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Why Murder in the Outback fans are convinced Peter Falconio is still alive

The British backpacker's body was never found 

lees falconio
Emmy Griffiths
TV & Film Editor
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Viewers have been fascinated by Murder in the Outback: The Falconio and Lees Mystery, which follows the disappearance of Peter Falconio back in 2001 while travelling in Australia with his girlfriend, Joanne Lees. In Tuesday's episode, a witness claimed that he was "200 per cent" certain that he saw Peter after his disappearance - leading viewers to question whether the backpacker was still alive. 

joanne peter

Robert Brown and his partner Melissa both claimed to have seen him at their service station, with Robert explaining: "I was reading the race results in the paper and I heard the door squeak, and Melissa was on the other side and she’s yelling out to me. She yelled at me again and then the next minute she turned the paper over and on the front page there was a picture of a gentleman down in the bottom right-hand corner and she tapped it. I put the paper down and walked around the corner and then bang I am looking straight at this bloke I saw in the paper. I was sort of in shock." 

joanne lees

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He continued: "I didn’t go to the police straight away because it was none of my business. I am 200 per cent [sure] it was Peter Falconio, I will go under any lie detector test I was a metre away from him." Melissa agreed, saying: "I personally believe he is alive, where he is I don’t know."

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The couple's testimony had viewers questioning Peter's whereabouts, with one writing: "My genuine opinion is that Peter is still alive, unsure if Joanne knew about what may have been planning HOWEVER why is nobody talking about the DNA evidence of Brad Murdoch on Joanne's T-shirt?! How did it get there? Far too many inconsistencies for my liking." Another added: "Absolutely blagged. Not enough evidence for anyone to be charged. No body, no blood splatters. I have a sneaky suspicion that Peter Falconio could still be alive."