In mid-1978, Timothy Thomson left Adelaide and made his way to the Northern Territory for a teaching job.

But there, on the Hermannsburg Mission outside Alice Springs, his 11-month-old dog, Tristie, was shot and injured.

It was just one incident that raised questions over what happened to Thomson in his final months before his body was found on a bush track at Spear Creek outside Mt Isa in Queensland’s north-west in October that year.

Not far from where he was discovered, the bodies of his girlfriend, Karen Edwards, 23, and their friend, Gordon Twaddle, 21, were also found.

Police said the trio had died from gunshot wounds to the head.

Now, a second inquest has begun in Brisbane to probe how the trio died, as three families await answers after almost 50 years. Loved ones of the three

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