This section explores his social network. Once in the car they would be offered a drink that was laced with a knockout drug. Show True Crime Conversations, Ep The Family Murders Of Adelaide - 10 Nov 2021. But underneath the surface, a monster lingered South Australia's overdue for another Alan was supposed to find a ride back home and was taking his luck hitchhiking, hoping that someone willing to pick him up would be heading north towards his family's neighborhood of Salisbury. His body also showed signs of beatings and torture. He also happened to be a relative of Robin Millhouse, South Australia's former Attorney General who would become a Supreme Court Justice in 1982. Following the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1975, Adelaide began to be known as one of the more progressive cities in all of Australia. If your information is verified and its not breaking any laws, we may publish it. There are also notorious unsolved disappearances in Adelaide, including the Beaumont children.
Banquet: A Marvelous Book about "The Family Murders" in Adelaide The name of the group stems from an interview a police detective gave on 60 Minutes, claiming the police were taking action to break up the happy family.
Bevan Spencer von Einem - Wikipedia In a word, no. 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. The next day was a Sunday, they both planned to hitchhike to Alan's home in Salisbury. 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. 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. Alan's friend made it back to his house within minutes, but unfortunately, Alan was not so lucky. His friend likely just assumed that Peter had bailed on their plan, and likely gone to school that day. The "Family Murders" *Warning: graphic content and mentions of sexual abuse ahead. Suspect 3, an Eastern Suburbs doctor.
Players - The Family Murders 2020 familymurders.com All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. In August of 1979, Neil was living alone in an apartment on Carrington Street, right in the middle of Adelaide itself. Stogneff's body had been cut into three pieces in a similar fashion to Muir. While searching, they ended up discovering the body of Richard Kelvin, who had been missing for just shy of two months. [6] Von Einem was also one of the last people seen with a fourth victim, Muir, following his abduction. Oh, that reminds me. 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. George, an impressionable young man, was enticed by the offer and accepted. The ongoing investigation featured in an episode of Crime Stoppers which went to air on 2 March 2009. 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. 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. Bob O'Brien was an investigator for Major Crimes, who had just started working with the unit the year prior (1982). The son was fifteen when he was snatched from the street . 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. 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. 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. If you recall, M.E. 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". These people have no such bond, only an association that with time probably no longer exists". 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. He had been sexually assaulted and went on to report this bizarre, terrifying incident to police. 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. 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. That evening, as Mark drove around with his friend Ian and Ian's girlfriend, Paula, an argument broke out. He immediately contacted the police, and when they arrived at the scene, they were able to quickly identify the remains as Peter.
The Family Murders Of Adelaide - True Crime Conversations The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. 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.
The Butchered Boys of Adelaide. Interview with Homicide Detective Bob O Unfortunately, by the time they returned, Mark was nowhere to be found. Neil's penis had been cut, and he was missing a testicle at the time of discovery. 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. Neil Muir's body had been so badly mutilated that he still barely resembled an entire being. 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. It had been reported that Richard was wearing the collar as a joke on the afternoon he went missing, while he was kicking around the soccer ball in the park with his dad and his friend, Boris. One such case is the Family Murders of Adelaide, Australia. At this point, the idea of a random killer hadn't even crossed investigators' minds.
The Family Murders Unresolved Due to the state of the young man's remains, it was believed that Alan had been detained against his will for several days. Mark Andrew Langley, aged 18,[17] murdered in February 1982. He loved music - both playing it and listening to it - and had a good rapport with his friends, whom he hung around constantly. They wanted to continue eliminating suspects that personally knew Alan ahead of time, but promised to check out von Einem in the future. This screening also revealed that the young man had been drugged with Mandrax ("Randy Mandys"), which had resulted in him losing consciousness. 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. Young Blood refers to the age of the victims who were brutally murdered. 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 had been dating for about a month now, and Richard had excitedly told his mother that he planned on proposing when his girlfriend and he were nineteen years old. Dylan John Kovarskis murdered Nathan Russell in 2021 . 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. 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. This ultimately resulted in a victory for Dr. Peter Millhouse's attorneys, earning the man an acquittal and his freedom. 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. Over the next year or so, the case would stagnate. 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. Neil's numerous tattoos had also been cut away from his flesh, and those patches of inked skin had been placed into his chest cavity along with his severed limbs. 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. 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. Peter Leslie Millhouse was a doctor from Mt. Do you think the Family Murders case will ever be solved? 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. 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 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. Unfortunately, Richard Kelvin would never make it home. Only one suspect has been charged and convicted for a crime. [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. They phoned police that evening, hoping that their son's whereabouts could be chalked up to a simple miscommunication. 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. Even though Dr. Peter Millhouse had supposedly known Neil Muir for several years, there was never any proof that the two had a sexual relationship. 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. Although there were in excess of 150 youths and young men who were drugged and raped, often by multiple men, this section focuses on the five young men who didnt come home. However, the medical examiners in Adelaide concluded definitively that Alan had died several hours before this happened. Trevor Peters lived two doors away from one of the transgender suspects and mixed in the same circles as a number of suspects. [citation needed]. They organized a helicopter search of the area, which O'Brien was present for, but unfortunately, the police were unable to find anything definitive. The Kelvins, though upset at the duration of time that had already passed, understood why the process was so delayed but were hopeful that their son would return home to them, safe and sound. 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). In October of 1982 - in the very midst of this crime spree - a teenage hitchhiker named George had been picked up by a passing car. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. Ten years von Einem's junior, Mr B helped von Einem pick up, drug, and rape several young men. Once known as the "City of Churches," Adelaide began going through a stark progression in the 1960s. He had multiple channels to procuring young men.
Unsolved - The Family Murders | Page 148 | BigFooty Forum It was there that they found his backpack hidden in the garage, which ultimately led to calls to all of his friends. 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. Moments later, George lost consciousness, falling prey to the drugs that he had consumed. Hours would begin to pass, and Alan would fail to return home at all that Sunday. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. 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. (What a lovely country, Australia!) View description Share. 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.). 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 post-mortem revealed that Langley had died from a massive loss of blood from gross injuries to his anus, similar to Barnes. Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of four hypnotic drugs,[11][26] including Mandrax and Noctec. This was done in a different method to what had happened to Neil Muir's remains, but medical examiners were able to identify points in the bones just above the knees and the back where a saw had carved the body into pieces. At the same time he was developing a network of people who made it possible for him to carry out his sexually sadistic fantasies. What the two got up to that evening is anyone's guess, but rumors and theories have propagated this story in the decades since. And, with the recent discovery of the chemical cocktail found in Richard Kelvin's system, they had a pretty decent foundation for their investigation. [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. Most were later described as being worthless, but a few piqued the interest of Investigator O'Brien. The Family were not an official group, gang, or organisation. They kicked the footy around.
A Breakdown of a series of murders that took place in Adelaide, South The Family werent an official club or group, rather a loose collection of people with Bevan von Einem at the centre. This website was built on publicly available information contributed by many people who have an interest in this case. The two were hiking through the area near the South Para Reservoir when they noticed something on the ground. He was last seen while hitchhiking being picked up by a white HQ Holden sedan carrying three or four people. Mark had likely hitched a ride with someone, and his friends trusted that he would make it home. 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. The Family Murders is the name given to a series of five sadistic murders committed by a loosely connected group of individuals who came to be known as The Family. Other times he would just pick up a hitch hiker. He was seventeen years old, with a youthful, handsome appearance, and a carefree, fun-loving attitude. And Marshall is no novice at delving into the minds of evil men. Richard walked him down the road to the nearby O'Connell Street bus stop, arriving without incident, and waited there for his friend's bus to arrive. While in rehab, Dr. Millhouse refused to speak to police about Neil Muir (or his alleged relationship with the man). 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.
The Family Murders - Wikipedia However, instead of charging them with any known crimes, the officers proceeded to throw the three men into the nearby Torrens River. Police wouldn't get around to conducting a door-to-door canvas of the neighborhood until Tuesday, two days after Richard had gone missing. Another anonymous caller claimed that they had seen Richard Kelvin in a snuff film, which had been filmed very recently. Make no mistake, Bevan Spencer von Einem is the architect behind all these crimes.
The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders) - Spreaker 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.
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. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 . Trace evidence, including hair and fibres from von Einem's home, was found on Kelvin's body and clothing. 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. His body had been severely mutilated and dumped in the South Para Reservoir, northeast of Adelaide. In particular, they were members of the Vice Squad, who typically crackdown on "moral" crimes such as gambling, narcotics, pornography, and illegal substances. [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. 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. Gambier, a city roughly five hours south of Adelaide. Because homosexuality was still outlawed in Australia at this point, Vice officers would often detain individuals that they believed were loitering nearby known gay hotspots.