The Family Murders. Greg McInerny
already knew that his cover story would not at all excite the teenage boy. Once again the driver had struck out in finding any common ground or common interest that he could use to seduce the fresh faced lad.
The driver’s patience withered and the mood took a sudden change.
“How about we go somewhere, hop in the back and suck each other off?” suggested the driver.
Bradley’s heart began to pound as his brain attempted to analyse what the seemingly innocuous man had just blurted out. He knew in that moment that he had to get out of the car and he would have to do so quickly. Bradley discreetly placed his hand on the door handle as the man continued to swig his beer and made further suggestions of sexual deviancy.
“I’m sorry, I’ve never done that sort of thing” Bradley uttered to his potential abductor as he opened the door and got out of the car.
“Fuck it” said the man as he too jumped out of the car, realising that the teenager was now out of his reach.
Glaring at his catch from across the roof of the car, the man waited for the young lad to make his move. Like a game of cat and mouse, would he go left or go right? The driver was ready. In a split second, the boy bolted to the back of the car as did the assailant. So determined not to lose his catch the predator lunged across the boot of the car in an attempt to grab at the boy’s clothing but missed.
The terrified teenager bolted west along Childers Street towards Jeffcott Terrace. He didn’t have to look back to know that the monster was not far behind him.
“Get back here you little shit, I’m gonna fucking kill you”
Bradley jumped up onto the footpath still running as fast as he could. He knew he had to get off the road and hide in someone’s yard; he just needed to know if the man was still chasing him.
Still running he looked back over his shoulder and saw that the monster had stopped.
“I’m gonna tear you apart you little bastard” bellowed the predator, no longer able to keep up with the teenage boy.
Still yelling obscenities, the driver ran back to his car. Bradley kept running for another 100 or so metres until he realized he was in the clear. He crossed the road and jumped over the fence into someone’s front yard to catch his breath.
The nightmare wasn’t over though, as he ran off again he noticed the car moving slowly down the street with the headlights off.
The man was hunting him. He had to get to the main street, O’Connell Street. Exhausted and terrified he summonsed the strength to keep moving. He ran along Jeffcott Street, onto Gover Street, down Mansfield Street and Tynte Street, finally reaching O’Connell Street.
Once again he saw the predator driving along looking for him, this time with his lights on. Too late, the mouse had escaped.
Bradley went straight to the police station on O’Connell Street and told them of his ordeal. He was far too humiliated to tell them about what the man had said to him about “sucking each other off” but this omission did little to deter the police from looking for the potential abductor.
They promptly drove around the area with Bradley in search of the car and its driver but by this stage he was nowhere to be found.
15 years later Bradley would see the predator again as his face appeared in the newspaper. He had been arrested for the abduction, rape and murder of young Richard Kelvin. He looked older, his hair was white grey, but there was no mistaking that it was the same vulgar man that had attempted to abduct him. Bradley immediately contacted Detective Trevor Kipling who was in charge of the case and gave a full statement of the events of that fateful evening in 1971. This time he didn’t leave anything out. According to Bradley it was the same monster, and now the monster had a name – Bevan Spencer von Einem.
CHAPTER 3
The Spook, the Preacher and the Champ.
Alan Arthur Barnes was born in Adelaide on the 21st June 1962. He grew up as the son of Judith and John Barnes. Alan was one of seven children in the household and was raised firstly in the area of Kilburn South Australia, attending Kilburn Primary School.
When his parents sold their Le Hunte Avenue home and moved to Salisbury, a northern suburb of Adelaide, Alan attended Salisbury Primary School. Alan was described by his mother as a lad who loved to joke about anything and everything and was the most placid of her children. Alan’s easy going and fun loving personality made him popular and well-liked by many.
His father John Barnes worked as a cook at the local air base and Mrs Barnes tended to every day the needs of their large family. They were distinctly working class people living in a typical blue collar area. While the more affluent areas worried about keeping up with trends, the Barnes family concerned themselves with supplying love, food, shelter, clothing and a warm bed for up to 9 people. Anything else was a bonus.
Alan attended Salisbury High School and as with most children of that era he spent most of his time out and about where he found adventure and friends. Over the years the list of friends changed but by his mid teens he had a solid group of mates. Before long the boys had given each other nicknames.
Alan’s mother Judy Barnes recalled the names of the lads and their nicknames. Her son Alan was the Spook, Steve was the Preacher and Simon was the Champ. Alan’s name came about due to his light blonde hair and pale skin. As he grew into his teens, these features along with his overall good looks made Alan very popular with females and males alike. Girls were attracted to him and boys wanted to hang out with him.
The lads would hang mainly in their local area but as they got older they would sometimes catch the train into town and hang out around the paddle boats at the River Torrens. Preacher recalled how they would ‘stir up’ people as they strolled by. Other times they would venture up onto North Terrace and purchase a bottle of Port from the Strathmore Hotel just to liven the entertainment.
Other mates who hung around at this stage included ‘Shadow’ and ‘Bowsey’. The latter would become closer to Alan as circumstances in his life began to change in early to mid- 1979. Bowsey would in turn introduce Alan to a stranger who would change his life forever, and that stranger was Darko Kastelan.
Darko lived on Torrens Road at Cheltenham on the western side of Adelaide. He had a very desirable possession as far as teenagers went in those days, a car. Bowsey had met Darko in early 1979 and soon introduced him to his friend Alan. This caused somewhat of a division of the Salisbury crew as not all of Alan’s mates were impressed by Darko or his car.
For all intents and purposes Alan Barnes liked his new friend, even though Preacher had noticed that they didn’t talk much. Having a car meant that both Alan and Bowsey’s world had suddenly expanded beyond Salisbury and the train line into the city. Alan had already worked a full year as an offsider on a Coke truck which delivered its products to customers throughout the metropolitan area.
Part of Alan’s job was to collect money from the machines or the relevant people at the businesses that they serviced. His boss Terry would restock the machines and fridges. One of those businesses that they attended was Pipelines of Australia located at Regency Park.
The person who would oversee the payment and restocking of the coke machine at Pipelines was company accountant and paymaster Bevan Spencer von Einem. Over the 14 month period that Alan worked on the coke truck it is highly likely that he caught the eye of predator well before the world would know who he was.
After leaving school in 1977 Alan hadn’t yet built up his hours to full time and this gave him free days to visit his mate Preacher. Preacher had fallen on hard times at one point after losing his job at Gitshams Transport and was homeless. He now spent his days and nights hanging out and sleeping at the River Torrens, the very place that the boys would previously gather just for fun. Whenever he could, Alan would take food down to his unfortunate friend but ultimately the Barnes family would take young Preacher in and give him a place to call home.
The two had met a year or so earlier when