That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. They wanted to continue eliminating suspects that personally knew Alan ahead of time, but promised to check out von Einem in the future. Unlike the other murder victims, however, Mark's body showed an odd sign of surgical precision. 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. 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 victims were all young men, who had gone missing in or near the northern section of town. He had struggled to wean himself off of heroin, using methadone to do so, only to have methadone become his next addiction. With tattoos, long hair, and a gruff demeanor, Neil looked like your average rock musician, and his transient lifestyle seems to support that. Neil's penis had been cut, and he was missing a testicle at the time of discovery. High profile lawyer and murder victim Derrance Stevenson regularly entertained teenage youths. The older driver not only offered to give George a ride but offered to show him a good time with some ladies he knew. They now had five bodies - five victims - and five families pushing for answers. They kicked the footy around. 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 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. 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. 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. Bob O'Brien was an investigator for Major Crimes, who had just started working with the unit the year prior (1982). He was able to exploit and manipulate enablers, helpers and participants over a long period of time. This triggered a recurrence of his on-again/off-again bout with alcoholism, and within a week, he had checked himself into the Osmond House rehabilitation center but not before consulting with his attorney for any potential legal ramifications. A few more anonymous calls would be received in the coming weeks. 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. 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. He failed to make any contact with his family, and police began to express concern that he had gone missing under duress. At this point, the idea of a random killer hadn't even crossed investigators' minds. They admitted that he'd faced some issues with other kids at his school, but he was otherwise happy and had just gotten a serious girlfriend. Nine days after Mark Langley went missing, his body was discovered in the Adelaide Foothills, close to Mount Lofty in the area known as Summertown. 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 Adelaide Festival of Arts (also known as just Adelaide Festival) started in 1960 and led to something of a "cultural revival" in the area. Rumours of high-society involvement and cover-ups. 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. Due to the state of the young man's remains, it was believed that Alan had been detained against his will for several days. This website was built on publicly available information contributed by many people who have an interest in this case. 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). [5] Others, who have examined the cases, however, argue that there were many more victims. Neil Muir's body had been so badly mutilated that he still barely resembled an entire being. An ear witness said they heard some shouting, 2020 familymurders.com All Rights Reserved. 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. Millhouse was charged and went to trial but was acquitted. 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. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. Police thought that these gruesome and violent actions had been part of an effort to easily transport Neil's remains out to sea, and dispose of them in a way that they'd degrade before being identified. This conflict has endured because Alan's bloodstream also showed signs of alcohol consumption, which Alan had participated in that same weekend. 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). [20] His mutilated body was found in scrub in the Adelaide foothills nine days after his disappearance. 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. Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked Adelaide. After taking the pills, George's memory began to blur. When they finally got around to doing this, after the discovery of Richard Kelvin's body, one name popped out at them. It is estimated that over 150 youths and young men were abducted, drugged, and then raped. Make no mistake, Bevan Spencer von Einem is the architect behind all these crimes. Unfortunately, it did not. 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. Australia's most notorious unsolved serial killings. Bevan von Einem was no exception he also preferred youths between the 15 and 19 year old age group. Hence, the odd scar that seemed to serve no other purpose. Veale Gardens had a thriving male prostitution scene, many of which were underage. Some showed signs of prolonged captivity, while death came quick to others . Gambier, a city roughly five hours south of Adelaide. But now, they needed to find a suspect. The last victim was the son of our local television newsreader. Part One: The Murders Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked Adelaide. Five young men were mysteriously abducted in different . He had been sexually assaulted and went on to report this bizarre, terrifying incident to police. Bevan Spencer von Einem was jailed for life for the murder of 15-year-old Richard Kelvin. [3], Von Einem was convicted in 1984 of the murder of Kelvin and sentenced to life imprisonment. In particular, they were members of the Vice Squad, who typically crackdown on "moral" crimes such as gambling, narcotics, pornography, and illegal substances. [5][9] The cold case review was completed in November 2010 with no charges being laid against any of the three key suspects. For that reason, this crime remains technically unsolved to this day. The older man in the driver's seat reached into the backseat and pulled out a beer from a cooler, offering it to George. 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. The 'Family murders' involved the killing and torture of five young men from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. 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. His body also showed signs of beatings and torture. This was about 300 metres from his family home. [16][22] The sedative-hypnotic drug Mandrax, popular in the 1970s disco scene, was found in Langley's blood. He had a network of over 30 people. There was not much to connect them, other than the graphic sexual nature of the crimes, and months would continue to pass before this story would begin to surface again in the public eye. During the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Little is known about the unidentified man, but Roger James had his ankle broken when he was plunged into the river that May, and was only able to escape with the help of a friendly onlooker. 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. 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. Regardless, this information was incredibly helpful to police, who began to expand their interests to finding people in the area that drove similar vehicles. 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. 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. 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. Stogneff still skipped school but never made it home. [4][10], Some authorities do not recognise the term "The Family", stating that "[t]hey should not be given any title that infers legitimacy. 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.

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