While in rehab, Dr. Millhouse refused to speak to police about Neil Muir (or his alleged relationship with the man). They hoped to use character witnesses to build up the relationship between the two, and then use other eyewitnesses to fill in the rest (the drugs, the sexual relationship, etc.). The following Sunday, June 24th - one week after Alan had last been seen alive - a couple of hikers were bushwalking up in the area known as the Adelaide Foothills. Progressive ideas began to spread out from Adelaide, but even then, progress itself was rather slow to catch on throughout large chunks of South Australia. When using other people (sometimes transgenders, sometimes cross-dressers, and sometimes Mr B), a common ploy was to ask a lone youth if he want to go to a party where there was plenty of booze and women. This site is constantly being updated as more is learned. He was last seen while hitchhiking being picked up by a white HQ Holden sedan carrying three or four people. The other two men thrown into the river with him managed to escape with their lives, but they did not escape unscathed. Police got the number one offender. 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. Neil Muir was someone that you could describe as a transient. 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. 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. While the men in the river struggled to make it back to the shore, the group that had thrown them into the water made their escape before camera crews or onlookers could begin to gather. The smallness of Adelaide and the six degrees of separation theory became even more evident when it was revealed that one of the Family murder victims was Richard Kelvin, son of a popular Channel . 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"). South Australia's overdue for another A thrash metal band singer and members of his family were killed in an apparent murder-suicide late last month, according to police. See what they say here. 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. A few more anonymous calls would be received in the coming weeks. Neil had several drug debts throughout Adelaide, and that is where police started their investigation. 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. 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). 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. 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. It wasn't until the next day, Sunday (February 28th), that Mark's parents began to grow concerned. Shockingly, police found an insane combination of sedatives in his system, which included the drugs Noctec, Mandrax, valium, Rohypnol, and amytal. It was there that they found his backpack hidden in the garage, which ultimately led to calls to all of his friends. 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. Unfortunately, this lead ultimately led nowhere, so police began investigating people more tentatively linked to Neil through his social circle. 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. How, why, or where they had seen this tape escaped the caller, but it was enough to send detectives through the paces of investigating every lead related to this: known deviants, underground porn shops, etc. This story would become historic, in more ways than one. 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. 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. 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 Butchered Boys: This episode revisits Adelaide's notorious Adelaide Family Murders case, where six young Adelaide men were murdered during the 1970s and '80s. 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. 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. 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 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. With tattoos, long hair, and a gruff demeanor, Neil looked like your average rock musician, and his transient lifestyle seems to support that. 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. 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. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. He was the son of Channel 9 News host Rob Kelvin, who had just recently taken over the hosting gig after more than a decade of field reporting through the station and a radio affiliate. Gambier, a city roughly five hours south of Adelaide. Another anonymous caller claimed that they had seen Richard Kelvin in a snuff film, which had been filmed very recently. 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. He had a network of over 30 people. Hours would begin to pass, and Alan would fail to return home at all that Sunday. [16][22] The sedative-hypnotic drug Mandrax, popular in the 1970s disco scene, was found in Langley's blood. 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. 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. 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. 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. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS. 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. [8] Little more could be determined as the remains had been accidentally burnt by the farmer while clearing his property of scrub.[11][19]. They now had five bodies - five victims - and five families pushing for answers. However, the medical examiners in Adelaide concluded definitively that Alan had died several hours before this happened. And, with the recent discovery of the chemical cocktail found in Richard Kelvin's system, they had a pretty decent foundation for their investigation. 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. He then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. Suspect 2, a former male prostitute and close friend of von Einem known as Mr B. These details made it clear to police that this mutilation was not done simply for the killer's ease-of-mind, but indicated that they were a particularly savage killer that had likely committed similar crimes in the past. The post-mortem revealed that Langley had died from a massive loss of blood from gross injuries to his anus, similar to Barnes. On the afternoon of Sunday, June 5th, 1983, Richard was kicking around a soccer ball with his father Rob and his friend Boris at a park near his home. Moments later, George lost consciousness, falling prey to the drugs that he had consumed. [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. 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. But underneath the surface, a monster lingered This section explores his social network. 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. He had multiple channels to procuring young men. 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 ultimately resulted in a victory for Dr. Peter Millhouse's attorneys, earning the man an acquittal and his freedom. I first heard of the murders in an episode of an Australian television program called . Both witnesses - who were friends with Neil and drug users themselves - were prepared to testify should this man be tried for the murder. Subsequent efforts to reach Alan through his friends had failed, and none of them had seen him since the weekend. Players - The Family Murders Players Five murdered young men, over 150 violent abduction drug-rapes, two people arrested, one person found guilty. The group was involved in kidnapping, sexually abusing, torturing and murdering 5 boys. There, George was plied with beers and other alcoholic beverages while the older women flirted with him. He loved music - both playing it and listening to it - and had a good rapport with his friends, whom he hung around constantly. 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. 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. Following the supposed abduction of Richard Kelvin, the police unit known as Major Crimes was tasked with overseeing the investigation. An ear witness said they heard some shouting, 2020 familymurders.com All Rights Reserved. The bags looked as if they had been dropped from the higher-up wharf, just like the body of Alan Barnes had been. 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. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 | victim. Peter Stogneff was a fourteen-year-old that lived with his family in a middle-class home, in a northeastern suburb of Adelaide. The following morning, however, is a different story. The head was tied to the torso with rope passed through the mouth and out through the neck. Richard's family disputed this, vigorously denying the notion that Richard would have run away of his own accord. Following the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1975, Adelaide began to be known as one of the more progressive cities in all of Australia. There's a conviction in the last murder in the series, but I will include it due to the similarity and due to the man convicted being suspected in the other murders as well. The "Family Murders" *Warning: graphic content and mentions of sexual abuse ahead. 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. During the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. Make no mistake, Bevan Spencer von Einem is the architect behind all these crimes. [7] Suspect 1, an Eastern Suburbs businessman, is believed to have been with von Einem when Kelvin was abducted. After all, three of the victims (Alan Barnes, Neil Muir, and Mark Langley) had all died of similar injuries, and at least three (Alan Barnes, Mark Langley, and now Richard Kelvin) had all gone missing on Sundays. 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. The Family Murders is one of Australias most captivating true crime stories. One such case is the Family Murders of Adelaide, Australia. 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. von Einem is serving life imprisonment. Darko's brother dropped them at a bus stop near the corner of on Grand Junction Rd and Addison. Other times he would just pick up a hitch hiker. However, that was very circumstantial evidence at best, and anything but definitive. 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. Victims - The Family Murders Victims Alan Barnes Feb 12, 2021 The night before he went missing he stayed at Darko Kastelan's house in Cheltenham. Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. The fishermen probed the bags - a mystery just waiting to be unearthed - and quickly discovered that the bags held human remains. In the days immediately after Neil Muir's death, Dr. Millhouse had gone on a bit of a self-described "bender." Stogneff still skipped school but never made it home. 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. . Bevan von Einems life revolved around sexual sadism. SA convicted murderer Bevan Spencer Von Einem during the jury's tour of North Adelaide dumping spot of Richard Kelvin's body. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. The news was heartbreaking for those that had known Alan. On this night, in particular, that included these three men. 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. Later on, Ian would recall the argument cropping up around cigarettes, but that just proves the point of how nonessential it was. He immediately contacted the police, and when they arrived at the scene, they were able to quickly identify the remains as Peter. 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. [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. This caller alleged that the two older men had been driving around a 1963 EJ Holden sedan. Although each attack and mutilation appeared different, police investigators soon began to link the horrific murders to one another. The next day was a Sunday, they both planned to hitchhike to Alan's home in Salisbury. 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. Bevan von Einem was no exception he also preferred youths between the 15 and 19 year old age group. [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 young man, Bevan Spencer von Einem - an acquaintance of James' - had helped James make it to shore and then drove him to the nearby Royal Adelaide Hospital. He failed to make any contact with his family, and police began to express concern that he had gone missing under duress. Once known as the "City of Churches," Adelaide began going through a stark progression in the 1960s. He is 50 metres from his beautiful family home. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. 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. Bob O'Brien was an investigator for Major Crimes, who had just started working with the unit the year prior (1982). But now, they needed to find a suspect. The victims were found in random locations throughout the state, their bodies neatly cut into pieces. 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,. Likely, he was one of the people seen hanging out with Neil at the bars and clubs just days that weekend. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 . Among those voices, he described, was a higher-pitched voice, which sounded almost feminine. 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. Rather than have to read the whole site, or miss updates in the case because you dont know they exist, this section will show time-stamped updates so you can keep up to date with developments. Of the five men that fell prey to this violent killer, at least two had been drugged with Mandrax, as had George. The ongoing investigation featured in an episode of Crime Stoppers which went to air on 2 March 2009. Sadly, almost all of the evidence that may have been left behind was now gone, burned away to ash along with all of Peter's remaining soft tissue. 2020 familymurders.com All Rights Reserved. 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. Sadly, Neil's biggest vice was his ever-evolving drug addiction. He was last seen stumbling down the street, supposedly wandering off to parts unknown. Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. Trevor Peters lived two doors away from one of the transgender suspects and mixed in the same circles as a number of suspects. 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. His body had been severely mutilated and dumped in the South Para Reservoir, northeast of Adelaide. Neil's remains were brought in and carefully examined by the area's medical examiners, who quickly discovered an alarming red flag, which harkened back to the discovery of Alan Barnes' corpse. Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. The older driver not only offered to give George a ride but offered to show him a good time with some ladies he knew. Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. He told officers what the two had been up to that weekend: hanging out on Saturday and into Sunday morning, before splitting up. The periphery of The Family is a grey area. 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. If you have information about the case then contact us through our contact page.