Most people would not comprehend the amount of mess that comes from a body. Television has sanitised our senses because it can’t show all the sights and smells present at some crime scenes. The media shows blood as a stain on a shirt or a small pool on the ground. The loss of most of a person’s blood can never be shown on television. Television reporters and camera operators see but cannot show the splattering of blood and brains over the walls of a room when someone is shot in the head. A camera and small screen cannot convey the smell and sight of urine and faeces when body fluids are emptied as muscles relax and die.
The use of a home bathroom or laundry was possible in this case. The victims may have been put naked in a bath to clean them. A murderer is unlikely to put a body on his rear lawn and hose his victim down. But what if the murders happened at a business premises where water and a cleaning area were available — a slaughter house, a butcher’s shop or a factory? We couldn’t discount any of these possibilities.
The dumping of the boys most likely occurred at night, using a car. The South Para Bridge from where Alan Barnes was dropped, probably during the very early hours of Sunday morning, was on a relatively busy road between Kersbrook and Williamstown. The road is still busy on Friday nights with young people driving around. The very early hours of the morning allow approaching vehicles to be heard. At night sounds travel further and car lights are turned on. The stillness allows the senses to detect approaching people or vehicles that may interrupt evil plans. The darkness of night hides killers’ activities and masks their vehicles.
There had to be a big strong man involved or more than one person. Lifting a body from the back seat or boot of a car and then over a railing higher than a metre was possible for one person but unlikely.
Alan Barnes had been missing one week and there were injuries to his anus and back. But his body was still fresh. Decomposition had not started.
Neil Muir was found the day after he disappeared. He had been cut up, but death was recent and decay of his remaining tissues had not started. Neil Muir’s dumping also most likely occurred at night, and a car used. There was nothing to suggest he was killed at Mutton Cove. He was killed somewhere else. He was cast off in an isolated spot but still within the inner metropolitan area. Therefore he had to be taken to that spot. Neil Muir’s bag was caught on the rocks indicating that the low tide in the Port River could not be seen when he was dropped. This also suggested that Neil Muir was dumped at night.
Peter Stogneff’s case was more difficult to determine. Peter Stogneff was a mystery. A time of death could not be established. When he was dumped was a mystery. The physical evidence had disappeared with time and in the heat of the flames of the fire lit by the farmer. Like Neil Muir he was cut up, which made it possible for one person to dispose of the bodies because of their smaller size.
Similar arguments about the use of a vehicle and the night applied to Mark Langley. Mark was found on a Monday, just over a week after he disappeared. His body had started to putrify because of the heat of February, and most likely he was dumped early in the week shortly after he was killed — possibly the Sunday or Monday night.
Richard Kelvin’s case was even more difficult to fathom. He was found seven weeks after he went missing and the arguments about night time and the use of a vehicle still applied. He was abducted on a Sunday, and found on a Sunday. The work of the pathologist and a woman we called the ‘Maggot Lady’ told us when he was dumped at the airstrip.
The Maggot Lady was Beryl Morris, an entomologist from the South Australian museum. She made comparisons between the maggots on the dog and on Richard. Beryl, an attractive woman, studied flies, hence her unfortunate nickname, but it clearly explained what she did, which I had never heard of until I met her. She was a wonderful professional who was easy to get on with. She played a small but important role in the investigation, as many others did. Beryl used the life cycle of flies to help determine when Richard Kelvin was dumped. Maggots were on Richard’s body and determining their age could indicate when the flies first started laying their eggs. Richard would have been dumped about that time but additional information was needed to assist with this task. We needed information about the dead dog and the local weather conditions.
A door knock of the local farms did not discover any information about people hanging around the area, but when police spoke to the locals, questions were also asked about the dead dog. Did anyone know anything about it? Whose dog was it? When was it dumped? We didn’t find out who dumped the dog but we had a minor success when Tony Freckleton, the keen, sharp crime examiner, who attended the airstrip, learned from one of the farmers that the dog had been thrown out three weeks before Richard was found.
Records from the Woods and Forests Department helped with weather information but the records of a local woman provided extra detail the Maggot Lady needed. Ivan Sarvas had come across a farmer near the airstrip who collected details of weather conditions, which included the amount of rainfall on her farm. These extra pieces of information assisted Beryl with her task but such inquiries
