the family murders adelaide victims
Now, with Mark Langley, police were able to confirm the presence of the drug Mandrax in his system. 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. Mr B - The Family Murders Mr B Mr B was named by South Australian police in 2008 as one of the three main suspects who were involved in the murders alongside Bevan von Einem. Listen to "The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders)" on Spreaker. A couple of black trash bags were floating on the low tide of the river's coast. Some showed signs of prolonged captivity, while death came quick to others . 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. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. This conflict has endured because Alan's bloodstream also showed signs of alcohol consumption, which Alan had participated in that same weekend. 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 (Part Two: The Family) Unresolved 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). 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. "CIA: Crime Investigation Australia" The Butchered Boys (TV - IMDb Police wouldn't get around to conducting a door-to-door canvas of the neighborhood until Tuesday, two days after Richard had gone missing. At this point, the idea of a random killer hadn't even crossed investigators' minds. He had been sexually assaulted and went on to report this bizarre, terrifying incident to police. But he decided to instead head to a local mall, named Tea Tree Plaza, where Peter and his friends often hung out on the weekends. 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). Noctec was found in his blood, suggesting he had been drugged. 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. He was also found to be wearing clothing that did not belong to him, and his original clothing was missing entirely. 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. Due to the state of the young man's remains, it was believed that Alan had been detained against his will for several days. The final two - Mark Langley and Richard Kelvin - had disappeared just blocks away from one another. The bags looked as if they had been dropped from the higher-up wharf, just like the body of Alan Barnes had been. In May of 1972, three gay men - George Duncan, Roger James, and another man (whose identity has been withheld in the decades since) - were picked up by members of South Australia's police force. Both witnesses - who were friends with Neil and drug users themselves - were prepared to testify should this man be tried for the murder. 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.). 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 two were hiking through the area near the South Para Reservoir when they noticed something on the ground. He never made it home. 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. 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 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. Gino Gambardella regularly scouted Rundle Mall and video game arcades for runaways, homeless teenagers, and youths who he was able to exploit. Our locations section shows where all the events happened and where all the players lived. South Australia's overdue for another This meant doing away with large plots of dried-out farmland in a prescribed burn to prepare for the upcoming spring bloom. 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. Unfortunately, by the time they returned, Mark was nowhere to be found. 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. This notoriety brought with it a poor reputation, however, and by the late 1970s, Mandrax had become a regulated prescription drug throughout Australia. He had seemingly disappeared, and a brief search of the area failed to come up with him. Apart from von Einem, three other core members are thought to be directly involved in the murders; while DNA testing re-commenced in 2008, no further charges have been laid. 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 organized a helicopter search of the area, which O'Brien was present for, but unfortunately, the police were unable to find anything definitive. 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. [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. 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. The head was tied to the torso with rope passed through the mouth and out through the neck. [3], Von Einem was convicted in 1984 of the murder of Kelvin and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Family werent an official club or group, rather a loose collection of people with Bevan von Einem at the centre. 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" - Amateur Sleuth Murdered victims were kept in captivity by the Family for up to five weeks. 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. By the time they managed to look outside, whoever had been outside had already sped off. 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). Whatever it was, it looked like a human body but was somehow twisted and contorted in an inhuman nature. 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. 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. The night before he went missing he stayed at Darko Kastelan's house in Cheltenham. Following the supposed abduction of Richard Kelvin, the police unit known as Major Crimes was tasked with overseeing the investigation. This section explores the people who at this stage are thought to have been on the periphery. It was there that they found his backpack hidden in the garage, which ultimately led to calls to all of his friends. 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. Like the other victims, Richard Kelvin's blood and organs were tested for any sign of drugs, with investigators hoping to find a connection to any of the prior victims. Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked Adelaide. 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. If you have information about the case then contact us through our contact page. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. George Duncan, one of the three men thrown into the Torrens, would drown that evening. He failed to make any contact with his family, and police began to express concern that he had gone missing under duress. George and the driver, a man roughly twice his age with artificially-dyed hair, traveled to a nearby house where a couple of young women welcomed them. Unsolved - The Family Murders | Page 148 | BigFooty Forum 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. High profile lawyer and murder victim Derrance Stevenson regularly entertained teenage youths. In 2014 when Trevor passed away, his diaries were recovered. The "Family Murders" *Warning: graphic content and mentions of sexual abuse ahead. He told officers what the two had been up to that weekend: hanging out on Saturday and into Sunday morning, before splitting up. So prosecutors and the police began to build their case around Millhouse without his cooperation, including witness statements that alleged the two had been together the weekend before Neil's violent death. While charges would later be filed against several police officers, they were ultimately acquitted; and it has been widely accepted in the decades since that local law enforcement engaged in a systematic cover-up. 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. Wife 'kills family in murder-suicide' - news.com.au Unfortunately, it would later be determined that he would suffer in anguish for weeks before meeting eventually dying more than a month after his initial disappearance. Once it became clear that something had happened to Peter, his family launched a frantic search for him, starting in the family's home. The Family Murders: 'Dissected' Kindle Edition - Amazon.com.au 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. Just a few months later, in June of 1982, the family of missing 14-year-old Peter Stogneff would finally get some resolution. They phoned police that evening, hoping that their son's whereabouts could be chalked up to a simple miscommunication. 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. 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]. Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. 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. 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. For many, that meant gay-specific bars and clubs, where these individuals were allowed to socially express themselves honestly for the first time in their lives. 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. 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. 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. 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. Millhouse was charged and went to trial but was acquitted. 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. von Einem is serving life imprisonment. 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. 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. 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. The Clermont County Sheriff's Office . Unlike the other murder victims, however, Mark's body showed an odd sign of surgical precision. It was the body of Neil Muir or, rather, what remained of him. He then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. Neil had several drug debts throughout Adelaide, and that is where police started their investigation. Police spoke to Alan's friend, who had left him behind on Grand Junction Road. 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. Five young men who were drugged, viciously raped and tortured, kept captive for up to five weeks, horrifically mutilated, and ultimately murdered. 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. 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 periphery of The Family is a grey area. 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. Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. Ten years von Einem's junior, Mr B helped von Einem pick up, drug, and rape several young men. The older man in the driver's seat reached into the backseat and pulled out a beer from a cooler, offering it to George. And, with the recent discovery of the chemical cocktail found in Richard Kelvin's system, they had a pretty decent foundation for their investigation. 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. 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. 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. He was last seen while hitchhiking being picked up by a white HQ Holden sedan carrying three or four people. 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. Mr B made contact with police two days after Alan Barnes was found. Most were later described as being worthless, but a few piqued the interest of Investigator O'Brien. Of the five men that fell prey to this violent killer, at least two had been drugged with Mandrax, as had George. At the same time he was developing a network of people who made it possible for him to carry out his sexually sadistic fantasies. In June of 1983, Richard Kelvin was approaching sixteen years of age. Another anonymous caller claimed that they had seen Richard Kelvin in a snuff film, which had been filmed very recently. [18] His skeletal remains were found in October 1982 later by a local farmer at Middle Beach, 50km north of Adelaide. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. 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. 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. He had a network of over 30 people. 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. However, the medical examiners in Adelaide concluded definitively that Alan had died several hours before this happened. Neil's penis had been cut, and he was missing a testicle at the time of discovery. If you recall, M.E. Shockingly, police found an insane combination of sedatives in his system, which included the drugs Noctec, Mandrax, valium, Rohypnol, and amytal. This included people that visited the same bars and clubs as Neil and perhaps knew him that way. 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. Some time after they went missing, their bodies would each be found, often horribly mutilated. This witness recalled Alan getting into a vehicle, which appeared to be a white Holden sedan. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 | victim. For that reason, many of these men and women had to keep their sexuality confined to specific locations. 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).