Mark Langley 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). That was when similar stories of young men being drugged and sexually assaulted began to make waves throughout Australia; young men that had been drugged with similar substances. The Family Murders Of Adelaide - True Crime Conversations According to his family, this was right in-line with Richard's odd sense of humor. It is estimated that over 150 youths and young men were abducted, drugged, and then raped. 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. 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. A thrash metal band singer and members of his family were killed in an apparent murder-suicide late last month, according to police. Police believe that up to 12 people, several of them high-profile Australians, were involved in the kidnappings. 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. This included people that visited the same bars and clubs as Neil and perhaps knew him that way. 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. The Family Murders is the name given to a series of five sadistic murders committed by a loosely connected group of individuals who came to be known as The Family. Over the next few days, it became apparent that Alan Barnes was not returning home. Police were called out to the scene, and an extensive search of the area commenced. Some of the victims were brutally tortured, or horrifically mutilated or cut up. Dylan John Kovarskis sentenced to 20 years' jail for murder of Adelaide Over time Trevor kept diary records of his conversations with that suspect as well as another suspect. 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. The "Family Murders" *Warning: graphic content and mentions of sexual abuse ahead. This was about 300 metres from his family home. 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. Alan's body had fallen to the dirt below, twisting and contorting in such a way that - should he have been alive - would have surely resulted in death or serious injury. Do you think the Family Murders case will ever be solved? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. That Monday - August 27th, 1979 - Neil Muir was seen alive for the last time. At the same time he was developing a network of people who made it possible for him to carry out his sexually sadistic fantasies. Neil Muir was someone that you could describe as a transient. It was the body of Neil Muir or, rather, what remained of him. 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 Family were not an official group, gang, or organisation. The jury visits spot where Richard Kelvin's body was found, northeast of Adelaide. 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. The bodies were found from 24th June 1979 and the fifth and last body on 24th July 1983. Another anonymous caller claimed that they had seen Richard Kelvin in a snuff film, which had been filmed very recently. Unfortunately, as the farmer's land burned, so did the remains of the missing teenager. 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. Millhouse was charged and went to trial but was acquitted. Alan lived with his parents, both English immigrants, in Salisbury: a northern suburb of Adelaide. 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. Wife 'kills family in murder-suicide' - news.com.au 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. They phoned police that evening, hoping that their son's whereabouts could be chalked up to a simple miscommunication. 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. This witness recalled Alan getting into a vehicle, which appeared to be a white Holden sedan. They now had five bodies - five victims - and five families pushing for answers. 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. Only one suspect has been charged and convicted for a crime. He never made it home. [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. The skeletal remains of one victim bore marks to reasonably indicate a similar experience and outcome. He likely did this to hide it from his parents, in case they made it home before he did. 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." 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. Mr B - The Family Murders He was seventeen years old, with a youthful, handsome appearance, and a carefree, fun-loving attitude. 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. A couple of black trash bags were floating on the low tide of the river's coast. This site is constantly being updated as more is learned. The 'Family murders' involved the killing and torture of five young men from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. I first heard of the murders in an episode of an Australian television program called . Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. 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. Alan Barnes was a teenager growing up in this environment, who seemed to live on the bubble between childhood and adulthood in the winter of 1979. 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. 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. 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). Case 166: The Family - Casefile: True Crime Podcast The Family Murders is one of Australia's most captivating true crime stories. 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. His remains had been dissected and neatly cut into many pieces, placed in a garbage bag and thrown into the Port River at Port Adelaide. 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. 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. It shows the facts and most likely scenarios, but is fluid so when new information comes to light changes can easily be made. 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. He had a network of over 30 people. 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. 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). Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of four hypnotic drugs,[11][26] including Mandrax and Noctec. This was commonly found in the drug Noctec, which was an over-the-counter pharmaceutical used to aid people with sleep problems, which had been given to Alan sometime before his death. The ongoing investigation featured in an episode of Crime Stoppers which went to air on 2 March 2009. The following morning, however, is a different story. The Family murders: Bevan Spencer von Einem's shocking jailhouse This witness would also recall hearing this supposed argument on the street come to a sudden end, punctuated with the sound of a loud exhaust system as a car sped down the street. It is confirmed that 5 of these victims were murdered, usually by having an object forced so far up their anus that it split the lining and they bled out. 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 Family Murders in South Australia : r/UnresolvedMysteries When they finally got around to doing this, after the discovery of Richard Kelvin's body, one name popped out at them. During the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. Neil Muir's body had been so badly mutilated that he still barely resembled an entire being. Father of boat crash victim Mallory Beach snubs Alex Murdaugh's family 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. Trevor Peters lived two doors away from one of the transgender suspects and mixed in the same circles as a number of suspects. But underneath the surface, a monster lingered Ian and Paula, Mark's friends, drove away but would return just minutes later, cooler heads having prevailed. 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. Police didn't believe that this voice was Richard, as he was a teenager with a deep voice that had already cracked. If you recall, M.E. 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. 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. It was this rapport that caused Peter to skip school on Thursday, August 27th, 1981. [14] The hair around the area had been shaved as it would have been in an operation in a hospital. His body also showed signs of beatings and torture. Just a few months later, in June of 1982, the family of missing 14-year-old Peter Stogneff would finally get some resolution. Neil's penis had been cut, and he was missing a testicle at the time of discovery. 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. And Marshall is no novice at delving into the minds of evil men. Case 166: The Family : r/Casefile - reddit "CIA: Crime Investigation Australia" The Butchered Boys (TV - IMDb [4][5] In 1989, von Einem was charged with the murders of two other victims, Barnes and Langley, but the prosecution entered a nolle prosequi (voluntarily discontinue criminal charges) during the trial when crucial similar fact evidence was deemed inadmissible by the presiding judge. He then moved away from Adelaide and the murders continued. Like the other victims, investigators would learn a lot from the status of Mark's remains. Neil Fredrick Muir, aged 25,[12][13] murdered two months after Barnes in August 1979. True Crime Conversations: The Family Murders Of Adelaide on - Apple This case includes mysterious attacks, brutal murders, and a dark conspiracy surrounding a secret group of elites that preyed on the young in the city. Sadly, Neil's biggest vice was his ever-evolving drug addiction. Rather than have to read the whole site, or miss updates in the case because you dont know they exist, this section will show time-stamped updates so you can keep up to date with developments. The other murders remain unsolved. 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). The Clermont County Sheriff's Office . 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. The final two - Mark Langley and Richard Kelvin - had disappeared just blocks away from one another. 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. Following the supposed abduction of Richard Kelvin, the police unit known as Major Crimes was tasked with overseeing the investigation. However, that was very circumstantial evidence at best, and anything but definitive. Unsolved - The Family Murders | Page 148 | BigFooty Forum The Family Murders (Part Two: The Family) Unresolved From the outside looking in, von Einem was incredibly average. Although each attack and mutilation appeared different, police investigators soon began to link the horrific murders to one another. 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. Whatever it was, it looked like a human body but was somehow twisted and contorted in an inhuman nature. 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. Lock up your sons in the world's murder capital 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). Listen to "The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders)" on Spreaker. Through these connections, police were able to link all of these crimes together. He had struggled to wean himself off of heroin, using methadone to do so, only to have methadone become his next addiction. The Adelaide Festival of Arts (also known as just Adelaide Festival) started in 1960 and led to something of a "cultural revival" in the area. Peter Stogneff. The victims were found in random locations throughout the state, their bodies neatly cut into pieces. Alan and his friend bid adieu to one another, with his friend assured that Alan would be okay; Grand Junction Road was always busy and teeming with life, and it wasn't like he was leaving Alan in the middle of the night. Over a span of several years starting in 1979 and into the 80s five young men, aged from 14 to 25, went missing in different areas of Adelaide. 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. Moments later, George lost consciousness, falling prey to the drugs that he had consumed. This screening also revealed that the young man had been drugged with Mandrax ("Randy Mandys"), which had resulted in him losing consciousness. This story would become historic, in more ways than one. 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. [3], Von Einem was convicted in 1984 of the murder of Kelvin and sentenced to life imprisonment. 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. It's 1983, and a 15-year-old boy named Richard Kelvin is in a laneway in North Adelaide. 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. 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. After doing away with his old, dried-up crops, the farmer was looking over his land when he came upon the now-charred remains of young Peter Stogneff. For obvious reasons, he didn't tell his parents, setting out that morning with his backpack and heading off like any other day. 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 . They had no idea that they were about to make one of the most gruesome discoveries in Australian history. George, an impressionable young man, was enticed by the offer and accepted. 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. The Family Murders - Wikipedia The death of George Duncan would serve as a catalyst, eventually martyring Duncan himself and leading to repeals of South Australia's harsh anti-homosexuality laws. 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. 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. Peter Stogneff, aged 14,[17] murdered in August 1981. Rumours of high-society involvement and cover-ups. The Family Murders of Adelaide Australia : r/UnresolvedMysteries - reddit 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 victims were all young men, who had gone missing in or near the northern section of town. by enjin | Feb 12, 2021 | victim. . Just like Neil Muir, whoever had taken him had killed him and dumped his body pretty quickly, within a day or two. The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia. Players - The Family Murders Players Five murdered young men, over 150 violent abduction drug-rapes, two people arrested, one person found guilty. 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. 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. Over the next year or so, the case would stagnate. In the days immediately after Neil Muir's death, Dr. Millhouse had gone on a bit of a self-described "bender." Global Nav Open Menu . He loved music - both playing it and listening to it - and had a good rapport with his friends, whom he hung around constantly. Peter Leslie Millhouse was a doctor from Mt. Richard Dallas Kelvin, (born 4 December 1967) aged 15,[23] murdered in July 1983. Family Murders Are Adelaide's Most Horrific Unsolved Crime - PEDESTRIAN.TV Unfortunately, it did not. For that reason, many of these men and women had to keep their sexuality confined to specific locations. Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. Police first treated Richard as a runaway; an unfortunate symptom of the times. 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 a bit, Rob decided to walk home, leaving the two boys at the park; assured that it was just down the street from their house and it was still early in the day. Enjoy reading. 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. 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). In August of 1979, Neil was living alone in an apartment on Carrington Street, right in the middle of Adelaide itself. The Family Murders revolved around von Einem. This conflict has endured because Alan's bloodstream also showed signs of alcohol consumption, which Alan had participated in that same weekend. The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders) - Spreaker 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. Both witnesses - who were friends with Neil and drug users themselves - were prepared to testify should this man be tried for the murder. 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 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. Part One: The Murders Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked Adelaide. Police thought that these gruesome and violent actions had been part of an effort to easily transport Neil's remains out to sea, and dispose of them in a way that they'd degrade before being identified. So the police began reaching out to people that worked or had otherwise been in the area. They wanted to continue eliminating suspects that personally knew Alan ahead of time, but promised to check out von Einem in the future. Mark Andrew Langley, aged 18,[17] murdered in February 1982. Five young men were mysteriously abducted in different . So they tried to safely guard the parts of the investigation that they could. 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". 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. The victims were all young men, who had gone missing in or near the northern section of town. Richard's family disputed this, vigorously denying the notion that Richard would have run away of his own accord. Mr B made contact with police two days after Alan Barnes was found. This caller alleged that the two older men had been driving around a 1963 EJ Holden sedan. Police believe this murder is associated with other high profile murders commonly referred to in the media as the 'Family Murders'. He had school the next day, dinner was waiting, and he wanted to call his girlfriend. 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. In June of 1983, Richard Kelvin was approaching sixteen years of age. He was also found to be wearing clothing that did not belong to him, and his original clothing was missing entirely. [20] His mutilated body was found in scrub in the Adelaide foothills nine days after his disappearance. [16][22] The sedative-hypnotic drug Mandrax, popular in the 1970s disco scene, was found in Langley's blood. 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. Police wouldn't get around to conducting a door-to-door canvas of the neighborhood until Tuesday, two days after Richard had gone missing. 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. I think we might get closer to understanding what happened but I think lack of physical evidence pretty much rules out any more charges being laid. In the days after Neil Muir's body was discovered in separate black trash bags, police had received two separate phone calls alerting them to the victim's relationship with a local doctor. However, when Neil Muir's body was discovered, his internal organs had been removed and were gone entirely, leading to police being unable to test his blood levels. Likely, he was one of the people seen hanging out with Neil at the bars and clubs just days that weekend. [5] Others, who have examined the cases, however, argue that there were many more victims. 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. If your information is verified and its not breaking any laws, we may publish it. Dylan John Kovarskis murdered Nathan Russell in 2021 . 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.
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