Bevan Spencer Von Einem - Criminal History - Murder of Richard Kelvin

Murder of Richard Kelvin

Richard Dallas Kelvin (1 December 1967 – c.10 July 1983), was the son of Adelaide television personality Rob Kelvin. He was murdered by Bevan Spencer von Einem in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1983 after having been kidnapped and tortured for five weeks. Kelvin was 15 years old at the time of his death.

At around 6pm on 5 June 1983, von Einem (possibly along with other unknown persons) abducted Kelvin in a North Adelaide street, just 60 metres from Kelvin's home 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 and was returning home for dinner. Several witnesses living near to the Kelvins' home heard cries for help, car doors slamming and a car with a noisy exhaust speeding away. Significantly, Kelvin had a dog collar in his possession which was likely to have attracted von Einem's attention. Von Einem then tortured, drugged, raped and held Kelvin captive for five weeks, before murdering him and dumping his body alongside an airstrip near Kersbrook in the Adelaide Hills area (to the north-east of the city and close to where relatives of von Einem lived).

Kelvin's clothed body was found by a geologist on 24 July 1983. Little effort was put into concealing the body; Kelvin was found wearing the same Channel 9 shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers which he wore on the day of his abduction, together with the dog collar fitted around his neck. The body was found placed in the foetal position with his legs bent towards his chest and his head forward with his arms wrapped around his legs. This made police suspect that Kelvin was dumped by a single person, most likely after nightfall in order to avoid detection.

The autopsy revealed that Kelvin had most certainly died from massive blood loss from an anal injury, likely caused by the insertion of a blunt object, such as a beer bottle, and he suffered bruising and injuries to his head and back, which were likely to have been caused by blows. Analysis of Kelvin's bloodstream revealed traces of four hypnotic drugs, including Mandrax and Noctec.

With the drugs as their only firm lead at that stage, police began sifting through prescriptions for those drugs. During their search they found a prescription for Mandrax issued to a B. von Einem, a name familiar to police as he was questioned previously over the deaths of three young men and an alleged sexual assault of another.

Four days after the body was discovered, von Einem was questioned about the murder of Kelvin by police. He initially claimed that he had no knowledge of what happened to Kelvin and said that on the night of abduction he was in bed with the flu. Police also searched his home in the northern Adelaide suburb of Paradise, where police 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 of von Einem's initial questioning that lead police to become increasingly suspicious that they had found their prime suspect:

• When police knocked on von Einem's door and enquired about whether they could ask him a few questions, his immediate reaction was to say that he wouldn't answer anything without speaking to his lawyer first. This made police suspect that von Einem had something to hide.

• When questioned about the Kelvin murder, rather than profusely denying any involvement, von Einem simply said that he wouldn't do such a thing because it would be "unethical". This came across as a strange thing for an innocent person to say.

• When asked about drugs, von Einem did admit he had Mandrax. He was asked if he kept any other drugs in his possession, and he said no. However, the police then found the bottle of Noctec and von Einem immediately became nervous and told police that he "rarely used those drugs".

As von Einem went on holiday in 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 von Einem. Forensics also determined that Kelvin was murdered between 8 July and 10 July 1983 and was dumped at the airstrip no later than the 10th. However, police raids on various locations around Adelaide linked to von Einem yielded few clues. Police also searched for a man who previously claimed to police during the investigation of the unsolved murder of Alan Barnes in 1979 that von Einem was involved in his death and also that he was a former associate of von Einem. Barnes' fatal injuries mirrored those of Kelvin's closely. The man, known as "Mr. B", was located and informed police in great detail how he and von Einem picked up young male hitchhikers, gave them alcoholic drinks laced with hypnotic drugs, and took them to von Einem's previous home in the Adelaide suburb of Campbelltown, where the young men were abused overnight and sent home the next day. "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 who von Einem associated with, however they volunteered little information. With enough evidence, along with the information given by "B", to indicate that Richard Kelvin was at von Einem's home around the time of his death, police arrested and charged von Einem with murder on 3 November 1983. Von Einem still denied ever coming into contact with Kelvin.

The committal hearing to determine if there was sufficient evidence for von Einem to stand trial for murder began on 20 February 1984. Faced with irrefutable evidence from prosecutors that Kelvin was in his company, von Einem suddenly changed his alibi to answer that evidence and claimed that he was in contact with Richard Kelvin on the night of 5 June 1983. Von Einem said that he was driving along O'Connell Street in North Adelaide looking for a parking spot in order to buy some dinner. While looking for a parking spot in a side street, von Einem said that he nearly ran over Kelvin as he jogged in from his side. Von Einem stated he thought Kelvin had bisexual tendencies and said that the two of them then had a conversation about problems Kelvin had been having at school, and Kelvin willingly got into the car and they drove to von Einem's home. This answered the question of how fibres from von Einem's carpet got onto Kelvin's clothes. To answer evidence about how fibres from von Einem's bed came to be on Kelvin's clothes, von Einem stated that the two of them sat on his bed and played with the large harp which he kept in his bedroom. Police previously did see this harp in his room when they seized the drugs. Finally, to answer evidence about how fibres from von Einem's cardigan got onto Kelvin, von Einem stated that he put his arm around Kelvin and hugged him because Kelvin was upset about how his peers had been bullying him at school. With all the fibres being accounted for with his albi, von Einem concluded his statement by saying that Kelvin stayed for two hours before von Einem dropped him off in the Adelaide CBD near the Royal Adelaide Hospital and gave Kelvin $20 to catch a taxi home.

Despite the intricate details of von Einem's alibi and his version of events, his alibi had two huge problems—it completely contradicted his initial statement of his whereabouts on 5 June 1983, where he said he was in bed with the flu. Plus, the quantity of fibres on Kelvin's clothes was far too large to suggest that Kelvin was in his company for only 2 hours. Given these facts, on 25 May 1984, Magistrate Nick Manos ordered von Einem to stand trial for the murder of Richard Kelvin.