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Outback Murder Highway S01E02
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00:02it's been dubbed the outback murder highway 11 people murdered or missing in the past 50 years
00:10all on one stretch of road the Flinders Highway it's been a hunting ground for serial killers
00:19for decades and it's probably one of the most notorious stretches of road in the whole of
00:26Australia the case we're investigating is a brutal execution style triple murder back in 1978 three
00:35friends on a motorbike trip throughout back Australia Karen Tim and Gordon were shot dead
00:41on the murder highway three people were murdered that's a real killer three heinous execution style
00:53murders it remains one of the most difficult unsolved murder cases for more than 40 years in
01:01Australia could this be a highway killer or a murderous local our investigators will unearth new clues new
01:14witnesses and new leads there were several things that struck me when I started reinvestigating this
01:21case in my view killers don't want to run risks this fourth man was last seen in that evening and
01:31had never been seen since that time a crucial witness we tracked her down this man clearly was the killer
02:10flinders highway starts in townsville it goes all the way to Mount Isa and it joins on with the Barkley
02:16Highway Highway which continues on to Northern Territory our remote highways do attract murderers with
02:28psychopathic tendencies they're out there in 1978 this stretch of road was the perfect place for people to
02:41try to stay under the radar the triple murder at spear Creek remains one of Queensland's most baffling cold cases
03:03so
03:04we're bringing together a team of investigators to shed new light on this mystery
03:11this story starts in 1978 with two Kiwis best mates Tim Thompson and Gordon twaddle they were living and working
03:21across the ditch in Alice Springs
03:28my name's John twaddle brother Gordon twaddle and friend of Tim Thompson Gordon was the youngest we got on very
03:39well because I got into motorcycling when I was 15 and then Gordon followed
03:45it was easy going he was very keen on life keen on doing all sorts of thing motorcycling cars chasing
03:52woman Tim was very adventurous he'd been around the world a bit and he'd brought back motorcycles rare ones from
04:02overseas
04:07the two motorbike nuts wrote to John about their plans for a cross-country adventuring trip
04:16this letters from Tim sent it from Australia and a photo of his motorbike and sidecar he's just bought
04:24this this this is from my brother Gordon telling me that he had bought a GS 750 Suzuki almost brand
04:34new seventeen hundred and fifty dollars
04:40there was a third person on this motorbike adventure Karen Edwards she was the Aussie of the group and Tim's
04:50girlfriend
04:54she joined the boys in Alice Springs on the 30th of September 1978
05:03it was going to be a trip of a lifetime to go across to Mount Isa and then across to
05:09the coast and make their way back down to Melbourne for for Christmas
05:16but their journey ended in bloodshed on the notorious murder highway
05:25I'm Mike King and I spent a career investigating serial predators primarily focusing on geography
05:34you know I've had the opportunity to look at the Flinders Highway murders for more than five years
05:42this is a place where people are traveling that are not from the area they are passerbys another face that's
05:52quickly forgotten
05:53which equates to the fact that they can then become targets of opportunity that they can simply disappear off the
06:01face of the map and nobody knows that they've come and gone
06:04and not only is the victim anonymous the people traveling along this highway are anonymous
06:12to unlock this mystery we're retracing their journey step by step
06:19the three friends left Alice Springs on the 2nd of October
06:26Tim rode a red motorbike with a sidecar for Karen
06:29and Gordon followed behind on his bike
06:35from Alice Springs they made several sightseeing stops
06:41this is the last known photo of the trio taken on their journey days before they disappeared
06:48they arrived in Mount Isa on the 4th of October
06:54and then they vanished
07:02my father told me that Gordon hadn't been in touch with him for some time
07:08and I said don't worry dad those boys can look after themselves the big boys they'll be fine
07:13they're probably just having a good time and forgetting to ring home or send a letter
07:27I'm Ken Gamble I'm a private investigator that specializes in criminal investigations
07:32and I'm reinvestigating the Spear Creek murders of 1978
07:38there were several things that struck me when I started reinvestigating this case
07:42and I believed that the case was always solvable
07:54on the 24th of October 1978
07:5922 days after Karen, Tim and Gordon set out on their adventure
08:06a couple walking their dog made a gruesome discovery
08:14in a dry creek bed just off the Flinders Highway
08:19they found Tim's body
08:28it was a gruesome discovery
08:35he was lying down essentially where he had fallen
08:42it would appear that he was running away at the time that he was shot
08:50the next day police returned to the scene in the morning
08:56and they found two more bodies
09:00which was Gordon and Karen
09:02and their bodies were located quite close together
09:06they were both executed also at close range
09:10with a .22 rifle
09:17the same rifle that had been used to murder Tim
09:22this was a brutal execution style murder of three people
09:27but identifying the victims was no easy task
09:32police at the time didn't know yet that this was Gordon, Tim and Karen
09:38they had no way of identifying these people at all
09:44there was very little evidence other than a couple of personal items
09:48there was no shell casings found at the scene
09:53when they found Tim, Tim's thongs had come off
09:57he'd been trying to scale the sandbank
10:00he was running
10:03it appears that robbery was the motivation for this crime
10:08at least because their property was missing
10:12police were baffled by the brutal highway murder on Mount Isa's outskirts
10:19what sort of person would execute three people in cold blood and why?
10:25because so many itinerant people go through Mount Isa
10:29police possibly thought it was someone travelling through
10:38was the killer just passing through and his victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time
10:44or was he a local just lying in wait?
10:51early on in the investigation there was a huge dramatic setback
10:56within seconds we struck the ground
11:01made it even more difficult to track down the killer
11:13it's been dubbed the murder highway
11:16a deadly 900 kilometre stretch of road
11:20with more unsolved murders than anywhere else in Australia
11:26the Flinders Highway
11:30we're investigating the 1978 execution style highway murders of three friends
11:36Karen, Tim and Gordon
11:42so this triple murder at Spear Creek remains one of the most difficult unsolved murder cases
11:49for more than 40 years in Australia
11:54was it a killer passing through?
11:56or a murderous local?
12:02police had no idea who these victims were
12:05let alone who murdered them
12:12I'm Amelia Overhart, I'm a Queenslander
12:15and I'm an investigative journalist
12:17the only clue that was left by the killer was Karen's watch
12:21police put ads in papers right across the country
12:25hoping they could identify who it belonged to
12:28but early on in the investigation there was a pretty dramatic setback
12:37on the second day of the investigation
12:40it was decided to conduct an aerial search of the crime scene
12:46I'm Jim O'Donnell
12:48and in 1978 I was a homicide detective
12:53we hired a helicopter for a 30 minute surveillance of the scene
13:03within a matter of seconds
13:09we struck the ground
13:16I slipped out of my seatbelt straight out onto the ground
13:21behind me and started to crawl away from the crash
13:29the first 48 hours of any police investigation are critical
13:33it's a crucial window to collect evidence and track down suspects before they have a chance to flee
13:39so that helicopter crash was a major setback for detectives
13:44because those vital 48 hours at the start were lost
13:49and the investigation never really regained the momentum it needed
13:57it couldn't have happened at a worse time
13:59the weeks that went by made it even more difficult to track down the killer
14:09the chopper crash delayed investigators giving the killer, or killers, a head start
14:16and time to cover their tracks
14:21Gordon's bike was found dumped in Mount Isa on October 16th
14:25but this was eight days before the bodies were discovered
14:28so no one raised the alarm
14:32in my view killers don't want to run risks
14:35I'm Dr Louise Stedding
14:39I'm an archaeologist and a criminologist
14:42in my spare time I look at cold cases
14:47Louise looks at these crimes through a different lens
14:51she's intrigued by the effort the killer took to conceal their crimes
14:58somebody rode out on one of those bikes
15:03they parked it outside a motel
15:07god how clever
15:09that bike won't be found for ages
15:12because it'll be assumed it's somebody in the motel
15:15buys them time
15:20but on the 30th of October there was a turning point
15:24a Melbourne watchmaker reading the newspaper recognised Karen's watch
15:29police could now identify the bodies as Karen, Tim and Gordon
15:35their families were given the devastating news
15:39well I didn't really believe it actually
15:43I thought no they're two strong guys
15:47they're not going to be just murdered by somebody
15:50but they were
16:01the next day another discovery
16:05the trio's property was found discarded at the Mount Isa tip
16:11now police had to work out how they ended up on the notorious murder highway
16:20mapping predatory behaviour and routes is much easier today than it was in the 1970s
16:28but detectives in 1978
16:30they had no physical or electronic evidence to track the trio's movements
16:36luckily for them members of the public who saw the three friends on their trip came forward
16:43police put together this sort of timeline of their final movements and it started with Mount Isa
16:57if you wanted to get lost in Australia you came to Mount Isa
17:03the remoteness of the place and the cheap accommodation attracts people who are on the run
17:10you can hide away there and not be noticed
17:15we did have a real rough and ready persona
17:23Mount Isa in the 1970s was an isolated outpost on the Flinders Highway
17:30our investigation is focused on a caravan park just outside of town
17:35where police got their first big lead
17:42Moondara caravan park is the last place that Karen, Tim and Gordon were seen alive
17:50they arrived at the park on October 4 on their motorbikes and they checked into the park
18:01detectives discovered that a mystery fourth man had visited the three friends here right before they disappeared
18:12so it became evident quite early in the investigation that this man gained the trio's trust
18:18at the moondara caravan park or possibly before there was already some sort of relationship
18:24some sort of trust between them
18:29the three friends left the caravan park in the fourth man's Toyota Land Cruiser
18:34and went to a pub in Mount Isa
18:38the next morning that same man with the Land Cruiser came to the campsite about 8am
18:45and he picked them up
18:46a short time later this vehicle was seen to drive out
18:51as if they were going out for a day trip
18:55and this is the last time Karen, Tim and Gordon are ever seen alive
19:09it's what happened next that made police pretty sure they were murdered on this same day
19:17witnesses told police that 12 hours after leaving the campground with the three friends
19:22the man returned without Karen, Tim and Gordon
19:29he came back alone
19:31that man packed up all their belongings and left the area
19:38so this fourth man was last seen about 8pm on that evening of the 5th of October
19:45and had never been seen since that time
19:50police now have a prime suspect
19:52the fourth man
19:54was he a local or did he follow them all the way to the murder highway
20:01this fourth man clearly was believed to be the killer
20:07this was a crime not just of violence but certainly of betrayal
20:15it looked like the mystery of the fourth man was finally solved
20:19it wasn't a deranged highway killer
20:22it was the local motorbike thief
20:24when they arrested him
20:27we thought find me justice is going to be done
20:38in 1978 three friends on a motorbike trip through outback Australia
20:44were found shot dead
20:48on the notorious and deadly Flinders Highway
20:53police had a suspect
20:57the mystery fourth man
20:59the man last seen with the trio
21:06when the three bodies were found on the banks of Spear Creek
21:11that was really upsetting to the community
21:14we were in shock
21:16I'm Kim Marie Burton
21:18I'm a local local a very proud one
21:20and by default I've become a local historian
21:24Kim Marie's archive is a treasure trove of photos that haven't been seen for decades
21:30we're looking for clues in the photos released by police at the time of the triple murder in 1978
21:39when the police released photographs of the motorbike and the sidecar everyone knew they'd seen somebody in that motorbike
21:48it wasn't a very pleasant time in the town
21:57back in 1978 Mount Isa it's the sort of place where everyone knows everybody
22:03and that's how a young guy named Bruce Preston came to police attention
22:08on the 13th of November police acted on a tip-off
22:12Tim's stolen motorbike was found in the garage of a local couple
22:16with a son by the name of Bruce Preston
22:19he was a young person of 23 years of age
22:23he gave full answers to all the questions that we asked of him
22:28he didn't appear nervous at any stage
22:32not only was Bruce Preston in possession of the motorcycle
22:36but his father owned a Toyota Land Cruiser fitting a very similar description to the Land Cruiser that had been
22:45seen at the campground
22:48the Mount Isa local had been away on a motorbike trip
22:52and took the same route from Alice Springs to Mount Isa around the same time as the three friends
23:00so this was extraordinary a coincidence that this man was believed to have been riding on the same road all
23:10the way from Alice Springs
23:12his father happened to own a Land Cruiser that was identified as very similar to the Land Cruiser that attended
23:20the campground
23:20and he was now in possession of one of the motorcycles of the victims
23:28the Twaddle family was sure that Preston was the fourth man
23:34well we thought that they caught this young bloke stolen the motorbike
23:38he must be the guy that's done the murders
23:44at first Bruce Preston lied to police about how he got Tim Spike
23:51he took it and wrote it around the town he was seen
23:57and then the trio were found
24:01and with the trio having been found murdered would not anyone freak
24:06what do you do?
24:08you're holding a dead man's
24:11bike
24:14the version Bruce Preston settled on was he found the bike dumped in Mount Isa
24:19and saw two hippies trying to steal it
24:22and then he scares them off and stole the bike for himself
24:26now of course Gordon's bike had also been dumped in Mount Isa
24:31so to police at the time Preston's story it stacked up
24:39Bruce Preston might have been a thief but to police
24:43he didn't fit the profile of a cold-blooded triple murderer
24:47he was in his early 20s and he had a clean criminal record
24:51it would be hard to believe that he would be capable of a triple murder
25:00but then again the circumstantial evidence it all pointed to him
25:05he had Tim's bike and he'd taken the same route as the three victims to get to Mount Isa
25:11despite the circumstantial evidence police couldn't find any proof
25:16that Bruce Preston was in town when the friends were murdered
25:23Bruce Preston has always maintained that he arrived in Mount Isa 24 hours after the trio had arrived at the
25:30Moondara campground
25:32the fourth man was seen with the trio the same day they arrived at the campground
25:38so if Bruce Preston did arrive in Mount Isa a day after the trio
25:44then he couldn't have been the fourth man
25:49there was no forensic evidence to link Bruce Preston to the crime scene
25:54and there was really no evidence whatsoever that he was actually in the company of the trio at any stage
26:03police had no hard evidence to tie Bruce Preston to any of the murders other than the stolen motorbike
26:11they charged him with theft but ultimately ruled him out as a multiple murder suspect
26:19he was discounted as a suspect
26:23that is Preston we're talking about
26:25mainly because we could not put him in Mount Isa at the time of the murders
26:32the thing is three people were murdered that's a real killer
26:37there's a huge leap between being a serial killer or being a thief
26:47he stole a motorbike
26:49that doesn't mean that he murdered people
26:52police ruled out Bruce Preston as the killer
26:56but Gordon's brother John didn't buy it
26:59we were pretty sure that he was the person that did the crime
27:05and now the police for some reason were letting him off got free
27:11it just didn't make sense
27:22the Flinders Highway in Queensland is a hot spot for unsolved murders
27:30we're focusing on a 1978 triple murder at Spear Creek
27:35for decades the case sat gathering dust
27:40but John Twaddle, the brother of one victim
27:42was sure he knew who the murderer was
27:46and insisted the police act on it
27:51nothing had happened for several years
27:53and I decided to write a letter to police
27:55and said you want to look at Bruce Preston
27:59this is the bloke I think it is
28:05John's letters went unanswered
28:07the unsolved triple murder was a stain on Queensland for more than 40 years
28:15but after increasing public pressure
28:18police opened a cold case investigation in 2019
28:28the cold case unit firstly re-examined all of the evidence from the initial investigation by the Mount Isa CIB
28:37they obtained a lot of witness statements
28:39they also re-interviewed a lot of the witnesses
28:42to confirm the contents of those statements
28:47when the cold case team went over these old statements and re-interviewed witnesses
28:53they formed this view that Bruce Preston was actually in Mount Isa earlier than he'd originally told police
29:00which meant he could have been in town when the three were murdered
29:09but that's not all
29:11police claimed witnesses saw Bruce Preston
29:15travelling with the trio through the Northern Territory
29:17and even identified the motorbike he was riding
29:20they also claimed to have seen him with the trio in Mount Isa
29:24at the caravan park and at the local pub
29:31police claimed to have witnesses that had sighted Bruce Preston with the trio
29:37and that was very important because a positive identification by a witness is very compelling evidence
29:56there was a bombshell
30:00John Twaddle's wish was granted
30:03Bruce Preston was charged with their murders
30:07Live across Queensland, this is Live's Afternoon News with Alison Ariotti.
30:13We begin with breaking news.
30:15Police have just charged New South Wales man Bruce John Preston
30:20with three counts of murder over the deaths of three people
30:24in rural Queensland over 40 years ago.
30:30Under questioning from detectives,
30:32Bruce Preston finally admitted he could have been in Mount Isa
30:37on the day the three friends were murdered.
30:40In a new police interview, Bruce Preston has now changed his story,
30:45accepting he could have been at the relevant place at the time.
30:50I firmly believe now that Preston was trying to distance himself
30:55from being anywhere near the deceased people
30:58on their journey from Alice Springs to Mount Isa.
31:04Back in 1978, police knew Bruce Preston had stolen Tim's bike
31:10and that his dad drove a Land Cruiser,
31:13the same model car seen with the trio right before they were murdered.
31:20Now, in 2019, police discovered Preston could have been in Mount Isa
31:26earlier than he claimed,
31:27and witnesses said they saw him travelling with the trio.
31:37It looked like the mystery of the fourth man was finally solved.
31:42It wasn't a deranged highway killer.
31:45It was the local kid, Bruce Preston, the motorbike thief.
31:53When they arrested him, we thought,
31:56find me, maybe justice is going to be done after 40 years.
32:03New evidence blows the investigation wide open.
32:07The fourth man, you can see the black hair and dark features.
32:10And this is the photo of Preston, our documentary uncovered.
32:14Bruce Preston looked nothing like him.
32:28In 1978, three friends were executed beside the Flinders Highway.
32:36Police at the time cleared local bike thief, Bruce Preston, as a suspect.
32:43But in a bombshell, a new police investigation in 2019 charged Preston with triple murder.
32:52Detectives assured John Twaddle they had a solid case.
32:58I questioned them whether they had enough evidence after 40 years,
33:02and they assured me that they did.
33:06They told me that they had enough information to convict them.
33:12Bruce Preston was caught with Tim's bike.
33:16His father owned the same model of Land Cruiser seen with the murdered trio.
33:22And cold case detectives from the 2019 investigation
33:25said witnesses identified Preston as the fourth man,
33:30seen with Karen, Tim and Gordon before they were murdered.
33:35So the police cold case unit believed they had a strong circumstantial case
33:41that Bruce Preston was the murderer.
33:44But police still had to prove their case.
33:51And on 31 January 2020, a judge ruled police had overstated the evidence
33:58identifying Bruce Preston as the fourth man.
34:03But a lot of those witnesses that were re-interviewed were vague
34:06about the identification.
34:08So whilst police were able to establish that a fourth person
34:12had joined the trio at some stage,
34:15there was never any evidence to prove that that fourth person
34:18was Bruce Preston.
34:20The cold case team had ignored crucial evidence
34:24from the original police investigation.
34:27Let's go back to that time for a moment, 1978.
34:34Back then, multiple witnesses said that the fourth man
34:38had a distinctive black beard.
34:43He was a solid build, about 178 centimetres.
34:47He had a black beard and dark hair
34:50and he was noted to have an olive complexion.
34:55This same bearded man was seen with Karen, Tim and Gordon
35:00at a Mount Isa pub the day before the murder.
35:06Witnesses described him talking to them in the Mount Isa Hotel
35:11as having had a full beard, dark hair, a full head of hair
35:17and he also came along in a Toyota Land Cruiser.
35:25In 1978, the detectives who had ruled out Bruce Preston as a suspect
35:31were convinced that the trio's killer was this bearded man.
35:40Police had made several different identicates
35:43in case the suspect shaved off his beard
35:45or something similar to avoid detection.
35:47Look at this one, you can see the black hair and dark features.
35:51And this is the photo of Preston, our documentary uncovered.
35:56It's actually from the 1978 arrest when he stole Tim's bike
36:00and it's never been made public before.
36:03This photo was taken just weeks after the murder
36:07when Bruce Preston was charged with theft.
36:12Bruce Preston did not look a thing like the identikit
36:17of the Mediterranean guy with his full black beard, his black hair.
36:22Bruce Preston looked nothing, nothing like him.
36:30He was shorter, he had fair hair, had fair skin.
36:34He was certainly incapable of having a black beard
36:37and he certainly wasn't Mediterranean-looking.
36:40So there was nothing about the features of Bruce Preston
36:43that even remotely looked like the person described
36:46by the witnesses at the Moondara campground.
36:51And so, fast forward to 2020.
36:57The difference between the descriptions of the bearded man
37:01and Bruce Preston was so stark that a judge granted him bail.
37:06I've never heard of an accused triple murderer
37:10being granted bail before.
37:18Three years later, the prosecution withdrew their charges.
37:23Bruce Preston walked away a free man.
37:29We had a Zoom meeting with the prosecution.
37:33They were very wishy-washy about why they dropped the charges.
37:37They just said insufficient evidence
37:40and we thought that's just hopeless.
37:45They had a serious problem that they were contending with.
37:48A jury would never have believed the prosecution
37:52that Bruce Preston was the murderer.
37:55Bruce Preston has no criminal history
37:58apart from that one theft of the bike.
38:01He went on to serve in the military.
38:04He became a corrections officer.
38:06What is the probability that Preston would have committed
38:11three heinous execution-style murders
38:15and then stole the one thing
38:17that was most identifiable to the crime
38:20and drive it around town?
38:25So if it's not Preston, then who?
38:27And frankly, that who takes us back to the bearded man.
38:31What on earth could be the motivation?
38:33And it leaves us all scratching our heads.
38:38Our investigators close in on a highway killer.
38:41This person was extremely violent
38:44and has a complete disregard for human life.
38:49And guess where he ended up?
38:51Mount Isa.
39:01Along the deadly Flinders Highway,
39:03at least 11 people have been murdered
39:06or disappeared in the past 50 years.
39:10We're investigating what happened to three friends
39:14who were shot dead execution-style
39:18in 1978.
39:21Their motorbike was found with a local man,
39:24Bruce Preston.
39:25He was convicted of theft,
39:27but the charge of murder didn't stick
39:29for one big reason.
39:32Preston didn't match the description
39:34of the last person seen with the three victims.
39:37The bearded man.
39:41That man has never come forward
39:44to clear his name.
39:47It would indicate to me
39:49that that person could have been the killer.
39:52To find clues about the bearded man's identity,
39:55we have to go back
39:57to the original 1978 police investigation.
40:01Back then, a crucial witness told police
40:05she saw this bearded man with Tim in Alice Springs
40:09before the trio set out on their journey.
40:13And we've tracked her down.
40:14She's never spoken on camera before.
40:18I'm Irmala Polner.
40:20In 1978, Tim Thompson was our neighbour.
40:26What Irmala saw was brief,
40:28but her memory is crystal clear.
40:33I was just standing at the gate
40:35in front of my house
40:37and Tim Thompson came with someone
40:40driving a Toyota Land Cruiser.
40:42And Tim was sitting in the passenger seat
40:45and there was this other fellow driving.
40:49He had a beard, dark hair, olive skin,
40:53and that's what we saw of him, really.
40:58Irmala told police she saw Tim
41:00with a bearded man in Alice Springs.
41:04Witnesses saw a bearded man
41:06fitting the same description
41:08with Karen, Tim and Gordon in Mount Isa.
41:12Police believed they were one and the same.
41:15It raises a startling question.
41:18Did Tim know his killer?
41:21Was he followed up the highway?
41:25I believe that the killer knew Tim Thompson.
41:31I believe that the killer travelled to Mount Isa
41:35knowing that the trio were camping in that campground.
41:41Ken Gamble's investigation
41:43into the Spear Creek killings
41:45has thrown up a new suspect.
41:49In 1978, there was another highway killer
41:53suspected of murdering a man
41:55called John Zalades
41:56in cold blood in remote Western Australia.
42:01And like the Spear Creek trio,
42:04he had just a single bullet wound to the head
42:08and had his ID and possession stolen.
42:12This murder, just months before the Spear Creek killings,
42:16is also unsolved
42:18and is one of Western Australia's longest-running mysteries.
42:26The suspected killer had been nicknamed
42:28George the Money Man
42:30and he does bear similarities
42:32to the man Ermela described.
42:35This is an identikit of George the Money Man
42:39and this is the Spear Creek suspect,
42:43the fourth man.
42:45The highway killer known as George the Money Man
42:47stole John Zalades' bank book
42:50and he was cashing his cheques.
42:51So, detectives were initially able
42:55to track the suspected murderer's movements
42:57and guess where he ended up?
43:01Now, Niza.
43:03Now, that's the last sighting
43:06that police could ever find
43:08of George the Money Man.
43:10George the Money Man has never been caught.
43:15Ken Gamble believes the murderer
43:17could have been responsible
43:18for other highway murders
43:20throughout remote Australia.
43:23This is a person
43:24that has a complete disregard for him in life.
43:33After Bruce Preston
43:35had his triple murder charges withdrawn in 2023,
43:39it looked as if the Spear Creek killings
43:41would remain yet another unsolved case
43:44along the Flinders Highway.
43:47But in late 2025,
43:49there was yet another twist
43:51and it put Bruce Preston squarely back in focus.
43:56A coroner has reopened an inquest
43:58into the cold case killings
44:00of three people near Mount Isa.
44:03Bruce Preston was called to give evidence
44:06to a new coronial inquest
44:08and was again questioned
44:10about his movements
44:11in the lead-up to the triple murder.
44:19Hey, Ken, how are you?
44:20Nice to see you.
44:22It's pretty interesting information
44:24coming out of that inquest.
44:25Bruce Preston was very vague
44:27about his movements at the time
44:29and I think that's made the judge
44:30a little bit suspicious.
44:31The coroner warned Bruce Preston
44:33that if he lied,
44:35he could face a perjury charge.
44:37You said that you spent 11 months in custody
44:39and the past six years
44:40thinking about nothing else
44:42other than this case.
44:46For the families of Karen,
44:48Tim and Gordon,
44:50this new coronial inquest
44:52is their last hope for justice.
44:55The family just wants closure
44:58and that's a horrible word
45:00that really there never is closure
45:02for the family,
45:02but they want answers
45:03that say it's now finished.
45:10Gordon Twaddle's brother,
45:11John,
45:12has carried his anger
45:13at a botched investigation
45:15for nearly 50 years.
45:17Perhaps soon
45:18he'll have his answer.
45:20If the police had done
45:22their job,
45:23as they should have done
45:24from the start,
45:25and investigated everything,
45:27they could have found
45:28somebody or something.
45:32I'm getting old
45:33and it would be good
45:34to see it all finalised
45:38before we all die.
45:39By the way.
46:09You
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