by Bob O'Brien
I again met one of von Einem’s young associates about two years after I interviewed him in 1983.
I was driving home after working afternoon shift and guess who I saw hitchhiking? It was him for sure; he was walking along on Sir Edwin Smith Avenue, which veers away from King William Road immediately after the King William Street Bridge. He was trying to thumb a ride from passing cars.
What a coincidence, I thought. The River Torrens flowed under the bridge about fifty metres away. Here he was again so close to the river which was a focus of police investigations for so long.
I knew he lived in the northern suburbs of Adelaide not far from my home. I stopped the police car. He ran to the front passenger door and opened it.
‘How about a lift?’ he asked before I could say anything.
I thought about it very briefly. People aren’t allowed to ride in police cars without permission — at least there needed to be a proper reason.
Why not? You never know what he might say, I thought. Stranger things have happened during investigations. One word, one action, can change the direction of an investigation.
‘Jump in,’ I said.
I drove off heading north and we started talking.
‘Do you remember me?’ I asked.
‘It’s you,’ he said looking over to the driver’s seat. His face was untroubled.
I knew straight away that nothing was going to happen during the drive to his home. He was not concerned at all about getting into a police car. He simply wanted a ride home and he was getting it, just like the many he had cadged in his teenage years. It didn’t matter that his chaffeur was the police officer who had interrogated him about a cruel abduction and vicious murder. He seemed to have no fear. Or no memory that remained alive from those days. An innocent person would perhaps show some concern that the police had got it wrong and that the new meeting might lead to charges wrongly being laid against him. A guilty person might show some hint in his eyes or his throat with a swallow to moisten a dry mouth. Not this guy. He showed no remorse or guilt. There was no emotion. It was just a ride home.
He was still young but experienced in the use of drugs and homosexual sex. I felt he had stopped worrying about the rights or wrongs of his previous life. He appeared to have accepted his life as it was and appeared unconcerned about the direction it was taking. His face showed no emotion — he reminded me of a young von Einem.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. He told me that he had spent some time in Queensland and now he had returned to Adelaide. The words that passed between us could be best described as small talk. What remained unsaid . . . well, who knows? Twenty minutes later I dropped him off near his home and he walked into the darkness of the Adelaide night.
Photo Section
Alan Barnes – the first young man to disappear.
{Courtesy of The Advertiser}
Neil Muir – whose dismembered body was found in garbage bags in the Port River.
{Courtesy of The Advertiser}
Peter Stogneff – the youngest of the five who disappeared.
{Courtesy of The Advertiser}
Mark Langley – who was last seen near the banks of the River Torrens.
{Courtesy of The Advertiser}
Richard Kelvin – the last of the missing boys.
{Courtesy of The Advertiser}
Number 1 Beat – a meeting place for homosexuals on the banks of the River Torrens close to the centre of Adelaide.
The country road near Middle Beach where the sawn-up remains of Peter Stogneff were found.
Crime scene examiners checking for clues after Peter Stogneff was found.
Police recover the remains of Neil Muir at Mutton Cove.
A replica of the zodiac medallion and silver chain missing from Mark Langley.
Police divers search the River Torrens before Mark Langley was found in the Adelaide Hills.
Bevan Spencer von Einem at the coroner’s inquest into the drowning of Professor Duncan at Number 1 Beat.
Roger James, who was also thrown into the River Torrens with Professor Duncan. Von Einem took him to hospital after James climbed from the river with a broken leg.
Detective Trevor Kipling, the lead detective in the investigation.
The author taking von Einem to be charged with the murder of Richard Kelvin. (Detective Mark Ryan partially obscured.)
O’Connell Street, North Adelaide, showing the bus stop in front of the delicatessen where Richard Kelvin was last seen.
Ward Street, North Adelaide, where Richard Kelvin lived. He was 50 metres from home when he was abducted.
Police cadets searching the scrub for evidence after finding the body of Richard Kelvin.
Rob and Richard Kelvin hamming it up at home.
The full page Advertiser broadsheet seeking help from the community. The car was a false lead.
Von Einem’s house in the Adelaide suburb called Paradise.
Airstrip Road, leading to the site where Richard Kelvin’s body was found. He was held captive for five weeks.
Prosecutor (now Judge) Brian Martin.
Assistant prosecutor Paul Rofe.
Defence counsel (now Judge) Barry Jennings.
A later photograph of assistant defence counsel Helena Jasinski.
Von Einem at the time the jury visited various locations mentioned by Brian Martin during the trial.
Doctor Ross James, pathologist, who gave evidence in the trial.
Scientist Sandra Young, who gave important forensic evidence during the trial.
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2002
This edition published in 2014
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YOUNG BLOOD. Copyright © Bob O’Brien 2002. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
O’Brien, Bob, 1949– .
Young blood: the story of the family murders.
ISBN 0 7322 6913 X.
EPub Edition August 2014 ISBN 9781460703700
1. Einem, Bevan Spencer von. 2. Kelvin, Richard.
3. Murder – South Australia – Adelaide.
4. Murderers – South Australia – Adelaide.
I. Title.
364.15230994231
Cover by Luke Causby, HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover photographs used courtesy of the Advertiser
sp; Bob O'Brien, Young Blood