Slain backpacker Peter Falconio's mom Joan begs police to find son's remains 21 years after murder
WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA: Bradley John Murdoch was convicted in 2005 of murdering Peter Falconio, 28, and assaulting his girlfriend Joanne Lees, then 27, on a remote stretch of a highway in July 2001. British nationals Falconio and Lees were in Australia for a short vacation at the time. While Joanne managed to escape from Murdoch, Peter was killed and his body was never found.
It has been 21 years and the whereabouts of Peter’s body remain one of the biggest mysteries in Australia. Recently, Joan, the 75-year-old mother of the victim, pleaded with the police officers in Australia to find the remains of her son.
READ MORE
'I believe him': Cleotha Abston's mother says son did NOT kill Eliza Fletcher
According to reports from The Mirror, Joan pleaded for "anyone with a conscience" to let her know where her son's remains are.
The DNA in the bloodstains on Joanne's clothes linked Murdoch to the crime and he was arrested in Adelaide in 2003. Murdoch is now serving a life sentence for Peter's murder and the abduction of Joanne Lees.
However, the Falconios feel that the officers have given up on finding Peter. Joan wrote to politician Frank Pangallo of the South Australian Legislative Council, "We want to bring Peter home where he belongs near his family. Our pain is always with us. He was murdered 21 years ago, aged just 28 years. Peter has a beautiful niece and two lovely nephews who he never got to see or know. I am appealing to anyone with a conscience to help me however small to tell me where he was put. His life stopped on a lonely road the Stuart Highway on 14th July 2001. Shot dead by cowardly Murdoch, who will not reveal where or what he did with him.”
Pangallo has urged the Northern Territory government to post a $640K reward for the recovery of Peter’s body.
Pangallo wrote to the Northern Territory government that "Murdoch hasn’t got the guts to confess to his cowardly crime and he should rot behind bars if he is unwilling to tell the truth. Somebody must know where Peter is or might have some information that could be useful to police. Joan, Luciano, Peter’s brothers - Mark, Nicholas and Paul – and their families deserve closure after all these years of grieving."
Murdoch is believed to have disposed of the body between Alice Springs and Broome, 1,000 miles away in Western Australia, an area covered by a vast desert.