Joanne Lees survived an outback killer. What she faced next was brutal.

When Peter Falconio and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, set off to explore the Australian outback in an orange Kombi van, they hoped to find an adventure of a lifetime.

Their adventure would become one of Australia's most notorious crimes.

The two English travellers were flagged down by Bradley John Murdoch on a remote stretch of the Stuart Highway near Barrow Creek in July 2001. Murdoch, a drug-runner and mechanic, pulled alongside the young couple, there in the remote outback and told them sparks were coming out of the back of their van.

As Falconio went to inspect the back of the vehicle, Murdoch shot him in the head — unbeknown to Lees. The killer then approached the window of the van, pointed a gun at the then 27-year-old and ordered her out of the van.

Peter Falconio with his girlfriend Joanne Lees. Image: PR Handout Image/Supplied.

Murdoch bound her wrists with cable ties, and forced her into his vehicle. At some point, he'd claim a hair tie of hers and wrap it around his gun holster — a grim trophy that would later serve as evidence for his crimes.

When Murdoch returned to the couple's vehicle, Lees seized her chance and escaped. Bound and tied, she fled into the nearby saltbush and hid, in terrified silence, as Murdoch and his dog searched for her.

For hours she waited, and when she believed Murdoch had left, she stopped a road train and was able to get help.

Peter's body was never found, and Murdoch was convicted of his murder in 2005. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 28 years. Yesterday he died, aged 67, from cancer — a day after the anniversary of the crime.

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What happened to Joanne Lees after the crime.

The ordeal Lees suffered at the hands of Murdoch was unimaginable. Yet, in the aftermath of the crime and as the mystery around what happened to Falconio and his body grew — Lees came under immense public scrutiny.

As the world's media descended on the Northern Territory, intimations that Lees wasn't an innocent victim began swirling. Every decision she made was put under a spotlight, her motives questioned, her facial expressions picked apart, her "cool demeanour" questioned. The public vilification of Lees recalled that of Lindy Chamberlain.

Lees was critical of the media, and accused them of distorting the truth.

In a 2017 interview with 60 Minutes, Lees shared what that scrutiny was like.

"I can't believe people would doubt me and think I'd do that to Pete... I wouldn't wish it on anyone," she told Liz Hayes. "It was shattering and soul-destroying to come to realise that I was being disbelieved. When I read those headlines, it was really upsetting for me to think the focus again was on me and not on looking for Murdoch.

"I used to have thoughts reading those headlines that he was somewhere laughing in Australia thinking, 'yeah I've gotten away with that.'"

Joanne Lees after the verdict was handed down to Bradley John Murdoch on December 13, 2005. Image: AP.

Joanne's return to the outback.

In 2017, Lee returned to the outback for the first time on a mission to bring her former partner home.

In her exclusive interview with 60 Minutes, the then-43-year-old recalled the horror of the night Falconio died.

"I just felt the isolation that I was completely alone. I was screaming for Pete to come and help me, he didn't return. Now I realise that Peter had already lost his life but I didn't want to accept that," she said.

When Hayes asked Lees if she could recognise the incredible courage she displayed that night, Lees said fleeing was her only option.

"For me there was no choice. It was either run or be raped and killed," she said.

Returning to Australia is something Lees never imagined she would ever do. Even seeing a tourism ad for Australia on TV, or a kombi van on the road, had the power to trigger her.

But she believed Falconio deserved a proper farewell.

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"I didn't want to be living in England in my old age, thinking I could have done more... to find Pete. He's just not had anything. He's not been able to be buried, to be returned to the UK to have a funeral," she said.

Lees, who described her former boyfriend as "supportive", "very easy-going" and "very popular", revealed the difficulty she had putting herself in the shoes of her attacker in order to find Falconio.

"I guess that was a very alien thing for me to do because I’m not a violent person, I’m not a murderer," she told Hayes.

"But if that’s what I have to do and if that’s how I’m gonna find Pete then that’s what I’m prepared to do ... I love Pete so much and I want to bring him home and I need to bring him home."

Lees acknowledged the possibility she might never find Falconio's body, though acknowledged she will never be truly at peace if it doesn't happen.

"The important thing is for me to come here and at least try," she said.

"I loved his smile his sense of adventure. And even though you know he only had a short life and died at the age of 28... he made the most of it."

Where is Joanne Lees now?

Lees now lives a life far from the headlines, as a social worker.

She is said to be living in West Yorkshire, England.

To this day, the body of Falconio has not been found. Murdoch took the secret to his grave.

Feature image: Supplied.