What a pain, doing this, I thought. Going through drawers containing thousands of scripts was hardly exciting detective work. When I was seconded to the Major Crime Squad for the Truro murders, I was a junior detective and for the first month two of us went through missing person files — one at a time. For one month I was just checking files but later I got out on the road and obtained statements from people who were on the periphery of the case. Now, here were the two primary team detectives checking files. I had a sense of déjà vu but it had to be done and it was our best lead.
We had been checking the Mandrax scripts for a very short time — only about one hour.
‘Look at this!’ Trevor said excitedly.
I looked blankly at a script for Mandrax with a name written on the top: B. von Einem. The name didn’t mean anything to me. I had been on the case for seven weeks but I hadn’t had time to read the other boys’ murder files. The finding of the drugs in the boys was our first big break. I quickly learned this was our second.
Chapter 7
Bevan Spencer von Einem
Bevan Spencer von Einem first became known to police in 1972, not because he had committed any crime, but because he was a good Samaritan.
On the night of 10 May 1972, almost ten years before Mark Langley disappeared from near the Torrens River, Dr George Duncan, a university lecturer, was thrown into the river by a group of men. Later, the group was alleged to have been police officers from the Vice Squad of the South Australian police. Another Vice Squad officer blew the whistle on his fellow officers and said that police were down at the Torrens to throw homosexuals into the river. Vice officers were required to police homosexual behaviour, which was still against the law at the time. Of course, they visited the homosexual haunts and the beats. It was alleged that it was a common practice of Vice Squad police at the time was to throw homosexuals into the river rather than properly police homosexuality. Tragically, Dr Duncan was thrown into the dark waters of the river and drowned. Later, two former police officers were charged with manslaughter but they were found not guilty.
What is not commonly known is that a second man was thrown into the river that night and saw the doctor drowning. But he could not help because his leg had been broken when he was thrown in. He had to struggle from the river, fearful that the group of men, who had thrown him in, might come back. He struggled up the bank of the river to Victoria Terrace, which runs alongside the river between it and the military barracks on the other side. He did find help, however; the person who took him to the Royal Adelaide Hospital was Bevan Spencer von Einem.
Obviously, this behaviour did not make von Einem a suspect for murder — far from it. His actions made him less likely to be a murderer but Trevor knew more. He had read the other murder files.
A caller to the police, who later would become well known to me, nominated von Einem as a person involved in the murder of Alan Barnes. He telephoned on Tuesday, 26 June 1979, two days after Alan’s body was found. Other than that phone call, there was nothing to link von Einem with the murder. Rod Hunter, a senior detective, interviewed him. Rod was a big man and a very experienced homicide detective. He could normally ‘smell a rat’ and pick if someone was lying. When he spoke to von Einem on 2 September 1979, nearly three years before Richard Kelvin was snatched, von Einem denied knowing Alan Barnes and having anything to do with his death. Von Einem did say he was a homosexual, volunteering that he had visited the Mars Bar, a gay and lesbian dance club in Gouger Street. Von Einem also gave information to Rod Hunter about another of the missing boys.
‘Are you investigating the death of Neil Muir?’ von Einem asked.
‘I’m not but some members of our squad are,’ Rod Hunter replied. ‘Why is that?’
‘I know Neil Muir. I saw him last Saturday night.’
‘Do you mean that you saw him last night?’ Rod tested him to see if he knew what he was talking about.
‘No, the Saturday before.’
‘Where and when did you see him that night?’
‘I left home at 9 p.m. and drove into the city to the Duke of York. Neil was there drinking with a man. I left about 10 p.m. and went to the “Buck”. Neil wanted me to go to the Lord Melbourne with him but I had promised to meet someone at the Buckingham Arms.’
‘Was Neil Muir a homosexual?’
‘Yes.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘About four years ago I went to bed with him.’
‘Who did you promise to meet at the Buckingham Arms?’
‘Miss S. I dropped S there on my way to town and told her that if she didn’t come into the Duke of York by 10 p.m., I would come back for her.’
‘Who was Neil Muir drinking with at the Duke of York?’
‘I don’t know the man but he was introduced as Adam.’
‘Did you meet S at the Buck?’
‘I drove into the carpark of the Buck and got out of the car. I intended to urinate near a shed. A man came at me with a knife. He said he wanted some “smack”. After that I drove home.’
‘Were you injured by
