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. While Neil Muir had endured a similar fate, his remains were too badly mutilated to test for any drugs; however, the injuries suffered seemed to be identical. The body count had essentially doubled within a couple of months, and police were still unsure whether or not the cases were related. Stogneff still skipped school but never made it home. But he didn't commit these crimes on his own. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. [16][22] The sedative-hypnotic drug Mandrax, popular in the 1970s disco scene, was found in Langley's blood. 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. 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). Five murders and over 150 rapes. By the time they managed to look outside, whoever had been outside had already sped off. They began probing those that knew Alan and might have taken issue with something he did or said in the weeks before his death; in particular, those that drove a white sedan. Mark had likely hitched a ride with someone, and his friends trusted that he would make it home. Unfortunately, that Thursday, Peter never arrived at the mall to meet his friend. Some showed signs of prolonged captivity, while death came quick to others . 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. This caller alleged that the two older men had been driving around a 1963 EJ Holden sedan. 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 fishermen probed the bags - a mystery just waiting to be unearthed - and quickly discovered that the bags held human remains. Mark's remains had also clearly been thoroughly washed before being dumped, just like Alan Barnes. 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. Regardless, this information was incredibly helpful to police, who began to expand their interests to finding people in the area that drove similar vehicles. How did he manipulate large numbers of people to get involved to various degrees even if that involvement was merely remaining silent? Sadly, this dark and tragic saga was just beginning. 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. 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. Police didn't believe that this voice was Richard, as he was a teenager with a deep voice that had already cracked. 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. But other than that, this friend had nothing new to offer police: he hadn't seen or heard from Alan since the two went their separate ways. [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. Five young men who were drugged, viciously raped and tortured, kept captive for up to five weeks, horrifically mutilated, and ultimately murdered. Peter Stogneff, aged 14,[17] murdered in August 1981. 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. He had become so messed up on drugs and alcohol that a bouncer had to physically drag him outside of a bar, where he stumbled onto the pavement and struggled to get up. Millhouse would have Peter intended to skip school and meet his uncle (similar age) in Rundle Mall. He is 50 metres from his beautiful family home. It was this rapport that caused Peter to skip school on Thursday, August 27th, 1981. 1979: The Family (1 year) 1999: Snowtown murders discovered (20 years) As of 2021, this is the longest Adelaide has gone without a crime that has made national or international headlines as either a weird case (Somerton Man), child kidnapping or brutal serial killings since WWII. He had struggled to wean himself off of heroin, using methadone to do so, only to have methadone become his next addiction. [citation needed]. As the 1970s entered their homestretch, Alan was beginning to enter the phase of his life where he experimented with drug and alcohol usage. 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. 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. 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. Subsequent efforts to reach Alan through his friends had failed, and none of them had seen him since the weekend. They had no idea that they were about to make one of the most gruesome discoveries in Australian history. A day or two prior, at least. Our locations section shows where all the events happened and where all the players lived. 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. 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. 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. The post-mortem revealed that Langley had died from a massive loss of blood from gross injuries to his anus, similar to Barnes. [15] A post-mortem examination revealed that Muir had died of massive blood loss from an anal injury, likely caused by the insertion of a large blunt object[16] and Noctec was found in his blood. Police believe that up to 12 people, several of them high-profile Australians, were involved in the kidnappings. Unfortunately, Richard Kelvin would never make it 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. It was the body of Neil Muir or, rather, what remained of him. He had school the next day, dinner was waiting, and he wanted to call his girlfriend. Stogneff's body had been cut into three pieces in a similar fashion to Muir. They wanted to continue eliminating suspects that personally knew Alan ahead of time, but promised to check out von Einem in the future. 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. When using other people (sometimes transgenders, sometimes cross-dressers, and sometimes Mr B), a common ploy was to ask a lone youth if he want to go to a party where there was plenty of booze and women. 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. 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. Trace evidence, including hair and fibres from von Einem's home, was found on Kelvin's body and clothing. Was Dr Millhouse involved in Neil Muirs murder. SA convicted murderer Bevan Spencer Von Einem during the jury's tour of North Adelaide dumping spot of Richard Kelvin's body. Major Crimes was primarily responsible for serial killings, mass killings, and any other high-profile crimes that the local government wanted to be handled by a specialized task force. 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). The victims were all young men, who had gone missing in or near the northern section of town. An ear witness said they heard some shouting, 2020 familymurders.com All Rights Reserved. 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. Neil Muir was someone that you could describe as a transient. 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"). The 'Family murders' involved the killing and torture of five young men from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. 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. 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. 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. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 . 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). Five murders and over 150 rapes. 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. Some of the victims were brutally tortured, or horrifically mutilated or cut up. An examination of Richard's body discovered that his cause-of-death was virtually identical to the other young male victims: blood loss caused by extensive anal injuries. 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. Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of four hypnotic drugs,[11][26] including Mandrax and Noctec. Peter Stogneff. The following morning, however, is a different story. Bevan von Einem was no exception he also preferred youths between the 15 and 19 year old age group. They admitted that he'd faced some issues with other kids at his school, but he was otherwise happy and had just gotten a serious girlfriend. Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. 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. 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. Five young men were mysteriously abducted in different . Because Mark had been killed and his body been dumped in the Australian summer months, his remains had already suffered some serious decomposition by the time police were called to the scene. It shows the facts and most likely scenarios, but is fluid so when new information comes to light changes can easily be made. The night before he went missing he stayed at Darko Kastelan's house in Cheltenham. Although each attack and mutilation appeared different, police investigators soon began to link the horrific murders to one another. 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. This section explores the people who at this stage are thought to have been on the periphery. These people have no such bond, only an association that with time probably no longer exists". 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. 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. 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. If you recall, M.E. 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. 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. 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. 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. The ongoing investigation featured in an episode of Crime Stoppers which went to air on 2 March 2009. It wasn't until the next day, Sunday (February 28th), that Mark's parents began to grow concerned. From the outside looking in, von Einem was incredibly average. 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. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. Whatever it was, it looked like a human body but was somehow twisted and contorted in an inhuman nature. Meanwhile, the mutilation of Neil Muir's body seemed to be identical to that perpetrated upon Peter Stogneff's remains, whose limbs had been similarly severed with a saw-like device. Only one suspect has been charged and convicted for a crime. 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). He likely did this to hide it from his parents, in case they made it home before he did. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS. Police wouldn't get around to conducting a door-to-door canvas of the neighborhood until Tuesday, two days after Richard had gone missing. He is 50 metres from his beautiful family home. Make no mistake, Bevan Spencer von Einem is the architect behind all these crimes. The "Family Murders" *Warning: graphic content and mentions of sexual abuse ahead. 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 . 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. What the two got up to that evening is anyone's guess, but rumors and theories have propagated this story in the decades since. On this night, in particular, that included these three men. South Australia's overdue for another This witness recalled Alan getting into a vehicle, which appeared to be a white Holden sedan. Police were now back, right where they had started. For that reason, this crime remains technically unsolved to this day. 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. 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. (What a lovely country, Australia!) 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. 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. After all, three of the victims (Alan Barnes, Neil Muir, and Mark Langley) had all died of similar injuries, and at least three (Alan Barnes, Mark Langley, and now Richard Kelvin) had all gone missing on Sundays. 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. A couple of black trash bags were floating on the low tide of the river's coast. 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. It was speculated that a foreign object had caused the internal perforations, leading to the belief that the killer had been a sexual sadist whose only intent was to cause physical pain. [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. He loved music - both playing it and listening to it - and had a good rapport with his friends, whom he hung around constantly. The Family Murders revolved around von Einem. 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. 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. Unfortunately, this lead ultimately led nowhere, so police began investigating people more tentatively linked to Neil through his social circle. The skeletal remains of one victim bore marks to reasonably indicate a similar experience and outcome. 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. The bags looked as if they had been dropped from the higher-up wharf, just like the body of Alan Barnes had been. 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 . His friend likely just assumed that Peter had bailed on their plan, and likely gone to school that day. Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked 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]. Richard Dallas Kelvin, (born 4 December 1967) aged 15,[23] murdered in July 1983. 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. In a word, no. 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. 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 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. Among those voices, he described, was a higher-pitched voice, which sounded almost feminine. Like the other victims, investigators would learn a lot from the status of Mark's remains. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. 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. When they finally got around to doing this, after the discovery of Richard Kelvin's body, one name popped out at them. 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. 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. George, an impressionable young man, was enticed by the offer and accepted. In June of 1983, Richard Kelvin was approaching sixteen years of age. He found like minded people who shared a similar sexual bent, and he found people he could mutually exploit to lure victims into his car. 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. 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. 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. Alan Arthur Barnes, aged 16, murdered in 1979. Because Neil's transient lifestyle led to him becoming known as a bit of a vagabond, his sexuality was not exactly common knowledge. Rumours of high-society involvement and cover-ups. He has spent that Sunday, June the 5th, playing footy, until the afternoon when his best friend Karl came over. Later on, Ian would recall the argument cropping up around cigarettes, but that just proves the point of how nonessential it was. When police had arrived at the crime scene, they assumed that whoever had tried to dump the body of Alan Barnes had failed, in some way. The jury visits spot where Richard Kelvin's body was found, northeast of Adelaide. Both witnesses - who were friends with Neil and drug users themselves - were prepared to testify should this man be tried for the murder. Now twenty-five years old, Neil had spent the better part of the last few years struggling with addictions and vices that left him moving from place-to-place pretty regularly. While the men in the river struggled to make it back to the shore, the group that had thrown them into the water made their escape before camera crews or onlookers could begin to gather. '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. 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. After taking the pills, George's memory began to blur. That was believed to have been Neil's cause-of-death, same as Alan Barnes. The Family Murders is one of Australias most captivating true crime stories. 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.