Bonus: John Twaddle [Extended Interview]
5/2/202618 min
John Twaddle thought he knew who murdered his brother Gordon, but the person he had suspected has been ruled out by police on multiple occasions.
Almost 50 years after Gordon was found dead off Queensland’s Flinders Highway, alongside his girlfriend Karen and mate Tim, their families are no closer to the truth.
In this extended interview from the documentary series Outback Murder Highway, John shares what it was like to return home to New Zealand without answers, and spend decades waiting for a breakthrough.
This interview was conducted by Callum Denness for the television series Outback Murder Highway - On Channel 9 at 8.30pm on Wednesday nights - from April 22 to May 13.
Or watch anytime here - on 9Now.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJohn Twaddell· Guest0:00
[suspenseful music] Well, I didn't really believe it, actually. Strong guys, they're not gonna be just murdered by somebody, but unfortunately they were. [gentle music] Identified the bodies. They were definitely Tim and Gordon and Karen. So we said, "Righto, you've got the guy." Well, I thought maybe justice is gonna be done after 40 years, maybe. My name's John Twaddell. I'm, uh, brother of Gordon Twaddell and friend of Tim Thompson. My brother was murdered in Mount Isa nearly 50 years ago, 40-odd years ago. Yeah, Gordon was, um, young bloke. Got keen on motorcycles because both Trev and I were into motorcycling and, and got to know Tim through motorcycling. Tim was very adventurous. He'd been around the world a bit. He'd, uh, uh, you know, he'd traveled and, um, he'd brought back motorcycling, mo- motorcycles, rare ones, from overseas. Um, so yeah.
Callum Denness· Host1:18
When did Gordon first travel to Australia and, and what brought him over there?
John Twaddell· Guest1:25
Gordon decided to go over, uh, and meet up with Tim,