With its gripping recounting of a true criminal case, The Stranger on Netflix has been winning over both reviewers and audiences. Joel Egerton and Sean Harris are the stars of the show as a couple who fall in love after Egerton’s Mark Frame introduces Harris’ Henry Teague to a criminal organization.
But as the plot progresses, it quickly becomes apparent that much more is going on in the background than initially believed. Before we proceed any further, we should warn you that the remainder of this article contains spoilers concerning The Stranger’s finale and how it varies from reality. Therefore, click away now if you haven’t seen the Thomas M. Wright-directed movie.
Explained: The Stranger’s conclusion
Henry Teague’s participation in a missing person case has been the subject of a thorough investigation by undercover police officer Mark Frame. Although he was one of the major suspects in the kidnapping of a small child, there was never any proof that connected him to the crime, hence he was never found guilty. To get a confession from Teague, a gang of police placed him in a fictitious criminal ring eight years later. The head of the criminal gang asks Teague whether he was involved in the crime, pretending to want to clear up any potential future criminal matters that may endanger their ability to do their jobs.
Teague admits to killing the little kid and describes what took place as well as the location of the body’s burial. He is apprehended after bringing them to the crime location, and an extensive search is launched to discover the boy’s body and present the evidence in court. The search is generally unsuccessful for a long period since the cops turn up very little. But in the last few seconds of the movie, one of the search team members raises his hand and says, “I’ve located the corpse.”
Without providing any further information on Teague’s fate or if he was found guilty, the film stops here. But since the movie is based on a real event, we are aware of what may have occurred next.
What happened to Henry Teague?
The Sting, a novel by Kate Kyriacou about the murder case involving Australian adolescent Daniel Morcombe, served as the inspiration for the TV show The Stranger. When he was just 13 years old, the young child was kidnapped in Queensland from an underpass on December 7, 2003. He was believed to be dead, but his corpse was never located. The people involved’s identities were altered for the film, but the facts are essentially the same. Police looked into a suspect named Brett Peter Cowan using a clandestine investigative technique known as a Mr. Big operation. Law enforcement established a phony criminal operation and lured the suspect into it, much like they do in the Netflix film, to get a confession.
On August 13, 2011, eight years after the teen’s death, Cowan pleaded guilty and was put on trial. Two weeks later, Morcombe’s shoes and skeletal remains were discovered in the Glass House Mountains. Cowan was put on trial, found guilty of murder on March 13, 2014, and given a life sentence. In addition, he was accused of stealing from children, tampering with a body, and treating minors indecently.
The Morcombe family established a charity to teach kids about personal safety in the wake of their son’s death. They did not participate in The Stranger’s production, though, and have criticized it since it was released.
