Bloodstain

On a cold July night in 2001 a panic-stricken woman dashed out of the desert scrub, bringing to a halt a huge semi-trailer thundering down the highway.The story Joanne Lees subsequently told spread a chill among backpackers everywhere and launched Australia s most intense manhunt in living memory. A cool, calculating killer had tricked her and her boyfriend Peter Falconio into stopping their campervan on an isolated stretch of highway. He shot Falconio, leaving the stain of the Englishman s blood on the road, but Joanne managed to escape and hide in the undergrowth.But was her account entirely accurate? What secrets was she holding back? And where was Falconio s body? Award-winning journalist Richard Shears has covered the incredible story from the time it broke through to the dramatic trial of Bradley Murdoch, who was accused of Falconio s murder.