Peter Falconio: Luciano Falconio pleads for killer Bradley John Murdoch to disclose body location before death

On the anniversary of one of Australia’s most shocking murders, the father of backpacker Peter Falconio has made an impassioned plea to his killer to disclose the whereabouts of his son’s remains before he dies.

Luciano Falconio has been grieving for 24 years since Bradley John Murdoch bailed up his son and his girlfriend Joanne Lees on a remote Northern Territory highway, killing Peter and attempting to abduct Ms Lees.

Murdoch is reportedly hovering near death in an Alice Springs hospital after being transferred from jail following a terminal throat cancer diagnosis and continues to deny requests from police to disclose the location of Peter’s remains

In an interview with News Corp Mr Falconio, who resides in Hepworth in England, has opened up about the torment he has experienced as investigators in Australia race the clock to coax information from Murdoch.

“Today is an important day,” Mr Falconio, 83, said.

“It is very significant, I wish I could find him and make an end to it, bury him.

“(I want to) find where he is buried and what happened to him, even me, I don’t know.

“I know what happened but I don’t know where he is.

“I still hope, yeah I still hope, but I don’t know, if we (will) live long enough,” Mr Falconio added.

Murdoch, 67, is under guard at the hospital after being moved from the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, where he has been held in custody since 2022.

Responsible for one of the biggest investigative manhunts in the nation’s history, Murdoch was convicted in 2005 of the gruesome murder of Mr Falconio in 2001, before being sent to jail in Darwin and later being transferred to Alice Springs.

After pleading his innocence throughout his murder trial, Murdoch has never confessed where Mr Falconio’s body is located, and after witnesses in Alice Springs described him as “just about dead” and looking “very ill”, authorities wait in hope that he may give a death-bed admission.

In a desperate bid to flush out fresh information, Northern Territory police recently announced a new reward for information and an offer of $500,000 to anyone who can lead police to the location of Mr Falconio’s body.

“The body of Peter has never been located despite continued efforts by the NT police to do so by investigating any viable information or leads that have been received through the years since,” Acting Commander Mark Grieve told a press conference in Darwin on Wednesday.

“The NT police still hold out hope that someone may be able to provide some vital information to assist in this search, and as such, a fresh reward for information is now on offer of up to $500,000 for information that leads to the discovery of Peter’s body.

“In what will be the 24th anniversary of his death this July, we are asking for anyone that may believe that they have information that can assist to please come forward and contact police.

“It’s never too late to reach out and at least start that conversation with police because you just never know how beneficial that information that you may hold may be.”

The murder of Mr Falconio captured headlines around the world after Ms Lees managed to escape the clutches of Murdoch on a deserted outback road near Barrow Creek.

Mr Falconio and Ms Lees had arrived from the UK were travelling around Australia in a Kombi van when Murdoch emerged in a vehicle alongside them and asked the couple to pull over, before shooting Mr Falconio in the head and trying to abduct Ms Lees.

She managed to run and hide in bushland before waiting until she felt safe enough to flag down a passing motorist who helped her to safety and alerted emergency services.

The Northern Territory Government passed a “no body, no parole” law in 2016 which applies to Murdoch who was sentenced to 28 years for Mr Falconio’s murder. He would have been eligible for parole in 2023.