Solved The Peter Falconio Disappearance

[Kurve]

Ep 24 - Falconio murder - Media Watch

Why Seven’s Murder in the Outback is a nasty, exploitative documentary that offers no new insights into the murder of Peter Falconio.

www.abc.net.au

'Why Seven’s Murder in the Outback is a nasty, exploitative documentary that offers no new insights into the murder of Peter Falconio.

Thanks. So the only thing that's really new according to Media Watch is the introduction of Jelly Man. The truck driver Miller who picked Lee up now reports he stopped for a red car on the side of the road with three passengers one of them being Jelly Man as the possibly deceased Falconio. Red car suspiciously took off before Miller could reach them.

Miller says he reported this to police and it was left off his statement. Miller's credibility is at stake but weren't there two men in the truck that rescued Lees and therefore, shouldn't the co-driver in the truck be able to back Miller's claim of stopping for little red car?

 

[zedx]

Thanks. So the only thing that's really new according to Media Watch is the introduction of Jelly Man. The truck driver Miller who picked Lee up now reports he stopped for a red car on the side of the road with three passengers one of them being Jelly Man as the possibly deceased Falconio. Red car suspiciously took off before Miller could reach them.

Miller says he reported this to police and it was left off his statement. Miller's credibility is at stake but weren't there two men in the truck that rescued Lees and therefore, shouldn't the co-driver in the truck be able to back Miller's claim of stopping for little red car?

AFAIK there was at least one co-driver in his truck( this being the #$%& guy who cleaned her up at the road station), at this point he has not mentioned/confirmed red car. Why wasn't he questioned about this in the documentary?

 

[Kurve]

AFAIK there was at least one co-driver in his truck( this being the #$%& guy who cleaned her up at the road station), at this point he has not mentioned/confirmed red car. Why wasn't he questioned about this in the documentary?

It's an interesting question the documentary didn't approach for some reason and Media Watch didn't make mention of when the answer to whether the little red car incident was real or not should be a verifiable claim by another witness.

Maybe the co-driver has passed away?

 

[Wooden Robot]

I thought the same and I wasnt convinced that man in the cctv was Murdoch. Different body shape and walking style.

Anyway, I think Lees' story had loopholes and was probably trying to hide some drug deal that went wrong. Towards the end, the documentary was weak and lost the plot after suggesting Murdoch's DNA might've ended on Lees' top while crossing paths at Red Rooster.

Agree buddy .... Fraser and co. had put together a solid case for reasonable doubt before unleashing that Red Rooster defence.
Can't have a bar of that, nor would I eat Red Rooster either. But it was fanciful.

 

[Girlnextdoor]

Here's something I came across after hearing mention of a "hair tie" belonging to Joanne Lees being found in BM's possessions. Hmmm.. pretty damning stuff! How amazing were this female Cop and her OCD team member?

ABC News SHARE
The woman who nailed Bradley John Murdoch with a hair elastic
By Judy Adair
PostedWed 14 Dec 2016 at 7:17pm, updatedThu 9 Mar 2017 at 6:49am
Murderer Bradley John Murdoch
Bradley John Murdoch was arrested by police in Adelaide in 2003.(Rob Hutchison: AAP)
"I knew this guy was the devil."

Colleen Gwynne will never forget coming face to face with Bradley John Murdoch for the first time, while investigating the murder of Peter Falconio.

"I wanted to cry but I wasn't going to let him beat me," said the former policewoman, who is now the Northern Territory Children's Commissioner.

Fifteen years ago during the initial stages of the Falconio case, Ms Gwynne's first instinct was to distance herself.

"There was nothing about what the NT police were doing at the time that was actually very flattering or made us look like a group of people who knew what we were doing," she says.

"So what I did was try to distance myself in a very small town as much as I could from anything to do with what is now known as the Falconio case."

This all changed when she got a call one night from the police commissioner, who said: "The case is yours."

From Ms Gwynne's perspective that marked the beginning of the end of her police career.

She explains that while she realised what an opportunity the investigation presented, she was patently clear about the magnitude and complexity of the case and admits she was not feeling very confident.

The investigation
Colleen Gwynne
Colleen Gwynne was the lead investigator on the Peter Falconio case.(Supplied)
To deal with those anxieties, Ms Gwynne worked day and night and read everything about the case she possibly could. Then she started her planning.

Initially, she observed the team she was working with and identified three individuals who would be the key players in solving the crime.

"There was the old-style cop who'd probably lived in Alice Springs his whole life. He was smart he was methodical but he believed something bad had occurred," she said.

"The second person was a young detective who worked in Alice Springs and she wanted a challenge.

"The third person, who ended up being best on ground, was an intel officer who was OCD like you wouldn't believe."

To begin the investigation, Ms Gwynne and her team returned to the scene.

She got her team to drop her off at the site where Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees hid — a salt bush in the middle of nowhere outside Alice Springs.

Ms Gwynne sat there behind that salt bush as her team drove away and left her alone. She says she has never been more terrified or vulnerable in her life.

"I wanted to cry. It was the most scary feeling. I could hear my own heartbeat — and I can actually ring someone to pick me up, she couldn't do that," she said.

"That's when it felt really real for me. I understood what this woman had been through and it was scary."

'We'll find who did this'
The next step of the investigation was to meet the surviving victim so Ms Gwynne travelled to the UK to meet Ms Lees.

At this stage, Ms Lees had no trust in the NT Police who she thought had no clue how to solve the crime.

Old picture of Peter Falconio (left) at his graduation with girlfriend Joanne Lees (right)
English backpacker Peter Falconio with his girlfriend Joanne Lees.(AAP)
After an intense, 12-hour interview with Ms Lees — who Ms Gwynne describes as an amazing witness with an unbelievable recollection of events that she told with tears, laughter and fear — Ms Lees took the first steps to restoring some faith in the investigating team.

The next trip for Ms Gwynne was to the north of England to meet the Falconio family.

At this meeting she made a promise to Peter Falconio's grief-stricken mother, Joan, that her team would find out who killed her son.

"She hugged me and from that moment we had a bond and when I left, the pressure on me and the weight on me was enormous," Ms Gwynne said.

"And the hope they had and the way they looked at me that I was the one that was going to change this for them and if I couldn't find Peter they wanted the person responsible found and convicted."

Pursuit of Murdoch
Six months later, back in Australia, at a time in the investigation where there were 2,500 persons of interest in that crime, there was a breakthrough.

A man reported to police he knew who did it and that it was a guy called Bradley John Murdoch.

The information he gave Ms Gwynne's team was so good they knew they had their first really good lead.

Fifteen years and no body

Former chief investigator on the Falconio case says she doesn't believe Bradley John Murdoch will ever disclose the location of the body.

As soon as they could, the police pounced on Murdoch and got a sample for DNA analysis, which was a game-changer in the investigation.

"We now know who touched her on her shirt, we now know who touched the gear stick in the Kombi and we now know who made the manacles," Ms Gwynne said.

"It was Bradley John Murdoch.

"The feeling that I had at that time, I don't know if I can ever explain."

But Murdoch knew the police were onto him and panicked and escaped to the bush. They knew they had a window of opportunity which was closing every minute he spent on the run.

"If he disappeared, we wouldn't have found him — he was an expert in disguise and he was an expert in not being found," Ms Gwynne said.

"This man knows the bush like no other."

They did find him very soon after, in South Australia, but only after he committed crimes on a mother and her daughter.

When he was found he was transported to Yatala prison in Adelaide where Ms Gwynne came face to face with him for the first time.

Beating 'the devil'
"This was something I dreamed of for three years," she said.

"We arrived at the prison, the media was everywhere outside. I walked through the three sets of secure doors, my heart is beating like you wouldn't believe, I finally got to meet this man."

Ms Gwynne was not just overcome with the intensity of meeting the murderer of an investigation that had consumed her life for three years, but also with a surprising and personal connection to her past that saw her having to battle demons she had not anticipated.

"I met him and he seemed like my father," she said.

"There was a remarkable resemblance between my father, who was the most intimidating and violent man who I've ever had anything to do with and made my upbringing a nightmare.

"My past flashed before me and at the same time he was playing a game of intimidation with me.

"He stood over me, this tall intimidating figure and I was so small under his frame.

"He was yelling at me, he was spitting on my face and I was never going to take a backwards step.

"And I didn't. I played the game and I won. He took the backwards step."

Hair elastic convicts Murdoch
The item that ultimately convicted Murdoch was a small, non-descript everyday item, an elastic hair-tie.

The discovery of this item during the investigation confirmed for Ms Gwynne her carefully calculated team selection had paid off.

The officer she had described as the OCD individual was meticulous in trawling through the thousands of Murdoch's belongings confiscated as evidence from his car and trailer.

The officer went through every detail and what she found among those belongings was a hair-tie that was taken from Ms Lees when she struggled to survive at the hands of Murdoch.

"He probably didn't know how significant the hair-tie was and had it wrapped around his holster inside his belongings," Ms Gwynne said.

"I think it was a trophy but no-one will ever know."

When it was presented in evidence, Ms Gwynne says he recoiled back and would not touch it.

They knew that was it; that was the nail in his coffin."

The woman who nailed Bradley John Murdoch with a hair elastic

The lead investigator on the Peter Falconio case describes the terror of coming face to face with a murderer after one of the biggest manhunts in Australian history, ending with the help of one single hair elastic.

www.abc.net.au

 

[royboys4eva]

AFAIK there was at least one co-driver in his truck( this being the #$%& guy who cleaned her up at the road station), at this point he has not mentioned/confirmed red car. Why wasn't he questioned about this in the documentary?

Yeah its a very good question. But naturally the biased program didn't want the other truck driver to speak as he clearly didn't recall anything about the red car unless he was sleeping. If people want to attack Joanne Lees creditability than its only fair that the truck drive who says he saw the red car and jellyman can be questioned as well - he would be destroyed if he was in front of a jury in court. He wouldn't be able to swear every second word either !!

 

[Krusty Crab]

Here's something I came across after hearing mention of a "hair tie" belonging to Joanne Lees being found in BM's possessions. Hmmm.. pretty damning stuff! How amazing were this female Cop and her OCD team member?

ABC News SHARE
The woman who nailed Bradley John Murdoch with a hair elastic
By Judy Adair
PostedWed 14 Dec 2016 at 7:17pm, updatedThu 9 Mar 2017 at 6:49am
Murderer Bradley John Murdoch
Bradley John Murdoch was arrested by police in Adelaide in 2003.(Rob Hutchison: AAP)
"I knew this guy was the devil."

Colleen Gwynne will never forget coming face to face with Bradley John Murdoch for the first time, while investigating the murder of Peter Falconio.

"I wanted to cry but I wasn't going to let him beat me," said the former policewoman, who is now the Northern Territory Children's Commissioner.

Fifteen years ago during the initial stages of the Falconio case, Ms Gwynne's first instinct was to distance herself.

"There was nothing about what the NT police were doing at the time that was actually very flattering or made us look like a group of people who knew what we were doing," she says.

"So what I did was try to distance myself in a very small town as much as I could from anything to do with what is now known as the Falconio case."

This all changed when she got a call one night from the police commissioner, who said: "The case is yours."

From Ms Gwynne's perspective that marked the beginning of the end of her police career.

She explains that while she realised what an opportunity the investigation presented, she was patently clear about the magnitude and complexity of the case and admits she was not feeling very confident.

The investigation
Colleen Gwynne
Colleen Gwynne was the lead investigator on the Peter Falconio case.(Supplied)
To deal with those anxieties, Ms Gwynne worked day and night and read everything about the case she possibly could. Then she started her planning.

Initially, she observed the team she was working with and identified three individuals who would be the key players in solving the crime.

"There was the old-style cop who'd probably lived in Alice Springs his whole life. He was smart he was methodical but he believed something bad had occurred," she said.

"The second person was a young detective who worked in Alice Springs and she wanted a challenge.

"The third person, who ended up being best on ground, was an intel officer who was OCD like you wouldn't believe."

To begin the investigation, Ms Gwynne and her team returned to the scene.

She got her team to drop her off at the site where Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees hid — a salt bush in the middle of nowhere outside Alice Springs.

Ms Gwynne sat there behind that salt bush as her team drove away and left her alone. She says she has never been more terrified or vulnerable in her life.

"I wanted to cry. It was the most scary feeling. I could hear my own heartbeat — and I can actually ring someone to pick me up, she couldn't do that," she said.

"That's when it felt really real for me. I understood what this woman had been through and it was scary."

'We'll find who did this'
The next step of the investigation was to meet the surviving victim so Ms Gwynne travelled to the UK to meet Ms Lees.

At this stage, Ms Lees had no trust in the NT Police who she thought had no clue how to solve the crime.

Old picture of Peter Falconio (left) at his graduation with girlfriend Joanne Lees (right)
English backpacker Peter Falconio with his girlfriend Joanne Lees.(AAP)
After an intense, 12-hour interview with Ms Lees — who Ms Gwynne describes as an amazing witness with an unbelievable recollection of events that she told with tears, laughter and fear — Ms Lees took the first steps to restoring some faith in the investigating team.

The next trip for Ms Gwynne was to the north of England to meet the Falconio family.

At this meeting she made a promise to Peter Falconio's grief-stricken mother, Joan, that her team would find out who killed her son.

"She hugged me and from that moment we had a bond and when I left, the pressure on me and the weight on me was enormous," Ms Gwynne said.

"And the hope they had and the way they looked at me that I was the one that was going to change this for them and if I couldn't find Peter they wanted the person responsible found and convicted."

Pursuit of Murdoch
Six months later, back in Australia, at a time in the investigation where there were 2,500 persons of interest in that crime, there was a breakthrough.

A man reported to police he knew who did it and that it was a guy called Bradley John Murdoch.

The information he gave Ms Gwynne's team was so good they knew they had their first really good lead.

Fifteen years and no body

Former chief investigator on the Falconio case says she doesn't believe Bradley John Murdoch will ever disclose the location of the body.

As soon as they could, the police pounced on Murdoch and got a sample for DNA analysis, which was a game-changer in the investigation.

"We now know who touched her on her shirt, we now know who touched the gear stick in the Kombi and we now know who made the manacles," Ms Gwynne said.

"It was Bradley John Murdoch.

"The feeling that I had at that time, I don't know if I can ever explain."

But Murdoch knew the police were onto him and panicked and escaped to the bush. They knew they had a window of opportunity which was closing every minute he spent on the run.

"If he disappeared, we wouldn't have found him — he was an expert in disguise and he was an expert in not being found," Ms Gwynne said.

"This man knows the bush like no other."

They did find him very soon after, in South Australia, but only after he committed crimes on a mother and her daughter.

When he was found he was transported to Yatala prison in Adelaide where Ms Gwynne came face to face with him for the first time.

Beating 'the devil'
"This was something I dreamed of for three years," she said.

"We arrived at the prison, the media was everywhere outside. I walked through the three sets of secure doors, my heart is beating like you wouldn't believe, I finally got to meet this man."

Ms Gwynne was not just overcome with the intensity of meeting the murderer of an investigation that had consumed her life for three years, but also with a surprising and personal connection to her past that saw her having to battle demons she had not anticipated.

"I met him and he seemed like my father," she said.

"There was a remarkable resemblance between my father, who was the most intimidating and violent man who I've ever had anything to do with and made my upbringing a nightmare.

"My past flashed before me and at the same time he was playing a game of intimidation with me.

"He stood over me, this tall intimidating figure and I was so small under his frame.

"He was yelling at me, he was spitting on my face and I was never going to take a backwards step.

"And I didn't. I played the game and I won. He took the backwards step."

Hair elastic convicts Murdoch
The item that ultimately convicted Murdoch was a small, non-descript everyday item, an elastic hair-tie.

The discovery of this item during the investigation confirmed for Ms Gwynne her carefully calculated team selection had paid off.

The officer she had described as the OCD individual was meticulous in trawling through the thousands of Murdoch's belongings confiscated as evidence from his car and trailer.

The officer went through every detail and what she found among those belongings was a hair-tie that was taken from Ms Lees when she struggled to survive at the hands of Murdoch.

"He probably didn't know how significant the hair-tie was and had it wrapped around his holster inside his belongings," Ms Gwynne said.

"I think it was a trophy but no-one will ever know."

When it was presented in evidence, Ms Gwynne says he recoiled back and would not touch it.

They knew that was it; that was the nail in his coffin."

The woman who nailed Bradley John Murdoch with a hair elastic

The lead investigator on the Peter Falconio case describes the terror of coming face to face with a murderer after one of the biggest manhunts in Australian history, ending with the help of one single hair elastic.

www.abc.net.au

Thats some terrible writing for a news piece. Interesting to hear bout the hair tie though, this was never brought up on the TV show the other night.

 

[GreyCrow]

Genuine question - how did the hair tie - link back to Joanne Lees? DNA or ''I had one like that'' ?

 

[Girlnextdoor]

Thats some terrible writing for a news piece. Interesting to hear bout the hair tie though, this was never brought up on the TV show the other night.

Yes, that's what I thought, I'd never heard about it till I heard it mentioned, and no, I can't remember in what context I heard it, but I went searching and up popped that article, very strange. It was also not mentioned in that TV show about BM abducting a mother and her 12 year old daughter and him raping the poor little girl! Wouldn't have painted him in quite so innocent a picture would it?

 

[Girlnextdoor]

Genuine question - how did the hair tie - link back to Joanne Lees? DNA or ''I had one like that'' ?

I have no idea GreyCrow and I SO want to know. Maybe there's some way to trace this through a trial transcript? I'll keep searching. You'd think they would have mentioned the tie also in DNA evidence to link the two and not just the blue tee shirt with the tiny bit of BM's DNA on the back? Odd as it's a slam dunk in my book if her DNA was all over that tie, ties it all up in a nice neat bow!!

 

[Kurve]

It was also not mentioned in that TV show about BM abducting a mother and her 12 year old daughter and him raping the poor little girl! Wouldn't have painted him in quite so innocent a picture would it?

Those particular charges were not proven and these two women were friends of a guy called Hepi, who turned Mudoch in to the police in some sort of deal for leniency on his own charges. It seems part of the issue around all this was the abduction of mother and daughter didn't happen? I need to brush up on the details though.

 

[Girlnextdoor]

Those particular charges were not proven and these two women were friends of a guy called Hepi, who turned Mudoch in to the police in some sort of deal for leniency on his own charges. It seems part of the issue around all this was the abduction of mother and daughter didn't happen? I need to brush up on the details though.

Oh thanks K I didn't know that, so many pieces in this puzzle!

 

[Kurve]

Oh thanks K I didn't know that, so many pieces in this puzzle!

There's a complicated history and it's more than a bit seedy. That has nothing to do with the DNA though which has proved so far to be solid imo but might be why in part questions around this continue when nobody would care otherwise.

 

[Girlnextdoor]

Genuine question - how did the hair tie - link back to Joanne Lees? DNA or ''I had one like that'' ?

I did find this oh Crow of Grey from a journo who was at the trial and gives some very interesting insights. Wonder why the tie evidence "couldn't be led in court"???

"And there was the evidence that couldn’t be led in court, of the identical shackles and weapons, as well as Joanne Lees’ elastic hair tie, discovered hidden in Murdoch’s car when he was arrested for a sex crime in South Australia, for which he was later found not guilty."

Falconio facts and fictions – how they got it so wrong

JimmyT revisits the murky world of the TV “investigation” of the Peter Falconio murder … Those of you who’ve been transfixed by the unexplained myste

www.flat-chat.com.au

 

[Kurve]

Genuine question - how did the hair tie - link back to Joanne Lees? DNA or ''I had one like that'' ?

She had one like it, most women with hair long enough to tie back probably have. I never did get the razzamattazz around the hair tie, I go through dozens of them every year.

 

[Girlnextdoor]

Curiouser and curiouser cried Alice!

Joanne Lees to apply for Australian citizenship after finding long lost sister

amp.9news.com.au

 

[Krusty Crab]

Yes, that's what I thought, I'd never heard about it till I heard it mentioned, and no, I can't remember in what context I heard it, but I went searching and up popped that article, very strange. It was also not mentioned in that TV show about BM abducting a mother and her 12 year old daughter and him raping the poor little girl! Wouldn't have painted him in quite so innocent a picture would it?

the rape charges were mentioned in the TV show. there was talk about whether these charges were trumped up as an excuse to get Murdoch's DNA. at the trial for these charges he was found innocent, and he made a run for the door. as he tried to leave he was arrested by NT cops, and it was brought up it was illegal to arrest someone inside a court house.

if i recall the complainants in the rape case were linked to the drug dealer that shopped murdoch for a reduced sentence. whether it was a put up job to draw murdoch out and obtain his DNA we will never know. im not 100% that murdoch was involved in the lees/falconio case, theres to many unanswered questions and alternative theories for me to say i believe he is guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

my current working theory is that lees/falconio were part of some drug deal, (either smuggling, transporting, or selling to other travellers) they werent pulled over by another car on the hwy, but rather they were waiting for the other car, either to hand off the drugs or cash or get payment for themselves etc (red car or murdoch?). something happens and there is a disagreement, PF gets hurt, resulting in blood on the road way (im wondering if he could of been stabbed instead of shot).lees gets tied up and terrorised for a bit while the other party threatens her to get back their cash/drugs. she could of been held in the kombi once it was moved off the road. PF body vanishes at some point either in the red car, or murdoch car or some other way. Lees could of been tied up in the kombi, and managed to escape somehow, eventually turning up in front of the truck driver.

if the story of the red car is to be believed, maybe they got caught cleaning up the scene? lets say lees/falconio were meant to meet up with murdoch for the hand off. they wait with the kombi on the side of the road. murdoch rolls up, ready to collect the cash and pass on some more drugs. lees/falconio dont want to hand over the cash, or they dont have all the money. murdoch stabs falconio at the back of the kombi, grabs lees, ties her up and chucks her in the back of the kombi. murdoch moves PF body out of sight, and rings whoever is his local contact to deliver the cash/drugs too. they set out in the red car to sort the situation out. lees is held captive in the kombi which is now moved off the road, red car shows up just before the truck, discussion held and possibly a decision made to kill lees, or something similar to ensure she stays silent. truck driver sees lights moving as murdoch moves his ute, and PF body gets loaded in red car. during this lees escapes, and with a potential witness in the truck driver about to show up, murdoch and the red car do a u turn and leg it, forgetting about lees. she then pops out in time to see the truck. cue the look of terror after seeing her bf stabbed by angry drug dealers, and possibly hearing their discussion about what to do with her. her story minimises her part in the process, and puts the blame onto murdoch.

questions i would like to know the answers to:

what was mobile phone/sat phone coverage in the area like at the time of the lees/falconio case?
If murdoch was out on a drug run, where was his intended delivery point, and who was the buyer?
how was murdoch supposed to contact his intended delivery person when he arrived?
what tests were run on the blood on the road? some sources claim it wasn't even DNA tested?
lees statement said she and PF smoked a joint earlier in the day. where was the weed sourced from?
what was the financial back ground of lees/PF prior, especially during their time in australia? any sudden extra cash?
if the kombi was known to be dodgy, and they had already travelled some pasts of the outback, (they knew how vast, empty and desolate some parts can be), then why set off so late so they end up driving at sundown and night time?
why was lees trying to tee up another date with her bit on the side, merely days after her bf went missing? not expecting her to be inconsolable, but surely she would want to hang about for a bit to see PF family, and check progress and help out as much as possible in the search?

could the blood have been from someone sitting against the kombi/laying on the ground with a stab wound instead of a gun shot wound?

 

[Girlnextdoor]

the rape charges were mentioned in the TV show. there was talk about whether these charges were trumped up as an excuse to get Murdoch's DNA. at the trial for these charges he was found innocent, and he made a run for the door. as he tried to leave he was arrested by NT cops, and it was brought up it was illegal to arrest someone inside a court house.

if i recall the complainants in the rape case were linked to the drug dealer that shopped murdoch for a reduced sentence. whether it was a put up job to draw murdoch out and obtain his DNA we will never know. im not 100% that murdoch was involved in the lees/falconio case, theres to many unanswered questions and alternative theories for me to say i believe he is guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

my current working theory is that lees/falconio were part of some drug deal, (either smuggling, transporting, or selling to other travellers) they werent pulled over by another car on the hwy, but rather they were waiting for the other car, either to hand off the drugs or cash or get payment for themselves etc (red car or murdoch?). something happens and there is a disagreement, PF gets hurt, resulting in blood on the road way (im wondering if he could of been stabbed instead of shot).lees gets tied up and terrorised for a bit while the other party threatens her to get back their cash/drugs. she could of been held in the kombi once it was moved off the road. PF body vanishes at some point either in the red car, or murdoch car or some other way. Lees could of been tied up in the kombi, and managed to escape somehow, eventually turning up in front of the truck driver.

if the story of the red car is to be believed, maybe they got caught cleaning up the scene? lets say lees/falconio were meant to meet up with murdoch for the hand off. they wait with the kombi on the side of the road. murdoch rolls up, ready to collect the cash and pass on some more drugs. lees/falconio dont want to hand over the cash, or they dont have all the money. murdoch stabs falconio at the back of the kombi, grabs lees, ties her up and chucks her in the back of the kombi. murdoch moves PF body out of sight, and rings whoever is his local contact to deliver the cash/drugs too. they set out in the red car to sort the situation out. lees is held captive in the kombi which is now moved off the road, red car shows up just before the truck, discussion held and possibly a decision made to kill lees, or something similar to ensure she stays silent. truck driver sees lights moving as murdoch moves his ute, and PF body gets loaded in red car. during this lees escapes, and with a potential witness in the truck driver about to show up, murdoch and the red car do a u turn and leg it, forgetting about lees. she then pops out in time to see the truck. cue the look of terror after seeing her bf stabbed by angry drug dealers, and possibly hearing their discussion about what to do with her. her story minimises her part in the process, and puts the blame onto murdoch.

questions i would like to know the answers to:

what was mobile phone/sat phone coverage in the area like at the time of the lees/falconio case?
If murdoch was out on a drug run, where was his intended delivery point, and who was the buyer?
how was murdoch supposed to contact his intended delivery person when he arrived?
what tests were run on the blood on the road? some sources claim it wasn't even DNA tested?
lees statement said she and PF smoked a joint earlier in the day. where was the weed sourced from?
what was the financial back ground of lees/PF prior, especially during their time in australia? any sudden extra cash?
if the kombi was known to be dodgy, and they had already travelled some pasts of the outback, (they knew how vast, empty and desolate some parts can be), then why set off so late so they end up driving at sundown and night time?
why was lees trying to tee up another date with her bit on the side, merely days after her bf went missing? not expecting her to be inconsolable, but surely she would want to hang about for a bit to see PF family, and check progress and help out as much as possible in the search?

could the blood have been from someone sitting against the kombi/laying on the ground with a stab wound instead of a gun shot wound?

WOW KC that's some pretty amazing thought process you've got going on there, thank you so much for sharing! I too think it was a drug deal gone horribly wrong and that Murdoch was doing a deal with them collecting money owed for product supplied. Perhaps Joanne and Pete had been sending the profits up in smoke and not selling enough gear and an argument broke out between Pete and Bradley, like you say.
The idea that makes sense is that Joanne was stashed in the combi and escaped just before Bradley returned to have his way and do away with her. I just watched another 60 minutes interview with Joanne and she said she hid for 5 hours behind a small salt bush whilst Brad hunted for her with a torch and dog?? Really, 5 hours in the desert at night with very little clothes on, it would have been freezing! i don't buy that at all. So many questions you've posed, will have to ponder.

 

[SaltPeter]

Thanks. So the only thing that's really new according to Media Watch is the introduction of Jelly Man. The truck driver Miller who picked Lee up now reports he stopped for a red car on the side of the road with three passengers one of them being Jelly Man as the possibly deceased Falconio. Red car suspiciously took off before Miller could reach them.

Miller says he reported this to police and it was left off his statement. Miller's credibility is at stake but weren't there two men in the truck that rescued Lees and therefore, shouldn't the co-driver in the truck be able to back Miller's claim of stopping for little red car?

Wasn't the co-driver asleep in the back of cab

 

[PenfoldsFan]

If it wasn't a drug deal gone wrong then someone needs to explain why JL and PF visited Sedan whilst in SA, the same area BM ran drugs from.
They also visited Highway 1 caravan park at Bolivar, one of the places BM stayed when in Adelaide.
There is nothing to see for backpackers in Sedan, why would you bother travelling half way around the world to Sydney and then to sleepy old Adelaide just to visit a shithole like Sedan in the short time you're in SA?
I can think of a thousand more interesting places than Sedan.

They were being used as drug mules, 'shifty Pete' tried to live up to his name, legged it from Alice Springs, got caught and the rest is smoke and mirrors.

 

[PenfoldsFan]

Wasn't the co-driver asleep in the back of cab

Yep, Bulls Transport ran 2up from Darwin to Adelaide, the reason you run 2up is to keep moving, in order to keep moving one has to sleep whilst the other drives.
Think about it, old mate wouldn't have woken over the gradual stopping due to the red car which is why he wasn't mentioned, but standing on the anchor as a woman runs out in front of the truck would certainly get your attention.

 

[royboys4eva]

If it wasn't a drug deal gone wrong then someone needs to explain why JL and PF visited Sedan whilst in SA, the same area BM ran drugs from.
They also visited Highway 1 caravan park at Bolivar, one of the places BM stayed when in Adelaide.
There is nothing to see for backpackers in Sedan, why would you bother travelling half way around the world to Sydney and then to sleepy old Adelaide just to visit a shithole like Sedan in the short time you're in SA?
I can think of a thousand more interesting places than Sedan.

They were being used as drug mules, 'shifty Pete' tried to live up to his name, legged it from Alice Springs, got caught and the rest is smoke and mirrors.

Sorry where is the story about Lees and Falconio visiting Sedan? I haven't read that.

 

[royboys4eva]

Genuine question - how did the hair tie - link back to Joanne Lees? DNA or ''I had one like that'' ?

Lees when interviewed by Police said she was missing a hair tie. The same hair tie was then discovered amongst Murdochs possessions years later.

 

[nadsee]

I think that, the contents in this site, should be the basis of peoples thoughts about PF murder.
Channel 7 and the former lawyer/investigator should not been seen as providing factual evidence.
The novels are not transcript.

JL has not told everything, and may never give a full account, because she wants to live permanently in Australia.
If she was involved in anything illegal and admits to it. She will not be given permanency.

There has always been speculation, about how cannabis is transported to Asia/Bali.
Trucking transport would be the ideal mode, to Darwin and then boat/plane. A kombi van is to easy for the Police to search.
What PF, JL & BM were doing by themselves or as a group, may just be coincidence. BUT???

PF & JL, may have been involved with BM & his associates. Something went wrong & PF was killed. His body will be no where near the suspected blood on the highway/scene. The red car???
Or PF & JL may just have been in the wrong place and the wrong time.

BM will never admit to any wrong doing. Who was/is behind his drug supply is probably a more interesting question. BM would seem to be the ideal person to see that things run smoothly.

Krusty Crab makes more sense than any book or Channel 7 fluff piece of television.

 

[GreyCrow]

Lees when interviewed by Police said she was missing a hair tie. The same hair tie was then discovered amongst Murdochs possessions years later.

Same or similar? That's the thrust of my query. How was it determined to be the same hair tie