Kelvin also had a dog collar around his neck, which may have attracted von Einem's attention. We took our complaints to Minister [John] Klunder and said, This has got to stop or sooner or later somebodys going to get murdered.. That never goes away.. Sadly it was generally unsuccessful. 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, although only one has ever been identified and taken to justice. Everybody thought I was gay but nobody had enough guts to say anything. There were three major factors in von Einem's initial questioning that led police to become increasingly suspicious that they had found their prime suspect: As von Einem went on holiday to the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom during August and September 1983, the case against him began to mount up. On December 3, 2004, former Supreme Court judge Ted Mullighan was appointed to head a commission of inquiry into the abuse of children in state care. This made police suspect that Kelvin had been dumped by a single person, most likely after nightfall in order to avoid detection.[4]. And I guess that goes to the polices understanding of the level of homophobia in the town.. Security footage showed no such grope by Ruks, but it did show that relations soured quickly. Before he shuts the door in my face, he tells me he is going in for surgery next week on the leg that Verco and Londema had broken all those years ago. But his movements would remain unclear. He kept looking at me with a smiling face, Blaxland would recall. This was about 300 metres from his family home. At trial, he argued it wasnt him that stabbed Negre, it was Hutchings. She knew Williams had a lot of dangerous enemies, any one of whom could have taken him out, totally unrelated to her business. Hairs from von Einem were found on and inside Kelvin's clothing and of 925 fibre samples found on Kelvin's clothing, 250 came from von Einem's home environment, with just seven from Kelvin's home. WebAutopsy: The Last Hours of: With Michael Hunter, Eric Meyers, Linda Papadopoulos, Iain Glen. So I think I asked one of them to speak or to turn around or something, and then he said to the police officer, Is that all sir? and I thought, Hang on. I never saw any stat dec by him. Autopsies are surgical procedures that confirm the cause and manner of death. On 11 May 1990, Magistrate Gurry ordered von Einem to stand trial for the two murders of Barnes and Langley. WIthin five weeks of the discovery of Moores body, Lewiss failure to hand over the documents and a video tape (which hed never claimed to possess) to police led to him being forced to resign as Speaker. I'm always open to questions, comments, suggestions or requests. So the backlash began. Little effort was put into concealing Kelvin's body; he was found wearing the same Channel 9 shirt, blue jeans and white Adidas sneakers which he wore on the day of his abduction, together with the dog collar fitted around his neck. Because beats are such secretive places it would be near impossible to survey who is using them. Im not carrying anything.. The toilets? But it didnt take long to figure out that it wasnt about that. Among them were former male prostitutes who had plied their trade down at Veale Gardens and had stories about people in high places. He was doing his job. Mick OShea felt his career was ruined by the Duncan drowning. They were actually unemployed. Kevin Williamson, whod spoken to the attackers, remembered exactly what they looked like but told investigators he couldnt recognise them. You would end up loitering around a toilet block yourself. Forensic pathologists were called to testify about the injuries to Kelvin's head and anus, and the likely cause of his death, and pharmacists gave evidence of the excessive amount of different hypnotic drugs which von Einem had been prescribed (5872 tablets and capsules of six different brands of drugs between 15 December 1978 and 10 August 1983), and showed that von Einem had often had prescriptions for drugs issued from three different chemists on the same day or during the same weeks. The prosecution tried to continue with the charge for the murder of Barnes; however, with the problems associated of getting enough evidence admitted into court from associates about von Einem picking up hitchhikers, the final charge was withdrawn on 1 February 1991. The day he was due to meet with this officer those couple of days is when he disappeared, Utting recalls. It was a great success and it was the memory of that triumph that kept drawing him back. People thought he was one of the suspects. Sensationally, the three police officers suspected of involvement refused to give evidence on the grounds it might incriminate them. David John Saint was an ordinary guy. This death had an even greater impact on the team, says researcher Wendy Utting. Neils dismemberment was highly unusual: his head was separated from his body but tied to his torso with a rope, and his organs had been removed and the killers had placed his lower legs and arms inside his abdominal cavity. The reward for any information leading to an arrest for the murders was increased to $250,000, and this was later increased to $500,000 in September 1989 and then to $1,000,000 in March 2008. By the time he noticed the body, it was already charred, destroying what little evidence could have been gathered except for one detail that linked his murder to Neils: his body had been cut up in pieces with a saw. Soon after his presumed time of death, someone attempted to use his ATM card to withdraw money near the Mars Bar in Gouger Street. I didnt want people laughing and talking., When the police came around the day after his death, they seemed to be on the case, says Helen. 1915. The committal hearing to determine if there was sufficient evidence for von Einem to stand trial for murder began on 20 February 1984. After a few minutes, he saw four men in suits and waistcoats running along the bank. But at this point they thought Alans murderer was someone close to him, so they focused on eliminating his acquaintances first. Even after homosexual acts became legal across Australia between 1975 (South Australia) and 1997 (Tasmania), what went on at beats has remained an act of public indecency. The evidence presented was that they went to the park just to rob someone. On 1 November 2007, the ABC reported that after 24 years behind bars, von Einem was now eligible to apply for parole. And thats how it went when Michael Lindsay, his two sisters, his de facto and a couple of mates came through the doors of the Hallett Cove Tavern around midnight. The ambulance was called. Little evidence was presented for the murder of Langley, as prosecutors felt if they could prove that von Einem had murdered Barnes, then it would naturally follow that he had murdered Langley, as well. In a little ray of light shining through the darkness, though, recent retesting of exhibits has enabled South Australian police to create a DNA profile of a suspect. I assumed that he must have had tyre trouble, he told police, and that he was getting the jack.. This clue led police back to Bevan Spencer von Eimen, who had been prescribed such drug. [At beats] you get people like me and people who are not out. Hell go call the cops.. Its a meeting place for men who want to meet other men. When he refocussed, unsure if hed slept, he noticed a car parked close behind. The purchaser of von Einem's Ford Falcon detailed the condition of the car, and the relative who hosted the birthday party on 10 July stated that von Einem and his mother had arrived there at 5:30pm and left at 10:30pm. It was a talking point, a laughing point, all those things rolled into one., So when they asked John why he hadnt come out to them earlier, hed said, Well everybody carried on so much about Bobby, I couldnt do that to Mum and Dad. No, but like I said, its just its just not on what he did. Once I started looking more closely at Adelaide, it became clear that the epicentre of these murky activities was a pocket of the citys South Parklands called Veale Gardens. According to Lewis and his team, two female social workers had, independently, already come forward claiming knowledge of the same allegation against the same people. The family had a distant cousin Bob, a married man whod become a woman, explains Helen. However, police raids on various locations around Adelaide linked to von Einem and his associates yielded few clues. Perhaps they thought saying that would save the family some anguish. He loved holidaying with the family, taking his speedboat down to their shack on the Murray. She decided to call him to find out where hed got to. Documentary series. Other forensic scientists were called to testify about the hair and fibre samples collected that were linked to von Einem himself and his home. The fact is, though, that Lewis and his team already had a deep distrust of the polices ability to handle the allegations, given what theyd been told by their informants about police cover-ups. He liked the homosexual work the least. It took a couple of days to even identify the victim. Five young men and teenage boys were drugged, sexually abused, tortured and murdered between 1979 and 1983. Some 23 years after Rex Robinson found Jim Blaxland brutally bashed beside his red Mercedes in Veale Gardens, I knock on his door and explain my purpose. I look at the first three letters and I turn them into a word, because if your friend doesnt come back in an hour or two, I can then go to the police and go, Right, he jumped into a red Commodore and these were the first three letters.. And I just never felt comfortable with it.. I was surprised at what she said and suspected that she knew more than she was saying. NSW now has a task force, Operation Parrabell, reviewing 88 deaths including 30 unsolved cases from the 1970s to the early 2000s as potential gay-hate murders, most of which werent treated as such at the time. However, the police then found the bottle of Noctec and von Einem immediately became nervous and told police that he "rarely used those drugs". The documentary series takes a turn to look at Real Crime and reveals the truth behind the controversial deaths of people whose untimely deaths were surrounded by scandal and intense media attention. Two and a half months after Williamss murder, she and Standfield were charged with criminal libel, an extraordinary move that had only ever happened once before in the state. They signal to each other by pumping on their brake pedal in a sort of brakelight Morse code to indicate whether theyre on. His name was Ken Doig., Because he was gay they killed him? Farmed the kids out to friends. Stars. Her colleague, Barry Standfield, thought hed shake things up by sending the letter to the media with all names included. He winces and rubs his now loose-skinned face as he recalls the job that would define him. Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of alcohol and five hypnotic drugs, Mandrax, Noctec, Amytal, Valium and Rohypnol. Finally, the defence called von Einem's mother to testify about her son's activities over the weekend upon which Kelvin was kidnapped. And I said I understood and that Id be pleased if he would talk to some of the people who were my staff volunteers.. Karen Carpenter: Directed by Ros Edwards. It would appear that robbery was part of the picture because his bag and wallet were missing, but the fact that his assailant had wanted to take him home would indicate that he was targeted as a gay man. January 3, 2014. He was murdered by Bevan Spencer von Einem in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1983 after having been kidnapped and tortured for five weeks. With enough evidence, along with the information given by "Mr B", to indicate that Kelvin was at von Einem's home around the time of his death, police arrested and charged von Einem with murder on 3 November 1983. von Einem still denied ever coming into contact with Kelvin. Under South Australian law, a third of the non-parole period could be taken off for good behaviour in prison. They talked about the laser show and the powerful old-model car. Forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd uses He says that the whole drama cost him his job. Now, the reason I said, according to Lewis was that I havent seen anything to substantiate that Robert Woodland even visited Peter Lewiss office, let alone what he said there.