But only one recalled seeing where Alan might have gone. Alan Arthur Barnes, aged 16, murdered in 1979. This was as good of a tip as police were going to get, and since the most recent victim of this strange killing spree had been found in the Foothills, police decided to follow through on the tip. 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. Neil Fredrick Muir, aged 25,[12][13] murdered two months after Barnes in August 1979. What the two got up to that evening is anyone's guess, but rumors and theories have propagated this story in the decades since. They organized a helicopter search of the area, which O'Brien was present for, but unfortunately, the police were unable to find anything definitive. 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. Bevan von Einems life revolved around sexual sadism. 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. The bags looked as if they had been dropped from the higher-up wharf, just like the body of Alan Barnes had been. 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. It wasn't until Monday morning that Alan's parents decided to contact the police, having not seen him for several days. The other two men thrown into the river with him managed to escape with their lives, but they did not escape unscathed. They now had five bodies - five victims - and five families pushing for answers. It was this rapport that caused Peter to skip school on Thursday, August 27th, 1981. He was seen in the presence of individuals who would become relevant later on, but - at the time - were simply believed to have been his friends. [16][22] The sedative-hypnotic drug Mandrax, popular in the 1970s disco scene, was found in Langley's blood. The other murders remain unsolved. 's had discovered the chemical compound chloral hydrate in the system of Alan Barnes, who also had an above-average level of alcohol in his system: roughly four times the legal limit, which was unusually high for a teenager. Bevan Spencer von Einem is serving a life sentence for one of those murders. Because Neil's transient lifestyle led to him becoming known as a bit of a vagabond, his sexuality was not exactly common knowledge. He was seventeen years old, with a youthful, handsome appearance, and a carefree, fun-loving attitude. [citation needed]. Just like Neil Muir, whoever had taken him had killed him and dumped his body pretty quickly, within a day or two. In the days to come, police began asking around the area for any sign of Peter Stogneff and discovered that the teen had essentially vanished into thin air. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the case is how did von Einem find accomplices willing to be involved in such crimes? They phoned police that evening, hoping that their son's whereabouts could be chalked up to a simple miscommunication. Suspect 2, a former male prostitute and close friend of von Einem known as Mr B. This ultimately resulted in a victory for Dr. Peter Millhouse's attorneys, earning the man an acquittal and his freedom. 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. 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. 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. [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. Noctec was found in his blood, suggesting he had been drugged. Five murders and over 150 rapes. Unfortunately, by the time they returned, Mark was nowhere to be found. The older man in the driver's seat reached into the backseat and pulled out a beer from a cooler, offering it to George. 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. Police got the number one offender. 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. He had struggled to wean himself off of heroin, using methadone to do so, only to have methadone become his next addiction. Ten years von Einem's junior, Mr B helped von Einem pick up, drug, and rape several young men. 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. 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. Also, like the other victims, Mark's cause-of-death seemed to be nearly identical: blood loss from an anal injury, caused by the forced insertion of an unknown item. Medical examiners and investigators began to theorize about the rationale for the surgical scar, and the most plausible one to-date is perhaps one of the worst to imagine. Millhouse was charged and went to trial but was acquitted. It's important to note that, even though members of the LGBTQ community felt more comfortable to express themselves socially, that did not mean that everyone in the area was necessarily welcoming. So they tried to safely guard the parts of the investigation that they could. At this point, the idea of a random killer hadn't even crossed investigators' minds. Young Blood refers to the age of the victims who were brutally murdered. This section explores his social network. He had a network of over 30 people. A short time later, police were contacted and later arrived at the scene to document the grisly find. Both witnesses - who were friends with Neil and drug users themselves - were prepared to testify should this man be tried for the murder. Dylan John Kovarskis murdered Nathan Russell in 2021 . View description Share. 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. 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). March 3, 2023 - 7:08PM. Homosexuality itself would become decriminalized just a few years later, in 1975, with the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, making South Australia the first Australian state or territory where members of the LGBTQ community no longer had to fear government persecution. 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. Richard Dallas Kelvin, (born 4 December 1967) aged 15,[23] murdered in July 1983. This group was believed to be involved in the kidnapping and sexual abuse of approximately 150 teenage boys and young men, as well as the torture and murder of 5 young men aged between 14 and 25, in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, in the 1970s and 1980s. However, that was very circumstantial evidence at best, and anything but definitive. In August of 1979, Neil was living alone in an apartment on Carrington Street, right in the middle of Adelaide itself. 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. The Family Murders revolved around von Einem. There, George was plied with beers and other alcoholic beverages while the older women flirted with him. On Saturday, June 16th, 1979, Alan spent the night at a friend's house. George Duncan, one of the three men thrown into the Torrens, would drown that evening. Hence, the odd scar that seemed to serve no other purpose. On Saturday, February 27th, 1982, Mark attended a friend's 18th birthday party in Windsor Gardens, a neighborhood in northeastern Adelaide. And, with the recent discovery of the chemical cocktail found in Richard Kelvin's system, they had a pretty decent foundation for their investigation. Australia's most notorious unsolved serial killings. This section explores the people who at this stage are thought to have been on the periphery. One such case is the Family Murders of Adelaide, Australia. The fishermen probed the bags - a mystery just waiting to be unearthed - and quickly discovered that the bags held human remains. 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. This meant doing away with large plots of dried-out farmland in a prescribed burn to prepare for the upcoming spring bloom. 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. Gino Gambardella regularly scouted Rundle Mall and video game arcades for runaways, homeless teenagers, and youths who he was able to exploit. Even though he was nearly an adult at this point - and had a fair amount of independence in his life - this disappearance was deemed very out-of-the-ordinary. His body had been severely mutilated and dumped in the South Para Reservoir, northeast of Adelaide. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 | victim. This has come to be disputed over the years, with some speculating that Alan might have willingly consumed the drug the weekend before his death; or, perhaps, he might have been slipped it by someone at the bars he was rumored to visit with his friends that Saturday. Millhouse would have. It is estimated that over 150 youths and young men were abducted, drugged, and then raped. The skeletal remains of one victim bore marks to reasonably indicate a similar experience and outcome. His body also showed signs of beatings and torture. Among those voices, he described, was a higher-pitched voice, which sounded almost feminine. 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. In addition to the driver, there appeared to be a couple of other occupants inside of the car that they, unfortunately, could not recall many details of. Eventually, Peter returned home with his backpack, stowing it in his family's garage while his parents were at work. 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. The medical examiners conducting the autopsy and examinations also discovered that Alan's body had been washed extensively after his death; likely an effort to scrub away any evidence linking him to the killer. 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. The post-mortem revealed that Langley had died from a massive loss of blood from gross injuries to his anus, similar to Barnes. Global Nav Open Menu . 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. Mark Andrew Langley RICHARD KELVIN Richard Kelvin, aged 15 years, was abducted at about 6.15 p.m. on Sunday 5 June 1983 from a laneway off Ward Street, North Adelaide. 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). The evidence is contained in a detailed diary kept by a man who was a close associate of several key players in the so-called Family murders. 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. 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 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. [20] His mutilated body was found in scrub in the Adelaide foothills nine days after his disappearance. Neil Muir's body had been so badly mutilated that he still barely resembled an entire being. 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. 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. Within hours, Alan's father and grandfather found themselves tagged to identify the remains, which were undoubtedly the remains of their missing 17-year-old. From the outside looking in, von Einem was incredibly average. The head was tied to the torso with rope passed through the mouth and out through the neck. These people have no such bond, only an association that with time probably no longer exists". The next day was a Sunday, they both planned to hitchhike to Alan's home in Salisbury. But now, they needed to find a suspect. South Australia's overdue for another A couple of black trash bags were floating on the low tide of the river's coast. In Adelaides gay community in the 1970s and 1980s, young men were coveted for sex. If you recall, M.E. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. He had multiple channels to procuring young men. 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. 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. 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. 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. Once it became clear that something had happened to Peter, his family launched a frantic search for him, starting in the family's home. 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. A span of 4 years. His head had also been removed from the rest of his body, but was placed in its own separate black trash bag and connected with a rope tie to the rest of the remains. Just east of Adelaide, this area is well-known to Southern Australians, as it serves as a primary destination for the area's outdoorsmen and women. 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. 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. Most were later described as being worthless, but a few piqued the interest of Investigator O'Brien. 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. 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]. 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. We know, from the 2014-2017 Royal Commission, that Debi Marshall's count of 150 disappeared boys in Adelaide is miniscule compared to the number tens of thousands of victims who stepped forward once they were invited by the RC. Investigator Hunter made note of this, finding it odd that one man would have connections to two separate murder investigations - especially two gruesome murders that shared such grisly traits. [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. This was cancelled the night before. 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. This is an analysis of the information provided by Wendy Roles and Greg McInerney in the book The Family Murders: Dissected The Timeline 25 Aug (Sat) Michael B sees band-aid on Neil's leg at the methadone clinic during the day. 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. Listen to "The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders)" on Spreaker. In June of 1983, Richard Kelvin was approaching sixteen years of age. 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. At the same time he was developing a network of people who made it possible for him to carry out his sexually sadistic fantasies. 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. This conflict has endured because Alan's bloodstream also showed signs of alcohol consumption, which Alan had participated in that same weekend. They wanted to continue eliminating suspects that personally knew Alan ahead of time, but promised to check out von Einem in the future. He would literally go on to write the book about this terrifying saga, called "Young Bloods," which - if you're interested - is one of the best resources for this case. This site is constantly being updated as more is learned. This included people that visited the same bars and clubs as Neil and perhaps knew him that way. 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. The area around the scar had even been shaved away, implying that this a methodical decision by someone with surgical experience perhaps someone trying to rectify a mistake. 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. [8] The reward carried an offer of immunity to accomplices, dependent on their level of involvement. Enjoy reading. 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. Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. Murdered victims were kept in captivity by the Family for up to five weeks. Darko's brother dropped them at a bus stop near the corner of on Grand Junction Rd and Addison 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. 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. Sadly, Neil's biggest vice was his ever-evolving drug addiction. [14][24] His body was found on 24 July by a geologist who was searching for moss-covered rocks near a dirt airstrip at Kersbrook. Do you think the Family Murders case will ever be solved? The Family Murders Of Adelaide. [8] Little more could be determined as the remains had been accidentally burnt by the farmer while clearing his property of scrub.[11][19]. But he didn't commit these crimes on his own. 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. 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. The "Family Murders" *Warning: graphic content and mentions of sexual abuse ahead. In the days immediately after Neil Muir's death, Dr. Millhouse had gone on a bit of a self-described "bender." Neil's penis had been cut, and he was missing a testicle at the time of discovery. 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. Bevan Spencer von Einem was jailed for life for the murder of 15-year-old Richard Kelvin. 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 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. Police were called out to the scene, and an extensive search of the area commenced. 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. The periphery of The Family is a grey area. Alan lived with his parents, both English immigrants, in Salisbury: a northern suburb of Adelaide. This horrific sight was quickly reported to police, who arrived at the scene and immediately cordoned off the area around where the fisherman had reportedly discovered the floating trash bags. In the latter half of the 1970s, South Australia had started to regulate drugs like Mandrax, known throughout most of the world as "Quaaludes." 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. 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. He likely did this to hide it from his parents, in case they made it home before he did. Was Dr Millhouse involved in Neil Muirs murder. It wasn't until the following year, 1983, that police finally rediscovered George's story. 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. Investigators were unable to pinpoint Peter's exact cause-of-death, or even estimate when he had been killed. This was about 300 metres from his family home. 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. Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. 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. Police were now back, right where they had started. 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. Millhouse was charged and went to trial but was acquitted. Once known as the "City of Churches," Adelaide began going through a stark progression in the 1960s.

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