Our locations section shows where all the events happened and where all the players lived. 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. Some were involved in the abduction of victims who were murdered, some were involved in the rape of murdered victims, and some were involved in murder. At this point, the idea of a random killer hadn't even crossed investigators' minds. He had school the next day, dinner was waiting, and he wanted to call his girlfriend. That evening, as Mark drove around with his friend Ian and Ian's girlfriend, Paula, an argument broke out. Mark had likely hitched a ride with someone, and his friends trusted that he would make it home. 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. 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. 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. Following the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1975, Adelaide began to be known as one of the more progressive cities in all of Australia. [20] His mutilated body was found in scrub in the Adelaide foothills nine days after his disappearance. 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. Players - The Family Murders Players Five murdered young men, over 150 violent abduction drug-rapes, two people arrested, one person found guilty. [5][9] The cold case review was completed in November 2010 with no charges being laid against any of the three key suspects. The medical examiners would also find a significant head wound on Neil, which wasn't significant enough to have killed him, but would have likely happened to incapacitate or subdue the man. Referred to as a "Randy Mandy" among the era's deviants, Mandrax was a sedative that had just become popular worldwide with the branding "Quaalude." Later on, Ian would recall the argument cropping up around cigarettes, but that just proves the point of how nonessential it was. 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. He was seventeen years old, with a youthful, handsome appearance, and a carefree, fun-loving attitude. This argument would carry on for a few minutes, while the trio was parked along War Memorial Drive, overlooking the Torrens River. For obvious reasons, he didn't tell his parents, setting out that morning with his backpack and heading off like any other day. The body count had essentially doubled within a couple of months, and police were still unsure whether or not the cases were related. 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. Alan Arthur Barnes, aged 16, murdered in 1979. His body had been severely mutilated and dumped in the South Para Reservoir, northeast of Adelaide. The other murders remain unsolved. 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. But underneath the surface, a monster lingered The Family werent an official club or group, rather a loose collection of people with Bevan von Einem at the centre. March 3, 2023 - 7:08PM. While charges would later be filed against several police officers, they were ultimately acquitted; and it has been widely accepted in the decades since that local law enforcement engaged in a systematic cover-up. [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. 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. 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. He was last seen stumbling down the street, supposedly wandering off to parts unknown. 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. 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. [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. 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. Was Dr Millhouse involved in Neil Muirs murder. [4][10], Some authorities do not recognise the term "The Family", stating that "[t]hey should not be given any title that infers legitimacy. Four of the five murders remain unsolved. This witness recalled Alan getting into a vehicle, which appeared to be a white Holden sedan. 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 story would become historic, in more ways than one. The bodies were found from 24th June 1979 and the fifth and last body on 24th July 1983. During the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. 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. [5] Others, who have examined the cases, however, argue that there were many more victims. Trace evidence, including hair and fibres from von Einem's home, was found on Kelvin's body and clothing. [8] The reward carried an offer of immunity to accomplices, dependent on their level of involvement. He had been killed elsewhere and then transported to this location postmortem, implying that the killer had a base of operations for his or her dark deeds. Investigators were unable to pinpoint Peter's exact cause-of-death, or even estimate when he had been killed. The older man in the driver's seat reached into the backseat and pulled out a beer from a cooler, offering it to George. Unfortunately, this lead ultimately led nowhere, so police began investigating people more tentatively linked to Neil through his social circle. The two were hiking through the area near the South Para Reservoir when they noticed something on the ground. While searching, they ended up discovering the body of Richard Kelvin, who had been missing for just shy of two months. 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. Mark's remains had also clearly been thoroughly washed before being dumped, just like Alan Barnes. Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. Several eyewitnesses remembered seeing Alan and his long, blond hair standing along Grand Junction Road that Sunday. Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. The head was tied to the torso with rope passed through the mouth and out through the neck. Australia's most notorious unsolved serial killings. Police spoke to Alan's friend, who had left him behind on Grand Junction Road. Peter Stogneff was a fourteen-year-old that lived with his family in a middle-class home, in a northeastern suburb of Adelaide. He has spent that Sunday, June the 5th, playing footy, until the afternoon when his best friend Karl came over. 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. 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. With these results, police were able to successfully link Richard's disappearance and death to at least two prior cases: Alan Barnes and Mark Langley, who had been similarly drugged and sexually assaulted before their deaths. 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. Stogneff still skipped school but never made it home. He then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. Do you think the Family Murders case will ever be solved? von Einem is serving life imprisonment. 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. "The Family murders" occurred in the period of time between the late 1970s and 1980s. 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. 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. This meant doing away with large plots of dried-out farmland in a prescribed burn to prepare for the upcoming spring bloom. A span of 4 years. 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 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. On the final weekend of August 1979, Neil was spotted at both the Duke of York and Buckingham Arms ("The Buck"), two local gay bars that I referenced at the top of the episode. The Clermont County Sheriff's Office . According to his family, this was right in-line with Richard's odd sense of humor. Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 | victim. 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. 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. Police were called out to the scene, and an extensive search of the area commenced. 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. Mandrax was quickly gaining notoriety as a drug used in the commission of date-rape crimes, and the local government decided that the best way to combat their usage was to keep them regulated so that they had a record of everyone that was prescribed them. Its always easier to visualise events when you have maps. George, an impressionable young man, was enticed by the offer and accepted. They had no idea that they were about to make one of the most gruesome discoveries in Australian history. Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of four hypnotic drugs,[11][26] including Mandrax and Noctec. When they finally got around to doing this, after the discovery of Richard Kelvin's body, one name popped out at them. But now, they needed to find a suspect. 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. Just two days after the body of Alan Barnes was discovered - when the investigation was still unfolding - an anonymous caller reached out to police. 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"). Needless to say, over the past few months, this investigation had become a new beast entirely. 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. 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. 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. Over the next few days, it became apparent that Alan Barnes was not returning home. 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. No additional leads would surface in that time-span, and police would continue to refrain from stating that the two victims so far - Alan Barnes and Neil Muir - were connected in any way (at least, they wouldn't say so publicly). Five murders and over 150 rapes. Murdered victims were kept in captivity by the Family for up to five weeks. Neil Muir was someone that you could describe as a transient. By the time they managed to look outside, whoever had been outside had already sped off. Police were now back, right where they had started. 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. So they tried to safely guard the parts of the investigation that they could. Unfortunately, that Thursday, Peter never arrived at the mall to meet his friend. [18] His skeletal remains were found in October 1982 later by a local farmer at Middle Beach, 50km north of Adelaide. Alan lived with his parents, both English immigrants, in Salisbury: a northern suburb 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. Once it became clear that something had happened to Peter, his family launched a frantic search for him, starting in the family's home. 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. Gambier, a city roughly five hours south of Adelaide. 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. These people have no such bond, only an association that with time probably no longer exists". It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. 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. Whatever it was, it looked like a human body but was somehow twisted and contorted in an inhuman nature. 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. The victims were all young men, who had gone missing in or near the northern section of town. I first heard of the murders in an episode of an Australian television program called . 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. Likely, he was one of the people seen hanging out with Neil at the bars and clubs just days that weekend. 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. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. 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. 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. 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 'Family murders' involved the killing and torture of five young men from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. Richard was found wearing the same clothing that he had been wearing on the day of his disappearance, but in an unusual twist, was found to be wearing his family dog's collar. 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.).
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