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. Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. These were connections that were hard to overlook, as police began to theorize that a single offender (or, rather, a group of offenders) had been behind all of these crimes. 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. Eventually, Peter returned home with his backpack, stowing it in his family's garage while his parents were at work. Part One: The Murders Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked Adelaide. Mark Langley Because Neil's transient lifestyle led to him becoming known as a bit of a vagabond, his sexuality was not exactly common knowledge. 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. 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. 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. 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. He was the son of Channel 9 News host Rob Kelvin, who had just recently taken over the hosting gig after more than a decade of field reporting through the station and a radio affiliate. He had been sexually assaulted and went on to report this bizarre, terrifying incident to police. On Saturday, June 16th, 1979, Alan spent the night at a friend's house. Stogneff's body had been cut into three pieces in a similar fashion to Muir. 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. [4][10], Some authorities do not recognise the term "The Family", stating that "[t]hey should not be given any title that infers legitimacy. 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. The jury visits spot where Richard Kelvin's body was found, northeast of Adelaide. One victim was killed and dumped within 24 hours, another was kept alive for five weeks, and the rest were in between. 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. 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. 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 was a group of homosexual men and transgender women who formed a network around convicted murderer and sexual sadist Bevan Spencer von Einem, based on the drugging, raping and sometimes murder of youths and young men. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 | victim. Following the supposed abduction of Richard Kelvin, the police unit known as Major Crimes was tasked with overseeing the investigation. Several eyewitnesses remembered seeing Alan and his long, blond hair standing along Grand Junction Road that Sunday. Like the other victims, Richard Kelvin's blood and organs were tested for any sign of drugs, with investigators hoping to find a connection to any of the prior victims. 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. [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. [18] His skeletal remains were found in October 1982 later by a local farmer at Middle Beach, 50km north of Adelaide. 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]. 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. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. Some time after they went missing, their bodies would each be found, often horribly mutilated. The two were hiking through the area near the South Para Reservoir when they noticed something on the ground. Noctec was found in his blood, suggesting he had been drugged. After taking the pills, George's memory began to blur. Peter Leslie Millhouse was a doctor from Mt. Police were called out to the scene, and an extensive search of the area commenced. . South Australia's overdue for another It wasn't until the following year, 1983, that police finally rediscovered George's story. Like the other victims, investigators would learn a lot from the status of Mark's remains. For that reason, this crime remains technically unsolved to this day. 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. 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. This reported sighting led police to the notion that a group of people might have been acting in-tandem to abduct Richard, for reasons that appeared nefarious. If you recall, M.E. A farmer that lived nearby Middle Beach and Two Wells, roughly an hour north of Adelaide, had been cleansing his farmland during the advised winter months. 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. This witness recalled Alan getting into a vehicle, which appeared to be a white Holden sedan. He told officers what the two had been up to that weekend: hanging out on Saturday and into Sunday morning, before splitting up. But now, they needed to find a suspect. Unfortunately, by the time they returned, Mark was nowhere to be found. 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. 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. He was seventeen years old, with a youthful, handsome appearance, and a carefree, fun-loving attitude. The Family Murders is the name given to the murders of five young men and boys between 1979 and 1983, with all abducted from the streets of Adelaide before being taken to another location,. A short time later, police were contacted and later arrived at the scene to document the grisly find. 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 . This site is constantly being updated as more is learned. 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. Bevan Spencer von Einem is serving a life sentence for one of those murders. The fishermen probed the bags - a mystery just waiting to be unearthed - and quickly discovered that the bags held human remains. 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. 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. 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 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. The body count had essentially doubled within a couple of months, and police were still unsure whether or not the cases were related. Peter Stogneff, aged 14,[17] murdered in August 1981. Just like Neil Muir, whoever had taken him had killed him and dumped his body pretty quickly, within a day or two. Unfortunately, it did not. While searching, they ended up discovering the body of Richard Kelvin, who had been missing for just shy of two months. Once known as the "City of Churches," Adelaide began going through a stark progression in the 1960s. This was about 300 metres from his family home. 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. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. Millhouse would have Peter intended to skip school and meet his uncle (similar age) in Rundle Mall. 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. 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. 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. Players - The Family Murders Players Five murdered young men, over 150 violent abduction drug-rapes, two people arrested, one person found guilty. 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. [8] Little more could be determined as the remains had been accidentally burnt by the farmer while clearing his property of scrub.[11][19]. George, an impressionable young man, was enticed by the offer and accepted. 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. 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. 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. This caller alleged that the two older men had been driving around a 1963 EJ Holden sedan. 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. Subsequent efforts to reach Alan through his friends had failed, and none of them had seen him since the weekend. In June of 1983, Richard Kelvin was approaching sixteen years of age. 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. Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan, Producers: Maggyjames, Ben Krokum, Roberta Janson, Quil Carter, Peggy Belarde, Laura Hannan, Damion Moore, Amy Hampton, Scott Meesey, Steven Wilson, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Lori Rodriguez, Jessica Yount, Aimee McGregor, Danny Williams, Sue Kirk, Victoria Reid, Sara Moscaritolo, Thomas Ahearn, Marion Welsh, Seth Morgan, Sydney Scotton, Alyssa Lawton, Kelly Jo Hapgood, Patrick Laakso, Meadow Landry, Rebecca Miller, and Tatum Bautista, Original music created by Micheal Whelan through Amper Music, Other music created and composed by Ailsa Traves, Young Bloods: The Story of the Family Murders by Bob OBrien, Crime Stoppers (South Australia) - Alan Arthur Barnes, Crime Stoppers (South Australia) - Neil Fredrick Muir, Crime Stoppers (South Australia) - Peter Stogneff, Crime Stoppers (South Australia) - Mark Andrew Langley, Crime Stoppers (South Australia) - Richard Kelvin, The Sydney Morning Herald - Adelaides Duncan case: letting some light shine in, The Sydney Morning Herald - Boys murderer refused High Court appeal, The Sydney Morning Herald - Macabre Adelaide (1), The Sydney Morning Herald - Macabre Adelaide (2), The Sydney Morning Herald - Murderer quizzed on death of youth, The Age - Men fled as Duncan died, court told, The Sydney Morning Herald - The Beaumonts, Kirste and Joanne: the mystery may be over, The Sydney Morning Herald - Witness feared threats to his life, The Age - Court told rape victim thought he would die, The Sydney Morning Herald - Family killings murder charge dropped, The Age - Lock up your sons in the worlds murder capital, The Weekend Australian - How Mother Goose ducked pedophile net, The Advertiser - Police seek von Einem associate, Perth Now - DNA tests for Family murder suspects, The Advertiser - $5M reward bid to solve Family murders, The Sydney Morning Herald - Reward doubled to solve Family murders, The Telegraph - Australian police reopen notorious 1970s Family murders case, The Sydney Morning Herald - Aussie pedophile deported from Indonesia, The Advertiser - Focus on three key suspects, The Advertiser - Revealed: The double life of a magistrate who sought young men, ABC News - Mother Goose sex trial starts in Adelaide, The Advertiser - Mother Goose claims he was set up by gay ex-prostitutes, The Advertiser - Doctor with alleged links to The Family identified as Stephen George Woodards, The Advertiser - Sex-case doctor Stephen George Woodards free to practise, ABC News - Mother Goose acquitted of sex charges, The Advertiser - Paedophile Peter Liddy fears prison attack, ABC News - Former TV entertainer sentenced for sex offences, The Advertiser - Lost diary gives South Australia police new lead into Alan Barnes murder by The Family, The Daily Mail - Will $13million reward solve the murders of 18 children? He never made it home. 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. 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. 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. 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. There, George was plied with beers and other alcoholic beverages while the older women flirted with him. He was last seen while hitchhiking being picked up by a white HQ Holden sedan carrying three or four people. 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. 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). But, just like the failure to properly drop Alan's body into the water, these bags had failed to make it to their intended location; still resting against the coast, instead of floating out to sea, where they'd have been lost forever. So, they believed that this crime might have been perpetrated by someone that Neil owed money to, who wanted to cover up their tracks afterward. 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. The bags looked as if they had been dropped from the higher-up wharf, just like the body of Alan Barnes had been. He had struggled to wean himself off of heroin, using methadone to do so, only to have methadone become his next addiction. 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. I first heard of the murders in an episode of an Australian television program called . The next day was a Sunday, they both planned to hitchhike to Alan's home in Salisbury. [5][9] The cold case review was completed in November 2010 with no charges being laid against any of the three key suspects. Stogneff still skipped school but never made it home. He failed to make any contact with his family, and police began to express concern that he had gone missing under duress. 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. But only one recalled seeing where Alan might have gone. Most were later described as being worthless, but a few piqued the interest of Investigator O'Brien. 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. Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. 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. Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of four hypnotic drugs,[11][26] including Mandrax and Noctec. It was there that they found his backpack hidden in the garage, which ultimately led to calls to all of his friends. The Family Murders is one of Australias most captivating true crime stories. Description. Our locations section shows where all the events happened and where all the players lived. 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. Once in the car they would be offered a drink that was laced with a knockout drug. Because very little physical evidence had been left behind, it was hard to tell whether or not these crimes belonged to the same spree, or were simply copycats. Neil Muir had suffered the same type of anal injuries as Alan, implying that a large, bottle-shaped object had been used to intentionally injure him, which caused a large amount of blood loss. Trevor Peters lived two doors away from one of the transgender suspects and mixed in the same circles as a number of suspects. The victims were all young men, who had gone missing in or near the northern section of town. There was not much to connect them, other than the graphic sexual nature of the crimes, and months would continue to pass before this story would begin to surface again in the public eye. This meant doing away with large plots of dried-out farmland in a prescribed burn to prepare for the upcoming spring bloom. Sadly, Neil's biggest vice was his ever-evolving drug addiction. Australia's most notorious unsolved serial killings. "The Family murders" occurred in the period of time between the late 1970s and 1980s. Neil had several drug debts throughout Adelaide, and that is where police started their investigation. 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. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. 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. Needing to get away from his friends and clear his head, Mark decided to get out and walk away. Mark had likely hitched a ride with someone, and his friends trusted that he would make it home. 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. Police didn't believe that this voice was Richard, as he was a teenager with a deep voice that had already cracked. The night before he went missing he stayed at Darko Kastelan's house in Cheltenham. Other times he would just pick up a hitch hiker. Listen to "The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders)" on Spreaker. Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. This conflict has endured because Alan's bloodstream also showed signs of alcohol consumption, which Alan had participated in that same weekend. Hours would begin to pass, and Alan would fail to return home at all that Sunday. 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. This argument would carry on for a few minutes, while the trio was parked along War Memorial Drive, overlooking the Torrens River. 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. 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. Moments later, George lost consciousness, falling prey to the drugs that he had consumed. 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 . 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. The son was fifteen when he was snatched from the street . However, Neil's life was far less glamorous; rumors persist to this day that, leading up to August of 1979, Neil was engaging in sex work to support his bad habits and lifestyle. 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. 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. 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. 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). 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. The Family werent an official club or group, rather a loose collection of people with Bevan von Einem at the centre. 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. Gay people (in particular, gay men) began to become more comfortable in their own skin, and no longer had to suppress their sexuality in public. Both witnesses - who were friends with Neil and drug users themselves - were prepared to testify should this man be tried for the murder. 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. Investigators were unable to pinpoint Peter's exact cause-of-death, or even estimate when he had been killed. 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.