MELBOURNE, Australia, July 16, (AP): Police fear Bradley John Murdoch, known as the "Outback Killer”, has taken to his grave the secret of how he disposed of the body of British backpacker Peter Falconio who was murdered in arid central Australia 24 years ago. Murdoch died Tuesday night, aged 67, in the palliative care unit of the Alice Springs Hospital, officials said Wednesday.

He was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019 and was recently transferred to the hospital from the Alice Springs prison. His death leaves the mystery of the whereabouts of Falconio’s body unsolved. The Northern Territory Police Force said investigators remain "committed to resolving this final piece of the investigation.”

"It is deeply regrettable that Murdoch has died without, as far as we are aware, ever disclosing the location of Peter Falconio’s remains," a police statement said. "His silence has denied the Falconio family the closure they have so long deserved." The victim's 83-year-old father, Luciano Falconio, was visibly shocked and lost for words after learning of Murdoch's death a day after the anniversary of his son's disappearance, News Corp Australia reported.

"I tell you what I think, I wish he (Murdoch) left something for me to find him,” the father told the news company from his home in the U.K. In 2005, Murdoch was convicted of the 2001 murder of 28-year-old Falconio, from Huddersfield in England’s Yorkshire region, and the attempted kidnapping of Falconio’s girlfriend Joanne Lees.

The crime captured global attention and was one of the inspirations for the 2005 Australian horror movie "Wolf Creek,” about a serial killer who preyed on backpackers and left a single witness who became a suspect. Lees, who wrote about her ordeal in her 2006 memoir "No Turning Back,” complained that police treated her as a suspect in the years before Murdoch was charged.

A court order prevented the movie’s release in the Northern Territory during Murdoch’s trial, fearing it could influence jurors. Murdoch was not accused of any other killings. Murdoch consistently maintained his innocence and did not help authorities search for Falconio’s remains. At the time of the killing, Murdoch was an interstate drug runner, using amphetamines to stay awake for dayslong drives and cannabis to sleep.