1 00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: He was a sinister figure, and the fact that he 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:08,160 Speaker 1: was fairly quiet and calm made him even more sinister. 3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: There was something devious about him. People wondered whether the 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: young Bevan von Einem, who ended up a member of 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: the family that killed a series of young men, whether he, 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: in an early expression of his devians, had abducted children. 7 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: I'm Andrew Rules Life and Crimes. A few weeks ago, 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: in early December, a prisoner died in South Australia jail, 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: and not before time. His name was Bevan Spencer von Einem. 10 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,599 Speaker 1: He was seventy nine years old and no one I 11 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: suspect mourns. 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 2: His passing, although he does. 13 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:59,639 Speaker 1: I believe have one old friend in Adelaide, a man 14 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: who an antique shop, and he said that that man 15 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: and Bevan von Aem were longtime associates, or even something closer. 16 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: And it's possible that that man knows things about Bevan 17 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: von Aem that he also will take to the grave. 18 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: Bevan von Aem died after spending more than half his 19 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: life behind bars. He was arrested in late nineteen eighty 20 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: three over the murder of a teenager called Richard Calvin. 21 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: Richard Calvin was fifteen years old. He was the son 22 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: of prominent South Australian newsreader Rob Calvin, and therefore was 23 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: because of who his father was quite well known, and 24 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: his disappearance earlier in nineteen eighty three meant that his 25 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: case became quite notorious. 26 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 2: It was sort of. 27 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: Almost a celebrity abduction. Young Richard Calvin, fifteen, had been 28 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: kicking a football around in the park near his house in. 29 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 2: A well heeled suburb of Adelaide. 30 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: And he was walking home for dinner at six o'clock 31 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: in the evening, six point thirty. It was just on twilight. 32 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: It was dinner time, going home for dinner, and evanished, 33 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: he didn't arrive home. His parents went out to look 34 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: for him. He was gone. His best mate that he 35 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: had been kicking the football with didn't know where he was. 36 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: It turns out that he had been abducted only a 37 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: few meters really around the corner from his family's house. 38 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: Now no one knew what happened to him for weeks, 39 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: and many weeks later his body was found in the 40 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: Adelaide Hills, and his body showed signs of some terrible abuse. 41 00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: Clearly he had been held captive for something like five weeks. 42 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 2: He'd been held captive long. 43 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:07,679 Speaker 1: Enough that his abductor or abductor's plural had actually got 44 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:11,679 Speaker 1: his hair cut trimmed up, which was weird. But one 45 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: of this coterie of sexual deviates that were responsible for 46 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: this subduction was a hairdresser, a guy called Denis Saint Denis, 47 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: which is an unlikely name. He's now dead, so we 48 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: can mention his name. He was involved with Bevan von 49 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: Einem and others Bore Richard Calvin. It was clear that 50 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: he'd probably bled to death because of large objects that 51 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: have been inserted into his body. There'd been some signs 52 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: of crude surgery, and it was clear that he'd suffered 53 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: massive blood loss massive abuse. There When the police forensics 54 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: tested his blood and body tissue, they found signs of 55 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: several hypnotic drugs, things like mandrax and other drugs that 56 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: have been as well as alcohol. So clearly he had 57 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: been drugged and was kept probably in a state of 58 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: semi consciousness or at least drugged or sedated for most 59 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: of the five weeks that he was held and sexually abused. Now, 60 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 1: this was a shocking case. Obviously, the police had a 61 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: pretty good idea where to start looking, because they were 62 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: already very interested in Bevan von Einem, who was a 63 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: suburban bookkeeper. He worked in a i think a small 64 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: factory in Adelaide as a bookkeeper. He'd always worked there 65 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: as a bookkeeper. He was in his late thirties by 66 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:46,119 Speaker 1: this stage. He lived at home with his mother, who 67 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: was i think divorced from his father. He was the 68 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,359 Speaker 1: youngest by far of four siblings, and so he was 69 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: the classic sort of late lamb, the fourth child of 70 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: this woman, and he'd stayed home with mum and lived 71 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: a very strange life. 72 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 2: He was a. 73 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: Quite mild mannered man. He was tall, he's quite big, 74 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: but he was in no way physical or threatening. But 75 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:19,040 Speaker 1: he was a very sinister person. And in fact, if 76 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: you were trying to cast a film about what happened 77 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: in Adelaide in. 78 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 2: That era, that era of what we call the. 79 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: Family killings, it would be hard to get an actor 80 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: to play Bevan von Anhem to be more subtly sinister 81 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: than the man was himself. He was a sinister figure, 82 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: and the fact that he was fairly quiet and calm 83 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: made him even more sinister. There was something devious about him. 84 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: The police were convinced that Bevan von Eidam was one 85 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: of a circle, a close circle of sexual deviance, That 86 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:59,119 Speaker 1: this Dennis the hairdresser was one, that this antique dealer 87 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: who we will not name here was another. That there 88 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: were at least two doctors who were involved, one of 89 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 1: them now dead. Both those doctors were charged with very 90 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: serious crimes at some point, one of them with murder. 91 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: They were acquitted of those crimes. They were separate crimes, 92 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,679 Speaker 1: separate things, but they were all members of this loose 93 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: group of deviants who were suspected widely of abducting hitchhikers 94 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 1: or young men off the streets, giving them spike drinks 95 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: to sort of knock them out or sedate them, and 96 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: then take them to premises. 97 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:41,359 Speaker 2: Perhaps a caravan. 98 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: They think that they had a caravan somewhere that was 99 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: used and they would there sexually abuse them. Now it 100 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: would appear that Richard Calvin was probably the fifth victim 101 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: of this circle. And this circle of deviants was called 102 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:02,160 Speaker 1: by the police the Family. And this is not to 103 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: be confused with the religious cult that was established in 104 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: the dandy Nungs near Melbourne at some point around that time. 105 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: Nothing to do with that. At all the family was 106 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: this loose group of deviants, some of whom were capable 107 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: of abduction and murder, others were capable of sexual assaults 108 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: on the victims. And clearly there were quite a few 109 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: people who knew about it because they were friendly with 110 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: the guys doing it. So there might have only been 111 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: two or three or four people involved in killings, but 112 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: there might have been five or six or seven or 113 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: age or ten that knew about it because they were friends. 114 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: A very awful thing. The police had already spoken to 115 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: Bevan von Einem about other disappearances. They had him on 116 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: their radar, So when rich Calvin, when his body's found, 117 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: they go to Bevan von Aem and they go to 118 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: the house that he shared with his mother. I think 119 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: she might have been an old woman and quite deaf, 120 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: and it was possible that he was able to do 121 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: things there without her knowing. And they were able to 122 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: find certain hairs on the carpet or something that matched 123 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: up with Calvin's body, and find other forensic evidence to 124 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: show that young Calvin had been at some point in 125 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: that five weeks at von Ainem's house, regardless of where 126 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: else they'd taken him. 127 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 2: He had been there and. 128 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: The police were able to build a sufficiently strong forensic 129 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: case to arrest Bevan von Aem and charge him with 130 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: murder and actually gain a conviction. And so he went 131 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: to jail in nineteen eighty four for a long sentence 132 00:08:55,960 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: which later I think the prosecution appealed that it was 133 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: not severe enough and that he was instead of getting 134 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,720 Speaker 1: twenty two years, he got more, a lot more, and 135 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:14,200 Speaker 1: ultimately he got life with no remission. And so it 136 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: was that he deservedly was locked up in South Australia 137 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 1: for the rest of his natural life. Meanwhile, of course, 138 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: the police were fascinated with the idea that they could 139 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:29,719 Speaker 1: arrest more people who were associated with von Einem, and 140 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: they did try. They did question a couple of his 141 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: associates over four earlier murders. Now, these earlier murders had 142 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: started in nineteen seventy nine. The first known murder victim 143 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: of this group we are calling the family was one 144 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:54,559 Speaker 1: Alan Arthur Barnes. Now he may not have literally been 145 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,679 Speaker 1: the first victim, but this is the ones that ended 146 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: up dead that we know about. Alan Arthur Barnes was 147 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 1: sixteen when he was picked up, I think hitchhiking and 148 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: murdered in mid nineteen seventy nine. His body was not 149 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: found until, you know, days after his disappearance. Then Neil 150 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: Frederick Muir, twenty five years old, was killed two months later. 151 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:26,360 Speaker 1: His remains were thrown into a river and somebody saw 152 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: this bag on the edge of the river where it 153 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: had sort of washed up, and they looked and saw 154 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,719 Speaker 1: a human foot or whatever it was realized it was 155 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: a human. It was opened and it was found that 156 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: Neil Mewer's body had been dissected, dissected, cut up like 157 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: a sheep or a bullock, and all sort of folded together. 158 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: He'd been gutted like a fish. I think his head 159 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:54,200 Speaker 1: had been removed. It had all been folded up together, 160 00:10:54,960 --> 00:11:00,040 Speaker 1: and it was a terrible sight. The fascinating thing for 161 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:04,719 Speaker 1: the police and prosecutors was that it seemed that he 162 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,439 Speaker 1: had been very neatly cut up by someone who understood 163 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 1: how to dissect the body, someone who might have had 164 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: medical training, for instance. Whether that's true or not, it's 165 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: hard to know whether it was someone with medical training. 166 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: We can't be sure. But remember there were at least 167 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: two doctors involved with von Adam's group. Two years later, 168 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: two year gap, a schoolboy called Peter Stognff, only fourteen 169 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: years old. He vanished in August of nineteen eighty one. 170 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: His remains were found in nineteen eighty two, many months 171 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:46,680 Speaker 1: after his disappearance. Can you imagine the anguish of his 172 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: parents knowing that their fourteen year old boy has vanished, 173 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:56,080 Speaker 1: knowing that two other young males have been abducted and murdered. 174 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,240 Speaker 1: When his body was found, it too had been cut up. 175 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,760 Speaker 1: Like Neil Mewers, it had been dissected. This was a 176 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:08,280 Speaker 1: horrifying thing that in February nineteen eighty two, the year 177 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:13,439 Speaker 1: before Richard Calvin was abducted and murdered, an eighteen year 178 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: old youth called Mark Andrew Langley was abducted and murdered. 179 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:24,320 Speaker 1: Now police had spoken to Bevan von Einem about two 180 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: of those cases. Doesn't matter which two really, but they 181 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 1: had spoken to him about two of them. They were 182 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: well aware of von Aem He was well known around 183 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: the gay beats of Adelaide, where he had been known 184 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: since the early seventies, and that it was known by 185 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: police that he hung around with people who had very 186 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: strange tastes in sex and other things and drug use. 187 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: Von Ainum denied any guilt. He denied any knowledge of 188 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: the other four murders, that of Barnes, mir Stognov and Langley. 189 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: He said he knew nothing about it. But he also 190 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:11,679 Speaker 1: denied having anything to do with the murder of Richard Calvin, 191 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,440 Speaker 1: which is the one he was convicted of on very 192 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:18,959 Speaker 1: clear and unambiguous evidence. What we don't know about Bevan 193 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 1: von Einem is whether he was the sort of person 194 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:27,480 Speaker 1: who at the age of nineteen or twenty almost twenty 195 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: back in the sixties, in the mid sixties, whether he 196 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: could have been involved in abducting the Beaumont children. Now 197 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: this is the great unknown and his death means that 198 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:45,199 Speaker 1: we will never know what actually happened to the Beaumont children, 199 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: if he had anything to do with it. The Beaumont 200 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:54,760 Speaker 1: children is probably the greatest unsolved cold case in Australian 201 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,839 Speaker 1: criminal history. It is one of the greatest unsolved cold 202 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,679 Speaker 1: cases in the English speaking world ever, without doubt, and 203 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: just to remind people what it was on Australia Day 204 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, that is sixty years ago this month, 205 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: three children from one family, Jane, Anna and Grant Beaumont. 206 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: Now Jane was nine I think Anna was seven, a 207 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: little grant, the baby of the family was only four. 208 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: Back in those innocent days, children of that age with 209 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: a big sister with them, a nine year older responsible girl, 210 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: were allowed by their parents to go to the beach. 211 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: It was a very hot January. Adelaide's a very hot city, 212 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: very hot January, the day before Australia Day, the twenty 213 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: fifth of January. Their father, Jim Beaumont, I think a 214 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 1: return serviceman. He was a traveling salesman. He dropped the 215 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 1: kids at Glenell Beach, which is only a kilometer and 216 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:58,560 Speaker 1: a half or something from there from where they lived, 217 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: almost walking distance. He dropped them off at the beach 218 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: with a sandwich or something and sim loose change so 219 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 1: they could buy a bus ticket to get back home, 220 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: which was pretty easy to do. And indeed, at lunchtime, 221 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: as arranged, they got on the bus and they went 222 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: home to Mum and Auntie boumat and nice stay at 223 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,960 Speaker 1: the beach or good And she said, oh, if it's 224 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 1: hot tomorrow you can go again. And this time, Jane, 225 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: you can take the two little ones on the bus 226 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: there and on the bus home. So next day astraight 227 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: a they go to the bus stop at nine o'clock 228 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 1: or whatever, and they catch the bus down to Glenelg 229 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: Beach and it's been a success the day before and 230 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: she'll be again. They are expected home on the midday bus. 231 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: Now the bus is only a five minute trip, so 232 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 1: the midday bus at Glenelg would get home to Somerton. 233 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:00,200 Speaker 2: Park where they lived at five past twelve. 234 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: Or something like that. They weren't on the bus, Missus Beaumont. 235 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,720 Speaker 1: Of course, there's no mobile phones, there's no way of 236 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: checking anything much. She thinks, well, they've missed the bus. 237 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: They'll be on the next one at two o'clock. They 238 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: weren't on the next one at two o'clock. Then she 239 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: raises the alarm. Her husband, Jim, he turns up. He's 240 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: been away on a country trip and he's as a 241 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:27,160 Speaker 1: traveling salesman. He turns up in the afternoon. He's home early, 242 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 1: and they start looking for the children. They can't find them. 243 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,480 Speaker 1: They call the police. Sadly, the police and the police 244 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: artist have all been on the booze at a barbecue 245 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 1: because it's Australia Day, and the police and the police 246 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 1: artist were very very drunk, which is sad, and it 247 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: explains why. If you look up this case in newspapers 248 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: of the period, you will see an artist's impression of 249 00:16:55,800 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: the man that witnesses saw with the children. Witnesses saw 250 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: a man with the children. 251 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 2: At the beach. 252 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: The police artist has drawn this man and he looks 253 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:11,640 Speaker 1: like an alien. He does look like something from out 254 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:16,440 Speaker 1: of space. His distinguishing features are I think, light colored 255 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,159 Speaker 1: hair and high cheek bones and sort of a thin face. 256 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 1: This is done by a drunk artist with the benefit 257 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: of talking to witnesses who notoriously never know what they've seen, 258 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:33,400 Speaker 1: whether someone's tall or short or whatever. So the police 259 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:37,840 Speaker 1: issued art of the suspected abductor is next to useless, 260 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: probably and that's why there is no sign of the children. 261 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 2: The police the day after Australia. 262 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: Days, you know, they're sober, and they get a rigg 263 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,399 Speaker 1: along because they just hope the kids are going to 264 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:53,920 Speaker 1: turn up, because sometimes kids go missing for island turn up. 265 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,440 Speaker 1: Often kids go missing for island turn up. Mostly they 266 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: turn up, but they didn't turn up. And because they're 267 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,919 Speaker 1: so young, it doesn't look good. And because Jane the 268 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:09,479 Speaker 1: oldest girl nine years old, very sensible girl. The parents 269 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,360 Speaker 1: know that something very bad has happened. They hope it hasn't, 270 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: but they sort of know it has. The police talk 271 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,719 Speaker 1: to everybody they can. They find several witnesses who describe 272 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: a young But do we mean someone in their twenties, 273 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,680 Speaker 1: someone in their thirties. No one's really sure. Now when 274 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: they say a young, tall, sun tanned man, I think blonde. 275 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:40,640 Speaker 1: Some say blonde was seen playing with the kids. There 276 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,960 Speaker 1: is more evidence of such an association because Jane, who's 277 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 1: been given a few coins, a few shillings coins to 278 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 1: buy some food and buy their busticke at home, she 279 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:58,399 Speaker 1: had gone to the canteen or shop at the beach 280 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:02,200 Speaker 1: or nearby the beach with a one pound note. Now, 281 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: one pound note was quite a significant amount of money 282 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:07,920 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty six, probably like a kid having a 283 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 1: fifty dollar note. Now it's not something, or even one 284 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: hundred dollar note a large denomination for a small child 285 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: to have. I can remember myself being given a one 286 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: pound note for Christmas or a birthday in around that 287 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:27,200 Speaker 1: era and being sort of blown away with the quantity. 288 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,919 Speaker 1: You know, I have a one pound note and it 289 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: wasn't sort of like having two shillings that you would 290 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: spend on ice cream. It was a significant amount of money. 291 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: So the fact that she'd been given that to buy 292 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,560 Speaker 1: some food meant that an adult stranger had given it 293 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:48,199 Speaker 1: to her. That was a very sinister thing. The Beaumonts 294 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:56,680 Speaker 1: disappeared forever. No one found one trace of the Beaumonts. 295 00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: The police had no more idea ten years, twenty years later, 296 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: fifty years later, or today than they had in that 297 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: first week. Well meaning people and charlatan's and clairvoyants and 298 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: all sorts of people and interstate detectives, they've all had 299 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: to go trying to solve the Beaumont case. We've talked 300 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: about it obviously in the podcast. There are some interesting 301 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,399 Speaker 1: suspects for it, and you know, quite good suspects for 302 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:30,639 Speaker 1: it in many ways. But Bevan Vonneinem almost fits the 303 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: Billy fits the bill in this sense. He's clearly a 304 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:39,880 Speaker 1: mild mannered sexual deviant. In that time nineteen sixty six, 305 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:45,159 Speaker 1: he was almost twenty old enough to be in the 306 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: grip of whatever sort of sexual aberrations that took hold 307 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: of him. He was old enough and big enough and 308 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: ugly enough to do bad things. He had the mental 309 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: capacity and the physical capacity to do bad things. We 310 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:04,320 Speaker 1: know that it would appear that he was probably at 311 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: Glenelg Beach that day. A lot of people were if 312 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: you're in Adelaide and it was a hot day on 313 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: an Australia day, you would tend to go there. And 314 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: it seems that a camera crew shooting news footage at 315 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:23,159 Speaker 1: Lanelk Beach did accidentally get in a shot of the 316 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: camera sweeping around looking at the crowd, a shot of 317 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: a young man who looked very much like a young 318 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,879 Speaker 1: Bevan von Aem, And so it was always thought. It 319 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:38,840 Speaker 1: was always wondered people wondered whether the young Bevan von Aem, 320 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 1: who ended up a member of the family that killed 321 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:47,479 Speaker 1: a series of young men, whether he, in an early 322 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: expression of his devians, had abducted children. Now, some experts 323 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: would say, well, that's unlikely because his subsequent aberrant behavior 324 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 1: in young males, you know, teenagers and older. That's true, 325 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,640 Speaker 1: But maybe he was feeling his way. Maybe he wasn't 326 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: up to abducting young males alone when he was nineteen 327 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: years old, and he was up for abducting children that 328 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,119 Speaker 1: were small and easy to grab. We will never know 329 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:24,200 Speaker 1: the truth about the Beaumonts and Bevan von Einem. There 330 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:28,159 Speaker 1: is a current and recurring story that it might have 331 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: been a local millionaire or businessman, a wealthy businessman called 332 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,440 Speaker 1: Harry Phipps. That story's done around twice in the last 333 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:41,400 Speaker 1: fifteen years. I think, in fact, the person promoting that story, 334 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 1: and they might be right, is issuing a book on 335 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 1: the sixtieth anniversary of the Beaumonts disappearance, pushing the theory 336 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: that Harry Phipps fits the bill as the Beaumont abductor. 337 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,360 Speaker 1: Because he lived nearby, he was plausible, he was friendly, 338 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: children might well have trusted him, and according to one 339 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,719 Speaker 1: of his own adult children, he was a pedophile. Others 340 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,400 Speaker 1: say no. His adult son, who accused him of being 341 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: a pedophile, was motivated by jealousy and greed and revenge 342 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 1: because he'd been cut out of his father's will, and 343 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:22,199 Speaker 1: so he accused him of being a pedophile later just 344 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,120 Speaker 1: to get revenge on the family. It's all a big mystery, 345 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:31,440 Speaker 1: but if Bevan Varum was anything to do with it, 346 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,120 Speaker 1: it's now too late to have any chance of finding out. 347 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 1: Bevan Vonum died early in December, just before Christmas. Jim Beaumont. 348 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: The Beaumont children's father died at a massive age ninety seven, 349 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,960 Speaker 1: I think he was just two or three years ago, 350 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: and his ex wife, Nancy Beaumont, in the end they 351 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,119 Speaker 1: split up under the pressure of the whole grief of it. 352 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: She died in her mid nineties a little bit before that. 353 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 1: And so both parents are gone and Bevin von Aem's gone, 354 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:09,119 Speaker 1: and really on the sixtieth anniversary of the Beaumont children case, 355 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,479 Speaker 1: we probably can rule a line under it forever. Nothing 356 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: now is ever going to be discovered because those who 357 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,640 Speaker 1: could have been involved are almost certainly dead and it's 358 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,119 Speaker 1: highly unlikely that anyone is going to come forward or 359 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 1: have any fresh evidence at this point. So this leads 360 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: us around to what sort of person was Bevan vonum Well, 361 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: whether or not he had anything to do with the Beaumonts, 362 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 1: he certainly had a lot to do with the family killings. 363 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: So let's look at Bevin von aum In several ways. 364 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: One is, the witnesses at the Glen Elk beach said 365 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: that they saw a tall, slim, sun tanned man, some 366 00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:00,479 Speaker 1: of them said with blonde hair. Now, the the interesting 367 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: thing is that von einem In later pictures that we 368 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: saw of him when he was first arrested in his thirties. 369 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,640 Speaker 1: He had jet black hair, but he had jet black 370 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,439 Speaker 1: hair because it was dyed jet black by his friend, 371 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: the friendly hairdresser Dennis and Dennis, and it was dyed 372 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:21,640 Speaker 1: jet black, not because he was a goth, but because 373 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: it appears that he had had some car accident as 374 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: a teenager. This is Bevan von Ainam, which turned all 375 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,120 Speaker 1: his hair prematurely gray. So at the age of nineteen 376 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:39,200 Speaker 1: eighteen whatever, he's walking around with a head of gray hair. Now, 377 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: when you see someone that age with the head of 378 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:45,440 Speaker 1: gray hair, it actually looks ash blonde. They don't look old. 379 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 1: They just look like an ash blonde as you see 380 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: in Scandinavia or Finland or wherever. 381 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 2: And other places. 382 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 1: And it could easily be that if you saw a 383 00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,440 Speaker 1: nineteen year old with a sun tan with hair that color, 384 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: he's blonde, just a really pale blonde. One of my 385 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: own kids had he like that when he was young. 386 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: It's just one of those things, and it does teally 387 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,879 Speaker 1: in that sense, it does make sense that it could 388 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: fit the description. The other thing about Bevan Vonnein and 389 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: he had quite a pronounced lower jaw. He had a 390 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:23,520 Speaker 1: strong lower jaw, and he had a bit of a 391 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:28,200 Speaker 1: bulbous nose. He was a slowly unprepossessing man. 392 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:30,160 Speaker 2: He was quiet. 393 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:34,199 Speaker 1: He kept to himself when he was arrested by the 394 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: police after the discovery of Richard Calvin's body. 395 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 2: As I say, he had the jet black hair. 396 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 1: He used to wear dark sunglasses, like sort of Roy 397 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: Orbison or something, and he looked like what he was, 398 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,400 Speaker 1: a suburban bookkeeper, a sort of an accountant from the suburbs. 399 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:56,520 Speaker 1: He drove a Falcon Sedan he had by that stage 400 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,359 Speaker 1: in his thirties. He had a bit of a pot belly. 401 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: He wore, you know, conventional slacks and conventional shirts and 402 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,399 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff, because he dressed like a bookkeeper. 403 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:12,120 Speaker 1: But at night he did run around with a very 404 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:18,440 Speaker 1: strange crew. And that crew, while we're not suggesting, as 405 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: some do, that you know, they were really well connected. 406 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,199 Speaker 1: That there was a judge and a QC and a 407 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,360 Speaker 1: politician and all those rumors of people in high places, 408 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: there was that suggestion that they were people who were 409 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:39,320 Speaker 1: sort of well heeled, middle class people of middling to 410 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:43,399 Speaker 1: high intelligence. You know, the two doctors item, the bookkeeper 411 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 1: and possibly a lawyer, a criminal lawyer called Darrence Stevenson 412 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,359 Speaker 1: who was a flamboyant criminal lawyer who was well known 413 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:58,040 Speaker 1: in those circles of the v item circles, who himself 414 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: was subsequently murdered. His body was found in a freezer 415 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:06,919 Speaker 1: in very strange circumstances, and his sometime lover, a young man, 416 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:12,920 Speaker 1: was arrested and convicted of Darrence Stevenson's murder, a conviction 417 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:18,720 Speaker 1: that has been roundly criticized ever since because it seemed 418 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: to be gained in court with evidence that doesn't really 419 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: stand up. So it's possible that this circle of bad 420 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: deviance that did terrible things could have involved this lawyer, 421 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:40,480 Speaker 1: Darren Stephenson. So we can see why the legend of 422 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: the family murders in Adelaide has grown. Because people who 423 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: gossip with other people in spread rumors, and somebody's brother 424 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:52,719 Speaker 1: in law knows a policeman who knows another policewoman, and 425 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 1: all that stuff. The legend of the highly placed circle 426 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: of people has grown and grown in Adelaide. This would 427 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: lead some to speculate that these people, having seen von 428 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: Alum go inside, that he was sort of sacrificial lamb 429 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: that ONEm kept his mouth shut all those years through 430 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: maybe a sense of twisted sense of loyalty. 431 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 2: Maybe there was. 432 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: The unspoken threat for years that if you talk, something 433 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: bad will happened. 434 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 2: To your mother. 435 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,960 Speaker 1: But because his mother died in the early two thousands, 436 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 1: her name was Thora von Aem. She was a pianist, 437 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,840 Speaker 1: which is a strange occupation in a sense. Then she's 438 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: described in various stories as a pianist. Now, whether she 439 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: was a professional pianist, I don't know, but you'd suspect 440 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:50,720 Speaker 1: she must have been someone who wasn't just a hobbyist 441 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 1: who had a piano at home in the parlor. Thora, 442 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: I understand, sort of stood by her son and all that, 443 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 1: and it was felt that he not admit anything or 444 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 1: make any confessions while she was alive. But when she 445 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 1: died in the early two thousands, about twenty one years ago, 446 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:15,200 Speaker 1: now something like that, he didn't put his hand up 447 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: and say, well now i'll tell you now, I'll tell 448 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,160 Speaker 1: you everything now mum's dead. He didn't change, he didn't 449 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:25,160 Speaker 1: add anything. If he knew any secrets about other people, 450 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:29,920 Speaker 1: he wasn't about to devolve them. Some suggest that he 451 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: was still close to at least one of the other conspirators. 452 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: Some suggested it was his sometime lover, the antique dealer, 453 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: that kept him loyal and that he didn't want to 454 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: say anything to involve him or others. Regardless of the reason, 455 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: the fact is he never said a word about the 456 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,520 Speaker 1: family murders or about the Bonont children, which may not 457 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: have made him anyway, and he only came to official 458 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: notice two or three times. He was briefly the subject 459 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 1: of some stories when he was found with I think 460 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: drawings of children or something, and he sell I think 461 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,440 Speaker 1: prison officers are an interesting lot. Some are really good 462 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: and some are not so good. I think prison officers 463 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: were getting him to von Einem to paint Christmas cards 464 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 1: or something. He was quite a handy prison artist, you know, 465 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: in that sort of tattoo way that prisoners developed, and 466 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 1: that they were selling these because of his notoriety, they 467 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: were able to sell these cards out in the world, 468 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: and there was a bit of a scandal about that 469 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 1: at one point, but essentially nothing changed. And when he 470 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: got lung cancer, as he did I think a. 471 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:01,200 Speaker 2: Year or so, I go doesn't matter. 472 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:07,080 Speaker 1: Relatively recent times, there was no sympathy for him from 473 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: anyone naturally, and in late November I think he was 474 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,720 Speaker 1: moved from where he had been locked up at Yattler 475 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:21,200 Speaker 1: to a prison hospital where he died on December the sixth, 476 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:30,200 Speaker 1: totally unmourned. One would think the authorities decided to incinerate 477 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 1: his body, to cremate him in fact, and they have handed. 478 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 2: Over his ashes to. 479 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:44,560 Speaker 1: Those few remaining family members who would be able to 480 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,520 Speaker 1: decide what to do with them. Which is not the 481 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: greatest thing to have given to you. Probably is your 482 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 1: uncle Bevan's ashes, the uncle Bevan the sex killer. 483 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 2: He is his ashes. The three older siblings, to my 484 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 2: understanding of. 485 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: All died or died of old age before he did, 486 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: and so the only people left in the world related 487 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 1: to Bevn von Einem I think. 488 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 2: Would be his so nieces and nephews. 489 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:19,239 Speaker 1: Who probably, I think, keep it on the lowdown that 490 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,640 Speaker 1: they're related to him. It's a very unfortunate surname to 491 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: have in South Australia because it's very rare, and one 492 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: imagines that most von Einem's are somehow related in some way, 493 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:38,800 Speaker 1: and that they have all probably come from South Australia. 494 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,800 Speaker 1: And so there is the death, the passing of a 495 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: man who brought tremendous shame on his own family and 496 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:57,120 Speaker 1: on in fact a city. And in closing, I'd like 497 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: to quote Selwyn Rosti, the great novelist who visited Adelaide 498 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:09,080 Speaker 1: for the Adelaide Writer's Festival in nineteen eighty four, and 499 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: he wrote in a subsequent piece. He wrote about Adelaide 500 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:18,880 Speaker 1: that it was a quiet church loving the city that 501 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:24,880 Speaker 1: reminded him of Salem or Amityville. He said it's one 502 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:30,600 Speaker 1: of those quiet, respectable places where the worst things go on. 503 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:35,560 Speaker 1: And he said it's a perfect setting for a Stephen 504 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:42,400 Speaker 1: King novel or a horror movie. And I think Salman 505 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: Rushdi was right. On a personal note, I once went 506 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:56,799 Speaker 1: to Adelaide, probably two thousand and seven around there, and 507 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:00,560 Speaker 1: I spent a couple of days there looking around, and 508 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,560 Speaker 1: I wanted to do the big definitive piece about the 509 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: city of churches where bad things happened. And I visited 510 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,960 Speaker 1: the antique shop in the middle of the day, the 511 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:15,680 Speaker 1: antique shop where Bevin Vye, Eem's great and good friend 512 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: and co conspirator allegedly ran his antique shop. And I 513 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 1: went to the door and it was lunchtime, no normal 514 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:31,000 Speaker 1: day sunny day, and I was amazed to find that 515 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: the door was locked. And to get into this guy's 516 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,719 Speaker 1: antique shop you had to ring the bell and he 517 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,719 Speaker 1: would look at you and decide whether you were a 518 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,640 Speaker 1: danger to him, I think, and then would let you in. 519 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:45,879 Speaker 1: And I rang the bell, went in, pretended to look 520 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,320 Speaker 1: at some antique clocks or something, and went out again. 521 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:55,640 Speaker 1: Clearly that man didn't want to have people just stepping 522 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:59,880 Speaker 1: in off the street, because I think the suggestion was 523 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:04,759 Speaker 1: that at some point if his door were unlocked, that 524 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: one day someone he didn't want to see would step 525 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:12,319 Speaker 1: in there and do something very bad to him. And 526 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:16,319 Speaker 1: so he was always on his guard, and listeners, I 527 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,440 Speaker 1: understand he's still there and still on his guard. So 528 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,120 Speaker 1: if you're ever in Adelaide, stick your head in and 529 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 1: have a look at an alleged monster, Bevan von Adam's 530 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:42,440 Speaker 1: only friend. Thanks for listening. Life and Crimes is a 531 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 1: Sunday Herald's Sun production for true crime Australia. Our producer 532 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: is Johnny Burton. For my columns, features and more, go 533 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:57,000 Speaker 1: to Heroldsun dot com dot au, Forward slash andrew rule 534 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:03,520 Speaker 1: one word for advertising inquiries to news podcasts sold at 535 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: news dot com dot au that is all one word news. 536 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:13,799 Speaker 1: Podcasts sold And if you want further information about this episode, 537 00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: links are in the description.