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Outback Murder Highway S01E02 crime documentary. #OutbackMurderHighway #TrueCrime
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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
01:13clues new witnesses and new leads there were several things that struck me when I started
01:20reinvestigating this case in my view killers don't want to run risks this fourth man was last seen in
01:29that evening and had never been seen since that time a crucial witness we tracked her down this man clearly
01:38was the killer
01:41you
01:43you
01:43you
01:58you
01:59you
01:59you
02:00you
02:00you
02:01you
02:02you
02:04you
02:09you
02:10you
02:11you
02:13you
02:14you
02:16Barclay Highway which continues on to the Northern Territory our remote highways do
02:26attract murderers with psychopathic tendencies they're out there in 1978 this stretch of road
02:39was the perfect place for people trying to stay under the radar
02:57the triple murder at spear Creek remains one of Queensland's most baffling cold cases so we're
03:04bringing together a team of investigators to shed new light on this mystery this story starts in 1978
03:13with two Kiwis best mates Tim Thompson and Gordon Twaddle they were living and working across the
03:22ditch in Alice Springs my name's John Twaddle brother of Gordon Twaddle and friend of Tim Thompson
03:36Gordon was the youngest we got on very well because I got into motorcycling when I was 15
03:42and then Gordon followed he was easy going he's very keen on life keen on doing all sorts of thing
03:50motorcycling cars chasing women Tim was very adventurous he'd been around the world a bit
03:59and he'd brought back motorcycles real ones from overseas the two motorbike nuts wrote to John
04:10about their plans for a cross-country adventuring trip this letters from Tim sending from Australia and a
04:20photo of his motorbike and the sidecar he's just bought this this is from my brother Gordon telling
04:29me that he had bought a GS 750 Suzuki almost brand-new $1,750 there was a third person on
04:43this motorbike adventure
04:45Karen Edwards she was the Aussie of the group and Tim's girlfriend
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
05:10the coast and make
05:10their way back down to Melbourne for for Christmas but their journey ended in bloodshed on the notorious
05:20murder highway I'm Mike King and I spend a career investigating serial predators primarily focusing on
05:32geography you know I've had the opportunity to look at the Flinders Highway murders for more than five
05:42years this is a place where people are traveling that are not from the area they are passerbys another
05:51face that's quickly forgotten which equates to the fact that they can then become targets of opportunity
05:58that they can simply disappear off the face of the map and nobody knows that they've come and gone and
06:04and not only is the victim anonymous the people traveling along this highway are anonymous to unlock this
06:13mystery we're retracing their journey step-by-step the three friends left Alice Springs on the 2nd of
06:23October Tim rode a red motorbike with a sidecar for Karen and Gordon followed behind on his bike
06:35from Alice Springs they made several sightseeing stops this is the last known photo of the trio taken on
06:46their journey days before they disappeared they arrived in Mount Isa on the 4th of October and
07:02my father told me that Gordon hadn't been touched with him for some time and I said don't worry dad
07:09those
07:10boys can look after themselves they're big boys they'll be fine they're probably just having a good time and
07:16forgetting to the ring home or send a letter I'm Ken Gamble I'm a private investigator that specializes in
07:31criminal investigations and I'm reinvestigating the Spear Creek murders of 1978 there were several
07:39things that struck me when I started reinvestigating this case and I believe that the case was always
07:45solvable on the 24th of October 1978 22 days after Karen Tim and Gordon set out on their adventure a
08:06a couple walking their dog made a gruesome discovery in a dry creek bed just off the Flinders Highway they
08:20found Tim's body it was a gruesome discovery he was lying down essentially where he had fallen it would appear
08:43that he was running away at the time that he was shot the next day police returned to the scene
08:52in the
08:52morning and they found two more bodies which was Gordon and Karen and their bodies were located quite close
09:05together they were both executed also at close range with a 22 rifle the same rifle that had been used
09:19to murder Tim
09:22this was a brutal execution style murder of three people but identifying the victims was no easy task
09:32police at the time didn't know yet that this was Gordon Tim and Karen they had no way of identifying
09:40these people at all there was very little evidence other than a couple of personal items there was no
09:49shell casings found at the scene when they found Tim Tim's thongs had come off he'd been trying to scale
09:59the sandbank he was running it appears that robbery was the motivation for this crime at least because their
10:11property was missing police were baffled by the brutal highway murder on Mount Isa's outskirts what sort of
10:20person would execute three people in cold blood and why because so many itinerant people go through
10:28now under Isa please possibly thought it was someone traveling through was the killer just passing through and
10:41his victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time or was he a local just lying in
10:47wait
10:51early on in the investigation there was a huge dramatic setback within seconds we struck the ground
11:01made it even more difficult to track down the killer
11:13it's been dubbed the murder highway a deadly 900 kilometer stretch of road with more unsolved
11:21murders than anywhere else in Australia the Flinders Highway
11:29we're investigating the 1978 execution style highway murders of three friends Karen Tim and Gordon
11:42so this triple murder at Spear Creek remains one of the most difficult unsolved murder cases for more
11:50than 40 years in Australia was it a killer passing through a murderous local police had no idea who these
12:05victims
12:05were let alone who murdered them I'm Amelia Oberhart I'm a Queenslander and I'm an investigative journalist
12:17the only clue that was left by the killer was Karen's watch police put ads in papers right
12:24across the country hoping they could identify who it belonged to but early on in the investigation there
12:31was a pretty dramatic setback on the second day of the investigation it was decided to conduct an aerial
12:43search of the crime scene I'm Jim O'Donnell and in 1978 I was a homicide detective we hired a helicopter
12:56for a 30-minute surveillance of the scene
13:03within a matter of seconds we struck the ground I slipped out of my seat belt straight out onto the
13:21ground
13:21behind me and started to crawl away from the crash
13:29the first 48 hours of any police investigation are critical it's a crucial window to collect evidence and track down
13:37suspects before they have a chance to flee so that helicopter crash was a major setback for detectives
13:45because those vital 48 hours at the start were lost and the investigation never really regained the momentum it needed
13:57it couldn't have happened at a worse time the weeks that went by made it even more difficult to track
14:04down the killer
14:09the chopper crash delayed investigators giving the killer or killers a head start and time to cover their tracks
14:21Gordon's bike was found dumped in Mount Isa on October 16th but this was eight days before the bodies were
14:28discovered so 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 Dr Louise Stedding
14:40I'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
15:30police 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
15:42I 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
16:21mapping 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
16:56if you wanted to get lost in Australia you came to Mount Isa
17:03Mount Isa
17:04the 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
17:14we did have a real rough and ready persona
17:23Mount Isa
17:24Mount Isa in the 1970s was an isolated outpost on the Flinders Highway
17:31our investigation is focused on a caravan park just outside of town
17:35where police got their first big lead
17:49they 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 boondara 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
18:42came to the campsite about 8am and he picked them up
18:46a short time later this vehicle was seen to drive out as if they were going out for a day
18:54trip
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
20:02this fourth man clearly was believed to be the killer
20:06this was a crime not just of violence but certainly of betrayal
20:15it looks like the mystery of the fourth man was finally solved
20:19it wasn't a deranged highway killer
20:22it was a local motorbike thief
20:24when they arrested him
20:27we thought find me justice is going to be done
20:38in 1978
20:40three friends on a motorbike trip through outback Australia
20:44were found shot dead
20:48on the notorious and deadly Flinders Highway
20:54police 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
21:28that haven't been seen for decades
21:30we're looking for clues in the photos
21:33released by police at the time of the triple murder in 1978
21:39when the police released photographs of the motorbike
21:43and the sidecar
21:45everyone knew they'd seen somebody in that motorbike
21:48it wasn't a very pleasant time in the town
21:57back in 1978
21:58Mount Isa it's the sort of place where everyone knows everybody
22:03and that's how a young guy named Bruce Preston
22:06came 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
22:20he 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
22:41fitting a very similar description to the Land Cruiser
22:45that had been seen 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
22:56around the same time as the three friends
23:00so this was extraordinary coincidence
23:03that this man was believed to have been riding on the same road
23:10all the way from Alice Springs
23:12his father happened to own a Land Cruiser
23:15that was identified as very similar to the Land Cruiser
23:19that attended the 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've caught this young bloke
23:37stolen 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 rode it around the town
23:55he was seen
23:57and then the trio were found
24:01and with the trio having been found murdered
24:04would not anyone freak
24:06what do you do?
24:07you're holding a dead man's bike
24:14the version Bruce Preston settled on was
24:17he 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
24:32so to police at the time Preston's story it stacked up
24:39Bruce Preston might have been a thief but to police
24:42he didn't fit the profile of a cold-blooded triple murderer
24:47he was in his early twenties 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
25:03it all pointed to him
25:05he had Tim's bike and he'd taken the same route as the three victims
25:10to get to Mount Isa
25:11despite the circumstantial evidence
25:14police 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
25:56that 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
26:20he 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
26:33three people were murdered
26:35that's a real killer
26:38there's a huge leap
26:40between being a serial killer
26:43or being a thief
26:48he stole a motorbike
26:49that doesn't mean that he murdered people
26:52police ruled out
26:54Bruce Preston as the killer
26:56but Gordon's brother John
26:58didn't buy it
26:59we were pretty sure
27:02that he was the person
27:03that did the crime
27:05and now the police for some reason
27:08were letting him off
27:09got free
27:11it just didn't make sense
27:22the Flinders Highway
27:23in Queensland
27:24is 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
27:41the brother of one victim
27:42was sure he knew
27:44who 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
27:56you want to look at Bruce Preston
27:59this is the bloke I think it is
28:04John'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
28:36they 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
29:13saw Bruce Preston
29:15travelling with the trio through the Northern Territory
29:17and even identified
29:19the motorbike he was riding
29:20they also claimed to have seen him
29:23with the trio in Mount Isa
29:24at the caravan park and at the local pub
29:31police claimed to have
29:33witnesses that had sighted
29:35Bruce Preston with the trio
29:38and that was very important
29:39because a positive identification
29:41by a witness is very compelling evidence
29:5141 years
29:53after Karen, Tim and Gordon
29:55were murdered in cold blood
29:57there was a bombshell
29:59John Twaddle's wish
30:01which was granted
30:03Bruce Preston was charged
30:05with their murders
30:07Live across Queensland
30:09this is Live's Afternoon News
30:11with Alison Ariotti
30:13We begin with breaking news
30:15police have just charged
30:17New South Wales man
30:18Bruce John Preston
30:20with three counts of murder
30:22over the deaths of three people
30:24in rural Queensland
30:25over 40 years ago
30:30under questioning from detectives
30:32Bruce Preston finally admitted
30:34he could have been in Mount Isa
30:37on the day the three friends
30:39were murdered
30:40in a new police interview
30:42Bruce Preston has now changed his story
30:45accepting he could have been
30:46at the relevant place at the time
30:50I firmly believe now
30:52that Preston was trying to
30:54distance himself from being
30:56anywhere near the deceased people
30:58on their journey from Alice Springs
31:00to Mount Isa
31:04Back in 1978
31:06police knew Bruce Preston
31:08had stolen Tim's bike
31:10and that his dad drove a Land Cruiser
31:12the same model car
31:14seen with the trio
31:15right before they were murdered
31:20Now in 2019
31:22police discovered Preston
31:24could have been in Mount Isa
31:26earlier than he claimed
31:27and witnesses said
31:29they saw him travelling with the trio
31:37It looks like the mystery of the fourth man
31:40was finally solved
31:42it wasn't a deranged highway killer
31:44it was the local kid
31:46Bruce Preston
31:47the motorbike thief
31:53When they arrested him
31:55we thought
31:56find me
31:57maybe justice is going to be done
31:58after 40 years
32:02New evidence blows the investigation
32:05wide open
32:06The fourth man
32:08you can see the black hair
32:09and dark features
32:10and this is the photo of Preston
32:13our documentary uncovered
32:14Bruce Preston looked nothing like him
32:28In 1978 three friends were executed
32:31beside the Flinders Highway
32:36Police at the time
32:38cleared local bike thief
32:40Bruce Preston
32:41as a suspect
32:43but in a bombshell
32:45a new police investigation
32:47in 2019
32:48charged Preston
32:50with triple murder
32:52Detectives assured
32:54John Twaddle
32:55they had a solid case
32:57I questioned them
32:59I questioned them
32:59whether they had
33:00enough evidence
33:01after 40 years
33:02and they assured me
33:03that they did
33:06They told me
33:07that they had
33:08enough information
33:09to convict them
33:12Bruce Preston
33:13was caught
33:14with Tim's bike
33:16his father owned
33:17the same model
33:18of Land Cruiser
33:19seen with
33:20the murder trio
33:22and cold case detectives
33:24from the 2019 investigation
33:25said witnesses
33:27identified Preston
33:28as the fourth man
33:30seen with
33:31Karen, Tim and Gordon
33:32before they were murdered
33:35So the police
33:36cold case unit
33:38believed
33:38they had a strong
33:39circumstantial case
33:41that Bruce Preston
33:42was the murderer
33:44but police
33:45still had to
33:46prove their case
33:51and on the 31st of January 2020
33:54the judge ruled
33:55police had
33:56overstated the evidence
33:58identifying Bruce Preston
34:00as the fourth man
34:03but a lot of those witnesses
34:04that were re-interviewed
34:06were vague
34:06about the identification
34:08so whilst police were able
34:10to establish
34:11that a fourth person
34:12had joined the trio
34:14at some stage
34:14there was never any evidence
34:17to prove that
34:17that fourth person
34:18was Bruce Preston
34:20The cold case team
34:22had ignored
34:23crucial evidence
34:24from the original
34:25police investigation
34:27let's go back
34:28to that time
34:29for a moment
34:291978
34:34Back then
34:35multiple witnesses
34:37said that the fourth man
34:38had a distinctive
34:39black beard
34:43He was a solid build
34:45about 178 cm
34:46he had a black beard
34:49and dark hair
34:50and he was noted
34:51to have an olive complexion
34:55This same bearded man
34:58was seen with Karen, Tim
34:59and Gordon
35:00at a Mount Isa pub
35:01the day before the murder
35:06Witnesses described him
35:08talking to them
35:09in the Mount Isa Hotel
35:11as having had a full beard
35:14dark hair
35:15a full head of hair
35:17and
35:19he also came along
35:21in a Toyota
35:22Land Cruiser
35:25In 1978
35:27the detectives
35:28who had ruled out
35:29Bruce Preston
35:30as a suspect
35:31were convinced
35:32that the trio's killer
35:33was this bearded man
35:40police had made
35:41several different
35:42identicates
35:43in case the suspect
35:44shaved off his beard
35:45or something similar
35:46to avoid detection
35:47now look at this one
35:48you can see the black hair
35:49and dark features
35:50and this is the photo
35:52of Preston
35:53our documentary uncovered
35:55it's actually from the 1978
35:58arrest
35:58when he stole Tim's bike
36:00and it's never been
36:01made public before
36:03This photo
36:04was taken just weeks
36:06after the murder
36:07when Bruce Preston
36:08was charged with theft
36:12Bruce Preston
36:14did not look a thing
36:15like the identikit
36:17of the Mediterranean guy
36:19with his full black beard
36:20his black hair
36:22Bruce Preston looked
36:23nothing
36:24nothing like him
36:30He was shorter
36:31he had fair hair
36:32had fair skin
36:33he was certainly
36:35incapable of
36:36having a black beard
36:37and he certainly
36:38wasn't Mediterranean looking
36:40so there was nothing
36:41about the features
36:42of Bruce Preston
36:43that even remotely
36:44looked like the person
36:46described
36:46by the witnesses
36:48at the Moondara
36:49campground
36:51and so
36:52fast forward
36:53to 2020
36:57the difference
36:58between the descriptions
36:59of the bearded man
37:01and Bruce Preston
37:02was so stark
37:03that a judge
37:04granted him bail
37:05bail
37:07I've never heard
37:08of an accused
37:09triple murderer
37:10being granted bail
37:11before
37:18three years later
37:20the prosecution
37:21withdrew their charges
37:23Bruce Preston
37:25walked away
37:25a free man
37:29we had a zoom meeting
37:30we had a zoom meeting
37:30with the prosecution
37:33they were very wishy-washy
37:35about why they dropped
37:37the charges
37:37they just said
37:38insufficient evidence
37:40and we thought
37:42that's just hopeless
37:45they had a serious problem
37:47they had a serious problem
37:47that they were contending
37:48with
37:48a jury would never
37:50have believed
37:50the prosecution
37:52that Bruce Preston
37:53was the murderer
37:55Bruce Preston
37:56has no criminal history
37:58apart from
37:59that one theft
38:00of the bike
38:01he went on
38:02to serve
38:02in the military
38:03he became
38:04a corrections officer
38:06what is the probability
38:09that Preston
38:10would have committed
38:11three heinous
38:12execution style murders
38:15and then stole
38:17the one thing
38:17that was most identifiable
38:19to the crime
38:20and drive it around town
38:24so if it's not Preston
38:26then who
38:27and frankly
38:28that who
38:29takes us back
38:30to the bearded man
38:31what on earth
38:32could be the motivation
38:33and it leaves us all
38:35scratching our heads
38:38our investigators
38:39close in
38:40on a highway killer
38:41this person
38:42who is extremely violent
38:44and has a complete
38:46disregard for him
38:47in life
38:49and guess where
38:50he ended up
38:51Mount Isa
39:01along the deadly Flinders Highway
39:03at least 11 people
39:05have been murdered
39:06or disappeared
39:07in the past 50 years
39:10we're investigating
39:12what happened to
39:13three friends
39:14who were shot dead
39:15execution style
39:18in 1978
39:21their motorbike
39:22was found
39:23with a local man
39:24Bruce Preston
39:25he was convicted
39:26of theft
39:27but the charge of murder
39:29didn't stick
39:29for one big reason
39:31Preston
39:32didn't match
39:33the description
39:34of the last person
39:35seen with the three victims
39:37the bearded man
39:41that man
39:42that man
39:43has never
39:43come forward
39:44to clear his name
39:47it would indicate
39:48to me
39:49that that person
39:50could have been
39:50the killer
39:53to find clues
39:54about the bearded man's
39:55identity
39:55we have to go back
39:57to the original
39:581978 police investigation
40:02back then
40:03a crucial witness
40:04told police
40:05she saw
40:06this bearded man
40:07with Tim
40:08in Alice Springs
40:09before the trio
40:10set out
40:11on their journey
40:12and we've tracked
40:14her down
40:14she's never spoken
40:16on camera before
40:18I'm Ermela Polner
40:20in 1978
40:22Tim Thompson
40:23was our neighbour
40:26what Ermela saw
40:27was brief
40:28but her memory
40:30is crystal clear
40:33I was just standing
40:35at the gate
40:35in front of my house
40:37and Tim Thompson
40:38came with
40:39someone
40:40driving
40:41a Toyota Land Cruiser
40:42and
40:43Tim was sitting
40:44in the passenger seat
40:45and there
40:46there was this
40:46other fellow
40:48driving
40:49he had a beard
40:50dark hair
40:52olive skin
40:53and that's all
40:54we saw of him
40:55really
40:58Ermela told police
40:59she saw Tim
41:00with a bearded man
41:02in Alice Springs
41:04witnesses saw
41:05a bearded man
41:06fitting the same
41:07description
41:08with Karen
41:09Tim and Gordon
41:10in Mount Isa
41:12police believed
41:13they were one
41:14and the same
41:15it raises
41:16a startling question
41:18did Tim know
41:20his killer
41:21was he followed
41:23up the highway
41:26I believe
41:27I believe
41:27that
41:27the killer
41:29knew
41:29Tim Thompson
41:31I believe
41:32that
41:33the killer
41:33travelled to
41:34Mount Isa
41:35knowing
41:35that the trio
41:37were camping
41:37in that campground
41:41Ken Gamble's
41:42investigation
41:43into the Spear Creek
41:44killings
41:45has thrown up
41:46a new suspect
41:49in 1978
41:50there was
41:51another
41:52highway killer
41:53suspected of
41:54murdering a man
41:55called
41:55John Zalades
41:57in cold blood
41:58in remote Western
41:59Australia
42:02and like the Spear Creek
42:03trio
42:04he had just a single
42:05bullet wound
42:06to the head
42:08and had his ID
42:09and possession
42:10stolen
42:12this murder
42:13just months
42:14before the Spear Creek
42:15killings
42:16is also unsolved
42:18and is one of
42:19Western Australia's
42:20longest running
42:21mysteries
42:26the suspected killer
42:27had been nicknamed
42:28George the Money Man
42:30and he does bear
42:31similarities
42:32to the man
42:32Ermela described
42:34this
42:35is
42:36an identikit
42:37of George
42:38the Money Man
42:39and
42:40this
42:40is the Spear Creek
42:42suspect
42:42the fourth man
42:44the highway killer
42:46known as
42:46George the Money Man
42:48stole
42:48John Zalades
42:49bank book
42:50and he was cashing
42:51his checks
42:53so detectives
42:53were initially
42:55able to track
42:56the suspected
42:56murderers movements
42:58and guess
42:59where he ended up
43:01Mount Isa
43:03now
43:04that's the last
43:05sighting
43:06that police
43:07could ever find
43:08of George the Money Man
43:10George the Money Man
43:12has never been caught
43:15Ken Gamble
43:16believes the murderer
43:17could have been
43:18responsible
43:18for other highway
43:20murders
43:20throughout remote
43:21Australia
43:22This is a person
43:24that has a complete
43:25disregard for him
43:26in life
43:33after Bruce Preston
43:35had his triple
43:36murder charges
43:37withdrawn in
43:372023
43:38it looked as if
43:40the Spear Creek
43:41killings would
43:41remain yet another
43:42unsolved case
43:44along the
43:44Flinders Highway
43:47but in late 2025
43:49there was yet
43:50another twist
43:51and it put
43:53Bruce Preston
43:54squarely
43:54back in focus
43:55A coroner
43:57has reopened
43:58an inquest
43:58into the
43:59cold case
43:59killings
44:00of three people
44:01near Mount Isa
44:03Bruce Preston
44:04was called
44:05to give evidence
44:06to a new
44:07coronial inquest
44:08and was again
44:09questioned
44:10about his movements
44:11in the lead up
44:12to the triple murder
44:19Hey Ken, how are you?
44:20Nice to see you
44:22It's pretty interesting
44:23information coming out
44:24of that inquest
44:25Bruce Preston was very vague
44:27about his movements
44:28at the time
44:29and I think that's
44:30made the judge
44:30a little bit suspicious
44:31The coroner warned
44:33Bruce Preston
44:33that if he lied
44:35he could face
44:35a perjury charge
44:37You said that you spent
44:3811 months in custody
44:39and the past six years
44:40thinking about nothing
44:41else other than this case
44:46for the families
44:47for the families of Karen, Tim
44:49and Gordon
44:49this new coronial inquest
44:52is their last hope
44:53for justice
44:55The family just wants closure
44:58and that's a horrible word
45:00that really
45:00there never is closure
45:02for the family
45:02but they want answers
45:03that say
45:04it's now finished
45:10Gordon Twaddle's brother
45:11John
45:12has carried his anger
45:14at a botched investigation
45:15for nearly 50 years
45:16perhaps 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
45:26they could have found
45:28somebody
45:29or something
45:32I'm getting old
45:33and it would be good
45:34to see it all finalised
45:38before we all die
46:08what's gonna happen
46:12what's gonna happen
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