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Family of missing mum Angie Fuller breaks silence on her mysterious Outback disappearance

Headshot of Kristin Shorten
Kristin Shorten
The Nightly
Angie (left), Santa and her younger sister Jessica (right) just a few weeks before she vanished.
Angie (left), Santa and her younger sister Jessica (right) just a few weeks before she vanished. Credit: Supplied

The father of missing woman Angie Fuller says he is angry and desperate for the truth about what happened to his precious daughter whose mysterious disappearance in the outback “just doesn’t add up”.

Ms Fuller vanished without a trace into the desert outside of Alice Springs in the early hours of January 10 last year.

The Northern Territory Police Force’s major crime squad believes she has been murdered.

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In his first interview since the young mum’s disappearance almost 21 months ago, her grief-stricken dad Tony Fuller has shared his devastation over losing his daughter in such ambiguous circumstances.

“I’m angry and I want answers. I want to know the truth,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter what walk of life a man and father comes from, there is nothing more precious than his daughter.”

“And to potentially be met with such a horrific set of circumstances is beyond comprehension.”

Heartbreakingly, Mr Fuller revealed he had only recently reconnected with his daughter before she went missing.

The 29-year-old had spent the Christmas of 2022 — and her final weeks alive — with her children and extended family in Darwin.

“I had the privilege and the pleasure of having both my daughters at home for Christmas,” he said.

“She’d been gone for a long time. I hadn’t had her at home for Christmas for quite a few years. It was all about reconnecting.

“She was really on the right path. For the first time in a long time, I felt confident about that.”

Angie Fuller spent Christmas 2022 with family in Darwin.
Angie Fuller spent Christmas 2022 with family in Darwin. Credit: Facebook/Facebook
Missing woman Angie Fuller
NT Police shared an image of the missing mother. Credit: NT Police/NT Police

During that Christmas visit, Mr Fuller had gifted his daughter the car she was driving immediately before she vanished.

“It’s a dark burgundy Toyota Corolla with black tinted windows,” he said.

“She absolutely loved that little car.”

On January 8, 2023, Ms Fuller and Alice Springs woman Loraine Baumgarten set off from Darwin in separate vehicles with Ms Fuller driving her Corolla.

“Her car was fully loaded with her belongings and things that she was taking back to her unit in Alice Springs,” Mr Fuller said.

When the two women reached Alice Springs on January 9, they parted ways.

Mr Fuller said that at about 6.30pm, his daughter allegedly told a friend, over the phone, that she was heading home to unpack the belongings from her car.

However, it is understood that she never stepped inside her unit.

At 6.40pm, Ms Fuller was captured on CCTV at a truck stop north of Alice Springs with Jake Jefferson Peters.

That was the last independent and confirmed sighting of Ms Fuller.

In the early hours of the next morning, Ms Fuller’s car was involved in an incident with another vehicle on the Tanami Road, north-west of Alice Springs.

Police said their information indicates that Ms Fuller was likely the driver with Peters travelling in the front passenger seat.

During a recorded conversation with Ms Fuller’s friends a few days later, Peters provided a chaotic account of what had happened during the Tanami Rd incident.

Peters told them that he had grabbed a wrench and was “hanging out the window” of the Corolla to try to hit the other vehicle.

Soon after this, the cars came into contact and Ms Fuller’s Corolla spun around and left the roadway.

Police believe that after the Corolla hit a tree and became bogged, its occupants ran off.

Missing mother Angie Fuller on January 9.
Ms Fuller on January 9. Credit: Supplied/Facebook
Road signs along the Tanami region, where it's believed young mum Angie Fuller went missing.
Road signs along the Tanami region, where it's believed Ms Fuller went missing. Credit: Supplied/Facebook

In videos Peters recorded at the time, he said Ms Fuller and himself then fled into the scrub — barefoot and in complete darkness — to escape from people who were chasing and shooting at them.

The Nightly understands the occupants of the other vehicle immediately reported the incident to police, who attended the crash site later that morning — on January 10, 2023 — after the sun came up.

Peters reported Ms Fuller missing to police late on the night of January 11.

In June, the officer in charge of Ms Fuller’s homicide investigation, Detective Sergeant Ashley Dudson, told The Nightly police suspect Ms Fuller was murdered in the 48 hours after the incident on Tanami Rd.

“The incident on the Tanami occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning,” he said.

“And so, the information we have is that at that time, she was still alive.

“The information we have is that she was the driver.”

Mr Fuller refuses to accept this and does not believe his daughter was driving.

“I believe that Angie-Lee might have been murdered before the incident on the Tanami Road,” he said.

“I just don’t accept that she was driving her Corolla during that altercation.”

Mr Fuller believes the police investigation has been hindered by the two-day delay in his daughter being reported missing.

“The authorities have got their work cut out for them given that the first 48 hours, being the most critical, were lost” he said.

“They’re coming from behind.”

On January 12, the morning after Ms Fuller was reported missing, police retrieved her suitcases from Peters’ home.

Soon after, the 27-year-old fled to Queensland where he has since been jailed over a ‘frenzied’ knife attack on strangers, including a toddler, during a couple of botched carjackings west of Brisbane.

He was last month convicted of attempted armed burglary, deprivation of liberty, two counts of unlawfully entering a vehicle with intent to commit an indictable offence while armed, three counts of assault occasionally bodily harm while armed and entering premises and stealing.

In a recorded conversation with Ms Fuller’s friends, just days after she vanished, he denied any involvement in his girlfriend’s death.

“You know, I’m about to go to jail for something I f...ing didn’t do,” he said.

“You know, I love that woman … I wanted to start a life with her.”

Angie Fuller and Jake Peters.
Ms Fuller and Jake Peters. Credit: Supplied/Facebook

Meanwhile, multiple searches for Ms Fuller have failed to find her body. Her mobile phone and her car keys remain missing.

“We can’t say definitively what has happened to Angie,” Sgt Dudson said.

“There is that possibility that more than one person was involved.

“There’s also the possibility that if it was a single person, that they then told someone else about it.”

For that reason, NT Police have offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the location of Ms Fuller’s body and the conviction of anyone responsible for her death.

In addition to the quarter-million dollar reward, indemnity from prosecution may be recommended for any accomplice, not being the person who actually committed the crime, who first gives such information.

“If anyone has any sort of credible information, we’d request them to come forward and provide it,” Sgt Dudson said.

“Firstly, to assist in the investigation, and secondly, to provide some answers that we can then inform the family about.”

Until then, Mr Fuller’s torment over his daughter’s mysterious disappearance will continue.

“Our family, extended family, friends and the public all have a right to know what happened to my daughter,” Mr Fuller said.

Anyone with information about Angie Fuller’s disappearance is urged to contact police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 and quote #10228143.

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