A hitchhiker yesterday told police how she once fled from a man matching the description of the attacker suspected of killing a British tourist and abducting his girlfriend in the Australian outback.
Police are investigating the woman's account of how eight years ago she fled from a man with a dog in a white pick-up who brandished a gun after she hitched a lift in the Northern Territory. But they said her evidence was not a breakthrough.
The suspectwas said to live in Airlie Beach, Queensland, 1,100 miles east of the highway where Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees were flagged down and attacked by a man with a dog travelling in a white pick-up on Saturday evening.
Police yesterday admitted that they were no closer to catching the gunman or finding Mr Falconio, 28. The police commander, Max Pope, said that morale among officers remained high after five days tending roadblocks and scouring the outback.
Police have fielded more than 300 calls from the public and ruled out several sightings, including one in South Australia. But they have yet to hear from anyone who drove through Barrow Creek, 185 miles north of Alice Springs, at the time of the attack.
Videotape from petrol stations in the territory has failed to reveal whether the gunman refuelled after fleeing the scene. Potential suspects have been DNA tested, but none has matched samples taken from the scene.
Mr Pope conceded that Ms Lees's "traumatic" re-enact ment of the attack had failed to produce any insights. Hopes that a footprint might help to trace the gunman were confounded when it was revealed that it almost certainly belonged to Ms Lees.
After police finished their search of the Barrow Creek site Mr Falconio's father and brother were able to visit the scene of his abduction. On an overcast day, Mr Falconio's brother Paul, 31, crouched by the road, looking at a small patch of blood. Police said it was being compared with DNA samples given by Luciano and Paul.
Related articles
18.07.2001: Outback rain erases tracks of hunted gunman
16.07.2001: Fears grow for kidnapped Briton
16.07.2001: Nightmare in the outback
16.07.2001: Desert dangers
Audio report
16.07.2001: The manhunt continues
Useful links
Northern Territory Tourist Commission
Northern Territory police - the Barrow Creek incident
Australian Broadcasting Corporation News
News.com.au
The Sydney Morning Herald
