His body also showed signs of beatings and torture. [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. Hence, the odd scar that seemed to serve no other purpose. George, an impressionable young man, was enticed by the offer and accepted. The first of which was a very specific call alleging that two men - named Doug and Mark - were responsible for abducting Richard Kelvin. When a warrant was eventually served on Dr. Millhouse's cottage in northern Adelaide, police found the same type of trash bags and rope that had been found with Neil Muir's remains. This story would become historic, in more ways than one. Most were later described as being worthless, but a few piqued the interest of Investigator O'Brien. Peter Stogneff. victim - The Family Murders After taking the pills, George's memory began to blur. One victim was killed and dumped within 24 hours, another was kept alive for five weeks, and the rest were in between. 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. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. Regardless, this information was incredibly helpful to police, who began to expand their interests to finding people in the area that drove similar vehicles. 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. He had school the next day, dinner was waiting, and he wanted to call his girlfriend. Darko's brother dropped them at a bus stop near the corner of on Grand Junction Rd and Addison. 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. This website was built on publicly available information contributed by many people who have an interest in this case. Bevan von Einem had a network of around 25-30 people. 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). While in rehab, Dr. Millhouse refused to speak to police about Neil Muir (or his alleged relationship with the man). It wasn't until Monday morning that Alan's parents decided to contact the police, having not seen him for several days. 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. They organized a helicopter search of the area, which O'Brien was present for, but unfortunately, the police were unable to find anything definitive. Lost diary gives South Australia police new lead into Alan Barnes Like the other victims, investigators would learn a lot from the status of Mark's remains. What the two got up to that evening is anyone's guess, but rumors and theories have propagated this story in the decades since. The Family Murders - Wikipedia Case 166: The Family - Casefile: True Crime Podcast But only one recalled seeing where Alan might have gone. 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. 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. Following the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1975, Adelaide began to be known as one of the more progressive cities in all of Australia. This caller alleged that the two older men had been driving around a 1963 EJ Holden sedan. Bevan Spencer von Einem is serving a life sentence for one of those murders. Wife 'kills family in murder-suicide' - news.com.au Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. 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. 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. He was seventeen years old, with a youthful, handsome appearance, and a carefree, fun-loving attitude. So the police began reaching out to people that worked or had otherwise been in the area. [3], Von Einem was convicted in 1984 of the murder of Kelvin and sentenced to life imprisonment. 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. It was the body of Neil Muir or, rather, what remained of him. Bevan Spencer von Einem was jailed for life for the murder of 15-year-old Richard Kelvin. Following the supposed abduction of Richard Kelvin, the police unit known as Major Crimes was tasked with overseeing the investigation. 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. Interview with a monster: The City of Corpses murders - news It was there that they found his backpack hidden in the garage, which ultimately led to calls to all of his friends. But his teachers recalled him being absent, and hours would pass that afternoon (heading into the evening) and Peter would fail to return home. 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. He is 50 metres from his beautiful family home. A span of 4 years. Because this murder seemed like the type of crime beset by emotional issues - or likely someone with an ax to grind against Alan, personally - police initially began investigating this as a personal crime. 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. In the latter half of the 1970s, South Australia had started to regulate drugs like Mandrax, known throughout most of the world as "Quaaludes." A day or two prior, at least. He had a network of over 30 people. Unlike the other murder victims, however, Mark's body showed an odd sign of surgical precision. The other murders remain unsolved. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. For obvious reasons, he didn't tell his parents, setting out that morning with his backpack and heading off like any other day. See what they say here. Gino Gambardella regularly scouted Rundle Mall and video game arcades for runaways, homeless teenagers, and youths who he was able to exploit. 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 Butchered Boys of Adelaide. Interview with Homicide Detective Bob O The periphery of The Family is a grey area. 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. While searching, they ended up discovering the body of Richard Kelvin, who had been missing for just shy of two months. Lock up your sons in the world's murder capital 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. Description. According to his family, this was right in-line with Richard's odd sense of humor. 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. Bevan Spencer von Einem - Wikipedia Listen to "The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders)" on Spreaker. Australian police launch appeal to solve string of notorious killings stretching back to 1966, The Advertiser - Doctor found not guilty of Family murder of Neil Muir dies in NSW, Kimberly Riley & Jeremy Britt-Bayinthavong, Paul Skiba, Sarah Skiba, and Lorenzo Chivers, June & Jennifer Gibbons (The Silent Twins). 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"). Richard's family disputed this, vigorously denying the notion that Richard would have run away of his own accord. They wanted to continue eliminating suspects that personally knew Alan ahead of time, but promised to check out von Einem in the future. 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. 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. Boris left on a bus, and Richard started making his way back home a trip that was no more than four-hundred meters. 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. 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. This meant doing away with large plots of dried-out farmland in a prescribed burn to prepare for the upcoming spring bloom. Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. If that was true, then could that have been happening to the other young male victims that had been viciously murdered in the preceding years?