Bevan Spencer von Einem

Bevan Spencer von Einem (born 29 May 1946) is a convicted child murderer and suspected serial killer from Adelaide, South Australia.

Richard Dallas Kelvin (1 December 1967 – c. 10 July 1983), was the son of Rob Kelvin, a long-time television news presenter for Adelaide station NWS 9.

Von Einem first came to attention on the night of 10 May 1972 when two gay men were thrown into the River Torrens by a group of men believed to be police officers.

The river bank was a popular beat where gay men would meet covertly, as homosexual acts were illegal in South Australia at that time.

One of the men, Dr. George Duncan, a British lecturer in law who had arrived in Australia only seven weeks before, was drowned.

The other, Roger James, suffered a broken leg and after crawling to the road was rescued by von Einem, who was driving past.

Von Einem then took James to Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he recovered from his injuries.

With Mandrax being regulated by the Central Board of Health in 1978 stocks for it in Australia had declined somewhat by 1983 and police began sifting through prescriptions for that drug in particular.

During their search they found a prescription for Mandrax issued to a 'B. von Einem', a name familiar to police as he had been questioned previously over the deaths of three young men and the alleged sexual assault of another.

Four days after Richard Kelvin's body was discovered, von Einem was questioned by the police about the murder.

He initially claimed that he had not seen Kelvin and had no knowledge of his whereabouts and stated that on the night of abduction he had been in bed with the flu and was off work for the next week.

Police also searched his home in the northern Adelaide suburb of Paradise, and seized a bottle of Mandrax.

Von Einem admitted that the drugs were his and said that he used them to help him sleep.

He denied having any other drugs in his possession, but police also seized a bottle of Noctec, concealed on a ledge behind his wardrobe.

Von Einem also allowed police to take hair and blood samples, as well as carpets and other materials for testing.

There were three major factors in von Einem's initial questioning that led police to become increasingly suspicious that they had found their prime suspect:

Police also searched for a man who had previously claimed to police during the investigation of the unsolved murder of Alan Barnes in 1979 that von Einem had been involved in his death and also that he was a former associate of von Einem.

Barnes's fatal injuries mirrored those of Kelvin closely.

The man, known as "Mr. B", was located and informed police in great detail how he and von Einem had picked up young male hitchhikers, had given them alcoholic drinks laced with hypnotic drugs, and had taken them to von Einem's previous home in the Adelaide suburb of Campbelltown, where the young men had been abused overnight and released the next day.

"Mr B" also provided further information about other associates of von Einem, but claimed he took no part whatsoever in any murders.

Police also questioned other people whom von Einem had associated with, but they volunteered little information.

Kelvin was murdered by von Einem on or around 10 July 1983 in Adelaide, South Australia after having been abducted, held captive, sexually abused, drugged and tortured for five weeks.

Kelvin was 15 years old at the time of his death.

At approximately 6:15 pm on 5 June 1983, von Einem (likely along with other unknown persons) abducted Kelvin near the intersection of Margaret Street & Peppertree Lane, North Adelaide, just 60 m from Kelvin's home around the corner in Ward Street.

Kelvin had just seen off a friend at a nearby bus stop on the corner of O'Connell and Marian Streets, North Adelaide after they had earlier that afternoon played football in a nearby park and was expected to return home immediately for dinner.

A witness, a security guard living in Margaret Street, had heard cries for help, car doors slamming, and a car with a noisy exhaust speeding away.

Kelvin also had a dog collar around his neck, which may have attracted von Einem's attention.

Despite a wide-ranging search by police, extensive media coverage that included a full page missing person poster in The Advertiser on 28 June (that unfortunately had contained a false lead given by the public to police), a $5,000 reward offered by the State Government two days after his disappearance (quickly raised to $15,000 a week later) and numerous tips and possible sightings provided by the public in the weeks after, Kelvin's whereabouts were unknown until his clothed body was found seven weeks later by a geologist searching for moss rocks with his family on 24 July 1983 alongside a dirt airstrip near One Tree Hill in the Adelaide Hills area (to the north-east of the city and close to where relatives of von Einem lived).

Little effort was put into concealing Kelvin's body; he was found wearing the same Channel 9 shirt, blue jeans and white Adidas sneakers which he wore on the day of his abduction, together with the dog collar fitted around his neck.

His body had been washed prior to being re-dressed and was found placed in the fetal position, with his legs bent towards his chest and his head forwards and his arms wrapped around his legs.

This made police suspect that Kelvin had been dumped by a single person, most likely after nightfall in order to avoid detection.

The autopsy revealed that Kelvin had most likely died from massive blood loss from an anal injury, probably caused by the insertion of a blunt object with a tapered neck, such as a beer bottle, and that he had suffered bruising and injuries from blows to his head, to the left side of his back and also to his right buttock as well as a fractured front tooth which occurred either just before or just after death.

Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of alcohol and five hypnotic drugs, Mandrax, Noctec, Amytal, Valium and Rohypnol.

As von Einem went on holiday to the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom during August and September 1983, the case against him began to mount up.

Forensic investigators were able to match the many fibres found on Kelvin's clothing to those taken from von Einem's home, along with hairs found which matched those belonging to him.

Forensics also determined that Kelvin was murdered between 8 July and 11 July 1983 and was dumped at the airstrip no later than the 11th.

However, police raids on various locations around Adelaide linked to von Einem and his associates yielded few clues.

An accountant by profession, he was convicted in 1984 for the murder of 15-year-old Adelaide teenager Richard Kelvin, the son of local television and radio personality Rob Kelvin.

Von Einem is serving life imprisonment.

He was in G Block of Yatala Prison for decades but was transferred to Port Augusta Prison in the north of the state in 2007.