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. How did he manipulate large numbers of people to get involved to various degrees even if that involvement was merely remaining silent? By the time they managed to look outside, whoever had been outside had already sped off. He loved music - both playing it and listening to it - and had a good rapport with his friends, whom he hung around constantly. Mark had likely hitched a ride with someone, and his friends trusted that he would make it home. High profile lawyer and murder victim Derrance Stevenson regularly entertained teenage youths. 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. Murdered victims were kept in captivity by the Family for up to five weeks. When this young man woke up the next day, he was surprised to find himself both at home and in significant pain. Later on, Ian would recall the argument cropping up around cigarettes, but that just proves the point of how nonessential it was. [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. Young Blood refers to the age of the victims who were brutally murdered. Millhouse was charged and went to trial but was acquitted. While working for Major Crimes, Investigator O'Brien received an anonymous tip that Richard Kelvin was being held against his will in a caravan in the Adelaide Foothills. Major Crimes was primarily responsible for serial killings, mass killings, and any other high-profile crimes that the local government wanted to be handled by a specialized task force. 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". Australian police launch appeal to solve string of notorious killings stretching back to 1966, The Advertiser - Doctor found not guilty of Family murder of Neil Muir dies in NSW, Kimberly Riley & Jeremy Britt-Bayinthavong, Paul Skiba, Sarah Skiba, and Lorenzo Chivers, June & Jennifer Gibbons (The Silent Twins). The ongoing investigation featured in an episode of Crime Stoppers which went to air on 2 March 2009. Bevan von Einem was no exception he also preferred youths between the 15 and 19 year old age group. 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 Family Murders | Adelaide's most notorious unsolved serial killings A day or two prior, at least. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 | victim. He had school the next day, dinner was waiting, and he wanted to call his girlfriend. Father of boat crash victim Mallory Beach snubs Alex Murdaugh's family Now twenty-five years old, Neil had spent the better part of the last few years struggling with addictions and vices that left him moving from place-to-place pretty regularly. 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. They tried to hitch a ride on Grand Junction Road, a busy thoroughfare in Adelaide, before realizing that they were going to have no luck hitchhiking together. "The Family murders" occurred in the period of time between the late 1970s and 1980s. Ian and Paula, Mark's friends, drove away but would return just minutes later, cooler heads having prevailed. Police wouldn't get around to conducting a door-to-door canvas of the neighborhood until Tuesday, two days after Richard had gone missing. Unsolved - The Family Murders | Page 148 | BigFooty Forum He likely did this to hide it from his parents, in case they made it home before he did. This section explores the people who at this stage are thought to have been on the periphery. Also, like the other victims, Mark's cause-of-death seemed to be nearly identical: blood loss from an anal injury, caused by the forced insertion of an unknown item. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. 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. 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. Five murders and over 150 rapes. Police were now back, right where they had started. So the police began reaching out to people that worked or had otherwise been in the area. South Australia's overdue for another 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 following morning, however, is a different story. This period saw the creation of gay clubs in Adelaide (such as a location known as the Mars Bar) and other clubs where all sexualities were welcome (such as the Duke of York or Buckingham Arms, known in the area as "The Buck"). One victim was killed and dumped within 24 hours, another was kept alive for five weeks, and the rest were in between. 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. See what they say here. He failed to make any contact with his family, and police began to express concern that he had gone missing under duress. [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. 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 Australia, in the 1970s and 1980s. 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. 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. 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. It's important to note that, even though members of the LGBTQ community felt more comfortable to express themselves socially, that did not mean that everyone in the area was necessarily welcoming. Likely, he was one of the people seen hanging out with Neil at the bars and clubs just days that weekend. 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. He then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. If you have information about the case then contact us through our contact page. Neil Muir had suffered the same type of anal injuries as Alan, implying that a large, bottle-shaped object had been used to intentionally injure him, which caused a large amount of blood loss. Richard Dallas Kelvin, (born 4 December 1967) aged 15,[23] murdered in July 1983. In particular, they were members of the Vice Squad, who typically crackdown on "moral" crimes such as gambling, narcotics, pornography, and illegal substances. Sadly, Neil's biggest vice was his ever-evolving drug addiction. A thrash metal band singer and members of his family were killed in an apparent murder-suicide late last month, according to police. Peter Leslie Millhouse was a doctor from Mt. 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 had seemingly disappeared, and a brief search of the area failed to come up with him. He vividly remembered hearing a young voice shout out (which we can assume was Richard) and a group of voices screaming in protest, almost in unison. Both witnesses - who were friends with Neil and drug users themselves - were prepared to testify should this man be tried for the murder. According to his family, this was right in-line with Richard's odd sense of humor. Criminologist Alan Perry of the University of Adelaide, has argued that the murders were part of widespread series of kidnappings and sexual assaults of boys that might number several hundred victims in South Australia from about 1973 to 1983.[11]. What the two got up to that evening is anyone's guess, but rumors and theories have propagated this story in the decades since. Bevan Spencer von Einem was jailed for life for the murder of 15-year-old Richard Kelvin. 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. George Duncan, one of the three men thrown into the Torrens, would drown that evening. In 1979, residents of Adelaide were gripped by fear when several young men began to go missing under mysterious circumstances. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. 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. There are also notorious unsolved disappearances in Adelaide, including the Beaumont children. 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. However, they were able to learn from a witness that a young man matching Peter's description had been spotted at Tea Tree Plaza the morning of his disappearance, and had been in the company of an adult male. 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. But he didn't commit these crimes on his own. During the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. 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. It was a group of homosexual men and transgender women who formed a network around convicted murderer and sexual sadist Bevan Spencer von Einem, based on the drugging, raping and sometimes murder of youths and young men. Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. So they tried to safely guard the parts of the investigation that they could. Five young men who were drugged, viciously raped and tortured, kept captive for up to five weeks, horrifically mutilated, and ultimately murdered. 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. 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. . In 2014 when Trevor passed away, his diaries were recovered. Police had still not linked the two cases - Barnes and Neil Muir - but while being questioned about the first murder, von Einem inquired about the second without any provocation. They drove to War Memorial Drive (150m east of the Adelaide Rowing Club ) when Mark had a minor argument with the other male so got out and left. 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. His friend likely just assumed that Peter had bailed on their plan, and likely gone to school that day. 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. Because Neil's transient lifestyle led to him becoming known as a bit of a vagabond, his sexuality was not exactly common knowledge. Police didn't believe that this voice was Richard, as he was a teenager with a deep voice that had already cracked. [18] His skeletal remains were found in October 1982 later by a local farmer at Middle Beach, 50km north of Adelaide. Four of the five murders remain unsolved. A Breakdown of a series of murders that took place in Adelaide, South Unfortunately, Richard Kelvin would never make it home. These were connections that were hard to overlook, as police began to theorize that a single offender (or, rather, a group of offenders) had been behind all of these crimes. Neil Fredrick Muir, aged 25,[12][13] murdered two months after Barnes in August 1979. Peter Stogneff. The older man in the driver's seat reached into the backseat and pulled out a beer from a cooler, offering it to George. 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. Richard and Boris remained at the park for a bit longer, kicking around the soccer ball and chatting, before eventually, Boris decided to make his way home. Some were involved in the abduction of victims who were murdered, some were involved in the rape of murdered victims, and some were involved in murder. Police believe this murder is associated with other high profile murders commonly referred to in the media as the 'Family Murders'. The convicted killer and notorious head of "The Family" ring who picked up hitchhikers and schoolboys to drug and offer to South Australia's elite to sexually abuse has broken his 20-year silence, to blame his victim, and to claim innocence over other murders. He had a network of over 30 people. Alan Barnes was a teenager growing up in this environment, who seemed to live on the bubble between childhood and adulthood in the winter of 1979. von Einem is serving life imprisonment. Because very little physical evidence had been left behind, it was hard to tell whether or not these crimes belonged to the same spree, or were simply copycats. While changes in Southern Australia's draconian laws had decriminalized homosexuality, there were still people eager to prey on or harass gay men and women - behavior that lingers to this day. Unfortunately, information gathered by police that fateful Tuesday began to cast doubt on the idea that Richard had willingly chosen to run away from home. Boris left on a bus, and Richard started making his way back home a trip that was no more than four-hundred meters. Meanwhile, as police struggled to answer these basic questions, the trial against Dr. Peter Millhouse remained a thing of the past. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. 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,. The son was fifteen when he was snatched from the street . Gambier, a city roughly five hours south of Adelaide. Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. Like the other victims, investigators would learn a lot from the status of Mark's remains. On Saturday, February 27th, 1982, Mark attended a friend's 18th birthday party in Windsor Gardens, a neighborhood in northeastern Adelaide. His remains had been dissected and neatly cut into many pieces, placed in a garbage bag and thrown into the Port River at Port Adelaide. Investigators were unable to pinpoint Peter's exact cause-of-death, or even estimate when he had been killed. Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. This horrific sight was quickly reported to police, who arrived at the scene and immediately cordoned off the area around where the fisherman had reportedly discovered the floating trash bags. If you recall, M.E. 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. However, the medical examiners in Adelaide concluded definitively that Alan had died several hours before this happened. The Family Murders - 5 Teen Boys Raped, Tortured, And Killed 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. 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. Because of this lack of clarity, police were unable to press forward with any charges for the offenders, and George's story would become buried by more pressing police concerns in the coming weeks and months. At this point, the idea of a random killer hadn't even crossed investigators' minds. Trevor Peters lived two doors away from one of the transgender suspects and mixed in the same circles as a number of suspects. While in rehab, Dr. Millhouse refused to speak to police about Neil Muir (or his alleged relationship with the man). In Adelaides gay community in the 1970s and 1980s, young men were coveted for sex. [8] The reward carried an offer of immunity to accomplices, dependent on their level of involvement. 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. Suspect 2, a former male prostitute and close friend of von Einem known as Mr B. The "Family Murders" - Amateur Sleuth Alan's friend made it back to his house within minutes, but unfortunately, Alan was not so lucky. But his teachers recalled him being absent, and hours would pass that afternoon (heading into the evening) and Peter would fail to return home. Although each attack and mutilation appeared different, police investigators soon began to link the horrific murders to one another. Bevan von Einem was an apex predator. Things then came full circle when he began using heroin again, and shortly thereafter, followed that up with a dependence on Rohypnol ("roofies", commonly known as the date-rape drug). Trace evidence, including hair and fibres from von Einem's home, was found on Kelvin's body and clothing. The male and female drove off but returned At about 6pm on a Sunday afternoon, Richard walked his friend to the bus stop on O'Connell St, North Adelaide. This meant that his remains had likely been sitting out in the wilderness for about a week. 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. Unlike the other murder victims, however, Mark's body showed an odd sign of surgical precision. 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 Australia, in the 1970s and 1980s. Bevan Spencer von Einem is serving a life sentence for one of those murders. This witness recalled Alan getting into a vehicle, which appeared to be a white Holden sedan. He then explained to the investigator that he was a former lover of Neil's, from roughly four years beforehand, and had run into the man just days before his eventual murder. Only one suspect has been charged and convicted for a crime. 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. He never made it home. 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). 's had discovered the chemical compound chloral hydrate in the system of Alan Barnes, who also had an above-average level of alcohol in his system: roughly four times the legal limit, which was unusually high for a teenager. [citation needed]. The Family Murders is the name given to a series of five sadistic murders committed by a loosely connected group of individuals who came to be known as The Family. A couple of black trash bags were floating on the low tide of the river's coast. The periphery of The Family is a grey area. The body count had essentially doubled within a couple of months, and police were still unsure whether or not the cases were related. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 25, and most were found to have suffered brutal violence, sexual assaults, and/or body mutilation before their death. This caller told detectives that a man named Bevan Spencer von Einem was responsible for Alan's death, and his name was added to the list of potential suspects to explore. 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. The Family murders: Bevan Spencer von Einem's shocking jailhouse They organized a helicopter search of the area, which O'Brien was present for, but unfortunately, the police were unable to find anything definitive. [8] Little more could be determined as the remains had been accidentally burnt by the farmer while clearing his property of scrub.[11][19]. Hence, the odd scar that seemed to serve no other purpose. He was able to exploit and manipulate enablers, helpers and participants over a long period of time. Its always easier to visualise events when you have maps. However, they quickly began to narrow in on the one avenue of the investigation that seemed most enticing to them at the time: Neil's dependency on drugs and alcohol. Richard walked him down the road to the nearby O'Connell Street bus stop, arriving without incident, and waited there for his friend's bus to arrive. The Family Murders Of Adelaide - True Crime Conversations 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. [5][9] The cold case review was completed in November 2010 with no charges being laid against any of the three key suspects. Mark Langley 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. Sadly, this dark and tragic saga was just beginning. 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. The Family Murders was a series of murders in the 1970s and 1980s that targeted young men in Adelaide, South Australia between the ages of 14 and 25. 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. 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. But underneath the surface, a monster lingered 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. [14][24] His body was found on 24 July by a geologist who was searching for moss-covered rocks near a dirt airstrip at Kersbrook. In the latter half of the 1970s, South Australia had started to regulate drugs like Mandrax, known throughout most of the world as "Quaaludes." The Family were not an official group, gang, or organisation. [14][15] Skin bearing tattoos had been removed and most of the body parts were placed in another garbage bag before being placed within the abdominal cavity. But at this point, police were already preoccupied with a separate lead from Neil Muir's social circle: a man named Dr. Peter Millhouse. Within hours, Alan's father and grandfather found themselves tagged to identify the remains, which were undoubtedly the remains of their missing 17-year-old. Most were later described as being worthless, but a few piqued the interest of Investigator O'Brien. While searching, they ended up discovering the body of Richard Kelvin, who had been missing for just shy of two months. This argument would carry on for a few minutes, while the trio was parked along War Memorial Drive, overlooking the Torrens River. While police began to investigate who might be responsible for this heinous crime, medical examiners testing the body made a pretty shocking discovery: the presence of drugs in his blood. This was about 300 metres from his family home. Mark Andrew Langley, aged 18,[17] murdered in February 1982. Suspect 3, an Eastern Suburbs doctor. 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. 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. 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. [6] Von Einem was also one of the last people seen with a fourth victim, Muir, following his abduction. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders) - Spreaker Once in the car they would be offered a drink that was laced with a knockout drug. The Family Murders - Strange Matters Podcast