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OUTBACK killer John Bradley Murdoch who was convicted of murdering Brit Peter Falconio committed an evil final act before dying of cancer.
Tragic Falconio’s grieving dad has now expressed his heartbreak after Murdoch, who died at the age of 67, did not reveal where his victim’s remains are.
Murdoch in 2005 was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for murdering Falconio in the remote area of Australia‘s Northern Territory.
But the killer was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019.
Falconio’s death shocked the world after grisly details emerged revealing how Murdoch pulled off the fatal attack.
His body was never found.
Northern Territory Police Force said Murdoch did not provide any fresh information about the location of Falconio’s remains before his death.
Dad Luciano Falconio revealed his heartbreak as he said he wished that Murdoch had “left something” to help him recover his son’s body.
He added: “I don’t wish anybody dead because you have only got one life and I think if you’ve been given that gift of life… I don’t even know what to say.
“I tell you what I think, I wish he [Murdoch] left something for me to find him.”
The Northern Territory Police Force said in a statement: “It is deeply regrettable that Murdoch has died without, as far as we are aware, ever disclosing the location of Peter Falconio’s remains.
“His silence has denied the Falconio family the closure they have so long deserved.”
Murdoch is said to have flagged down a van driven by the young Brit before shooting him in the head in front of his girlfriend Joanne Lees.
Murdoch would then tie up the terrified woman with cable ties and try to abduct her.
Ms Lees miraculously managed to escape and hid in a bush for five hours in the boiling Outback.
She was later able to help convict Murdoch by identifying him as the murderer.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Murdoch was likely to have disposed of the backpacker’s body somewhere in the vast, remote expanse of desert between Alice Springs and Broome, covering more than 1,200 miles.
Despite repeated searches, Mr Falconio’s body has never been found.
Ms Lees, who returned to the UK, told Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes in 2017 that she still wanted to “bring him home”.
“Pete lost his life on that night, but I lost mine too,” she said at the time.
“I’ll never be fully at peace if Pete’s not found, but I accept that that is a possibility.”
News surfaced on February 17, 2023, that police had found some bones near Alice Springs that were being tested to see if they were the remains of Peter Falconio.
The reports were rubbished with authorities stating: “No human remains have been located by Northern Territory Police, and a search is not currently being conducted.
“Current media reports are factually incorrect.”
Peter Falconio case timeline
PETER Falconio was shot dead in the Australian outback while travelling with girlfriend Joanne Lees in July 2001.
He was 28 years old when he was tragically shot by a man who flagged down the van he was driving.
The man was 43-year-old drug smuggler Bradley John Murdoch.
Murdoch shot Falconio in the head before bundling Lees into his car and binding her with cable ties.
She managed to escape and hide in bushes for five hours, before she ran into the road and waved down a passing truck.
Lees soon became a prime suspect in her boyfriend’s murder after claims she appeared “emotionless” after the incident.
But it was later revealed she had taken the sedative Valium to help her handle her horror ordeal.
Police were never able to locate Falconio’s remains.
Reports in February 2023 detailed that police had found some bones near Alice Springs that were being tested to see if they were the remains of Peter Falconio.
The reports were later rubbished with authorities stating: “No human remains have been located by Northern Territory Police, and a search is not currently being conducted.”
Murdoch had launched several appeals against his conviction, but he remained in prison in the Northern Territory until his death.
