NT: Body found south of Alice Springs

AAP General News (Australia)
08-06-2001
NT: Body found south of Alice Springs

Police investigating the disappearance of British tourist PETER FALCONIO in the Northern
Territory say the body of a caucasian man has been found in scrub south of Alice Springs.

Police say the body was not dressed in the clothes Mr FALCONIO, 28, was wearing when
he was shot on July 14 by an unknown assailant who attempted to abduct his 27-year-old
girlfriend, JOANNE LEES.

A spokesman says at this stage police don't believe it's Mr FALCONIO's body, but they've
yet to identify the body or the cause of death.

Investigators suspect Mr FALCONIO died soon after he was shot in an ambush on the Stuart
Highway roadside, 300km north of Alice Springs near Barrow Creek.

But his family, including his brother PAUL FALCONIO, who is monitoring the investigation
from Alice Springs, have clung to the slim chance that he has been abducted alive.

Police say the body was found yesterday afternoon by local Aborigines in scrub near
a truck rest stop off the Stuart Highway about 60 kilometres south of Alice Springs.

Police and forensic officers are at the scene.

AAP RTV rmg/rsm/jn

KEYWORD: GUNMAN BODY (DARWIN)

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