First Review: Crime Investigation Australia

There are far too many terms associated with Adelaide that are darkly ominous: Beaumont, Truro, Snowtown and of course ‘The Family.’

For someone who has never lived in the city these tales of abducted young boys during the 70’s and 80’s blur. But as “The Butchered Boys” episode of the Crime Investigation Australia details, they were not only too real, they make CSI pale into insignificance.

In 1979 17yo Alan Barnes never made it home from hitchiking in the Adelaide suburbs. Found dead under a bridge, Barnes had been kept captive, sexually abused and a bottle had penetrated his rectum resulting in massive blood loss. Two months later 25yo Neil Muir was also found dead, mutilated into two garbage bags, his severed head re-attached to his torso. He too had been raped and tortured with a bottle. Both had been heavily drugged.

By 1982 two more boys, 18 and 14, suffered the same cyclical fate: abducted, subjected to days of sexual torture, murdered and dumped.

But when Richard Kelvin, the son of Channel 9 Newsreader Rob Kelvin disappeared, it gripped the city like never before. Adelaide watched nightly as Kelvin’s female co-presenter would detail the case as he sat beside her. Richard was found seven weeks later wearing a Channel 9 top and a pet’s dog-collar he had jokingly worn when he disappeared.

At the time, notably with former Premier Don Dunstan still influential in the city of churches, tabloid media had a frenzy pointing the finger at the homosexual community. Were they easy targets or protecting a criminal? Rumours about politicians, high-profile businessmen, clergy and even judges entertaining young boys were whispered with disdain.

By 1984 Forensics identified accountant Bevan Spencer von Einem. He was sentenced to 36 years imprisonment, but only for the Kelvin case. A key witness indicated he did not act alone. There were other accomplices, including at least one woman, who assisted his horrific acts. They remain at large.

Under the clinical narration of Steve Liebmann, Foxtel’s CIA series has a formidable reputation for highlighting unsolved cases, and sometimes eliciting new evidence. In this edition it re-enacts key moments, and speaks to the parents of all but one victim plus the case’s retired Detective Superintendent. Years on, one father is at a loss to find a word to describe the killers of his son. “They’re not men. They’re not people. They’re not even animals. What word do I use?” he asks.

Crime Investigation Australia: The Butchered Boys premieres 7:30pm Thursday on the Crime & Investigation Channel.