Within a very short time I was investigating murders and then assisting with the Kelvin disappearance. At the time, I didn’t realise just how much I would become involved and how it would become part of my life.
I had a professional relationship with the Kelvins. I never became as close to them as a friend but I liked the family. Rob Kelvin had a high profile, and he was popular — but he seemed a genuinely nice guy. He was the same in real life as he appeared on television. He was competent and professional without any big headedness. He was not snobbish, and because of that I liked the man. Rob was alarmed and worried about his son’s disappearance but he handled it by maintaining his composure, as he appears to do every night on television. Obviously, he has a strong side. His time as a patrol officer in New Guinea when he was a younger man also shows strength.
Betteanne, his wife, was also stoic about their son’s disappearance but you could see their relatively calm exteriors hid immense suffering. She worked in a small store in the city and matched Rob perfectly. Rob and Betteanne Kelvin were normal people but the only difference was that Rob worked in an industry that caused him to have a very high profile. The disappearance of their son caused even more observation of their lives in the years to come.
The disappearance of Richard Kelvin didn’t cause too many alarm bells to go off at first. Jim Munro, an older detective in Major Crime, and a bit of a snappy dresser, said to me the day after Richard had gone missing:
‘He’s run off with his girlfriend. You wait and see. He’ll turn up.’
Jim figured that Richard was just one of many young men who go missing all the time.
Here we had a young man who had recently found a girlfriend. He was growing up quickly. He could easily have run away from home just like many others.
Jim was an experienced detective but he hadn’t visited the Kelvin house the previous night. He didn’t speak to Richard’s parents and hear what the young man’s new girlfriend said when she was interviewed. This one was different.
Kids growing up do have worries and concerns. They may not be happy at home and they leave. Parents arguing all the time may upset a kid who might want to get out of the house, or parents may be seen to be coming down on the child so much that it causes the kid to leave home. Neither of these were the case with Richard Kelvin.
Police rely on differences to help explain what has happened when disappearances occur. When a young man runs away from home he might be missing, but often there are some indications where he may be — he doesn’t disappear without trace. His family may not know where he is but his friends do. Runaways don’t just disappear. They have to stay somewhere, usually with friends or acquaintances. They have to eat somewhere, usually at their local haunts. There are nearby pinball parlors. And fish and chip shops. There’s always somewhere and someone who knows them — and messages get back to the family and police. That tells us that they are still alive. If young men disappear interstate, then they still have to survive. Often welfare agencies become involved, and they encourage the boys to ring home. If they are old enough to receive welfare payments, then there are records of those payments. Police check with the welfare agencies to see whether or not the missing people are receiving any money. The money trail tells the police and family that they are still alive.
With Richard Kelvin, nothing suggested that he would have run off. He was happy that weekend. Having a kick of the football with his father on the Saturday went well. There were no arguments. He got on well with his mother. Boris’s visit on the Sunday went well; there were no arguments and when he saw him go at the bus stop, Richard was happy. The two guys who got off the bus at the time saw both of them in O’Connell Street and confirmed this. Richard was due home straight away for dinner and it was agreed that he would ring his girlfriend — besides it was another excuse to speak to her.
One of the uniform patrols from the city attended their home after the Kelvin’s call for help. At first, they did not think much about it as it was a weekend and there was nothing exciting about a missing fifteen-year-old. They were more interested, however, when they found out that it was the son of Rob Kelvin, the newsreader. This meant the media could be involved.
We better do this properly, they thought.
Once the uniformed officers heard the story they knew the disappearance was different from that of a normal runaway.
Police also spoke to Richard’s girlfriend that night. She was surprised that her new boyfriend had not returned home straight away. Everything was alright when she spoke to him earlier, on the phone, before Boris left the Kelvin home. She said they made small talk. Everything was fine and she enjoyed his friendship.
Boris jumped on after the grey government bus pulled up to the stop with a hiss from the airbrakes. He moved to