Highway of Death

A killer is rumored to be on the desolate stretch of road where 12 people have disappeared, some found murdered earning it the nickname the Highway of Death. The Flinders Highway in Australia's state of Queensland runs for 500 miles between Townsville and Mint Isla. The highway passes through some beautiful scenery and some desolate expanses of the Australian outback.

Two young girls were murdered off the Flinders Highway in 1970, and two years later, in 1972, two teenage girls mysteriously disappeared in the area. One of the girls' bodies was later discovered in the area with bullet wounds to her head; however, no trace of the other girl has ever been located, and she is still missing as of this writing.

A few years later, in 1978, the remains of three persons with gunshot wounds to the head were discovered along the roadway where an 18-year-old lady was found dead in 1975 after being struck in the head with a rock.

One of the more famous disappearances along the Flinders Highway was that of Tony Jones, who in 1982 was out backpacking and hitchhiking in the area as part of a six-month hiking trip across Australia when he just vanished. His last known communication was a call he made to his father and girlfriend from a phone box in Townsville on November 3rd, telling them he was on his way to Mount Isa, but he never arrived. The activity on his bank account ended, and Tony Jones has never been found.

In the years that followed, there were some leads in relation to the disappearance of Tony Jones, including an anonymous letter to police from a writer claiming to know where the body was, but these failed to materialize. One local claimed that it is a large, terrifying stretch of highway and that anyone in their right mind really wouldn't be backpacking there under any circumstances.

Other mysterious disappearances have occurred along the Flinders Highway in 2017, 26 year old Maurice Kearney arrived at a gas station to refuel his bike and then drove off down the highway never to return.

There was the case of Jayden Penno Tomsett, 22. On January 1st, 2018, Jayden vanished at Charters Terrors.

On New Year's Eve, Jayden and his friend were passing through on their way to Cairns when they decided to stop at a place called the Puma Road house along the way. As they were leaving, Jayden was described as being agitated and cryptically saying that there was a warrant out for his arrest. The two men then got into an argument, and Jayden then pulled the car over on a side road and stormed off into the night and into the wilderness. This is the last time he was ever seen.

There have been a total of 12 killings and disappearances along the highway of death, all of which remain unsolved, though there have been some leads in more recent years regarding potential suspects. In 2014, a convicted killer by the name of Andy Albury allegedly confessed to a killing spree that took place between 1970 and 1980 along the highway, but there was no proof to support these claims.

Additionally, the alleged child serial killer Arthur Stanley Brown, who was charged with murder in 1998 and was long suspected of being involved in the disappearances of two girls as well as a number of other unsolved killings. Unfortunately, Brown passed away in prison in 2002 at the age of 90.

Due to the 12 unsolved murders and disappearances, some residents have literally referred to the Flanders Highway as being cursed; according to one local, the area is like its own world where odd things do occur.

It's also reported that the highway is a magnet for car accidents; is this linked to any of the disappearances? Possibly.

With its extensive expanses of wilderness and outback the route is a great spot for a serial killer similar to Canada's Highway of Tears. Whoever murdered these individuals remains unknown.

When passing through Queensland, be careful on the Flinders Highway.