the family murders adelaide victims

Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. The other murders remain unsolved. According to his family, this was right in-line with Richard's odd sense of humor. 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 then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of four hypnotic drugs,[11][26] including Mandrax and Noctec. If your information is verified and its not breaking any laws, we may publish it. For obvious reasons, he didn't tell his parents, setting out that morning with his backpack and heading off like any other day. Like most of the victims targeted by this unknown subject, Richard Kelvin was a young and athletic young man, who seemed destined to have a long and rewarding life. But at this point, police were already preoccupied with a separate lead from Neil Muir's social circle: a man named Dr. Peter Millhouse. Any person complicit in the abduction, rape and murders of the five victims, plus any person who visited the place of captivity when a victim was knowingly present, plus any person involved in the abduction, spiking and raping of teenage boys or young men with other members of The Family. This caller alleged that the two older men had been driving around a 1963 EJ Holden sedan. This is made apparent when we look at a story from 1972, which ultimately led to drastic overhauls in Southern Australian law and cemented its place in the nation's history. Veale Gardens had a thriving male prostitution scene, many of which were underage. In 1979, residents of Adelaide were gripped by fear when several young men began to go missing under mysterious circumstances. The last victim was the son of our local television newsreader. He has spent that Sunday, June the 5th, playing footy, until the afternoon when his best friend Karl came over. He was last seen while hitchhiking being picked up by a white HQ Holden sedan carrying three or four people. This screening also revealed that the young man had been drugged with Mandrax ("Randy Mandys"), which had resulted in him losing consciousness. Examiners discovered that just a few inches above his groin - just below his navel - Mark had a small surgical scar that had been sealed shut with staples and a specific type of Johnson & Johnson surgical tape. 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. This website was built on publicly available information contributed by many people who have an interest in this case. He immediately contacted the police, and when they arrived at the scene, they were able to quickly identify the remains as Peter. 2020 familymurders.com All Rights Reserved. Mark's remains had also clearly been thoroughly washed before being dumped, just like Alan Barnes. Show True Crime Conversations, Ep The Family Murders Of Adelaide - 10 Nov 2021. By the time they managed to look outside, whoever had been outside had already sped off. The group was involved in kidnapping, sexually abusing, torturing and murdering 5 boys. But the rumors that he engaged in sex work were mainly perpetrated by those that knew him from his regular haunts: members of Adelaide's gay community, who regularly saw Neil at the gay-friendly bars they frequented. The older man in the driver's seat reached into the backseat and pulled out a beer from a cooler, offering it to George. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. 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. Five murders and over 150 rapes. Most were later described as being worthless, but a few piqued the interest of Investigator O'Brien. The Family murders are the name of the murders of five young men and teenagers who happened in Adelaide, South Australia between 1979 and 1983. 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. Bevan von Einem had a network of around 25-30 people. Because homosexuality was still outlawed in Australia at this point, Vice officers would often detain individuals that they believed were loitering nearby known gay hotspots. Only one suspect has been charged and convicted for a crime. That was when similar stories of young men being drugged and sexually assaulted began to make waves throughout Australia; young men that had been drugged with similar substances. Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. He had a network of over 30 people. [6] Von Einem was also one of the last people seen with a fourth victim, Muir, following his abduction. However, police would reach out to all of Mark's known friends, and learned that the night prior - February 27th - he had simply wandered off into the night and had not been seen since. He had good grades at school, was well-liked by just about everyone, had a stable of trusted friends, and played soccer for a local Lockley club on the weekends. 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. 4 had horrific injuries with clear signs of torture, abuse and confinement lasting up to 5 weeks. Make no mistake, Bevan Spencer von Einem is the architect behind all these crimes. 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 . Suspect 2, a former male prostitute and close friend of von Einem known as Mr B. With tattoos, long hair, and a gruff demeanor, Neil looked like your average rock musician, and his transient lifestyle seems to support that. Their psychological profile indicated that Neil's body had been carved up due to either a psychotic killer that derived pleasure from inflicting pain on others or someone that wanted to hide his/her identity. The Family Murders is one of Australia's most captivating true crime stories. A farmer that lived nearby Middle Beach and Two Wells, roughly an hour north of Adelaide, had been cleansing his farmland during the advised winter months. Of the five men that fell prey to this violent killer, at least two had been drugged with Mandrax, as had George. Detective O'Brien was the unfortunate one tasked with notifying the Kelvins that Richard's body had been found; which he describes in his book as one of the most heartbreaking duties he's ever had to endure. The Family Murders is the name given to the murders of five young men and boys between 1979 and 1983, with all abducted from the streets of Adelaide before being taken to another location,. Just two days after the body of Alan Barnes was discovered - when the investigation was still unfolding - an anonymous caller reached out to police. The Family Murders revolved around von Einem. The evidence is contained in a detailed diary kept by a man who was a close associate of several key players in the so-called Family murders. The victims were found in random locations throughout the state, their bodies neatly cut into pieces. 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. Unfortunately, from there, the trail would go cold for over a year at which point, another victim had already become ensnared in this tragic saga. While investigators had been keeping information closely guarded in this case, they decided to publicize this information to the media in the hopes that it would attract follow-up tips. The periphery of The Family is a grey area. [20] His mutilated body was found in scrub in the Adelaide foothills nine days after his disappearance. 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). It was this rapport that caused Peter to skip school on Thursday, August 27th, 1981. Other times he would just pick up a hitch hiker. Boris left on a bus, and Richard started making his way back home a trip that was no more than four-hundred meters. They organized a helicopter search of the area, which O'Brien was present for, but unfortunately, the police were unable to find anything definitive. He loved music - both playing it and listening to it - and had a good rapport with his friends, whom he hung around constantly. Of the young men whose stories I'll cover in this episode, he was by far the youngest, and his face showed it: he still had the youthful appearance of a child, and by all accounts, seemed to be your typical teenage boy. Unfortunately, that Thursday, Peter never arrived at the mall to meet his friend. The bodies were found from 24th June 1979 and the fifth and last body on 24th July 1983. 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. 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. The body count had essentially doubled within a couple of months, and police were still unsure whether or not the cases were related. 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. Subsequent efforts to reach Alan through his friends had failed, and none of them had seen him since the weekend. But a discovery by the medical examiner seemed to undermine that: in addition to all of this, Neil's genitals had been mutilated by his killer. Some of the employees that worked at the area's bars recalled seeing the two together multiple times that weekend, and other character witnesses described Dr. Millhouse and Neil as being very close friends (intimate, even). The ongoing investigation featured in an episode of Crime Stoppers which went to air on 2 March 2009. It had been reported that Richard was wearing the collar as a joke on the afternoon he went missing, while he was kicking around the soccer ball in the park with his dad and his friend, Boris. 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. This notoriety brought with it a poor reputation, however, and by the late 1970s, Mandrax had become a regulated prescription drug throughout Australia. Bob O'Brien was an investigator for Major Crimes, who had just started working with the unit the year prior (1982). [14] The hair around the area had been shaved as it would have been in an operation in a hospital. At the time of the murder, Dr. Millhouse - a gay man in his mid-forties - lived alone in northern Adelaide, and drove a ten-year-old Holden sedan. Unfortunately, it did not. It wasn't until the following year, 1983, that police finally rediscovered George's story. Alan lived with his parents, both English immigrants, in Salisbury: a northern suburb of Adelaide. 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. This included people that visited the same bars and clubs as Neil and perhaps knew him that way. Mark Andrew Langley, aged 18,[17] murdered in February 1982. This was done in a different method to what had happened to Neil Muir's remains, but medical examiners were able to identify points in the bones just above the knees and the back where a saw had carved the body into pieces. 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. SA convicted murderer Bevan Spencer Von Einem during the jury's tour of North Adelaide dumping spot of Richard Kelvin's body. Needless to say, over the past few months, this investigation had become a new beast entirely. View description Share. There were signs that he had been tortured and beaten by a sexual sadist, who had likely kept Alan drugged with a chemical compound named chloral hydrate. If you recall, M.E. See what they say here. 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. It was broad daylight, and both were assured that Alan would easily be able to find a ride to take him the few miles home. A post-mortem examination revealed that Barnes had died of massive blood loss from an anal injury, likely caused by the insertion of a large blunt object. So the police began reaching out to people that worked or had otherwise been in the area. The post-mortem revealed that Langley had died from a massive loss of blood from gross injuries to his anus, similar to Barnes. Alan was supposed to find a ride back home and was taking his luck hitchhiking, hoping that someone willing to pick him up would be heading north towards his family's neighborhood of Salisbury. It is confirmed that 5 of these victims were murdered, usually by having an object forced so far up their anus that it split the lining and they bled out. When police had arrived at the crime scene, they assumed that whoever had tried to dump the body of Alan Barnes had failed, in some way. 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). However, the medical examiners in Adelaide concluded definitively that Alan had died several hours before this happened. Ten years von Einem's junior, Mr B helped von Einem pick up, drug, and rape several young men. Gay people (in particular, gay men) began to become more comfortable in their own skin, and no longer had to suppress their sexuality in public. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the case is how did von Einem find accomplices willing to be involved in such crimes? An examination of Richard's body discovered that his cause-of-death was virtually identical to the other young male victims: blood loss caused by extensive anal injuries. Unfortunately, Richard Kelvin would never make it home. Like the other victims, investigators would learn a lot from the status of Mark's remains. Shockingly, police found an insane combination of sedatives in his system, which included the drugs Noctec, Mandrax, valium, Rohypnol, and amytal. Trevor Peters lived two doors away from one of the transgender suspects and mixed in the same circles as a number of suspects. 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. Hours would begin to pass, and Alan would fail to return home at all that Sunday. But he then set off again, likely headed towards the distant Rundle Mall, where he was due to meet up with his friend, Daniel, that day. They now had five bodies - five victims - and five families pushing for answers. The medical examiners would also find a significant head wound on Neil, which wasn't significant enough to have killed him, but would have likely happened to incapacitate or subdue the man. He had been killed elsewhere and then transported to this location postmortem, implying that the killer had a base of operations for his or her dark deeds. Unlike other drugs, Mandrax was heavily-regulated, meaning that police could search through government records to find out who had a prescription, and whether or not they appeared on their suspect lists. This conflict has endured because Alan's bloodstream also showed signs of alcohol consumption, which Alan had participated in that same weekend. [11], Last edited on 24 February 2023, at 04:35, List of serial killers by number of victims, Von Einem: Lawyers in new bid to re-open Kelvin case, "Doctor found not guilty of 'Family' murder of Neil Muir dies in NSW", "Australian police reopen notorious 1970s Family murders case", "Body in bag: jury acquits doctor in Adelaide", "Lost diary gives South Australia police new lead into Alan Barnes murder by The Family", "Many Theories, Few Clues in String of Adelaide Murders", "Record 24-year non-parole period for boy's killer", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Family_Murders&oldid=1141259172, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 04:35. During the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. A short time later, police were contacted and later arrived at the scene to document the grisly find. 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. The police came to this conclusion due to the status of his remains, which weren't nearly as decomposed as they should have been; by the time he was discovered at the end of July, he had been dead for no more than a week or two, despite having gone missing at the beginning of June. The Clermont County Sheriff's Office . Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. . Unlike the other murder victims, however, Mark's body showed an odd sign of surgical precision. Needing to get away from his friends and clear his head, Mark decided to get out and walk away. On the final weekend of August 1979, Neil was spotted at both the Duke of York and Buckingham Arms ("The Buck"), two local gay bars that I referenced at the top of the episode. Millhouse would have. That was believed to have been Neil's cause-of-death, same as Alan Barnes. In 2014 when Trevor passed away, his diaries were recovered. 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. Several eyewitnesses remembered seeing Alan and his long, blond hair standing along Grand Junction Road that Sunday. Another anonymous caller claimed that they had seen Richard Kelvin in a snuff film, which had been filmed very recently. But his teachers recalled him being absent, and hours would pass that afternoon (heading into the evening) and Peter would fail to return home. Listen to "The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders)" on Spreaker. 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. This witness would also recall hearing this supposed argument on the street come to a sudden end, punctuated with the sound of a loud exhaust system as a car sped down the street. A cold case review was opened in March 2008 with a $1,000,000 reward available for anyone who provided information leading to a conviction. The area around the scar had even been shaved away, implying that this a methodical decision by someone with surgical experience perhaps someone trying to rectify a mistake. 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. Despite there being an overwhelming lack of physical evidence, police decided to pursue charges against Dr. Millhouse anyways, using the rope and trash bags recovered from his home as their primary building block. The son of popular local Nine Network news presenter Rob Kelvin, he was abducted a short distance from his North Adelaide home on 5 June. Richard Kelvin's disappearance was a slightly higher profile case than the others I've covered so far - due to him being the son of the region's top newscaster - but even then, the investigation was not without fault. Police got the number one offender. When Dr. Millhouse's trial eventually commenced in the latter half of 1980 - more than a year after Neil Muir's murder - the prosecution continued to rely heavily upon their circumstantial evidence and witness statements, failing to establish any motive for the crime or provide any definitive evidence. A man who donned a balaclava and stormed a man's Adelaide CBD unit, stabbing him within nine seconds, will spend 20 years behind bars. However, Neil's life was far less glamorous; rumors persist to this day that, leading up to August of 1979, Neil was engaging in sex work to support his bad habits and lifestyle. Although each attack and mutilation appeared different, police investigators soon began to link the horrific murders to one another. Darko's brother dropped them at a bus stop near the corner of on Grand Junction Rd and Addison. The Adelaide Festival of Arts (also known as just Adelaide Festival) started in 1960 and led to something of a "cultural revival" in the area. The final two - Mark Langley and Richard Kelvin - had disappeared just blocks away from one another. He was able to exploit and manipulate enablers, helpers and participants over a long period of time. Over the next year or so, the case would stagnate. George Duncan, one of the three men thrown into the Torrens, would drown that evening. This reported sighting led police to the notion that a group of people might have been acting in-tandem to abduct Richard, for reasons that appeared nefarious. Hence, the odd scar that seemed to serve no other purpose. He would literally go on to write the book about this terrifying saga, called "Young Bloods," which - if you're interested - is one of the best resources for this case. If you have information about the case then contact us through our contact page. 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. 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. One such case is the Family Murders of Adelaide, Australia. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. He likely did this to hide it from his parents, in case they made it home before he did. However, unlike many of the others, it was believed that Richard had been held captive for an extended period of time, enduring torture and sexual abuse for weeks leading up to his death. Witnesses would later recall having seen the two at some of the area's gay bars and clubs (which I referenced just a moment ago). Eventually, Peter returned home with his backpack, stowing it in his family's garage while his parents were at work. Mark Langley Alan and his friend bid adieu to one another, with his friend assured that Alan would be okay; Grand Junction Road was always busy and teeming with life, and it wasn't like he was leaving Alan in the middle of the night. [8] The reward carried an offer of immunity to accomplices, dependent on their level of involvement. In the days immediately after Neil Muir's death, Dr. Millhouse had gone on a bit of a self-described "bender." [3], Von Einem was convicted in 1984 of the murder of Kelvin and sentenced to life imprisonment. A span of 4 years. Neil Muir was last seen in Hindley St, Adelaide in the company of Dr Peter Leslie Millhouse at 3pm on the day he was murdered. He is 50 metres from his beautiful family home. 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. A few more anonymous calls would be received in the coming weeks. Oh, that reminds me. 1979: The Family (1 year) 1999: Snowtown murders discovered (20 years) As of 2021, this is the longest Adelaide has gone without a crime that has made national or international headlines as either a weird case (Somerton Man), child kidnapping or brutal serial killings since WWII. Police spoke to Alan's friend, who had left him behind on Grand Junction Road.