Detectives swarm home of hero doctor Dr Michael Yung who was allegedly murdered at his Adelaide home - as cops probe luxury car theory

Police are investigating if a bungled car theft is behind the alleged brutal murder of Adelaide paediatrician Michael Yung who was attacked at his home in the middle of the night.

The highly-respected doctor, 61, died less than 48 hours after he was allegedly stabbed in the stomach by intruders accused of breaking into his Gilberton home in the city's north.

Now detectives are investigating a theory that the young couple charged with his murder were allegedly trying to steal one or both of the family's luxury BMWs which were in the driveway outside.

On Friday, Daily Mail Australia witnessed teams of detectives return to the crime scene and swarmed Dr Young's home and his street as the investigation continued.

Kerem Aydin, 22, and Jacinta Davila, 27, were arrested in a dramatic police swoop outside a supermarket on Tuesday and later charged with Dr Yung's murder.

Court documents reveal police will allege the couple had broken in through a first floor window and were 'trespassers' when they were confronted by Dr Yung.

The documents allege police believe the couple intended to steal 'property of the value of more than $30,000', and 'used or threatened to use an offensive weapon'.

It is understood one line of police inquiry is whether the luxury cars out the front may have been a target of the alleged theft attempt.

Dr Yung was found dying from fatal injuries in his home at 4.30am on Monday and was rushed to hospital where medics fought to save him, but he died on Tuesday. 

His 30-year-old son was at the $2million home in Adelaide's inner north at the time of the alleged attack and police will allege they arrived to find him 'distraught'.

Dr Yung - the former head of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Women's and Children's Hospital - was rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital.

He was put in an induced coma after emergency surgery, before his life support was switched off just over 24 hours later.

His family - including relatives who flew interstate to be by his bedside - made the heartbreaking decision after doctors told them his injuries were 'non-survivable'.

His alleged killers, from the inner western suburb of Thebarton, were arrested at a shopping centre in neighbouring Torrensville on Tuesday night.

Footage showed Aydin being tackled to the ground by a plain-clothes police officer at about 7.30pm.

Davila was then seen running away out of the mall while pushing their eight-month-old child in a pram, before she also was arrested by heavily armed officers from the Special Tasks And Rescue squad.

Police allege the couple stole a first-aid kit from Chemist Warehouse at the plaza to treat Aydin's injuries and shoplifted at Drake's Foodland store just prior to their arrest.

The couple have been charged with one count each of murder, aggravated serious criminal trespass and committing theft using force.

They appeared at Adelaide Magistrates Court via video link on Wednesday. Aydin, sporting a bandage over a bruised and swollen left eye, did not apply for bail.

Davila, who sobbed throughout her appearance, will return to court next Wednesday when the court will consider releasing her on home detention bail.

Her lawyer said she was the sole carer of the pair's eight-month-old baby and remaining in custody throughout a lengthy trial would bring undue hardship on the child.

The pair had unsuccessfully attempted co-parenting after the child was conceived during a one-night stand, he said. 

The area has been plagued by a series of car thefts recently, where the thieves have broken into ritzy homes and stolen car keys before driving off in the luxury vehicles.

CCTV footage from a neighbouring home just a few days earlier showed a gang of five men attempting to steal another car in the same street. 

SA Police Detective Superintendent Des Bray said detectives had been working closely with officers from Operation Mandrake, which was set up to investigate a spate of recent car thefts.

'[Operation Mandrake] involves up to 15 incidents where people are either trying to break into homes or steal vehicles at Gilberton, Walkerville, Medindie, Henley Beach, Fulham, and Tennyson,' said Supt Bray.

He added that Dr Yung was probably targeted 'because of his vehicle or small items they could steal'.

On Thursday, Dr Yung's brother Simon said he did not believe the surgeon knew his alleged killers, and described him as a 'truly selfless man'.

'My brother Michael had a heart bigger than himself,' he told 7News.

'He worked literally on a dirt floor to set up an intensive care paediatric unit. And God only knows how many lives he saved or made better and that is typical of him.'

Dr Yung was the former head of the Women's and Children's Hospital paediatric intensive care unit and had practised medicine for almost four decades.

He established an ICU in Kenya, and also practiced in remote Aboriginal communities.

The paediatrician's death is the most recent tragedy for his family after Kathryn Browne-Yung, his health policy expert wife, suddenly died in her sleep in March 2020.

Shortly after her death Dr Yung created a $5,000 scholarship to support Indigenous medical students in the name of his 'kind, thoughtful and intelligent' wife.

'He would put every cent that he made doing locum work into that scholarship fund,' Simon Yung said.

His family have requested for donations to be made to the Kathryn Browne-Yung Scholarship Fund in lieu of flowers.