Bevan von Einems life revolved around sexual sadism. Subsequent efforts to reach Alan through his friends had failed, and none of them had seen him since the weekend. This was commonly found in the drug Noctec, which was an over-the-counter pharmaceutical used to aid people with sleep problems, which had been given to Alan sometime before his death. But only one recalled seeing where Alan might have gone. 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. Richard was found wearing the same clothing that he had been wearing on the day of his disappearance, but in an unusual twist, was found to be wearing his family dog's collar. Noctec was found in his blood, suggesting he had been drugged. 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. While in rehab, Dr. Millhouse refused to speak to police about Neil Muir (or his alleged relationship with the man). It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. Several eyewitnesses remembered seeing Alan and his long, blond hair standing along Grand Junction Road that Sunday. Description. 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. Oh, that reminds me. Hence, the odd scar that seemed to serve no other purpose. This site is constantly being updated as more is learned. 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. Alan Arthur Barnes, aged 16, murdered in 1979. 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. 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. Police were called out to the scene, and an extensive search of the area commenced. This theory is that whatever item had been used to sexually assault Mark with - which ultimately led to his death - had gotten caught up in his intestines, and required surgery to retrieve. It is estimated that over 150 youths and young men were abducted, drugged, and then raped. Australia's most notorious unsolved serial killings. [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. The two were hiking through the area near the South Para Reservoir when they noticed something on the ground. 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. At this point, the idea of a random killer hadn't even crossed investigators' minds. The following morning, however, is a different story. But underneath the surface, a monster lingered "The Family murders" occurred in the period of time between the late 1970s and 1980s. 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. 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. 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. [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. 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. Many of these people were directly involved in the abductions and rape of victims who survived. Trevor Peters lived two doors away from one of the transgender suspects and mixed in the same circles as a number of suspects. He had a network of over 30 people. For that reason, this crime remains technically unsolved to this day. Suspect 2, a former male prostitute and close friend of von Einem known as Mr B. Like the other victims, investigators would learn a lot from the status of Mark's remains. Some of the victims were brutally tortured, or horrifically mutilated or cut up. 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. Shockingly, police found an insane combination of sedatives in his system, which included the drugs Noctec, Mandrax, valium, Rohypnol, and amytal. He then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. 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. How did he manipulate large numbers of people to get involved to various degrees even if that involvement was merely remaining silent? 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). 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. [14] The hair around the area had been shaved as it would have been in an operation in a hospital. [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 days after Neil Muir's body was discovered in separate black trash bags, police had received two separate phone calls alerting them to the victim's relationship with a local doctor. Police wouldn't get around to conducting a door-to-door canvas of the neighborhood until Tuesday, two days after Richard had gone missing. Of only one victim. 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". 2020 familymurders.com All Rights Reserved. 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. In August of 1979, Neil was living alone in an apartment on Carrington Street, right in the middle of Adelaide itself. 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. Millhouse was charged and went to trial but was acquitted. 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]. Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. 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. The other murders remain unsolved. They organized a helicopter search of the area, which O'Brien was present for, but unfortunately, the police were unable to find anything definitive. 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. It was there that they found his backpack hidden in the garage, which ultimately led to calls to all of his friends. 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. 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. [8] The reward carried an offer of immunity to accomplices, dependent on their level of involvement. Investigators were unable to pinpoint Peter's exact cause-of-death, or even estimate when he had been killed. It wasn't until the following year, 1983, that police finally rediscovered George's story. He consented to any available tests or analysis, and during a medical screening, it was discovered that the young man did have tears in his anus, proving that he had been raped. The "Family Murders" *Warning: graphic content and mentions of sexual abuse ahead. Moments later, George lost consciousness, falling prey to the drugs that he had consumed. Unlike the other murder victims, however, Mark's body showed an odd sign of surgical precision. Police were now back, right where they had started. 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. Just like Neil Muir, whoever had taken him had killed him and dumped his body pretty quickly, within a day or two. A witness says she saw Stogneff at Tea Tree Plaza with someone matching Noel Brook's appearance. Mark Langley attended party in Windsor Gardens but left with a male and female. They wanted to continue eliminating suspects that personally knew Alan ahead of time, but promised to check out von Einem in the future. At the same time he was developing a network of people who made it possible for him to carry out his sexually sadistic fantasies. Among those voices, he described, was a higher-pitched voice, which sounded almost feminine. Mr B made contact with police two days after Alan Barnes was found. The information is easy to navigate and easy reference. One victim was killed and dumped within 24 hours, another was kept alive for five weeks, and the rest were in between. 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. Now, with Mark Langley, police were able to confirm the presence of the drug Mandrax in his system. Peter Leslie Millhouse was a doctor from Mt. After taking the pills, George's memory began to blur. This meant that his remains had likely been sitting out in the wilderness for about a week. He was last seen while hitchhiking being picked up by a white HQ Holden sedan carrying three or four people. A few more anonymous calls would be received in the coming weeks. Bevan von Einem was no exception he also preferred youths between the 15 and 19 year old age group. 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. 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. Ian and Paula, Mark's friends, drove away but would return just minutes later, cooler heads having prevailed. 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. 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,. Of the five men that fell prey to this violent killer, at least two had been drugged with Mandrax, as had George. 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 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. 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. 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). Stogneff still skipped school but never made it home. [15] A post-mortem examination revealed that Muir had died of massive blood loss from an anal injury, likely caused by the insertion of a large blunt object[16] and Noctec was found in his blood. Alan lived with his parents, both English immigrants, in Salisbury: a northern suburb of Adelaide. A short time later, police were contacted and later arrived at the scene to document the grisly find. Mark Langley was an 18-year-old with the entire world in front of him: an athletic and good-looking young man, who quickly endeared himself to others. [4][10], Some authorities do not recognise the term "The Family", stating that "[t]hey should not be given any title that infers legitimacy. We know that on the morning of Sunday, June 17th, Alan and his friend woke up, and tried their luck hitchhiking back to Alan's family's house (a practice that wasn't that uncommon in the late 1970s). While Neil Muir had endured a similar fate, his remains were too badly mutilated to test for any drugs; however, the injuries suffered seemed to be identical. Unfortunately, as the farmer's land burned, so did the remains of the missing teenager. These people have no such bond, only an association that with time probably no longer exists". 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. This website was built on publicly available information contributed by many people who have an interest in this case. Neil Fredrick Muir, aged 25,[12][13] murdered two months after Barnes in August 1979. 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. 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. Needless to say, over the past few months, this investigation had become a new beast entirely. But other than that, this friend had nothing new to offer police: he hadn't seen or heard from Alan since the two went their separate ways. He had struggled to wean himself off of heroin, using methadone to do so, only to have methadone become his next addiction. The man that had driven George there offered him a couple of pills called "No-Doz," which - he promised - would help him stay awake to enjoy the party. 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. So they tried to safely guard the parts of the investigation that they could. Neil Muir's body had been so badly mutilated that he still barely resembled an entire being. Unfortunately, that Thursday, Peter never arrived at the mall to meet his friend. Although each attack and mutilation appeared different, police investigators soon began to link the horrific murders to one another. 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. Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. 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. But at this point, police were already preoccupied with a separate lead from Neil Muir's social circle: a man named Dr. Peter Millhouse. 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. 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. 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. Neil Muir was someone that you could describe as a transient. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the case is how did von Einem find accomplices willing to be involved in such crimes? It was at around this time - the end of August - that Investigator Rod Hunter finally got around to interviewing Bevan Spencer von Einem, the man implicated by an anonymous caller in the murder of Alan Barnes. Ten years von Einem's junior, Mr B helped von Einem pick up, drug, and rape several young men. Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. March 3, 2023 - 7:08PM. Darko's brother dropped them at a bus stop near the corner of on Grand Junction Rd and Addison 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. The very next day - August 28th, 1979 - a couple of fishermen were heading out to the Port Adelaide River, on what was supposed to be a regular workday for them. Over the next year or so, the case would stagnate. The Family Murders revolved around von Einem. He was able to exploit and manipulate enablers, helpers and participants over a long period of time. [3], Von Einem was convicted in 1984 of the murder of Kelvin and sentenced to life imprisonment. One such case is the Family Murders of Adelaide, Australia. Because Neil's transient lifestyle led to him becoming known as a bit of a vagabond, his sexuality was not exactly common knowledge. It was this rapport that caused Peter to skip school on Thursday, August 27th, 1981. Young Blood refers to the age of the victims who were brutally murdered. Mark had likely hitched a ride with someone, and his friends trusted that he would make it home. Richard Dallas Kelvin, (born 4 December 1967) aged 15,[23] murdered in July 1983.