From the Archives: Mount Gambier Doctor and the Murder Mystery

Neil Muir, 25, was brutally murdered in North Adelaide in 1979

In 1980, a doctor based in Mount Gambier was charged with the brutal murder of a man in North Adelaide.

Dr Peter Millhouse was a medical practitioner, formerly of Elizabeth Street in Mount Gambier.

"The Family"
Between 1979 and 1983, the South Australian public were coming to terms with a series of murders which would soon be referred to as "The Family Murders".

In total, five men were murdered by a close-knit group of men from Adelaide known as "The Family" who were known to abduct, drug, sexually abuse, murder and mutilate young men in the Adelaide area.

Neil Muir
Neil Muir was the second victim, with his body being found on the 28th of August, 1979.
Two fishermen spotted a plastic bag floating on the Port River, which seemed to contain a human foot, and promptly reported it to the police, who eventually located the dismembered body parts of Mr Muir.

The body had been neatly dissected into pieces, the head tied to the body with a rope, and many body parts inserted into the abdominal cavity.

Mr Muir was 25, and known to move from place to place, with no fixed address. He was also known to frequent a number of nightclubs and hotels in Hindley Street, and was known to be a heavy user of heroin.

Dr Millhouse Charged
In court, it was alleged that  Dr Millhouse had known Mr Muir for a considerable amount of time, and was seen with him just days prior to his death. It had also been alleged that with the manner in which Mr Muir was mutilated, it was obviously performed by a surgeon, but in his defense Dr Millhouse claimed that he was a "totally inadequate" surgeon.

Circumstantial, forensic and confessional evidence against the doctor, and over 60 witnesses over the course of the trial, was not enough for a conviction, with Dr Millhouse being found not guilty, and acquitted of any involvement.

A reward for $200,000 is still up on offer for any information which leads to a conviction in the matter.


In July of this year, Dr Peter Leslie Millhouse passed away at a retirement home in New South Wales at the age of 80.

Source: The Advertiser, SA Crimestoppers, Networked Knowledge.