Police may have breakthrough in outback abduction hunt
Australian police may have made a breakthrough in the hunt for the man who abducted, and probably killed, a British tourist.
Channel Ten TV reported a backpacker has come forward claiming to recognise the man in the indentikit image.
The woman says she hitched a ride in the Northern Territory with a man matching the description but fled in fear of her life when he began acting completely irrationally and arming himself with guns.
She also revealed that the man was travelling with a dog.
Queensland detectives are now assisting Alice Springs police, travelling to the suspect’s former town of Airlie Beach on the Whitsundays in a bid to locate his relatives.
They may know his whereabouts but so far neither the man nor his family can be found, said Channel Ten.
Later, officers investigating the attack confirmed that a woman had come forward claiming to recognise the suspect in an identikit image.
But a Northern Territory Police spokeswoman insisted that it was not a ‘‘breakthrough’’ but just another sighting that they were investigating.
She said: ‘‘A woman has said these things. I understand police have been investigating it but I’m not sure what the result is at this point in time.
‘‘This is not a breakthrough, it’s just another sighting. All the media are now running reports of every sighting of this man.
‘‘Channel 7 News think they’ve already solved the mystery and they are running a completely different story altogether saying that the police have solved the case.
‘‘As much as we would like to believe that there are no major breakthroughs at this point.’’
DNA swabs were taken from Mr Falconio’s father and brother in a bid to confirm blood found at the crime scene was that of the missing British tourist.
Police have also asked for voluntary DNA samples from people in the Barrow Creek area, close to where the attack took place, to exclude them from potential DNA evidence found at the scene.
The evidence is being checked against a Northern Territory DNA database in case there is a match with a known criminal.
Miss Lees remains in a safe haven in Alice Springs where police revealed she had met Mr Falconio’s father Luciano and older brother Paul.
