body.

On what would have been his 50th birthday, Joan Falconio and husband Luciano, 80, issued a heartfelt plea backed by a demand for Northern Territory police to put up a $1million reward to fund a renewed hunt for her son’s body.

Despite several searches, including a five-day operation in 2019 when police emptied an outback well, Murdoch’s hiding place remains a mystery.

Lees and Falconio’s distinctive orange Kombi was found the morning after the murder dumped 80m into scrub near the site north of Barrow Creek where Peter had been shot and Joanne had escaped 

Murdoch argued that CCTV footage of a man entering the Barrow Creek Roadhouse on the night of the murder was not him

‘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 said.

‘Our pain is always with us. We want to bring Peter home where he belongs, near his family.’ 

After arriving in Australia via Southeast Asia, Mr Falconio and Ms Lees visited Uluru and Alice Springs before driving 200km north to the Ti-Tree Roadhouse to watch the sunset as they smoked a cannabis joint.

They set off again, bound for the tourist attraction known as the Devil’s Marbles, before they noticed they were being followed by a white 4WD with a green canopy, which they expected to overtake them. 

Around 7.30pm, the vehicle drew alongside and signalled for the couple to pull over, indicating there were flames supposedly coming from the back of their van.

Ms Lees could see a dog in the cabin next to the driver. Behind the wheel was Murdoch, a mechanic from Broome, who had no front teeth and a history of violence. 

Mr Falconio got out of the van and Ms Lees heard a bang, and then the 4WD driver appeared at her window and forced her into the back of his vehicle.

However, she escaped from under its canopy and dashed into the scrub.

Northern Territory police have done multiple searches for the British tourist’s body over the years and remained hopeful of finding his remains (pictured, Mr Falconio and Ms Lees). Joanne Lees (right) would escape Murdoch and hide before raising the alarm

A recreation of Joanne Lees’ capture in the rear of Murdoch’s white 4WD from which she managed to flee and hide for five hours in roadside scrub

Bradley John Murdoch’s distinctive vehicle in which a terrified Joanne Lees was placed in the rear, her hands cable tied behind her back, before she escaped

At about 1am, believing Murdoch had given up looking for her, she came out and stopped a passing road train, whose driver took her to Barrow Creek Roadhouse. 

Murdoch would not be charged in relation to Falconio’s murder until 2003.

He was arrested shortly after being acquitted in South Australia over the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl.

After a seven-week trial, Murdoch was found guilty despite denying he had murdered Mr Falconio and assaulted and attempted to kidnap Ms Lees.

Murdoch disputed the evidence of his DNA on Ms Lees’ T-shirt and on the gearstick of the Kombi, which police found dumped the morning after the murder, 80m into the bushes off the highway near Barrow Creek.

In 2008, Ms Lees instructed NT Police to destroy the van, which she and Mr Falconio had bought at a used car market in Sydney.

In the years since, as she dealt with her trauma, Ms Lees has given various interviews.

She also wrote No Turning Back, one of six books published about the case.

Cult horror movie Wolf Creek, a fictional film about a serial killer, was reportedly based on both Murdoch and backpacker murderer Ivan Milat.

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