No one driving past the place would have noticed a thing. Its lack of features did not attract attention and the garden was neat and tidy enough not to demand a second look. The most outstanding feature of the house was its ordinariness.
We walked on the lawn that covered the majority of the front yard so our shoes would not crunch on the gravel spread on the driveway. Trevor moved to the front door. I automatically headed to the corner of the house next to the driveway. I was ready to run to the backyard if anyone left in a hurry by the rear door.
Trevor knocked on the door. A few moments passed before a man opened the screen door and stared at Trevor through his glasses. He was taller than my partner by a few centimetres, well proportioned but not muscular. He had a certain softness about him, both in manner and appearance. His sallow softness indicated a life of working indoors and at night. Trevor spoke to him as I walked to the front door.
‘Hello; are you Mr von Einem?’
‘Yes.’
‘My name is Detective Kipling from the Major Crime Squad. I would like to ask you some questions about Mandrax.’
Von Einem’s jaw set slightly.
‘I don’t want to answer any questions without my solicitor.’
‘Who is your solicitor?’
‘Helena Jasinski.’
Why didn’t he want to speak to Trevor? I thought to myself. This is a good sign. What has he got to hide?
Obviously, people have a right to remain silent but suspicious police officers think that people who aren’t frank and open have something to conceal.
Trevor could have continued and even entered von Einem’s home with the search warrants that we both carried at the time. South Australia is unique in the allocation of general search warrants to detectives. Detectives, police bosses and sergeants in country police stations are issued with a permanent search warrant, which allows those officers to enter houses and to search for the evidence of a crime.
Trevor could have entered the house on production of his search warrant but we needed a reasonable suspicion that von Einem had committed a crime. We were getting close to having a reasonable suspicion but we weren’t there yet. The courts could have easily thrown out any evidence we might have found if we didn’t let him have a solicitor present. Trevor weighed up his options. Evidence thrown out versus von Einem having the opportunity to get rid of anything that might incriminate him — this was the dilemma which crossed our minds. Trevor wasn’t prepared to stretch the legal boundaries that controlled investigations.
While this was happening we became aware of another person in the house. A small person was hovering around in the background — a woman. We saw an elderly lady standing in the passageway slightly behind von Einem, whose body dwarfed her. We soon learned that the woman was von Einem’s mother and that she lived with her son.
Well, if this man was involved in any of the murders, they didn’t happen here — not with his mother living with him, I reflected.
My thoughts were interrupted.
‘Can you ring your solicitor?’ Trevor asked impassively.
Von Einem then went back inside and rang Helena Jasinski. We did not know her background as a solicitor and we wondered how she would approach things. We overheard some of the conversation. She reinforced to von Einem that he should not say anything. He hadn’t and now we didn’t expect him to; however, he did agree to drive to the Angas Street police building in his own car and meet Helena there to give a statement. This gave us an opportunity to get some information about him and perhaps get a story from him about his movements when the boys went missing.
We drove to the Adelaide Police Station and von Einem followed us in his silver Toyota Corona hatchback. I was driving and made sure that we went slowly enough to ensure he stayed with us. I didn’t want him turning off or getting separated from us at traffic lights. At the Angas Street building we even guided him into one of the police car parks to make sure he had a spot to leave his car. The three of us walked to the interview rooms of the Adelaide Police Station, which were wooden-lined cubicles immediately to the left of the front doors of the police building. We waited for Helena Jasinski to arrive and speak to her client.
A tall woman walked through the front doors of the police building. Her high cheekbones accentuated her attractiveness. We watched her walk to the counter, where she spoke to the staff on duty.
‘Hello, I’m Helena Jasinski. Can I speak to Detective Kipling, please?’
We overheard the conversation and Trevor moved towards her and spoke.
He explained to her the reason for our visit to von Einem’s home. He was up front about it. He wanted to speak to him about the murdered boys.
Von Einem was spoken to for a couple of hours. He confirmed he was a homosexual but denied any knowledge of the boys. Von Einem said that he was home in bed on Sunday, 5 June 1983, when Richard Kelvin was abducted. He said
