I first heard of the murders in an episode of an Australian television program called . Kelvin was held captive for approximately five weeks[24] and a post-mortem examination revealed that he had died of massive blood loss from an anal injury,[25] likely caused by the insertion of a large blunt object. This bore signs of premeditation, implying that this wasn't an impulsive decision, but a conscious one by a killer afraid of being identified through forensic testing. So, they believed that this crime might have been perpetrated by someone that Neil owed money to, who wanted to cover up their tracks afterward. Hours would begin to pass, and Alan would fail to return home at all that Sunday. At this point, the idea of a random killer hadn't even crossed investigators' minds. No additional leads would surface in that time-span, and police would continue to refrain from stating that the two victims so far - Alan Barnes and Neil Muir - were connected in any way (at least, they wouldn't say so publicly). Bevan Spencer von Einem was jailed for life for the murder of 15-year-old Richard Kelvin. There was a bridge above where his body had been discovered, with a clearing of about a meter; implying that whoever had tried to throw him into the water below had missed the mark, but had not rectified their mistake. Subsequent efforts to reach Alan through his friends had failed, and none of them had seen him since the weekend. Neil Muir had been missing for less than 24 hours by the time his body was discovered, and because he was an adult that lived alone, police were already at a disadvantage when it came to trying to figure out what happened to him. Five murders and over 150 rapes. Five young men were mysteriously abducted in different . His body had been severely mutilated and dumped in the South Para Reservoir, northeast of Adelaide. On July 24th, 1983, a family was out looking for moss rocks in the vast reaches of the Mount Crawford Forest, about 35 kilometers northeast of Adelaide. Once in the car they would be offered a drink that was laced with a knockout drug. It was this rapport that caused Peter to skip school on Thursday, August 27th, 1981. [2] The suspects and their associates were linked mainly by their shared habits of "actively [having] sought out young males for sex," sometimes drugging and raping their victims. Police spoke to Alan's friend, who had left him behind on Grand Junction Road. If your information is verified and its not breaking any laws, we may publish it. Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. The closest thing to hard evidence that police found in this sweep was what appeared to be traces of blood on the bathroom floor, which had been cleaned multiple times over with a chemical agent; and, as such, could not be tested. [8] The reward carried an offer of immunity to accomplices, dependent on their level of involvement. He then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. Homosexuality itself would become decriminalized just a few years later, in 1975, with the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, making South Australia the first Australian state or territory where members of the LGBTQ community no longer had to fear government persecution. It is estimated that over 150 youths and young men were abducted, drugged, and then raped. They wanted to continue eliminating suspects that personally knew Alan ahead of time, but promised to check out von Einem in the future. According to his family, this was right in-line with Richard's odd sense of humor. But only one recalled seeing where Alan might have gone. He has spent that Sunday, June the 5th, playing footy, until the afternoon when his best friend Karl came over. Police believe this murder is associated with other high profile murders commonly referred to in the media as the 'Family Murders'. The Family werent an official club or group, rather a loose collection of people with Bevan von Einem at the centre. POLICE are investigating new information linking convicted killer Bevan Spencer von Einem to the abduction and murder of teenager Alan Barnes. Some showed signs of prolonged captivity, while death came quick to others . For that reason, many of these men and women had to keep their sexuality confined to specific locations. This screening also revealed that the young man had been drugged with Mandrax ("Randy Mandys"), which had resulted in him losing consciousness. He was seen in the presence of individuals who would become relevant later on, but - at the time - were simply believed to have been his friends. They had no idea that they were about to make one of the most gruesome discoveries in Australian history. Little is known about the unidentified man, but Roger James had his ankle broken when he was plunged into the river that May, and was only able to escape with the help of a friendly onlooker. They phoned police that evening, hoping that their son's whereabouts could be chalked up to a simple miscommunication. He was last seen stumbling down the street, supposedly wandering off to parts unknown. Part One: The Murders Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked Adelaide. So they tried to safely guard the parts of the investigation that they could. Mark Andrew Langley RICHARD KELVIN Richard Kelvin, aged 15 years, was abducted at about 6.15 p.m. on Sunday 5 June 1983 from a laneway off Ward Street, North Adelaide. The final two - Mark Langley and Richard Kelvin - had disappeared just blocks away from one another. And, with the recent discovery of the chemical cocktail found in Richard Kelvin's system, they had a pretty decent foundation for their investigation. He was seventeen years old, with a youthful, handsome appearance, and a carefree, fun-loving attitude. Regardless, this information was incredibly helpful to police, who began to expand their interests to finding people in the area that drove similar vehicles. Investigator Hunter made note of this, finding it odd that one man would have connections to two separate murder investigations - especially two gruesome murders that shared such grisly traits. This argument would carry on for a few minutes, while the trio was parked along War Memorial Drive, overlooking the Torrens River. [4][10], Some authorities do not recognise the term "The Family", stating that "[t]hey should not be given any title that infers legitimacy. He is 50 metres from his beautiful family home. They began probing those that knew Alan and might have taken issue with something he did or said in the weeks before his death; in particular, those that drove a white sedan. Among friends, Alan had begun to smoke weed and experiment with new things, pushing himself to the limits of his comfort zone to discover who he was and what he enjoyed. Even though Dr. Peter Millhouse had supposedly known Neil Muir for several years, there was never any proof that the two had a sexual relationship. In the days to come, police began asking around the area for any sign of Peter Stogneff and discovered that the teen had essentially vanished into thin air. Due to changes in the Forensic Procedures Act, which later allowed DNA samples to be taken from suspects in major indictable offences, all the suspects voluntarily submitted to DNA testing. 17-year-old Alan Barnes, 25-year-old Neil Muir, 14-year-old Peter Stogneff, 18-year-old Mark Langley and 15-year-old Richard Kelvin were later found dumped in the Adelaide Hills and surrounds. Mandrax was quickly gaining notoriety as a drug used in the commission of date-rape crimes, and the local government decided that the best way to combat their usage was to keep them regulated so that they had a record of everyone that was prescribed them. His family knew this but accepted that there was little they could do to curtail this behavior; letting Alan grow and develop at his own pace as his adolescence came to an end. According to some witnesses in the area, screams had been heard at around the time that Richard had disappeared, some time between 5:30 and 6:30 PM that Sunday. Over a span of several years starting in 1979 and into the 80s five young men, aged from 14 to 25, went missing in different areas of Adelaide. An accountant by profession, he was convicted in 1984 for the murder of 15-year-old Adelaide teenager Richard Kelvin, the son of local television and radio personality Rob Kelvin. Mr B made contact with police two days after Alan Barnes was found. The bodies were found from 24th June 1979 and the fifth and last body on 24th July 1983. I think we might get closer to understanding what happened but I think lack of physical evidence pretty much rules out any more charges being laid. This case includes mysterious attacks, brutal murders, and a dark conspiracy surrounding a secret group of elites that preyed on the young in the city. The head was tied to the torso with rope passed through the mouth and out through the neck. Australia's most notorious unsolved serial killings. This witness recalled Alan getting into a vehicle, which appeared to be a white Holden sedan. And at least one witness - a security guard that lived just down the street from the Kelvins - recalled some more details succinctly. Between 1979 and 1983, the city of Adelaide in South Australia was the stage for a horrific string of crimes against young men and teenagers.Five known victims of kidnapping, sexual abuse and murder showed up in those years, and police became convinced that the perpetrator was actually a group of several men . Peter Stogneff, aged 14,[17] murdered in August 1981. Because of this prime location, Adelaide has become one of the country's most populated areas, and more than a million Australians live in the city itself; which is split in half by the Torrens River, which runs through the center of Adelaide. Neil Muir was someone that you could describe as a transient. March 3, 2023 - 7:08PM. When Boris had last seen Richard, walking away from the bus stop down the street from his home, he had still been wearing the collar, and it is has been theorized that the collar itself might have been a trigger for the deviant (or deviants) that ultimately decided to abduct Richard. During the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. Medical examiners and investigators began to theorize about the rationale for the surgical scar, and the most plausible one to-date is perhaps one of the worst to imagine. He also happened to be a relative of Robin Millhouse, South Australia's former Attorney General who would become a Supreme Court Justice in 1982. Bevan von Einems life revolved around sexual sadism. This story would become historic, in more ways than one. The 'Family murders' involved the killing and torture of five young men from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. How did he manipulate large numbers of people to get involved to various degrees even if that involvement was merely remaining silent? Eventually, Peter's parents discovered the plot among Peter and his friend to skip school, and conveyed this information to the police - who were just as alarmed as they were. Enjoy reading. [6] Von Einem was also one of the last people seen with a fourth victim, Muir, following his abduction. Over the next year or so, the case would stagnate. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. He was last seen while hitchhiking being picked up by a white HQ Holden sedan carrying three or four people. The Family Murders are a series of violent and depraved sex crimes committed against five young men and boys in South Australia throughout the 1970's and 1980's. In 1988 Detective Trevor Kipling described a group of people whom he suspected as being responsible as "one big happy family" and vowed to do all that he could to bring them to justice. However, they were able to learn that - before his body was burned in the brush fire - his remains had been cut into multiple parts with a saw. Show True Crime Conversations, Ep The Family Murders Of Adelaide - 10 Nov 2021. Unfortunately, as the farmer's land burned, so did the remains of the missing teenager. With these results, police were able to successfully link Richard's disappearance and death to at least two prior cases: Alan Barnes and Mark Langley, who had been similarly drugged and sexually assaulted before their deaths. George gave police a description of the older man that had picked him up and driven him to the house in question, but he could not remember his name, nor the name of the two women at the house they had traveled to. Young Blood refers to the age of the victims who were brutally murdered. Unfortunately, that Thursday, Peter never arrived at the mall to meet his friend. For a week, his loved ones had been bracing themselves for the worst, but this was a confirmation of everything they had been fearing for the past several days: Alan had been violently murdered, and had spent his final hours in agony. Neil Fredrick Muir, aged 25,[12][13] murdered two months after Barnes in August 1979. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. Unfortunately, Richard Kelvin would never make it home. They knew then that the description of the remains - should it become public knowledge - would alert a lot of media to the story and scare a lot of people. [4][5] In 1989, von Einem was charged with the murders of two other victims, Barnes and Langley, but the prosecution entered a nolle prosequi (voluntarily discontinue criminal charges) during the trial when crucial similar fact evidence was deemed inadmissible by the presiding judge. Our locations section shows where all the events happened and where all the players lived. He was in G Block of Yatala Prison for decades but was transferred to Port Augusta Prison in the north of the state in 2007. 4 had horrific injuries with clear signs of torture, abuse and confinement lasting up to 5 weeks. Millhouse would have Peter intended to skip school and meet his uncle (similar age) in Rundle Mall. This is an analysis of the information provided by Wendy Roles and Greg McInerney in the book The Family Murders: Dissected The Timeline 25 Aug (Sat) Michael B sees band-aid on Neil's leg at the methadone clinic during the day. The Family Murders is the name given to a series of five murders speculated to have been committed by a loosely connected group of individuals who came to be known as "The Family".This group was believed to be involved in the kidnapping and sexual abuse of a number of teenage boys and young men, as well as the torture and murder of five young men aged between 14 and 25, in Adelaide, South . The jury visits spot where Richard Kelvin's body was found, northeast of Adelaide. He remembered going to a back room of the house to have sex with one of the older women, only to discover - during the act itself - that she was transgender. It has been reported that the exposed skin on his face and neck had begun to wither away, leading to the theory that he had been killed shortly after going missing. He had school the next day, dinner was waiting, and he wanted to call his girlfriend. Was Dr Millhouse involved in Neil Muirs murder. Sadly, Neil's biggest vice was his ever-evolving drug addiction. But now, they needed to find a suspect. They admitted that he'd faced some issues with other kids at his school, but he was otherwise happy and had just gotten a serious girlfriend. South Australia's overdue for another The Family Murders is the name given to a series of five murders speculated to have been committed by a loosely connected group of individuals who came to be known as "The Family". Police got the number one offender. Mr B - The Family Murders Mr B Mr B was named by South Australian police in 2008 as one of the three main suspects who were involved in the murders alongside Bevan von Einem. The victims were found in random locations throughout the state, their bodies neatly cut into pieces. [18] His skeletal remains were found in October 1982 later by a local farmer at Middle Beach, 50km north of Adelaide. This meant doing away with large plots of dried-out farmland in a prescribed burn to prepare for the upcoming spring bloom. But underneath the surface, a monster lingered This has come to be disputed over the years, with some speculating that Alan might have willingly consumed the drug the weekend before his death; or, perhaps, he might have been slipped it by someone at the bars he was rumored to visit with his friends that Saturday. Unfortunately, it did not. He was found wearing most of the clothing he had last been seen in, minus an undershirt and without the chains he often wore around his neck (which contained his zodiac sign, Cancer). Neil's penis had been cut, and he was missing a testicle at the time of discovery. Mark had driven there with his family, as they were attending the party alongside him, but he would leave with a couple of friends afterward to hang out and cruise around the city with the young adults trying to squeeze out every bit of the Adelaide summer that they could. Meanwhile, the mutilation of Neil Muir's body seemed to be identical to that perpetrated upon Peter Stogneff's remains, whose limbs had been similarly severed with a saw-like device. On Saturday, February 27th, 1982, Mark attended a friend's 18th birthday party in Windsor Gardens, a neighborhood in northeastern Adelaide. [21] Among the mutilations was a wound that appeared to have been cut with a surgical instrument that went from his navel to the pubic region and part of his small bowel was missing. After a bit, Rob decided to walk home, leaving the two boys at the park; assured that it was just down the street from their house and it was still early in the day. This section explores the people who at this stage are thought to have been on the periphery. After taking the pills, George's memory began to blur. He found like minded people who shared a similar sexual bent, and he found people he could mutually exploit to lure victims into his car. Hence, the odd scar that seemed to serve no other purpose. For that reason, this crime remains technically unsolved to this day. He was also found to be wearing clothing that did not belong to him, and his original clothing was missing entirely. Listen to "The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders)" on Spreaker. The next day was a Sunday, they both planned to hitchhike to Alan's home in Salisbury. Shockingly, police found an insane combination of sedatives in his system, which included the drugs Noctec, Mandrax, valium, Rohypnol, and amytal. We know, from the 2014-2017 Royal Commission, that Debi Marshall's count of 150 disappeared boys in Adelaide is miniscule compared to the number tens of thousands of victims who stepped forward once they were invited by the RC. He had become so messed up on drugs and alcohol that a bouncer had to physically drag him outside of a bar, where he stumbled onto the pavement and struggled to get up. The death of George Duncan would serve as a catalyst, eventually martyring Duncan himself and leading to repeals of South Australia's harsh anti-homosexuality laws. Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. These people have no such bond, only an association that with time probably no longer exists". Oh, that reminds me. SA convicted murderer Bevan Spencer Von Einem during the jury's tour of North Adelaide dumping spot of Richard Kelvin's body. Like the other victims, Richard Kelvin's blood and organs were tested for any sign of drugs, with investigators hoping to find a connection to any of the prior victims. [5] Others, who have examined the cases, however, argue that there were many more victims. Both witnesses - who were friends with Neil and drug users themselves - were prepared to testify should this man be tried for the murder. Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is perhaps most well known for its beautiful, scenic landscape, which is wedged in-between the Adelaide Foothills to the east, the coastline that runs along the west and down into the southern cape, and expanse of vast Australia that lies to the north. The Clermont County Sheriff's Office . After doing away with his old, dried-up crops, the farmer was looking over his land when he came upon the now-charred remains of young Peter Stogneff.
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