

Hundreds of sordid and terrifying crimes and only one man found guilty in relation to only one victim. Add onto that abductions, drug-lacing, mutilations, victims held in captivity for weeks, and death by sado-masochism. The Family Murders is one of Australia’s most captivating true crime stories. Some were involved in the abduction of victims who were murdered, some were involved in the rape of murdered victims, and some were involved in murder. Many of these people were directly involved in the abductions and rape of victims who survived. One victim was killed and dumped within 24 hours, another was kept alive for five weeks, and the rest were in between.īevan von Einem had a network of around 25-30 people. Some of the victims were brutally tortured, or horrifically mutilated or cut up. It is confirmed that 5 of these victims were murdered, usually by having an object forced so far up their anus that it split the lining and they bled out. It is estimated that over 150 youths and young men were abducted, drugged, and then raped. Once in the car they would be offered a drink that was laced with a knockout drug. When using other people (sometimes transgenders, sometimes cross-dressers, and sometimes Mr B), a common ploy was to ask a lone youth if he want to go to a party where there was plenty of booze and women. He found like minded people who shared a similar sexual bent, and he found people he could mutually exploit to lure victims into his car. At the same time he was developing a network of people who made it possible for him to carry out his sexually sadistic fantasies. Other times he would just pick up a hitch hiker.

Some of his strategies were to unscrew his car muffler or pull out his choke and ask an unsuspecting youth to help him with “car trouble”. Bevan von Einem was no exception – he also preferred youths between the 15 and 19 year old age group.ĭuring the 1970s von Einem started developing strategies to lure victims into his car. Veale Gardens had a thriving male prostitution scene, many of which were underage. Gino Gambardella regularly scouted Rundle Mall and video game arcades for runaways, homeless teenagers, and youths who he was able to exploit. High profile lawyer and murder victim Derrance Stevenson regularly entertained teenage youths. In Adelaide’s gay community in the 1970s and 1980’s, young men were coveted for sex. Murdered victims were kept in captivity by the Family for up to five weeks.īevan von Einem’s life revolved around sexual sadism. It was a group of homosexual men and transgender women who formed a network around convicted murderer and sexual sadist Bevan Spencer von Einem, based on the drugging, raping and sometimes murder of youths and young men. The Family were not an official group, gang, or organisation.
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Only one suspect has been charged and convicted for the crimes: Bevan Spencer von Einem was sentenced in 1984 to a minimum of 24 years (later extended to a minimum 36-year term) for the murder of 15-year-old Richard Kelvin.Īny person complicit in the abduction, rape and murders of the five victims, plus any person who visited the place of captivity when a victim was knowingly present, plus any person involved in the abduction, spiking and raping of teenage boys or young men with other members of “The Family”. The name of the group stems from an interview a police detective gave on 60 Minutes, claiming the police were taking action “to break up the happy family”.įour of the five murders remain unsolved. This group was believed to be involved in the kidnapping and sexual abuse of approximately 150 teenage boys and young men, as well as the torture and murder of 5 young men aged between 14 and 25, in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, in the 1970s and 1980s.
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The Family Murders is the name given to a series of five sadistic murders committed by a loosely connected group of individuals who came to be known as “The Family”.
