From US drug fugitive who faked his own death to Aussie croc hunter: The extraordinary secret past of respected tourism operator is revealed after 40 years when he is killed in a car crash
- Late Queensland tourism operator exposed as American drug smuggler
- Dennis 'Lee' Lafferty was mourned after dying in a car accident in May
- Us Newspaper reveal his real name was in fact Raymond Grady Stansel Jr
- He faked his death 40 years ago to escape US police after smuggling drugs
- Ex-wife said she was surprised that no one ever came looking for him
A well-respected Queensland tourism operator who died in a car crash last month, has been revealed as an American drug smuggler who faked his own death more than 40 years ago to escape US police.
Dennis 'Lee' Lafferty was an admired Crocodile cruise operator in Daintree, northern Queensland, deeply mourned by the community after dying in a car accident in May.
But US newspaper The Tampa Bay can reveal that Mr Lafferty's real name was in fact Raymond Grady Stansel Jr, an alleged drug smuggler who reportedly died in a scuba diving accident in 1974.
'Dennis 'Lee' Lafferty's' real name was Raymond Grady Stansel Jr, an American drug smuggler
'Our challenge was to make a living and keep a low profile,' his ex-wife Janet Wood recently told the paper.
Stansel was charged with smuggling more than 12 tonnes of cannabis into Florida, and was allegedly carrying $25,000 in cash, signed blank tourist visas that would allow him into Nicaragua at any time, receipts for two $25,000 Rolex watches and unused checks on a Swiss bank account at the time of his arrest.
He reportedly received bail for a $500,000 cashier's check, and left the Jail after handing in his U.S. passport to await his trial scheduled for January 5, 1975, in Daytona Beach.
On the morning of his trial however, his lawyers announced that Stansel had disappeared in a scuba diving accident in Honduras.
Stansel fled to Queensland where he founded the Daintree River Cruise Centre in the late 80s
Few believed the story to be true, but an aerial search of the coastline was unable to recover his body, and Stansel was never found.
Stansel on the other hand, was well and truly alive, settling in Queensland where he founded the Daintree River Cruise Centre in the late 80s, the Times reports.
'I'm surprised no one ever came looking for him, ' Ms Wood said.
His secret past was successfully kept for 40 years, until his death earlier this month.
On the morning of his trial, Stansel had disappeared, and was said to have died in a scuba diving accident in Honduras
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