Young Blood

by Bob O'Brien

  We stood there taking in the news from the forensic chemists. The pieces of the jigsaw were starting to come together. Our suspicions about the murders being linked were being confirmed. With at least three of them, the same people using alcohol and drugs to calm and control their prey most likely killed Alan Barnes, Mark Langley and Richard Kelvin.

  Trevor’s suspicions look like being right, I thought.

  Drugging and abusing people were not new. If you consider alcohol a drug, then men have often used that drug to weaken the defences of women. Men have done it for centuries but the ones Trevor and I were looking for were homosexual deviates who drugged, abused and killed their victims.

  We were very secretive about the knowledge we gained from the result of the post-mortem examinations. We had released plenty of information about the sticking plaster on Mark Langley, the suspected vehicle and the possibility of a caravan being used for Richard Kelvin. But we didn’t have to release this information and decided that was the best play at this stage. We now had some evidence which we could use to check stories or to prove someone might be involved in the murders. We weren’t going to give them an opportunity to get rid of any hidden drugs.

  The same afternoon we found out about the drugs, Trevor and I drove the short distance from the Angas Street police building to the Health Commission building on the north-eastern corner of Rundle Mall and Pultney Street. Things were starting to speed up. We had something new to work with and we couldn’t afford to let the trail go cold. Richard’s body had been found, the chemists had shown a scientific link between three of the murders and they did it in record time. We weren’t about to slacken up.

  The ordinary looking eight-storey building we headed for housed the Bank of South Australia on the ground floor and Health Commission records upstairs. They kept copies of prescriptions for restricted drugs. We wanted to check their records about the prescribing of Mandrax.

  We went to the front counter and introduced ourselves to the office staff, who were waiting for us. Trevor had previously rung and told them what we were looking for. They helpfully showed us into the room containing the files, pointed in the direction where the prescriptions for Mandrax were stored and left us to it. We pulled out a couple of the drawers and each took one and we started thumbing our way through individual scripts.

  What a pain, doing this, I thought. Going through drawers containing thousands of scripts was hardly exciting detective work. When I was seconded to the Major Crime Squad for the Truro murders, I was a junior detective and for the first month two of us went through missing person files — one at a time. For one month I was just checking files but later I got out on the road and obtained statements from people who were on the periphery of the case. Now, here were the two primary team detectives checking files. I had a sense of déjà vu but it had to be done and it was our best lead.

  We had been checking the Mandrax scripts for a very short time — only about one hour.

  ‘Look at this!’ Trevor said excitedly.

  I looked blankly at a script for Mandrax with a name written on the top: B. von Einem. The name didn’t mean anything to me. I had been on the case for seven weeks but I hadn’t had time to read the other boys’ murder files. The finding of the drugs in the boys was our first big break. I quickly learned this was our second.

  Chapter 7

  Bevan Spencer von Einem

  Bevan Spencer von Einem first became known to police in 1972, not because he had committed any crime, but because he was a good Samaritan.

  On the night of 10 May 1972, almost ten years before Mark Langley disappeared from near the Torrens River, Dr George Duncan, a university lecturer, was thrown into the river by a group of men. Later, the group was alleged to have been police officers from the Vice Squad of the South Australian police. Another Vice Squad officer blew the whistle on his fellow officers and said that police were down at the Torrens to throw homosexuals into the river. Vice officers were required to police homosexual behaviour, which was still against the law at the time. Of course, they visited the homosexual haunts and the beats. It was alleged that it was a common practice of Vice Squad police at the time was to throw homosexuals into the river rather than properly police homosexuality. Tragically, Dr Duncan was thrown into the dark waters of the river and drowned. Later, two former police officers were charged with manslaughter but they were found not guilty.

  What is not commonly known is that a second man was thrown into the river that night and saw the doctor drowning. But he could not help because his leg had been broken when he was thrown in. He had to struggle from the river, fearful that the group of men, who had thrown him in, might come back. He struggled up the bank of the river to Victoria Terrace, which runs alongside the river between it and the military barracks on the other side. He did find help, however; the person who took him to the Royal Adelaide Hospital was Bevan Spencer von Einem.

  Obviously, this behaviour did not make von Einem a suspect for murder — far from it. His actions made him less likely to be a murderer but Trevor knew more. He had read the other murder files.

  A caller to the police, who later would become well known to me, nominated von Einem as a person involved in the murder of Alan Barnes. He telephoned on Tuesday, 26 June 1979, two days after Alan’s body was found. Other than that phone call, there was nothing to link von Einem with the murder. Rod Hunter, a senior detective, interviewed him. Rod was a big man and a very experienced homicide detective. He could normally ‘smell a rat’ and pick if someone was lying. When he spoke to von Einem on 2 September 1979, nearly three years before Richard Kelvin was snatched, von Einem denied knowing Alan Barnes and having anything to do with his death. Von Einem did say he was a homosexual, volunteering that he had visited the Mars Bar, a gay and lesbian dance club in Gouger Street. Von Einem also gave information to Rod Hunter about another of the missing boys.

  ‘Are you investigating the death of Neil Muir?’ von Einem asked.

  ‘I’m not but some members of our squad are,’ Rod Hunter replied. ‘Why is that?’

  ‘I know Neil Muir. I saw him last Saturday night.’

  ‘Do you mean that you saw him last night?’ Rod tested him to see if he knew what he was talking about.

  ‘No, the Saturday before.’

  ‘Where and when did you see him that night?’

  ‘I left home at 9 p.m. and drove into the city to the Duke of York. Neil was there drinking with a man. I left about 10 p.m. and went to the “Buck”. Neil wanted me to go to the Lord Melbourne with him but I had promised to meet someone at the Buckingham Arms.’

  ‘Was Neil Muir a homosexual?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘About four years ago I went to bed with him.’

  ‘Who did you promise to meet at the Buckingham Arms?’

  ‘Miss S. I dropped S there on my way to town and told her that if she didn’t come into the Duke of York by 10 p.m., I would come back for her.’

  ‘Who was Neil Muir drinking with at the Duke of York?’

  ‘I don’t know the man but he was introduced as Adam.’

  ‘Did you meet S at the Buck?’

  ‘I drove into the carpark of the Buck and got out of the car. I intended to urinate near a shed. A man came at me with a knife. He said he wanted some “smack”. After that I drove home.’

  ‘Were you injured by this man with the knife?’

  ‘Not really, but after I got free all I wanted to do was go home.’

  ‘Did you report this attack to the police?’

  ‘I wanted to, but I talked to my solicitor and then decided not to because of the publicity it might receive.’

  ‘Is there anything else you can tell me about the identity of the man with Muir who was introduced to you as Adam?’

  ‘Only that he was older than Neil. If I find out anything about him, I will let you know.’

  ‘Do you know the identity of the man who attacked you in the carpark o
f the Buckingham Arms that night?’

  ‘No. I think he might have been Greek or Italian.’

  ‘Did you see Muir again after leaving the Duke of York at about 10 p.m. that night?’

  ‘Yes. He wanted me to go with him to the Lord Melbourne. I wouldn’t go but I drove him to the Buck and dropped him there at about 10.15. I didn’t see him after that.’

  ‘I will pass this information along to the officers who are handling the Muir enquiry.’

  This information was amazing. Von Einem seems to be around every time something happens. On Sunday, 2 September 1979, five days after Neil Muir was found in the river, von Einem said that he had been with Neil Muir on the Saturday night before he was killed! His story was strange. If Neil Muir wanted to go to the Lord Melbourne, why did he take him to the Buckingham Arms Hotel? He would have driven straight past the Lord Melbourne on the way. And that story about being held up with a knife — did that really happen?

  Rod Hunter passed this information on to Lee Haddon but by this time Lee was working on the theory that Dr Millhouse was his best lead because he had been dobbed in by two druggies who knew the doctor.

  Von Einem’s name also came to the attention of police in 1982, very soon after Mark Langley was killed. Major Crime received information during March that year that von Einem picked up boys at the River Torrens and sexually assaulted them. This fitted with Trevor’s proposition that a violent homosexual may have picked up Mark Langley.

  Detectives John Anderson and Wayne Tonkin were working as a secondary team in Major Crime Squad and they attended von Einem’s workplace at Pipeline Supplies of Australia and spoke to von Einem on 25 March 1982, about one month after Mark Langley disappeared. Like the time he was spoken to about Alan Barnes, he told police he was a homosexual and went to the river to meet people and socialise but he denied knowing anything about Mark Langley. He did say that he was out and about that night.

  He said that he was drinking at home and left for a drive at about 11 p.m. He said that he took the back streets to miss random breath stations. These actions reminded me of someone moving out at night going for a hunt — looking for prey. I was reminded of the stalking phase of serial killers. Von Einem said that he drove through back streets to the Hackney Hotel, next to the Hackney Bridge, which crosses the River Torrens. He drove to North Adelaide and drove down Melbourne Street and up the hill to O’Connell Street, North Adelaide and bought some fish and chips.

  This man is a creature of habit. He said he drove to his work at Pipeline Supplies of Australia at Regency Park and checked the security lights before travelling along Port Road and Hindley Street. He went to the Mars Bar at 1.30 a.m. before leaving at 3.00 a.m. to travel home by the back streets of Stepney — exactly the way Mark Langley would have been trying to go home.

  When he was spoken to about Mark Langley, von Einem volunteered a story — just as he did with Rod Hunter, when Rod spoke to him about Alan Barnes. Von Einem said that one week after Mark Langley went missing, he met someone of Lebanese appearance. Von Einem said that this person was held up at the River Torrens by two people with a gun on the night Mark went missing.

  Interesting. This was the second hold up von Einem revealed — the first at the Buckingham Arms and now one at the River Torrens. Did these stories mean anything? was the question I now asked myself.

  I knew my partner was excited about what we had learned about the drugs and von Einem using Mandrax, a restricted drug, which was found in Richard Kelvin. Von Einem was a homosexual, he hung around the beats and he had been nominated as a person who might have been involved in the murder of Alan Barnes. Also, Noctec had been found in Alan Barnes and Richard Kelvin. No wonder Trevor was excited. I was excited myself. We had one of our best leads. Trevor was very keen to speak to von Einem.

  We drove to the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide first thing in the morning on Thursday, 28 July 1983, four days after Richard Kelvin had been found. Checks on von Einem’s driving licence had him living in the suburb of Paradise. Trevor did not plan a dawn raid. He was not ‘gung-ho’ like some detectives. He just wanted to go and check out the situation.

  We stopped the police car in von Einem’s street but not in front of the house. Stopping two houses away was far enough to maintain the element of surprise but also was a routine precaution. Stopping a police car in front of houses where suspects live lets people know we are coming. It gives them time to jump over back fences, or, if a suspect is crazy enough, it gives them time to put a bullet through the window of the police car.

  We approached the brush front fence and saw the von Einem house. He lived in a place that best could be described as bland. The three-bedroom home would have been built in the late 1950s or early 1960s, a typical middle-class place made of beige and yellow brick with a reddish-orange concrete tile roof. The unimpressive front yard consisted of a lawn and a driveway with a few scrawny shrubs in front of the bedroom window closest to the front door. The front door was in the middle of the house. A larger lounge window was on the other side of the front door. On that side, a high tin fence joined the house to the side fence, no doubt providing privacy to the rear yard, which I guessed consisted of another lawn and a ubiquitous Australian Hills Hoist. A traditional, rectangular galvanised iron garage was standing at the end of the driveway and another high tin fence joined the house to the garage.

  No one driving past the place would have noticed a thing. Its lack of features did not attract attention and the garden was neat and tidy enough not to demand a second look. The most outstanding feature of the house was its ordinariness.

  We walked on the lawn that covered the majority of the front yard so our shoes would not crunch on the gravel spread on the driveway. Trevor moved to the front door. I automatically headed to the corner of the house next to the driveway. I was ready to run to the backyard if anyone left in a hurry by the rear door.

  Trevor knocked on the door. A few moments passed before a man opened the screen door and stared at Trevor through his glasses. He was taller than my partner by a few centimetres, well proportioned but not muscular. He had a certain softness about him, both in manner and appearance. His sallow softness indicated a life of working indoors and at night. Trevor spoke to him as I walked to the front door.

  ‘Hello; are you Mr von Einem?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘My name is Detective Kipling from the Major Crime Squad. I would like to ask you some questions about Mandrax.’

  Von Einem’s jaw set slightly.

  ‘I don’t want to answer any questions without my solicitor.’

  ‘Who is your solicitor?’

  ‘Helena Jasinski.’

  Why didn’t he want to speak to Trevor? I thought to myself. This is a good sign. What has he got to hide?

  Obviously, people have a right to remain silent but suspicious police officers think that people who aren’t frank and open have something to conceal.

  Trevor could have continued and even entered von Einem’s home with the search warrants that we both carried at the time. South Australia is unique in the allocation of general search warrants to detectives. Detectives, police bosses and sergeants in country police stations are issued with a permanent search warrant, which allows those officers to enter houses and to search for the evidence of a crime.

  Trevor could have entered the house on production of his search warrant but we needed a reasonable suspicion that von Einem had committed a crime. We were getting close to having a reasonable suspicion but we weren’t there yet. The courts could have easily thrown out any evidence we might have found if we didn’t let him have a solicitor present. Trevor weighed up his options. Evidence thrown out versus von Einem having the opportunity to get rid of anything that might incriminate him — this was the dilemma which crossed our minds. Trevor wasn’t prepared to stretch the legal boundaries that controlled investigations.

  While this was happening we became aware of another person in the house. A small person was hovering a
round in the background — a woman. We saw an elderly lady standing in the passageway slightly behind von Einem, whose body dwarfed her. We soon learned that the woman was von Einem’s mother and that she lived with her son.

  Well, if this man was involved in any of the murders, they didn’t happen here — not with his mother living with him, I reflected.

  My thoughts were interrupted.

  ‘Can you ring your solicitor?’ Trevor asked impassively.

  Von Einem then went back inside and rang Helena Jasinski. We did not know her background as a solicitor and we wondered how she would approach things. We overheard some of the conversation. She reinforced to von Einem that he should not say anything. He hadn’t and now we didn’t expect him to; however, he did agree to drive to the Angas Street police building in his own car and meet Helena there to give a statement. This gave us an opportunity to get some information about him and perhaps get a story from him about his movements when the boys went missing.

  We drove to the Adelaide Police Station and von Einem followed us in his silver Toyota Corona hatchback. I was driving and made sure that we went slowly enough to ensure he stayed with us. I didn’t want him turning off or getting separated from us at traffic lights. At the Angas Street building we even guided him into one of the police car parks to make sure he had a spot to leave his car. The three of us walked to the interview rooms of the Adelaide Police Station, which were wooden-lined cubicles immediately to the left of the front doors of the police building. We waited for Helena Jasinski to arrive and speak to her client.

  A tall woman walked through the front doors of the police building. Her high cheekbones accentuated her attractiveness. We watched her walk to the counter, where she spoke to the staff on duty.

  ‘Hello, I’m Helena Jasinski. Can I speak to Detective Kipling, please?’

  We overheard the conversation and Trevor moved towards her and spoke.

  He explained to her the reason for our visit to von Einem’s home. He was up front about it. He wanted to speak to him about the murdered boys.