Explained: Who is murderer Bevan Spencer von Einem and what was ‘the Family’ pedophile network?
As he lays on his deathbed, here’s all we know about child killer Bevan von Einem from his childhood in Adelaide’s inner west to his conviction for the horrific murder of a 15-year-old.
Bevan Spencer von Einem, one of Australia’s most infamous child killers, is on his deathbed – but the full truth about his crimes remains shrouded in mystery.
He was convicted of the 1983 murder of Adelaide teenager Richard Kelvin, 15, and sentenced in 1984 to life imprisonment.
However, police believed von Einem did not act alone and he could have been involved in the unsolved murders of four other boys and young men, which are often described as “the Family murders”.
The killer was on Monday transported to Yatala prison, where he is understood to be near death, presenting the final chance for him to make a confession.
Who is Bevan Spencer von Einem?
Born at Hindmarsh Memorial Hospital in 1946, von Einem grew up in Thebarton, near the former Southwark Brewery in Adelaide’s inner west.
After attending Thebarton High, von Einem became a bookkeeper for Pipeline Supplies Australia at age 19, and stayed in the job for 18 years, up until his arrest.
He lived with his mother Thora von Einem, a pianist, until his arrest at age 37, after she separated from his father Bernhardt von Einem, a printer.
He was the youngest of three siblings, brothers Lyall and Desmond, and sister Carlien.
What was Bevan von Einem convicted of?
Von Einem was convicted in 1984 of the murder of 15-year-old teenager Richard Kelvin, the son of TV and radio personality Rob Kelvin.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 24 years, which was later increased to 36 years following an appeal. He had pleaded not guilty.
Von Einem was sent to the notorious maximum-security G Block at Yatala prison, before he was transferred to Port Augusta Prison in 2007.
In 2009, the state government declared von Einem a dangerous offender, the same day he was sentenced to three months jail for possessing child pornography in his jail cell.
Who was Richard Kelvin and how did he die?
Richard Kelvin was abducted from a laneway off Ward St, North Adelaide, on June 5 in 1983.
A witness heard cries for help and car doors banging at about 6.15pm, when Richard had been walking home from a bus stop on O’Connell St.
The teenager’s decomposed body was found seven weeks later in scrub at Kersbrook, in the Adelaide Hills, on July 24, 1983.
He had been held captive for five weeks before he was killed.
In an interview with detectives at Adelaide Gaol in 1984, von Einem claimed Richard had voluntarily got into his car, despite previously denying any connection to the boy.
Von Einem claimed he had talked to Richard in his bedroom at Paradise, hugged him, “played him the harp” and moved to the loungeroom, before he dropped the school student at a taxi rank to travel home.
An autopsy found Richard had been severely injured, sexually abused and sedated.
His father Rob, a much-loved newsreader, retired from Nine News in 2010.
Who were Bevan von Einem’s other alleged victims?
Von Einem is widely theorised to have been involved in the alleged murders of four other teenage boys and young men: Alan Barnes (16), Neil Muir (25), Peter Stogneff (14) and Mark Langley (18).
Police believed the deaths of these four individuals were connected.
Von Einem was ordered in 1990 to stand trial for the murders of Alan Barnes and Mark Langley, but both charges were withdrawn less than a year later. He had pleaded not guilty.
The five murders, including that of Richard Kelvin, were understood to be sexually motivated.
They occurred between June 1979 and June 1983.
In her book Banquet, crime reporter Debi Marshall wrote that von Einem was also suspected to be behind the abduction and sedation of other teenage boys, including a 16-year-old hitchhiker named George.
George had woken up with a torn anus after accepting a ride from a bespectacled man in a bronze Ford Falcon.
Alleged victim 1: Alan Barnes
Alan Arthur Barnes, 16, was abducted while hitchhiking on 17 June, 1979, having been dropped off on Grand Junction Rd by a friend’s brother.
His body was found dumped in scrub at South Para Reservoir seven days later, and an autopsy found injuries to his anus.
He had previously delivered Coca Cola to von Einem’s workplace, Pipeline Supplies Australia, and was “known to von Einem”, according to reporter Debi Marshall.
Alleged victim 2: Neil Muir
The dissected remains of Neil Muir, 25, were found at Mutton Cove after he was last seen on 26 August 1979, when he was evicted from an Adelaide hotel.
Police were told von Einem had seen Neil not long before the young man died and he had gone to bed with him four years before his murder.
An autopsy found ruptures to his anus and that his body was dissected with a saw.
Alleged victim 3: Peter Stogneff
Peter Stogneff’s dissected remains were found at a Two Wells paddock 10 months after he wagged school on 27 August 1981.
It was not possible to examine the 14-year-old’s body for injuries or signs of having been drugged, but a psychiatrist said the dissection was believed to be sexually motivated.
Alleged victim 4: Mark Langley
The body of Mark Langley, 18, was found at the base of Mount Lofty nine days after he left his car near Torrens River following an argument with friends on 28 February 1982.
An autopsy found a tear in his rectum and the presence of a drug, Mandrax, which was also found in Richard Kelvin’s system after his death.
He had worked as an apprentice plumber on the renovation of Adelaide’s Sir Samuel Way court building.
What was “the Family”?
A popular theory holds that these five killings, “the Family murders”, were carried out by a group von Einem belonged to.
The alleged group became known as the Family after Detective Trevor Kipling described those responsible for the murders as “one big happy family” in a September 1988 TV interview.
The group is speculated to have included members of Adelaide’s elite, but former detective Bob O’Brien, who investigated the murders, rejected this idea.
In his book Young Blood, Mr O’Brien describes the family as comprised of von Einem’s “many associates … his ‘extended’ family; not a blood family but some of them were linked through the abuse of boys and the spilling of young blood”.
Police believed von Einem did not act alone, citing evidence such as witness accounts of Richard Kelvin’s abduction, which led police to conclude more than one person had grabbed him.
One associate, referred to in Young Blood as “B”, told Mr O’Brien he had helped von Einem carry a boy to the murderer’s house and undress him.
B also spoke about other people known by von Einem including “the businessman, who drove fancy cars” and transgender people living in different parts of Adelaide, leading Mr O’Brien to conclude von Einem “had a wide circle of associates including gays, lesbians, drag queens and transsexuals”.
Is Bevan von Einem close to death, and why does it matter?
On Monday November 24, von Einem was transported by a Royal Flying Doctor Service ambulance from Port Augusta Prison to the infirmary at Yatala, a corrections source told The Advertiser.
The Advertiser understands von Einem has lung cancer and he has not applied for voluntary euthanasia.
An interview with detectives could be the last chance to elicit a confession before he dies.
However, the severity of his condition has lowered hopes of a deathbed confession.
In past interviews with Debi Marshall, von Einem revealed he had type two diabetes and was being moved to an aged care jail ward, where he would get better access to medicines.
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