{"id":14719,"date":"2026-05-20T03:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/14719\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T03:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:46:15","slug":"1-million-reward-offered-to-solve-31-year-mystery-of-opal-miners-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/14719\/","title":{"rendered":"$1 million reward offered to solve 31-year mystery of opal miner’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a man found dead outside an opal-mining town in western NSW is hoping the offer of a $1 million reward will bring an end to the mystery that has plagued them for more than 30 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul Murray was last seen alive on March 19, 1995 when a local dropped him off on the outskirts of Lightning Ridge.<\/p>\n

He was reported missing to police one week later.<\/p>\n

About a month after he was last seen, graziers discovered his decomposing body in scrub about 2 kilometres from the campsite where Mr Murray lived.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A post-mortem examination and a 1996 coronial inquest found no signs of trauma.<\/p>\n

Both were unable to establish a cause of death due to the body’s advanced stage of decomposition.<\/p>\n

It is a mystery that has tormented Mr Murray’s brothers, Simon and David, ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ve been advocating for answers for 31 years,” Simon Murray said, as he tried to blink back tears at today’s reward announcement in Dubbo.<\/p>\n

He described his brother as an adored man and accomplished sports person.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He had an infectious laugh. His mates pretty much adored the man,” Simon Murray said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"black<\/p>\n

Paul Murray lived on a campsite about 8 kilometres north-west of Lightning Ridge.\u00a0 (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n

Paul Murray was the owner of an opal-mining field and lived about 8 kilometres outside Lightning Ridge, at a campsite where he had been staying for five years at the time of his death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his teenage years, he suffered a brain injury after being struck by vehicle, which meant he required assistance in his daily life.<\/p>\n

He moved to Lightning Ridge in 1990 to be closer to a relative who could take on that caring role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His body was found naked except for a towel, which suggested to detectives that he may have left the campsite in a hurry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He had burrs in his soles of his feet, which would suggest that he may have been running away from someone or something,” NSW Police Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Joe Doueihi says it is frustrating that the case remains unsolved.\u00a0 (ABC Western Plains: Lily Plass)<\/p>\n

In 2012, the State Crime Command’s Unsolved Homicide Unit created Strike Force Huddleston to investigate the death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite $100,000 and $500,000 rewards being offered, no convictions have been made.<\/p>\n

“The investigation has reached a stage where it’s at a stalemate,” Detective Superintendent Doueihi said.<\/p>\n

“We have no current active lines of enquiry that will enhance the investigation, so it’s now time that we go to a million-dollar reward.”Missing black book\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police have revealed Paul Murray purchased a firearm shortly before his death.<\/p>\n

Simon Murray said his brother was someone who would loan money to others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That was something that Paul would do quite often and he would keep a record of those loans in what was referred to as a small black book,” he said.<\/p>\n

That black book was never recovered, so it remains unclear who had borrowed money from Paul Murray.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police also discovered a watch 50 metres from the body, which authorities believe did not belong to the deceased.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"three<\/p>\n

Police and Paul Murray’s family hope that after nearly three decades, the truth will be uncovered.\u00a0 (ABC Western Plains: Lily Plass)<\/p>\n

Simon Murray has appealed to Lightning Ridge locals to reach out if they have any information.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Now’s the time to give Paul’s family 30 minutes of your time to contact Crime Stoppers or local authorities,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s paramount.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a man found dead outside an opal-mining town in western NSW is hoping the offer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,13500,15017,1953,2021,15015,15016],"class_list":["post-14719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-cold-case","tag-death-of-lightning-ridge-opal-miner","tag-missing-person","tag-nsw-police","tag-opal-miner","tag-paul-murray"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}