Bevan Spencer von Einem

Bevan Spencer von Einem
Bevan Spencer von Einem appearing in Adelaide Magistrates Court in 2008
Born	Bevan Spencer von Einem c. 1945 (age 71–72)
Other names	Bevan von Einem
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment
Conviction(s)	Murder
Killings
Victims	Convicted of 1, suspected of 5+
Span of killings	1979–1983
Country	Australia
State(s)	South Australia
Date apprehended	3 November 1983

Bevan Spencer von Einem (born c. 1945), also known as Bevan von Einem, is a convicted child murderer from Adelaide, South Australia and suspected serial killer. An accountant by profession, he was convicted in 1984 for the murder of 15-year-old Adelaide teenager Richard Kelvin, the son of local TV personality Rob Kelvin, and is currently serving life imprisonment in Port Augusta Prison.

Bevan Spencer 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 Einem, who was driving past. Einem then took James to Royal Adelaide Hospital. James later declined to identify his attackers.

Within days it was suspected that the group of men who had killed Duncan were three senior Vice Squad police officers. Witnesses claimed that the detectives had also been accompanied by a tall man in plain clothes who was never identified. The detectives were called upon to give evidence at the Coroner's Inquiry, but they refused to answer any of the questions put to them and were subsequently suspended from duty and eventually resigned. The subsequent investigation, which called the incident a "high spirited frolic gone wrong", failed to find sufficient evidence to prosecute any of the officers. On 30 July 1985 former Vice Squad officer Mick O'Shea told The Advertiser newspaper that the group involved were Vice Squad officers and that there had been a cover-up to protect them. A task force was set up, and on 5 February 1986 two former police officers were charged with the manslaughter of George Duncan. Both were eventually found not guilty, after refusing to testify.