In scrub, things that catch the eye are generally man made. Such things as bullet shells, discarded clothing, a blanket used to wrap a body or even a discarded cigarette may provide some evidence or information about a crime. Other items can also be very important — such things as blood on the ground, a rock that has been moved and used as a bludgeon, or a heavy branch used as a club, which may have blood or hair on it.
The murder weapon in this case was something like a bottle with a tapered neck — similar to a beer bottle. This was hardly distinctive and couldn’t be isolated like a gun or a bullet. The finding of a bullet shell can tell ballistic experts that it was an automatic rifle and, depending on the ammunition, even the type of weapon may be named.
The search took half a day. We looked outside the area surrounded by the bunting while crime scene examiners searched inside the area. Bottles were found but nothing to suggest that they had been used on the boy. They had been in the area too long or were the wrong shape. Papers were found but nothing to suggest that they belonged to Richard or the people who dumped him alongside the airstrip. A log was kept, recording the areas that were searched, the items discovered and what happened to those items.
Crime-scene examiners Ivan Sarvas, Tony Freckleton and Dave Russell minutely searched the ground where Richard Kelvin lay. They dug up the very small layer of grass and topsoil and sifted it through framed wire mesh to see if anything of interest was left behind. The crime-scene people look for jewellery, bullets, bullet cases — anything at all that belongs to the victim or the offender. Photographs recorded their precise work.
The only other thing that was of interest to the crime scene examiners was a dead, maggot-infested dog that had been dumped not far away from Richard. Tony Freckleton almost stepped on it. There was nothing to suggest that the dog had any link to Richard, but both bodies had fly larvae on them, and if it could be learned when the dog was dumped, then the life cycle of the maggots might give an idea of when Richard was dumped. If we could be certain when he was dumped, then we could appeal to people visiting the forest at that time to learn whether or not they had seen anything unusual, like a vehicle parked strangely, or people loitering in the area. Knowing when someone was killed or dumped allows police to narrow their investigation. It makes the investigation more manageable. Taking the stinking dog away for examination shows the lengths that police and crime scene examiners will go to when investigating a serious case. Can you imagine the smell in their clothes and car as they took the dog to the South Australian Museum for further examination?
There was no evidence around Richard Kelvin’s body — the same as the other boys. There was no sign of a struggle or violence occurring at the airstrip. This indicated that they weren’t murdered at the location where their bodies were found.
Trevor didn’t say anything as we drove back to the office. He didn’t have to. I knew what he was thinking.
Where were they killed? Probably a house somewhere but where?
I was driving and waiting for Trevor to come up with some ideas about where to go from here but he didn’t say anything. I didn’t have much to offer, either. It was a sombre drive back to Adelaide — he sat there as I slid on the corners of the dirt road that ran down Snake Gully towards Golden Grove as we returned to Adelaide.
Snake Gully. What a name.
I’d been this way before and thought the name gave a touch of interest to the area when I rode it as a part of The Advertiser 24-Hour Motor Cycle Trial in the 1970s. But now it presented a different picture and made me think of the killers within Adelaide’s community.
These people are worse than snakes and more slippery. We are going to need a big break to solve these murders.
Most murder cases are solved because the victim knows the offender. If you are going to be murdered, then the chances are that you will be murdered by your partner, your mate or somebody who lives nearby. Police often solve these murders because they are crimes of passion, where an argument occurs, a lover is taken, or people turn violent on one another. Invariably the murderer is known, and often he or she confesses or another person is present and sees what has happened.
A murder committed by a stranger is much more difficult for the police to solve. Investigations like this are invariably a ‘hard slog’. What did we have to investigate with the boys? Five butchered bodies, no murder scenes and no murder weapon left behind that might provide some evidence — that’s what we had. A knife left behind may have fingerprints or some of the offender’s blood on it. A gun might have been registered at police Firearms Branch. We had nothing. Also, it appeared that these were ‘stranger murders’, in which the victims did not know their killers.
The similarities between the murders were striking, indicating that with three of them, and possibly with all five, the same people were involved. These stranger murders appeared to be planned and callous. Muir, like the others, had an anal injury, but he had been cut similarly to Peter Stogneff. That aspect about his murder was different from those of Alan Barnes, Mark Langley and Richard Kelvin.
Were all the murders linked? Or were those of Alan Barnes, Mark Langley and Richard Kelvin linked but not those of Neil Muir
