And I said I understood and that Id be pleased if he would talk to some of the people who were my staff volunteers.. 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. They panicked and left. von Einem was quite sketchy on his activities after that, however he did remember what he did on 10 July, the day the body was dumped on the airstrip. Shame, South Australia, Shame.. After several attacks, I left the group and went and lived on the streets in another part of town. A segment of his skull floated loose in his cranium. Further down the river, 27-year-old Roger James was walking home from dinner with a friend. For the prosecution, it was a matter of proving von Einem's guilt (along with that of unknown persons) by presenting the strong scientific evidence that had been gathered during the investigation, and disproving von Einem's story of being in contact with Kelvin on the night of 5 June 1983. It was known from the beginning that vice squad officers were the chief suspects in the murder, according to OShea. It was May 2005, exactly three months after Shaine Moores body had been found. Ill give it to you. I remember the kids saying they did it because they were gay and easy prey. He said, You better get going. Police also searched for a man who previously claimed to police during the investigation of the unsolved murder of Alan Barnes in 1979 that von Einem was involved in his death and also that he was a former associate of von Einem. Negre, 37, was the type of bloke who could walk into a pub not knowing anybody and walk out with a dozen new best friends. Attempts were made to link Von Einem to the other murders but the Kelvin murder was the only one that stuck. In some cases, there may be an additional charge for the transportation of the body to and from the autopsy facility. Are you all right?. He was never seen alive again. He loved holidaying with the family, taking his speedboat down to their shack on the Murray. Autopsy Report An accountant by profession, he was convicted in 1984 for the murder of 15-year-old Adelaide teenager Richard Kelvin, the son of local television and radio personality Rob Kelvin. He spits bile at me through the hard mesh screen about the way the judge let the families in the gallery yell out faggot and poofter when he and other witnesses took the stand. He has always maintained he was not cruising the beat that night. On 29 January 2006, the Sunday Mail reported that von Einem was currently being investigated for allegedly raping an inmate several times at Yatala Labour Prison. The pre-trial hearing began on 19 December 1990, in the Supreme Court of South Australia, with Justice Duggan as the presiding judge. The toilets? I used to drink with them every bloody night at the Crown and Sceptre, he says, and eventually one night I said to em, When are you actually going to formally interview me about this? They said, Were not. Two days later, Lewis got up in parliament to say that Handley had been another of his witnesses. They won the court case but lost the fight. There is some good news. It showed Pearce and Meerdink chasing Ruks, tackling him to the ground then kicking and punching him for several minutes. It was like pulling up bloody weeds. I got out to see who this person was and to see what he was doing, maybe strike up an acquaintance.. The medical examiner looks for any signs of disease or injury that may have contributed to the death. 1915. Only one man, however, was convicted for just one of the murders. He told them he was gay and that hed been bashed by a man hed met who wanted to take him home. This blog is about mysteries and true crime. The detective clarified that there had been no aggression from the victim. I dont remember a lot of it, but I went into the bushes with some guy. Didnt talk to the media. He sees the lump on the road is a man, face down, motionless. They were professionals and managers. Then his car got a bump from the back. Faced with irrefutable evidence from prosecutors that Kelvin had been in his company, von Einem suddenly changed his story to answer that evidence and admitted that he had been in contact with Kelvin on the night of 5 June 1983. von Einem said that he was driving along O'Connell Street in North Adelaide looking for a parking spot in order to buy some fish and chips for dinner. Out of Sight: The untold story of Adelaides gay-hate murders I thought if I was going to look for laser lights, I could do it there as well as anywhere else.. But after the pink-shorted Premiers reign ended in 1979, problems resumed, according to Purcell. While looking for a parking spot in a side street, von Einem said that he nearly ran over Kelvin as he jogged in from his side. They used to talk about it in the vice squad every bloody day of the week, says OShea. I assumed that he must have had tyre trouble, he told police, and that he was getting the jack.. He jammed his foot hard onto the brake as they pushed him into the city intersection. Four months after Pitchers attack, Mark Coonie, 34, left Adelaides most prominent gay nightspot, the Mars Bar, saying he was headed for Veale Gardens. The autopsy revealed that Kelvin had most certainly died from massive blood loss from an anal injury, likely caused by the insertion of a blunt object, such as a beer bottle, and he suffered bruising and injuries to his head and back, which were likely to have been caused by blows. He drives past, does a U-turn, drives past again. (Britain had done it in 1967. At the time, a witness gave the police a name they would hear again: Bevan Spencer von Eimen. So like we said, the jury thought that grabbing a bloke by the hair and smashing his face into the floor, kicking him, rummaging through his pockets, grabbing a pair of gloves, pulling his trousers off and stabbing him 25 times was not a way an ordinary person could act. Kevin Williamson, not long out of the army, had a few beers at the Torrens Drill Hall on the parade grounds below Government House, before heading to his car about 10.45pm on May 10, 1972. Autopsy I never saw any stat dec by him. The only lead the cops had was a sighting of three men in a white van whod been hanging around. Before Peter was found, there was a fourth victim. A judge ruled there was no case to answer, but the director of public prosecutions reinstituted the charges. 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. [10] On 13 August 2007, the Seven Network followed this with a story that the man standing next to the Einem lookalike in their archived film matched the police sketch of the suspect seen with the Beaumonts at the beach on the day of their disappearance. Milton Keynes: Fatal police shooting 'necessary', watchdog finds The murders focused attention on the sort of things that went bump and grind in the night, and threw up rumours about a cadre of paedophiles in high places. Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of four hypnotic drugs, including Mandrax and Noctec. The hope was that the pictures might get the chatter going in prison to bring information to the surface. Gay bashing is something that is almost monopolised by teenage boys and young men, Tomsen says. They each received minimum sentences of 16 months. The coroner, often in consultation with a forensic pathologist, will decide if an autopsy is needed. And then whether or not a homosexual advance was sufficient to explain the subsequent extreme violence meted out. A private autopsy by an outside expert can cost between $3,000 and $5,000. Given these facts, on 25 May 1984, Magistrate Nick Manos ordered von Einem to stand trial for the murder of Kelvin. Williams had not only been a great source of knowledge about official corruption relating to the perpetuation of paedophilia hed begun his own anti-child-abuse campaign but hed been a great friend to Utting, too. One night at Veale Gardens, someone yelled out Bashers! and everyone ran. Lewis had wanted something more wide ranging. Negre struck up a conversation with the strangers and hit it off right away. Allow six to eight weeks for the medical examiner to file a complete autopsy report with the coroners office. They found him asleep and snoring on his bed. Ruks died from internal bleeding of the abdomen. In February 1988, the State Coroner at the time in South Australia, Kevin Ahern, ordered an inquest into the deaths of these four young men, and on 24 March 1988, the State Coroner in his findings stated that manner and circumstances in which the four were murdered were very similar to that in the case of Kelvin, particularly the murders of Barnes and Langley. When I asked why police said robbery was the motive for David Saints murder, they answered: The motive for his murder remains unclear with no evidence to suggest that it was robbery.. Karen Carpenter: Directed by Ros Edwards. Autopsy Reports Robert Woodlands body was just starting to decompose, the papers said, after four days in the early summer heat, when it was discovered by a dog walker on December 8, 2004 50 metres from Sir Lewis Cohen Drive, a busy road feeding into the city centre. Von Einem still denied ever coming into contact with Kelvin. Von Einem first came to attention on the night of 10 May 1972 when two gay men were thrown into the River Torrens by a group of men believed to be police officers. Family Murders: Friend of murder victim Richard Kelvin's emotional They were there to find out about these allegations.. They quickly organised banners and rallied outside the attorney-generals office. I seen them scuffling and throw something in the water, he tells me. Why would somebody murder a bloke like that, or any person like that, thats harmless?. Autopsy Reports (Queensland and the Northern Territory have taken this mantle in more recent surveys.). Report Completed: No: Type of Exam: 2307891: Denton: Anthony, Bertha, Bell: 7/11/1937: 85: 4/29/2023: Black: F: Police Department: Police Svc #: Deceased Address: The evidence presented was that they went to the park just to rob someone. She noted that the glove box had been rifled and papers were strewn about the front seat. 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. I ran, but straight into the bashers who beat me senseless. HIs cause of death was the same as Alan and Neils and his blood also had traces of a sedative. The Family Murders Unresolved Police had the right to go in and look. On June 5, 1983, he was abducted a short distance from his house after Its focus is on investigation, crime solving and the victims. It was one man. 15 Details from the In Cold Blood Killers Case Files Theyd never spoken publicly about it before I came along, but Helen wanted it known that there was more to her brother than the guy who got killed cruising in the shadows. [11], On 28 March 2008, the ABC reported that the child pornography found in von Einem's cell had been determined not to have been written by him and that fingerprints did not match. If it hadnt been for Jamess presence, the dead body would probably have surfaced a week or so later and the death would have remained an obscure event - a mystery even more opaque than the one we are left with today. This page was last edited on 1 April 2023, at 21:47. The noose is tightening, Detective Inspector Greg Hutchins, from SA Police Major Crime Investigation Branch, says. von Einem stated he thought Kelvin had bisexual tendencies and said that the two of them then had a conversation about problems Kelvin had been having at school, and Kelvin willingly got into the car and they drove to von Einem's home. On Christmas Eve, 2001, hed been on his way to meet his parents for Midnight Mass when he stopped at a public toilet near Toowoomba, Queensland. When I phoned Woodlands mother, she stated, emphatically, that her son was not gay, that he had never spoken to Lewis and never made the allegations attributed to him. The person behind James suddenly pushed him in the back so that he collided with the approaching group. Sensationally, the three police officers suspected of involvement refused to give evidence on the grounds it might incriminate them. He pulled up at a traffic light and heard their jeers of faggot and poofter. In 2007, his ex-boyfriend, David Richard Fraser, took a plea deal and confessed to having strangled him in an auto-erotic sex game gone wrong. James has only ever given one public interview about the night that was going to change everything for him and for all gay men in the state. Anyone can request an autopsy report. So the investigation into Duncans death came up with nothing. Until the late 70s, the gay-panic defence was not a defence of provocation but of insanity. What have we done? South Australia and Queensland remain the only states where the gay panic defence can still be used. Being gay had got him an honourable discharge from the army which hed wanted. In Victoria, sodomy carried the death penalty until 1949. I wondered why and where these poofters would gather in order to let themselves be bashed by little guys. The bashers had got away with it. He felt his name was forever besmirched by having been in the vice squad at the time, by having his picture in the paper leaving the inquest. Soon after his presumed time of death, someone attempted to use his ATM card to withdraw money near the Mars Bar in Gouger Street. Tom, who described himself as bisexual, told police he wasnt there to hook up, but had gone to see if there was anything on connected with the Festival of Arts. 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 didnt know what it was at the time. This was a time when, according to Ian Purcell, two men living in the same house could be convicted on the basis of an un slept-in bed and an open jar of Vaseline. 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. After a few minutes, he saw four men in suits and waistcoats running along the bank. He denied that they went there to bash gay men. A 2010 study in Queensland showed 23 per cent of LGBTI people had been victims of assault in their lifetime three times the state average. They grabbed him. At approximately 6:15pm on 5 June 1983, von Einem (likely along with other unknown persons) abducted Kelvin near the intersection of Margaret Street & Peppertree Lane, North Adelaide, just 60 metres from Kelvin's home around the corner in Ward Street. But at this point they thought Alans murderer was someone close to him, so they focused on eliminating his acquaintances first. This came across as a strange thing for an innocent person to say. WebPersons reporting a death should provide details regarding the death. Hed left a big party to go to Veale Gardens. The Court of Criminal of Appeal rejected the appeal, saying that the trial was conducted fairly and justly throughout; they did concede that Mr. Justice White should have included the evidence relating to the birthday party. Von Einem is led handcuffed Everyone would see. But he battled away for a decade. This has been a story of justice denied, and there is still a long way to go. It was thought this could be the name of a gay-bashing gang. Most nights he wont pick up. People thought he was one of the suspects. Friends reported Moore missing. Shannon escaped from the childrens home and lived with the paedophile until he was tossed on the street: the novelty wore off for him. A young man in a black T-shirt and jeans was reaching into the boot. Kelvin was murdered by von Einem on or around 10 July 1983 in Adelaide, South Australia after having been abducted, held captive, sexually abused, drugged and tortured for five weeks. Lewis told me that the perpetrators had infiltrated the police service and its administration and evidence was then either corrupted or destroyed. He had no reason to kill Mr Negre. And the older ones tended to be involved more in the gay panic murders, rather than the poofter bashing homicides. I dont have any doubt that that was the reason for him being murdered, he says. About a month after Paul Walker was tragically killed in a fatal car crash, the Los Angeles coroner has released the actors complete autopsy report. It was 1978. Right at the same time, a group of men was coming towards him along the path until, just as they drew level, one of them was thrown in the river. Nothing about the fact that that area of the South Parklands was a well-known beat or that David Saint was in fact homosexual. von Einem also allowed police to take hair and blood samples, as well as carpets and other materials for testing. Death investigations Woodlands dark-blue Commodore was parked in the Veale Gardens car park at the Adelaide Pavilion restaurant, while the 36-year-old's corpse was found 700 metres away at the far end of the beat, and off to the left in long grass. But after fabrics and hairs found in Richards clothes matched with some found at Von Eimens house, he changed his story and said that the day he went missing hed met the teenager on the street and that hed gone willingly to his house, where they had talked for about two hours before he dropped him close to a hospital with money for a taxi. His account of events didnt entirely gel with Robinsons but it was close enough. Utting blamed herself. von Einem pleaded not guilty to both murders, and his defence counsel (now consisting of barrister Mark Griffin with assistance from Marie Shaw) immediately claimed that it would be an abuse of justice for their client if he was ordered to stand trial given the mass coverage of the murders in the media in the past year. She was heard yelling and swearing at Negre, wondering why hed endanger their relationship to hang out with people he didnt even know. Beat is a peculiarly Australian usage for the places where men cruise for casual sex with other men. What did the guy do that she killed? her housemate asked. Im going to gaol for the rest of my life, arent I, sister girl?. So they set up a similar white van at the beat and asked people to come forward with information, no questions asked. Mark Langley (18, fourth picture) got into a fight with a friend after a party and decided to walk home alone, never to be seen again. Five young men and teenage boys were drugged, sexually abused, tortured and murdered between 1979 and 1983. To answer evidence about how fibres from von Einem's bed came to be on Kelvin's clothes, von Einem stated that the two of them sat on his bed and played with the large harp which he kept in his bedroom. Got a lot of buggeries, he says, like a salesman saying hed closed plenty of deals. When that was on the news my boss said to me, I think its time you left. And I said, Is it because of the court case? And he said, Well thatll be your word against mine, wont it.. Thanks to the phone call, the attackers were caught and tried. Thats the day I lost all faith in the legal system, our whole system of government. Once the physical examination, toxicology, microbiology and chemistry results are completed the report becomes a public record in most states. I say now to the House that there is a stench of the most heinous kind arising from these crimes and associated activities which comes right into this place and into the front bench.. Utting says they told police what they knew but were guarded in what documents they handed over. The prosecution, on the advice of the Attorney-General, then entered a nolle prosequi for the Barnes murder charge. Various police officers who worked on the case testified to their investigation of von Einem since they had first questioned him about the murder, as well as their visit to von Einem's home, where a police officer claimed that von Einem's bedroom appeared to have been cleaned "extensively". I ask how hed remembered the number plate 20 years later. Police also searched for a man who had previously claimed to police during the investigation of the unsolved murder of Alan Barnes in 1979 that von Einem had been involved in his death and also that he was a former associate of von Einem. More interesting. He also addressed the issue of the noisy exhaust on the car heard during the abduction of Kelvin, by stating that the exhaust on his Ford Falcon (which von Einem had sold on 16 July 1983, purportedly to raise money for his overseas trip) was less than two years old and in good condition. When Rex Robinson was doing his first cruise along the strip that summers night in early 1992, another man who well call Tom also cruised in. In cars? You have no place to live. Defence lawyer Sam Abbott said he expected the Director of Public Prosecutions to drop the most serious charge of producing the material and, if not, he would argue there was no case to answer. But in a small-town coincidence, when OShea left more than an hour later, he had pulled up next to them at traffic lights, still in the city. Detective Linda Mildren interviewed Londema next. Lindsay said he could have a bed upstairs. Why would they obscure the fact this was almost certainly a hate crime? She regained consciousness unsure what had happened. As part of the investigation into Robert Woodlands murder, police went looking for another one of the guys whod made the same allegations of paedophilia to Lewis, Shaine Moore. This was a shattering blow for the prosecution's case, and on 21 December 1990, on advice from the Attorney-General of South Australia, prosecutors withdrew the charge for the murder of Langley. OShea didnt report seeing them in the city which would have contradicted their version of events. Out of Sight: The untold story of Adelaides gay-hate murders The disappearance of Steve Williams remains a mystery, as does the bashing death of Robert Woodland in Veale Gardens. But no one that got thrown in ever surfaced for a complaint because they were homosexual.. The body was found placed in the foetal position with his legs bent towards his chest and his head forward with his arms wrapped around his legs. Atlantic Noir Theme created by Style Hatch | Powered by Tumblr. Saint didnt make it. 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. Smacked him to the ground. Dr. Millhouses refusal to cooperate with police and circumstantial evidence found at his home (like trash bags and rope that matched the one found with the body) led him to be arrested and charged with Neils murder. Nevertheless, on the way home they thought it would be a good idea to punch back a few more cones, so they pulled into this little track in the South Parklands, completely unaware, he said, that theyd just driven into Adelaides most thumping beat. That was the actual wording of the charge in those days, was it? I ask. Autopsy 101 And thats one example of how a gay murder becomes not a gay murder. He had arrived from a teaching post in England only six weeks earlier. It is most likely another sad, lonely death in the dark, but maybe, if you allow your mind to run a bit, you can see it entwined in a deep-black criminal conspiracy touching on those stories that many believe about who really run South Australia. He didnt know where he was or how he came to be there. I remembered that it had a burgundy interior. His hatred of the bosses grew as he rose, very slowly, to be a detective in the CIB before he quit in 1981. Jim Blaxland spent eight weeks in hospital after the attack. He was last seen on June 17, 1979, hitchhiking, and witnesses claimed he got in a car that had at least three people inside. Because he was on Death Row, Hickock couldnt go to churchso instead, he participated in Bible Correspondence courses, according to a Special Progress Report from Soon after Handleys death, Utting received a phone call from another of her contacts, the former local chapter president of the Gypsy Jokers, Steve Williams. He was again found guilty of murder on March 30 this year and is appealing the conviction. One of the men, Dr. George Duncan, a British lecturer in law who had arrived in Australia only seven weeks before, was drowned. And I despise those c**ts on the jury and the judge. Four days after Richard Kelvin's body was discovered, von Einem was questioned by the police about the murder. Finally, there was Richard Kelvin (15, last picture), the son of a famous local news presenter. Maybe he dozed off. He often dropped in on Helen for a coffee. Also, most of the men performing these acts were shut tight in the closet. It was only after three months that I could leave my apartment After six months I returned to the beats. He was asked if he kept any other drugs in his possession, and he said no. Shannon did a trade in selling milk and newspapers out of his van to these blokes so theyd have something to take to their wives. Von Einem had prescriptions for them and had already been questioned over the similar deaths of three other young men. 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. His hair was long, straight and black. McGowan did suggest that Williamson changing his story might tend to substantiate charges being preferred, and I submit this report for directions. Loves the thrill of it all. This time the charge was murder and he got a minimum of 22 years. Ten or 15 minutes later, though, he returns. The group kept drinking out at the pergola. Or the car full of yobbos hurling invective. There were three major factors of von Einem's initial questioning that lead police to become increasingly suspicious that they had found their prime suspect: As von Einem went on holiday in the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom during August and September 1983, the case against him began to mount up. They were students. Williamson got a good enough look at the bloke to decide that he was, indeed, larger. Furthermore, the quantity of fibres on Kelvin's clothes was far too large to suggest that Kelvin was in his company for only two hours. Forensic investigators were able to match the many fibres found on Kelvin's clothing to those taken from von Einem's home, along with hairs found which matched those belonging to von Einem. Blaxland sat on the back corner of his car, about three metres from the youth on the two-tone Valiant. - Atlantic Noir Theme All Rights Reserved. The worst was in June 1984. This death had an even greater impact on the team, says researcher Wendy Utting.