Hayley Dodd's murderer almost caught three weeks after her death

A 1999 video reveals how police came eerily close to catching Francis John Wark just three weeks after he killed Hayley Dodd.

Officers examined a ute on his property and inside was Hayley's earring, which was crucial evidence that would eventually convict her murderer.

But police failed to find it that day and it was only uncovered in a cold case search 14 years later.

This is the first time this footage has ever been seen outside a court but police didn't record sound, so it isn’t known what the murderer told them to cover up his crime.

A bearded Wark is seen on crutches keeping a close eye on officers while they scour his property.

In his shed officers pay particular attention to four items - an explosives packet, a black bike helmet, a tin of metal casings, and two number plates.

The Badgingarra property where Wark lived with a convicted pedophile has always been a key focus for police.

They searched it again in 2013, ripping up the floors and leaving it unliveable but still couldn't crack the cold case.

Wark was convicted of murder on Monday, 18 years after Hayley was killed.

Now Queensland police are looking at him for another cold case: the murder of mother-of-five Kathleen O'Shea, who disappeared in Queensland in 2006.

At the time, the rapist and murderer lived just 30 kilometres away.