Australian Murder of Richard Kelvin and a Secret Group Known as The Family | True Crime Shorts

Is there a secret group of child abusers in Australia, known as The Family?

In Adelaide, on June 5th 1983, 15-year-old Richard Kelvin was abducted from a street just 60 metres from his home.

Witnesses heard screaming, car doors slamming, and a car speeding away. Kelvin was the son of local TV personality Rob Kelvin. He was abducted by Bevan Spencer von Einem, and accomplices who have never been identified.

Von Einem held Kelvin captive for five weeks. During that time, he raped him, drugged, tortured, and sexually abused him with large foreign objects, including a beer bottle.

His mutilated body was dumped on an airstrip near One Tree Hill in the Adelaide Hills area, to be found by a geologist on July 24^th.

An autopsy showed that Kelvin had died from blood loss caused by massive anal injuries. They also found traces of hypnotic drugs.

Despite pleading his innocence, Einem was arrested and ultimately convicted of Kelvin’s murder to serve life in prison.

He refused to name any accomplices and maintained his innocence. In the years that followed, Einem was and still is the leading suspect in the unsolved murders of four other boys and young men in South Australia.

Two of which bore similarities to Kelvin’s murder, including hypnotic drugs and massive anal injuries.

Rumours began to circulate of a group of men in high-establishment jobs who were allegedly a group of child abusers.

The Australian press referred to this group as The Family.

This type of group of people in power abusing children isn’t purely an Australian curse. Many countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have their own versions of The Family.

In the only interview he has ever given, Einem stated that he was threatened by police not to reveal the names of the other people involved in The Family.

The story and theories persist in Australia to this day.

READ NEXT: Exorcist Claims the Vatican Were Involved in the Disappearances of Two Girls | True Crime Shorts