The Family murders: Lewis Turtur breaks silence on Von Einem sex abuse ring

For the first time, a name linked to The Family, the vile ring of SA men behind the notorious sex murders of five teenagers decades ago, can be revealed — as murderer and rapist Bevan von Einem breaks his 20-year silence to blame his victim.

• How I confronted a decaying monster in his jailhouse lair

An acquaintance of convicted killer Bevan Spencer von Einem has broken his public silence over his links to the notorious Family ringleader after a longstanding secrecy order protecting his identity was lifted.

Thirty-year-old suppression orders on the names of some of von Einem’s acquaintances — including a prominent gay community leader and drag queens — have been overturned by the Adelaide Magistrates Court.

The Sunday Mail can reveal one of the men who can now be identified is 66-year-old Sydney gay community identity Lewis Turtur, the estranged brother of Olympic gold medallist cyclist and outgoing Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur.

Lewis Turtur has detailed his connection to convicted killer Bevan Spencer von Einem. Picture: Tim Hunter.

It comes as von Einem, 73, also broke his long-held public silence in two prison interviews.

Lewis Turtur said he had been cleared of any suspicions of involvement in The Family, including luring young hitchhikers.

But he confirmed he had sexual relations with von Einem a few times and would allow his acquaintance to visit his house “half a dozen times” with drugged-up boys for sex involving several men “to take turns”.

“I know some of the boys did come over there,” he said, breaking his public silence on the case.

“He’d (von Einem) bring boys over there to our places … but they left alive in the morning, OK?

“But those … that half-a-dozen were pristine the next morning, OK? Woke up the next morning and left … went home.”

Bevan Spencer von Einem in 1983.

And 24 years later in 2007.

When asked why he would allow drugged boys into his home for sex, he replied “because I was a stupid fool, wasn’t I?”

Turtur said he never faced any charges related to von Einem but had faced two gross indecency charges in Adelaide several years earlier.

The Family was the name given to a close-knit group of men believed to be involved in the luring, sexual abuse and, at times, torture of young men and teenage boys in and around Adelaide from the 1970s to the mid-’80s.

Von Einem made national headlines when he was sentenced to life for the 1983 murder of Richard Kelvin, 15, the son of TV news presenter Rob Kelvin.

Turtur believed most of the teenagers were 17 or 18 but conceded they were drugged and no one really knew.

He also confessed to having sex with two of the drugged boys brought to his house.

He dates the drugged boys to the early 1970s, years before the first 1979 Family-linked murder, and said they would arrive at his home from between 2am and 5am.

Turtur said he now believes it was wrong but not at the time.

He was party to the suppression orders being lifted. “They were drugged, von Einem had drugged them,” he said in a Foxtel podcast of The Family case.

“I don’t know how they were drugged, OK? Um … how did they give consent? I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. All I know, they came … he dropped them off at our place, he went home, we let them sleep it off, they left in the morning.”

Bevan Spencer Von Einem on the frontpage of the Sunday Mail.

He said he had been interviewed by police following Kelvin’s murder, and he had told detectives his suspicions. He said it was a relief to speak to police.

“We didn’t force anyone into a car,” Turtur said.

“They all hopped in the car. They were hitchhiking, he’d give them a lift home and he’d offer them a drink,” he recalled, adding he couldn’t remember what driver von Einem would say.

“Half the time I was drugged out anyway, so I don’t really care. I was in my own little world.”

The suppression on von Einem’s acquaintances were lifted by lawyers for author Debi Marshall, who was working on a Foxtel series.

Those who can now also be identified are Sydney drag queens Prudence Firman and Noel Terrance Brooks, who have since died.

Firman, Brooks and Turtur all moved to Sydney after von Einem’s murder conviction.

Turtur said he had not spoken to his brother Mike for almost two decades. He said he had old charges of gross indecency but they were “purged” from his criminal record and he had never been accused of any other wrongdoing.

There is no suggestion Mike Turtur has any connection with The Family or activities of the kind they engaged in.

Ms Marshall also gained access to Port Augusta Prison to speak to von Einem during two jail visits.

Foxtel discovered a briefcase that von Einem filled with his paintings of butterflies and newspaper clippings of himself and other major crimes, including the Snowtown slayings, the 1966 kidnapping of the Beaumont children and 1973 Adelaide Oval abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon.

During Ms Marshall’s prison visits, von Einem revealed he now had type 2 diabetes and was being moved to a jail old-age unit, where he would be getting better access to medicine.

He again denied all knowledge of all five Family murders and abuse of others but recounted in great detail the sexual abuse he experienced in his childhood by a friend of his father.

“Von Einem didn’t appear particularly perturbed about what happened to him,” Ms Marshall said.

“He was not particularly perturbed about the memory and his father’s response was to tell him to ‘go to the bathroom and wash your hands’.”

Bevan Spencer von Einem's collection of newspaper articles, cards & artworks collected during decades of imprisonment. Picture: Dylan Robinson

In a statement to the Sunday Mail on Saturday, a police spokesman said: “Over the years, since these crimes were committed, SA Police have continued to investigate as and where appropriate. Matters of this nature are not considered ‘closed’ until an offender is identified and potentially convicted, or in some cases until remains are located.

“From time to time, information is provided to police in connection to cold cases.

“On each occasion, this information is assessed as to whether it is new information or information already known to police. If it is new information, it is appropriately prioritised for investigation.”

Foxtel’s true crime series Debi Marshall Investigates Frozen Lies premieres on Tuesday, September 24 at 8pm or On Demand only on Crime + Investigation