On Saturday, June 16th, 1979, Alan spent the night at a friend's house. 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. 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. 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. 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. Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked 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. This notoriety brought with it a poor reputation, however, and by the late 1970s, Mandrax had become a regulated prescription drug throughout Australia. This is made apparent when we look at a story from 1972, which ultimately led to drastic overhauls in Southern Australian law and cemented its place in the nation's history. Unfortunately, from there, the trail would go cold for over a year at which point, another victim had already become ensnared in this tragic saga. But he didn't commit these crimes on his own. Among those voices, he described, was a higher-pitched voice, which sounded almost feminine. 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. 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). After being arrested, Dr. Millhouse had denied ever knowing Neil, and continued stating so over the next year, openly defying the dozens of witness statements that claimed they were acquaintances at the least, intimate friends at the most. [4][10], Some authorities do not recognise the term "The Family", stating that "[t]hey should not be given any title that infers legitimacy. Once it became clear that something had happened to Peter, his family launched a frantic search for him, starting in the family's home. Millhouse would have. 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. 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. 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. 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. George, an impressionable young man, was enticed by the offer and accepted. Ian and Paula, Mark's friends, drove away but would return just minutes later, cooler heads having prevailed. The next day was a Sunday, they both planned to hitchhike to Alan's home in Salisbury. Alan's body had fallen to the dirt below, twisting and contorting in such a way that - should he have been alive - would have surely resulted in death or serious injury. Bevan Spencer von Einem is serving a life sentence for one of those murders. Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. The severing of Neil's limbs and the mutilation of his body was originally believed to have been part of an effort to dispose of his body. Most were later described as being worthless, but a few piqued the interest of Investigator O'Brien. There are also notorious unsolved disappearances in Adelaide, including the Beaumont children. 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 then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. Richard Dallas Kelvin, (born 4 December 1967) aged 15,[23] murdered in July 1983. He had school the next day, dinner was waiting, and he wanted to call his girlfriend. Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. [16][22] The sedative-hypnotic drug Mandrax, popular in the 1970s disco scene, was found in Langley's blood. 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. The victims were all young men, who had gone missing in or near the northern section of town. [18] His skeletal remains were found in October 1982 later by a local farmer at Middle Beach, 50km north of Adelaide. As the 1970s entered their homestretch, Alan was beginning to enter the phase of his life where he experimented with drug and alcohol usage. 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. Global Nav Open Menu . 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. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. 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. However, what wasn't up for debate was the fact that Alan had been violently tortured for hours before his death, with his death ultimately coming from blood loss due to an anal injury. 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. Unfortunately, as the farmer's land burned, so did the remains of the missing teenager. His body had been severely mutilated and dumped in the South Para Reservoir, northeast of Adelaide. The name of the group stems from an interview a police detective gave on 60 Minutes,[1] claiming the police were taking action "to break up the happy family". Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. This section explores his social network. Sadly, this dark and tragic saga was just beginning. Moments later, George lost consciousness, falling prey to the drugs that he had consumed. While police pounded the pavement to find out what had happened to Richard Kelvin, the young man's life was slowly coming to an end. [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. 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. He was last seen stumbling down the street, supposedly wandering off to parts unknown. 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. Whatever it was, it looked like a human body but was somehow twisted and contorted in an inhuman nature. Suspect 2, a former male prostitute and close friend of von Einem known as Mr B. 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. Once in the car they would be offered a drink that was laced with a knockout drug. It shows the facts and most likely scenarios, but is fluid so when new information comes to light changes can easily be made. Ten years von Einem's junior, Mr B helped von Einem pick up, drug, and rape several young men. Our locations section shows where all the events happened and where all the players lived. 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. Was Dr Millhouse involved in Neil Muirs murder. Now, with Mark Langley, police were able to confirm the presence of the drug Mandrax in his system. 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. The skeletal remains of one victim bore marks to reasonably indicate a similar experience and outcome. 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. And Marshall is no novice at delving into the minds of evil men. Millhouse would have Peter intended to skip school and meet his uncle (similar age) in Rundle Mall. Between 1979 and 1983, the city of Adelaide in South Australia was the stage for a horrific string of crimes against young men and teenagers.Five known victims of kidnapping, sexual abuse and murder showed up in those years, and police became convinced that the perpetrator was actually a group of several men . 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. 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".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 . [citation needed]. 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. Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. He immediately contacted the police, and when they arrived at the scene, they were able to quickly identify the remains as Peter. 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. South Australia's overdue for another 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"). 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. Part One: The Murders Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked Adelaide. Five murders and over 150 rapes. 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. 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. Young Blood refers to the age of the victims who were brutally murdered. In a word, no. The Clermont County Sheriff's Office . 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. They knew then that the description of the remains - should it become public knowledge - would alert a lot of media to the story and scare a lot of people. [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. 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. He had seemingly disappeared, and a brief search of the area failed to come up with him. Allegations would even surface that indicated Dr. Millhouse had been one of the people in the area that supplied Neil with prescription drugs, but that would remain an allegation for the foreseeable future. However, instead of charging them with any known crimes, the officers proceeded to throw the three men into the nearby Torrens River. Hours would begin to pass, and Alan would fail to return home at all that Sunday. 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. Only one suspect has been charged and convicted for the crimes: Bevan Spencer von Einem was sentenced in 1984 to a minimum of 24 years (later extended to a minimum 36-year term) for the murder of 15-year-old Richard Kelvin. 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. This section explores the people who at this stage are thought to have been on the periphery. [7] Suspect 1, an Eastern Suburbs businessman, is believed to have been with von Einem when Kelvin was abducted. 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. Some of his strategies were to unscrew his car muffler or pull out his choke and ask an unsuspecting youth to help him with car trouble. Make no mistake, Bevan Spencer von Einem is the architect behind all these crimes. 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. He has spent that Sunday, June the 5th, playing footy, until the afternoon when his best friend Karl came over. Meanwhile, as police struggled to answer these basic questions, the trial against Dr. Peter Millhouse remained a thing of the past. Millhouse was charged and went to trial but was acquitted. 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. 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. Likely, he was one of the people seen hanging out with Neil at the bars and clubs just days that weekend. His body had been dissected into parts, with his internal organs carved out and missing, replaced by his lower legs and arms, which had been sawed off and placed inside of his hollowed-out chest cavity. Needing to get away from his friends and clear his head, Mark decided to get out and walk away. It was the body of Neil Muir or, rather, what remained of him. 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. 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. During the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. Just two days after the body of Alan Barnes was discovered - when the investigation was still unfolding - an anonymous caller reached out to police. A short time later, police were contacted and later arrived at the scene to document the grisly find. If you recall, M.E. The final two - Mark Langley and Richard Kelvin - had disappeared just blocks away from one another. For that reason, this crime remains technically unsolved to this day. They now had five bodies - five victims - and five families pushing for answers. In the latter half of the 1970s, South Australia had started to regulate drugs like Mandrax, known throughout most of the world as "Quaaludes." Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. They had no idea that they were about to make one of the most gruesome discoveries in Australian history. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. 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. Five murders and over 150 rapes. 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. Only one suspect has been charged and convicted for a crime. His body also showed signs of beatings and torture. "The Family murders" occurred in the period of time between the late 1970s and 1980s. [2] The suspects and their associates were linked mainly by their shared habits of "actively [having] sought out young males for sex," sometimes drugging and raping their victims. By the time they managed to look outside, whoever had been outside had already sped off. 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 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. His mother, Judy, would later describe him as being incredibly witty; "cheeky," as she describes in a 2006 documentary, going on to say that Alan was always quick on his feet, and would respond to any type of comment with something sarcastic and bitterly funny. The periphery of The Family is a grey area. 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. 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.
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