Police have found remains of a body close to where missing British backpacker Peter Falconio was last seen alive in Australia. It's been reported that bone fragments have been uncovered near the suspected murder site in Alice Springs in Australia's Northern Territory.
Falconio, 28 was shot dead while on a road trip with his girlfriend by Bradley Murdoch on a remote stretch of highway in the Outback in 2001 but his body was never found. The area of the discovery is consistent with where detectives believe the backpacker was buried, the Mirror reports.
Peter's heartbroken family have waited over 20 years to find out where their son's body could be. Last year, his heartbroken mum Joan, 75 appealed to 'anyone with a conscience' to finally reveal where Peter's remains are.
Northern Territory police searched multiple times for the Brit tourist's body over the years but were never able to track anything down. According to Nine Newspapers, other remains were found in 2003, 2004 and 2008 but none of them were linked to Peter.
Regarding this week's development, a Northern Territory detective said: "We have been down this track before so we are not jumping to any conclusions." Police confirmed that the age and location of the bones are a close match with the case but forensics are yet to analyse DNA and dental records to identify the body.
Murdoch is currently serving a life sentence for the murder and the abduction of Peter's then girlfriend, Joanna Lees who managed to escape. DNA in bloodstains on her clothes tied Murdoch to the crime after he was arrested in Adelaide in 2003.
Peter and Joanne had met each other in a night club before moving into a home together in Brighton. The couple set off for an adventurous trip around the world in November 2000 and travelled through Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia before touching down in Sydney, Australia.
They then planned a huge road trip from Sydney to Brisbane but Peter sadly never finished the trip after he was shot dead in a deserted highway. The couple had been driving down the Stuart Highway in the outback of the Northern Territory when they were flagged down by another driver who claimed their van was having engine trouble.
Peter was shot dead after he kindly left his vehicle and went to look with the man at the damage. The man then threatened Joanna with a gun and tied her up but she managed to escape while he was moving Peter's body.
Joanna hid in bushes for five hours out of fear of being 'raped' on the remoted highway and was able to flag down a truck driver the following morning who took her to safety. While Peter's body hasn't been found to this day, Joanne had to return home without the man she loved.
Murdoch has maintained his innocence throughout the years and refuses to tell police where his victim's body is located. He was arrested on suspicion of Peter's murder in 2003 before he was finally convicted in December, 2005.
At trial, the case became open and closed when a speck of Murdoch's DNA was found on the back of Joanne's shirt. Last September, politician Frank Pangallo urged the Northern Territory government to post an A$1million (£580,000) reward for the recovery of Peter’s body.
Mrs Falconio said that she and her husband Luciano, 80 felt like officers had given up on her son. She wrote to Mr Pangallo last year and said: “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.” Peter, from Hepworth, West Yorkshire, would have turned 50 last year, while Joanne Lees, who lives near Huddersfield, is now 47-years-old
Murdoch is thought to have buried the body between Alice Springs and Broome, 1,000 miles away in Western Australia which is an area covered by a vast desert.
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