A woman whose miraculous outback survival story caught international attention little more than a month ago has been arrested over alleged heroin possession and links to an alleged case of extortion and deprivation of liberty.
Tamra McBeath-Riley, 52, has been remanded in custody and appeared in Alice Springs court this morning charged with possessing a trafficable quantity of heroin, receiving stolen property, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, possessing a thing to administer dangerous drug and possessing a prohibited weapon.
She has a bail application hearing scheduled for January 14.
In a statement this morning, NT Police said Ms McBeath-Riley's arrest and charges were related to an alleged case of extortion and deprivation of liberty in Alice Springs, which they said involved a man held against his will.
Ms McBeath-Riley was one of three people involved in an outback survival story in late 2019, where she was reportedly stranded for two weeks on a desert backroad and forced to live off scotch-finger biscuits and bottles of vodka mixers.
Two men on deprivation of liberty charges
The two other men charged with multiple offences over the alleged incident were Kayne Edwards, 38, and Matthew Buckingham, 34.
The pair appeared before Judge Greg Borchers in Alice Springs Court this morning.
Mr Edwards has been hit with a string of charges including depriving a person of personal liberty, demand with menace for benefit of self, aggravated assault, armed with an offensive weapon and stealing.
Mr Buckingham faces charges of aiding or abetting deprivation of liberty, possessing a commercial quantity of LSD, stealing and a number of driving offences.
"The pair, aged 38 and 34-years-old are alleged to have detained and threatened a 34-year-old man at a premises in Elder Street early last month," NT Police said in a statement.
"It will be further alleged the man was threatened and forced to sign over his vehicle, a motorbike and motorbike trailer during the incident.
"Detectives from the Southern Drugs Investigation Unit executed a search warrant on a premises in Elder Street where they located relevant vehicle documents, a motorbike and trailer, a replica firearm, trafficable quantities of illicit drugs and a commercial quantity of LSD.
"The man's vehicle was recovered following further inquiries."
Mr Edwards has been refused bail and is next scheduled to appear in court on January 30, 2020 for a mention.
Outback search grabbed international news
Ms McBeath-Riley along with two others — her partner Claire Hockridge and South Australian man Phu Tran — made news across the globe after they were missing in remote Central Australia for around two weeks.
After an extensive search and 12 days missing, Ms McBeath-Riley was found near the trio's car bogged in a dry riverbed east of the Stuarts Well area.
She later described how she survived in the harsh conditions by drinking water from a watering hole for cattle, eating biscuits and sheltering in a hole dug under her car.
"Where we got bogged there was no trees or anything," Ms McBeath-Riley said at the time.
"We tried many times to try to get out, but just couldn't get out, so ventured forth to try and find some shelter and some water."
Mr Tran, 40, was found alive by pastoralist Ted Fogarty in the days following, wandering dehydrated on his remote cattle station.
The body of Ms Hockridge, 46, was found deceased by police around 38 kilometres south-southeast of Stuarts Well on December 4 last year.
It remains unclear why exactly the trio were journeying through the remote outback during the Central Australian summer.
