‘Not really, but after I got free all I wanted to do was go home.’
‘Did you report this attack to the police?’
‘I wanted to, but I talked to my solicitor and then decided not to because of the publicity it might receive.’
‘Is there anything else you can tell me about the identity of the man with Muir who was introduced to you as Adam?’
‘Only that he was older than Neil. If I find out anything about him, I will let you know.’
‘Do you know the identity of the man who attacked you in the carpark of the Buckingham Arms that night?’
‘No. I think he might have been Greek or Italian.’
‘Did you see Muir again after leaving the Duke of York at about 10 p.m. that night?’
‘Yes. He wanted me to go with him to the Lord Melbourne. I wouldn’t go but I drove him to the Buck and dropped him there at about 10.15. I didn’t see him after that.’
‘I will pass this information along to the officers who are handling the Muir enquiry.’
This information was amazing. Von Einem seems to be around every time something happens. On Sunday, 2 September 1979, five days after Neil Muir was found in the river, von Einem said that he had been with Neil Muir on the Saturday night before he was killed! His story was strange. If Neil Muir wanted to go to the Lord Melbourne, why did he take him to the Buckingham Arms Hotel? He would have driven straight past the Lord Melbourne on the way. And that story about being held up with a knife — did that really happen?
Rod Hunter passed this information on to Lee Haddon but by this time Lee was working on the theory that Dr Millhouse was his best lead because he had been dobbed in by two druggies who knew the doctor.
Von Einem’s name also came to the attention of police in 1982, very soon after Mark Langley was killed. Major Crime received information during March that year that von Einem picked up boys at the River Torrens and sexually assaulted them. This fitted with Trevor’s proposition that a violent homosexual may have picked up Mark Langley.
Detectives John Anderson and Wayne Tonkin were working as a secondary team in Major Crime Squad and they attended von Einem’s workplace at Pipeline Supplies of Australia and spoke to von Einem on 25 March 1982, about one month after Mark Langley disappeared. Like the time he was spoken to about Alan Barnes, he told police he was a homosexual and went to the river to meet people and socialise but he denied knowing anything about Mark Langley. He did say that he was out and about that night.
He said that he was drinking at home and left for a drive at about 11 p.m. He said that he took the back streets to miss random breath stations. These actions reminded me of someone moving out at night going for a hunt — looking for prey. I was reminded of the stalking phase of serial killers. Von Einem said that he drove through back streets to the Hackney Hotel, next to the Hackney Bridge, which crosses the River Torrens. He drove to North Adelaide and drove down Melbourne Street and up the hill to O’Connell Street, North Adelaide and bought some fish and chips.
This man is a creature of habit. He said he drove to his work at Pipeline Supplies of Australia at Regency Park and checked the security lights before travelling along Port Road and Hindley Street. He went to the Mars Bar at 1.30 a.m. before leaving at 3.00 a.m. to travel home by the back streets of Stepney — exactly the way Mark Langley would have been trying to go home.
When he was spoken to about Mark Langley, von Einem volunteered a story — just as he did with Rod Hunter, when Rod spoke to him about Alan Barnes. Von Einem said that one week after Mark Langley went missing, he met someone of Lebanese appearance. Von Einem said that this person was held up at the River Torrens by two people with a gun on the night Mark went missing.
Interesting. This was the second hold up von Einem revealed — the first at the Buckingham Arms and now one at the River Torrens. Did these stories mean anything? was the question I now asked myself.
I knew my partner was excited about what we had learned about the drugs and von Einem using Mandrax, a restricted drug, which was found in Richard Kelvin. Von Einem was a homosexual, he hung around the beats and he had been nominated as a person who might have been involved in the murder of Alan Barnes. Also, Noctec had been found in Alan Barnes and Richard Kelvin. No wonder Trevor was excited. I was excited myself. We had one of our best leads. Trevor was very keen to speak to von Einem.
We drove to the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide first thing in the morning on Thursday, 28 July 1983, four days after Richard Kelvin had been found. Checks on von Einem’s driving licence had him living in the suburb of Paradise. Trevor did not plan a dawn raid. He was not ‘gung-ho’ like some detectives. He just wanted to go and check out the situation.
We stopped the police car in von Einem’s street but not in front of the house. Stopping two houses away was far enough to maintain the element of surprise but also was a routine precaution. Stopping a police car in front of houses where suspects live lets people know we are coming. It gives them time to jump over back fences, or, if a suspect is crazy enough, it gives them time to put a bullet through the window of the police car.
We approached the brush front fence and saw the von Einem house. He lived in a place that best could be described as bland. The three-bedroom home would
