The Family Murders (Part One: The Murders)

Unresolved

Unresolved Productions

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2020

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Between 1979 and 1983, a series of heinous murders shocked Adelaide.

The victims were all young men, who had gone missing in or near the northern section of town. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 25, and most were found to have suffered brutal violence, sexual assaults, and/or body mutilation before their death. Some showed signs of prolonged captivity, while death came quick to others.

These were connections that were hard to overlook, as police began to theorize that a single offender (or, rather, a group of offenders) had been behind all of these crimes...

Part one of two

I originally covered this story back in 2017. The script has been completely re-written, and I have since added in some new/additional information.

Episode hosted, produced, and research/writing by Micheal Whelan

Original music created by Micheal Whelan through Amper Music

Theme music created and composed by Ailsa Traves

Producers: Maggyjames, Ben Krokum, Roberta Janson, Quil Carter, Peggy Belarde, Laura Hannan, Damion Moore, Amy Hampton, Scott Meesey, Steven Wilson, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Lori Rodriguez, Jessica Yount, Aimee McGregor, Danny Williams, Sue Kirk, Victoria Reid, Sara Moscaritolo, Thomas Ahearn, Marion Welsh, Seth Morgan, Sydney Scotton, Alyssa Lawton, Kelly Jo Hapgood, Patrick Laakso, Meadow Landry, Rebecca Miller, and Tatum Bautista

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode features graphic descriptions of physical and sexual violence.
0:04.7	Listener discretion is advised.
0:09.2	Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is perhaps most well-known for its beautiful scenic landscape,
0:16.0	which is wedged in between the Adelaide foothills to the east, the coastline that runs along the west
0:21.4	and down into the southern cape, and the expanse of vast Australia that lies to the north.
0:27.0	Because of this prime location, Adelaide has become one of the country's most populated areas,
0:32.8	and more than a million Australians live in the city itself, which is virtually split in half
0:38.4	by the Torrance River, which runs through the center of Adelaide. Once known as the City of Churches,
0:44.2	Adelaide began going through a stark progression in the 1960s. The Adelaide Festival of Arts,
0:50.6	also known as just Adelaide Festival, started in 1960 and led to something of a cultural revival
0:57.8	in the area. Progressive ideas began to spread out from Adelaide, but even then, progress itself
1:04.4	was rather slow to catch on throughout large chunks of South Australia. This is made apparent when
1:09.6	we look at a story from 1972, which ultimately led to derastic overholes in southern Australian
1:16.3	laws and cemented its place in the nation's history. In May of 1972, three gay men, George Duncan,
1:24.2	Roger James, and another man whose identity has been withheld in the decades since,
1:29.4	were picked up by members of South Australia's police force. In particular, they were members of the
1:35.1	vice squad who typically cracked down on moral crimes, such as gambling, narcotics, pornography,
1:41.8	and illegal substances. Because homosexuality was still outlawed in Australia at this time,
1:48.0	vice officers would often detain individuals that they believed were loitering nearby known gay
1:53.8	hotspots. On this night in particular, that included these three men. However, instead of
2:00.0	charging these men with any known crimes, the officers proceeded to throw the three men into the
2:05.0	nearby Torrance River, a practice that had become a regular one for them. While the men in the river
	...

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