In a special joint investigation with The Nightly, 7News Spotlight goes inside the crash that claimed Chris "Willow" Wilson's life, revealing the extraordinary lengths to which Outback Wrangler Matt Wright went to hide the truth.
Michael Usher said: "He's been celebrated as an outback hero, but who's the real Matt Wright?
"What happened in court was only part of the story. In partnership with The Nightly, we've obtained new evidence and allegations about Matt Wright's conduct – details the public has never heard."
7News Spotlight reveals exclusive new details about how Northern Territory Police brought down this croc cowboy and how they exposed the full extent of Wright's alleged attempts to obstruct investigations by moving interstate, trying to avoid surveillance and attempting to manipulate the destroyed chopper's flight records.
Speaking exclusively to 7News Spotlight, Northern Territory Police Detective Senior Sergeant, Corey Borton, said: "Mr Wright has his online persona and then there's the way he acts when he thinks no one else is looking."
7NEWS Spotlight also exposes an allegation that Wright tried to bribe tourists and reveals exclusive images that appear to show the TV star killing a protected species.
The Nightly's investigative reporter Kristin Shorten, who has been covering this case since the start, said: "For the first time, we can reveal the extraordinary story of how Darwin detectives uncovered the criminal conduct of Matt Wright and his associates after the fatal crash that killed one mate and left another paraplegic.
"Following Matt Wright's guilty verdicts, Northern Territory Police granted us unprecedented access to key investigators and evidence, allowing us to reveal – for the first time – how their covert operation unfolded and the ‘red flags' that brought the ‘Outback Wrangler' unstuck."
Sept. 28, 2025
