A violent death in North West Queensland almost three decades ago sparked an investigation on social media that had a link to one of Australia's most infamous sieges.
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A Townsville man named Ken Willing posted a couple of photos to the Tales from the Top Rail of a monument in the form of a cross he said he found "in the middle of nowhere".
The cross was for a man named Mark Barlow and it was situated about 500m south of the Corella River bridge between Cloncurry and Mount Isa on the eastern bank, about 45km west of Cloncurry.
The cross was shaped like propeller blades and each blade had a tribute from friends and family.
One blade had an inscription from Mark's parents Don and Chris which said he was "murdered at this place on the 4th March 1993."
Mr Willing asked did anyone know the story behind it?
It seems people did and it was a grim tale.
The North West Star of March 21, 1993 held part of the answer.
It revealed the body of a missing 27-year-old Sunshine Coast helicopter pilot, Mark Barlow was found lying in a clearing by a roadside near the Corella River.
But who did it and why?
Police were baffled and appealed for help, putting a mannikin dressed as a motorcyclist on the road next to a motorbike.
No one had answers.
Mark's parents Don and Christine came from Kawana Waters to Mount Isa to also appeal for help.
They said Mark left their house on March 3 heading for Victoria River Downs in the Territory where he was an aircraft mechanic.
He was never heard from again.
At the end of the month Mount Isa police found he had been robbed, so there was a motive at least, if no suspect.
Then on March 29 a national event occurred that would reverberate in Mount Isa.
Three men named Leonard Leabeater, Robert Steele and Raymond Bassett finished off a nine-day rampage across Queensland and New South Wales, resulting in their taking hostages in a siege in a farmhouse at Hanging Rock Station, Cangai, near Grafton, NSW threatening to kill people indiscriminately.
The siege was notorious for the actions of A Current Affair reporter Mike Willesee who rang the farmhouse and spoke to the murderers and the children live on air.
The three men held police at bay with guns for two days until Leabeater killed himself and Steele and Basset surrendered. The children escaped unharmed.
The trio boasted about having killed five people already.
According to Leabeater they had been on the run from South Australia where he had been unjustly accused of indecent behavior to girls and was being harrassed by the police.
They travelled north to Queensland where Steele confessed to killing Barlow in Mount Isa.
In a chilling interview Steele said Barlow was sleeping by his motorcycle on March 21.
Steele said he slit his throat and shot him twice in the head for his money.
Steel also confessed to killing 14-year-old mum-to-be Deborah Gale in a burned out trailer in Dalby, Queensland.
He stabbed Debbie, then shot her in the head, loaded her body into a trailer and set her alight.
Steele said she was his girlfriend, and said he shot her because she was going to tell police about previous crimes.
On the way south into New South Wales, the three men needed a new car as police had a description of theirs.
They stopped a car near Armidale and shot the two men who were occupants.
They shot a third man who happened upon the scene. All three died.
Steele was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences plus 25 years without parole; he hanged himself in his cell in Goulburn Jail on 23 December 1994.
Bassett was sentenced to consecutive sentences of life imprisonment for the Queensland murders, with the Queensland sentencing judge ordering him to serve a total non-parole period of 34 years.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
