Northern Territory Police release unseen photos of Peter Falconio case on 25th anniversary, killer's silence still denies closure
Australian police have released a cache of previously unseen photographs from the 2001 murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio, hoping the images will jog memories on the crime's 25th anniversary. The killer, Bradley John Murdoch, died in jail last year without ever revealing where he left the body.
25 years without a body
Peter Falconio, a 28-year-old from Huddersfield, was shot on 14 July 2001 while travelling with his girlfriend Joanne Lees along the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek, roughly 186 miles north of Alice Springs. The attack happened on a remote stretch of road in the Northern Territory outback. Lees managed to escape, hiding in scrubland for several hours before she was able to wave down a truck driven by two men. Her escape and subsequent witness testimony became central to one of Australia's most closely watched criminal trials. Falconio's body was never found.
What the new photographs show
On the 25th anniversary of the murder, Northern Territory Police reopened evidence boxes and released a series of previously unseen photographs. One shows a stunned-looking Lees in the hours after the attack, her wrists marked from where they had been bound with cable ties. Another is a full-length image of Bradley John Murdoch, who was convicted of the murder in 2005, staring straight at the police camera. Crime scene photographs also capture the orange Kombi van the couple had been travelling in and evidence markers on the highway beside a dark red stain on the bitumen.
- Peter Falconio is shot on the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek; Joanne Lees escapes and hides in scrubland before flagging down a truck.
- Bradley John Murdoch is found guilty of Falconio's murder and sentenced to life in prison.
- Murdoch dies of throat cancer in jail aged 67, without revealing the location of Falconio's remains.
- Northern Territory Police release previously unseen photographs on the 25th anniversary, appealing for new information.
The killer's silence
Murdoch was convicted and sentenced to life in prison but never admitted involvement. He died of throat cancer on 15 July 2025, aged 67. In the months before his death, officers made a final effort to persuade him to disclose the burial site. Footage of that attempt was released, showing Murdoch denying any knowledge of Falconio's fate. NT Police commissioner Martin Dole called the silence an act of cowardice that has denied the family closure.
His cowardly silence has denied (Mr Falconio's) family, friends and loved ones the closure they deserve.
The ongoing investigation
The investigation remains open and will stay that way until Falconio's remains are found, Dole confirmed. A reward of $500,000 is still on offer for information leading directly to the discovery of the body. Police are asking anyone with even fragmentary recollections from the period to come forward, stressing that no detail is too small.
No piece of information is too small; what may seem insignificant could prove critical in helping investigators finally resolve this case.
A case that still resonates
The murder and Lees's narrow escape have remained a defining crime in Australian cultural memory. The images released this week are part of a broader effort to reinvigorate a case that has frustrated investigators and the Falconio family for a quarter of a century. With Murdoch dead and the location of the remains still unknown, the police are now relying entirely on public memory and the hope that the photographs might trigger a tip that has eluded them for 25 years.
