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There is an old saying along the lines of some
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people only hate you because of the way other people
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love you. That's the thing about jealousy. It stems from
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someone having something that someone else desperately wishes they had
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or from the desire to keep someone or something all
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to oneself. Jealousy, as many of you know, can bring
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people to do crazy things. But just how far would
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jealousy drive someone to feel that they too could have everything?
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What is up, EWU crew? Today, we will be covering
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the twisted case of Rachel Barber and see just how
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jealousy drove someone to murder. This is the case of
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a missing teenage girl, an intricate series of clues, one
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fateful phone call, and envy so strong it led someone
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to kill. If you enjoy true crime, mysteries, and true stories,
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be sure to hit the like button and subscribe. Now,
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let's get into it. 15-year-old Rachel Barber had absolutely everything.
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Rachel was a tall, toned, elegant Australian dancer whose elfin
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features and emerald green eyes mesmerized every person who was lucky.
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Enough to become acquainted with her.
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As she was the eldest of three children, her parents,
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Michael and Elizabeth, often thought of Rachel as a budding
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role model for her two younger sisters. The only thing
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in the world that Rachel loved as much as her
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family was dancing. As a child, she had taken ballet
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classes at the Melbourne Dance Academy after having begged her
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parents to enroll her. From Rachel's first few proper dance lessons,
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it had been exceptionally clear to Michael and Elizabeth Barber
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that Rachel's talent exceeded everyone's expectations. Rachel's household had been
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full to the brim with creative minds who understood and
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respected the creative process. So, when her parents found that
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Rachel desperately wanted to continue her dance practice at home,
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they went so far as to rip up the carpet
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in her childhood bedroom. With the old hardwood floors exposed,
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Michael and Elizabeth developed a small-scale personal dance studio for
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their eldest daughter to embrace her passion. As Rachel got
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older and her dancing skills continued to develop, it was
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evident that she was in need of new opportunities. Though
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Rachel's dance skills as a young teen were unmatched, she
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never had much of a drive for formal education. Rachel
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feared failure, like many other artists. More than that, she
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feared her potential being halted for the sake of her studies.
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In this regard, it came as no surprise to her
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parents when Rachel begged them to take her out of
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conventional high school and allow her to attend a local
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dance academy called Dance Factory instead. Michael and Elizabeth could
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not deny their daughter's inherent talent and knew all too
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well that she possessed the potential for a career on
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stage and in front of a camera. So they allowed
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Rachel to follow her dreams by agreeing to send her
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to the Dance Factory. Rachel's life consisted of a relatively
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busy schedule during the week. Wake up, get ready for school,
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have one of her parents drop her off at the
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local tramway, take the tram into a nearby neighborhood where
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one of her friends lived, meet up with her friend group, and.
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Head off to school.
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After school, she would walk back to the tramway with
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her friends and her boyfriend, Manny, before meeting up with
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her parents in the same location as in the morning.
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For all intents and purposes, Rachel's life was perfect. But
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you know what they say, sooner or later, all good
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things must come to an end. The morning of March 1st,
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1999 was like any other for the Barber family. Yet
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the events that were about to unfold would irrevocably change
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their lives forever. Rachel woke up to her alarm and
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prepared for school. As a bit of a perfectionist, she
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dressed in the outfit she had picked out the night before.
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A pair of black pants, a blue top, her favorite
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jazz shoes, jewelry, and her backpack. She grabbed some breakfast
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and headed out the door with her father. Rachel had
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never been outwardly confident in using public transport, as she
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had always been a timid individual outside of the dance
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studio or stage. In fact, Rachel's dad would drive her
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all the way to the tram station before school most
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days so that Rachel wouldn't have to take the bus
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there by herself. That was the case on that fateful
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morning of March 1st. Michael dropped Rachel off at the
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tram station around 9.30 in the morning and reminded her
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to meet him at the same location around 6.15 that
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evening when he would be off work and ready to
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pick her up. Rachel gave her father a quick hug
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and told him to have a nice day before parting
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ways with him. Perhaps if Michael had known that would
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be the last time he ever hugged his daughter, he
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would have held on a little tighter. or perhaps he
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would have never let her go in the first place.
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But sadly, we never know when life-changing events will occur,
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just as Michael had no idea the fate that would
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take his daughter. Rachel took the tram to Richmond, a
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nearby town where one of her friends from Dance Factory lived. There,
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she met up with her talented group of school friends
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and her love-struck boyfriend, Manny. Not long after Rachel transferred
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to the dance factory, she became acquainted with Manny, another
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dance student whose charm and wit leveled her own. The
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two had been almost immediately enthralled with one another and
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quickly found themselves falling in love. Their fellow classmates had
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even begun referring to the teenage couple as.
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Romeo and Juliette.
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Though their love was not unrequited nor forbidden, it was
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nonetheless Shakespearean in the sense that its beauty and promise
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was cut short by tragedy. During their walk to school,
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Rachel excitedly explained to her friends that she was going
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to make a lot of money later that night. When
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her friends urged her to tell them more, Rachel simply
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asserted that she couldn't tell them exactly how, but that
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her pockets would be sufficiently filled by the next day.
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Rachel was beautiful. That was obvious to anyone who knew
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of her. So her friends innocently assumed that her secretive
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job that evening had something to do with modeling. During
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their assigned lunch break from school, Rachel and Manny walked
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a few blocks away from the dance factory to a
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nearby shopping center called Swan Street. There, they grabbed a
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bite to eat and Rachel stopped inside one shop in
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particular to show Manny a pair of shoes that she
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had been eyeing for months. Manny looked closely at the
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gorgeous blue platform shoes. She had been eyeing them for
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as long as he could remember, but they had always
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been just a bit out of her budget. Yet, Rachel
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asked the shop attendant to put the blue platform shoes
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on hold for her and explained that she would come
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back the next day to pay for them. It was
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evident to Manny that Rachel's plans for the evening would
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leave her with a decent amount of money, but still,
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he wanted to know what the big secret was. If
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it was safe, then why couldn't she tell him anything
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about it? He asked her again what exactly she was
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going to be doing. Instead, she simply told Manny that
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she would be meeting up with an old friend that
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night who had managed to get her a job, and
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it was supposed to remain a secret. Rachel explained that
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the work was harmless, and she would be making a
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bunch of money and even getting to take home.
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Some free clothes.
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Whatever excitement Rachel had been feeling that moment had completely
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clouded her judgment of the situation. Although Manny continued to
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express his curiosity and concern, Rachel decided to keep the secret.
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What she couldn't have known at the time was that
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secrets can often turn out to be deadly. As classes
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came to an end at the dance factory at 5.35,
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Rachel and her friends grabbed their things and began walking
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towards the tram station to head to their respective homes.
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Manny would remember that Rachel gave him a long, drawn-out
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goodbye hug, told him that she loved him, and stated
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that she would call him later that night when she
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got home. The image of Rachel walking away from him
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that day would remain forever ingrained.
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In his memory.
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Instead of continuing with her usual routine, Rachel abruptly explained
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that she needed to catch a different train to meet
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up with someone. As she had already explained that she
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had a job that evening, her friends didn't question Rachel's
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sudden departure. Rachel's mother, Elizabeth, would remember the exact time
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that she looked up at the clock as she prepared
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dinner that night, wondering why at 6.15, Michael and Rachel
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were taking so long to come home. The two were
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usually extremely punctual and rarely arrived home after 6.15 on
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any given school night. It wasn't until 7.40 PM that
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Elizabeth was given an ounce of hope when the phone rang.
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She picked it up in a hurry and was extremely
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relieved to hear Michael's voice on the other end. However,
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the relief left Elizabeth as fast as it had entered
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when Michael explained that Rachel had never shown up at
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their regular meeting spot.
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Elizabeth.
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And Michael were rightfully worried when they realized that neither
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of them had heard from Rachel since she was dropped
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off at the tram station that morning, especially considering that
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Rachel had been followed home once or twice by strange
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men in the past. More so than that, Rachel was
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afraid of the dark. Elizabeth immediately called the Box Hill
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Police Department to report Rachel missing. Much to the barber's dismay,
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the authorities had other ideas. A distressed Elizabeth and Michael
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were essentially told that all teens go through a phase
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where they rebel against their household. They run away to
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feel alive before returning home eventually. Hearing their plea to
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find their missing daughter, the police were certain that Rachel
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had simply gotten caught up with her friends and would
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come back home when she wanted to. Officers simply told
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Elizabeth and Michael to go about their evening and remain calm.
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There was no need for a massive search. It may
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be true that some teens run away, but Rachel had
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never been a rebellious teen. In fact, she was quite
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the opposite. The Barbers were a family that relied on
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open communication with each other, and Rachel had been able
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to confide in her parents whenever necessary. If something was
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going on, she would have let them know. Desperate to
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find their missing daughter, the Barbers decided to conduct their
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own search. They called Manny and asked him if Rachel
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had been with him, to which he said no. Realizing
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that Rachel could be in serious danger, he told them
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what Rachel had said on their lunch break. To the
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best of his ability, Manny informed the barbers of Rachel's
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secretive plans for the evening, plans that they had.
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No idea were in place.
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After calling around to the other members of Rachel's friend group,
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Michael and Elizabeth soon found out that Rachel had split
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off from the others on the way home and taken
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off in a different direction. With this new information, the
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barbers returned to the Box Hill Police Station once more
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and Elizabeth pleaded with the officers on duty to file
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a missing persons report. Yet again, the barbers were denied
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any help from the police as they insisted Rachel was
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just another runaway case and would be a waste of
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their time and resources. The barbers were forced to go
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home without any information about what may have happened to
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their beautiful and gifted daughter. The next morning, there was
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still no trace of Rachel anywhere. As the police department
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had been no help, the Barbers decided to continue the
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search for their daughter themselves. Elizabeth and Michael drove all
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over town, handing out flyers and asking anyone if they
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had seen Rachel. Manny had mentioned to them that Rachel
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had put a pair of shoes on hold at the
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shopping center near their academy, so the barbers headed that
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way to investigate. The clerk at the shop remarked that
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Rachel had not come in to pick up the shoes
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she had so desperately wanted. It was starting to seem
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like she had vanished into thin air. Their worry deepened
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when another shop attendant told them a man had come
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to the shopping center a few weeks prior. attempting to
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recruit girls to come work for his completely legal brothel
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in Fitzroy. This man, as it had turned out, was
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a recently released prisoner. Terrified that their daughter could have
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ended up in such a place, Michael and Elizabeth called
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the brothel themselves to ask if anyone matching Rachel's description
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was working there. To their surprise, the people working at
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the brothel asserted that they never recruited people off the street,
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and they never hired underage girls to protect the legality
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of their establishment. Despite their obvious relief, the barbers once
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again found.
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Themselves at a dead end.
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After receiving no help from the local law enforcement, the
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Richmond and Box Hill communities bound together to aid the
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barbers in their search for Rachel. By the third day
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of Rachel's disappearance, the Box Hill Police Department found themselves
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collapsing under the community's mounting pressure as many people criticized
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their lack of concern.
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For a missing young girl.
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Eventually, the authorities promised to help search for Rachel, stating
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that they would start by interviewing people from the dance factory.
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As it had turned out, those interviews never actually happened,
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and the police never explained why. However, they did end
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up interviewing Manny, as many missing person cases led to
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a guilty boyfriend having murdered their partner in a fit
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of jealous rage.
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When law enforcement.
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Realized that Manny had a solid alibi and could not
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have been a factor in Rachel's disappearance, they came to
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the conclusion that she really must have run away. Investigators
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assumed that Manny had gotten Rachel pregnant, and she had
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subsequently run away because she had been too afraid to
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tell her parents. Over and over again, Manny asserted that
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there was no truth to the investigators' claims. The barbers
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sided with Manny as they knew that Rachel could tell
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them anything without fear of anger or disappointment. Again, they
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felt that the investigation had come to a standstill. That is,
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until a crucial piece of information was brought to light.
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A family friend of the Barbers named Allison only learned
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of Rachel's recent disappearance on March 4th and reached out immediately.
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As it had turned out, Allison had seen Rachel on
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the day that she had gone missing. Allison recalled that
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Rachel and another girl had been at the East Richmond
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Railway Station waiting for the 6th tram. Allison had overheard
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the two girls chatting, as teenage girls do.
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About boys, school, and dance.
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Allison had even been on the 6th tram with them
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for a while and saw the two girls get off
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at the intersection of High Street and Williams Road. Police
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were able to confirm this sighting in reviewing the CCTV
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footage from the tram station. The investigators on Rachel's case
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released the information they had to the local news. The
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story of Rachel's sudden disappearance took off across the media.
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and Rachel's name was even added to Australia's most wanted list.
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For a moment, the entire country was hoping to find
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one missing teenage girl. With pressure from the entire country,
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the police department asked the Barbers to come up with
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a list of all known acquaintances associated with the family.
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Over the course of the week since Rachel had gone missing,
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a variety of friends and family members had started calling
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the Barber residence to express their condolences. One such family
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friend was an old neighbor of the Barbers, Caroline Reed Robertson.
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Caroline and her family had lost touch with the Barbers
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in recent years. In fact, the only reason Elizabeth and
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00:17:10.589 --> 00:17:13.849
Michael had even remembered to put Caroline on their list
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00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:17.289
of acquaintances of the family was that Caroline had called
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00:17:17.309 --> 00:17:22.359
the Barber house on March 7th around 9.15pm to inquire
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00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.859
about Rachel's disappearance. But this would prove crucial.
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The call had.
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Been short and sweet, not unlike any other calls the
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00:17:31.930 --> 00:17:36.839
Barbers had received regarding Rachel. After having pulled the Barbers'
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phone records for investigative purposes, the police were particularly interested
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in the calls made prior to Rachel's disappearance. As it
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00:17:46.539 --> 00:17:50.519
had turned out, Caroline had apparently called the Barber household
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on February 28th around 5.25 p.m., not once, but twice.
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even though the girls had not been in contact for years.
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Both calls had lasted around 15 to 30 minutes, respectively.
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Police quickly informed.
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00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.940
The barbers that Caroline had been renting an apartment in
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the town near the location where Rachel had last been
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seen getting off the tram. The barbers were instantly relieved,
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assuming that perhaps the police were right and Rachel had
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run away to Caroline's. After all, Caroline had been Rachel's
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00:18:25.970 --> 00:18:30.769
babysitter when she was younger. Police tracked down Caroline's workplace,
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00:18:31.150 --> 00:18:34.970
an electronics shop nearby her apartment, and headed that way
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to interview her. However, upon arrival, the officers were surprised
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00:18:40.019 --> 00:18:43.039
to find that Caroline had called out of work that day.
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They were even more surprised to find that Caroline had
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called out of work on the first of the month,
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the same day Rachel had gone missing. According to her manager,
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Caroline had shown up for work again on the 2nd
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00:18:59.420 --> 00:19:01.539
and then called out the rest of the week because
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she had come down with some kind of flu. Police
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interviewed Caroline's neighbors, who recalled having awoken in the early
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hours of March 2nd to a person sobbing from the
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direction of Caroline's bedroom. No other information was given aside
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00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:20.369
from the notion that the sobbing sounded similar to that
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of a furious tantrum held by a toddler. Police soon
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00:19:24.789 --> 00:19:27.779
discovered that Caroline's father had come to visit her when
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he had found out that she had been sick. When
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being interviewed by police, Caroline's father recalled that the entire
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00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:37.279
time he had been in his daughter's apartment, she had
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kept her bedroom door shut and locked. Caroline's co-workers informed
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the police that she had recently asked for some money
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from a few of the employees from the electronics shop.
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She apparently intended to have some furniture brought up to
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one of her dad's properties during the week and needed
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00:19:55.029 --> 00:19:58.990
the cash to pay the moving company. Caroline could not drive,
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so she had hired someone to take her things for her.
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00:20:02.349 --> 00:20:05.759
This turned out to be true. On March 4th, a
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00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:09.259
driver arrived at Caroline's apartment and Caroline told him that
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00:20:09.299 --> 00:20:12.460
she needed to move a statue. The statue had been
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pre-wrapped by Caroline in blankets and carpets and stuffed into
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00:20:16.130 --> 00:20:19.609
a duffel bag for carrying. The duffel bag, along with
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00:20:19.670 --> 00:20:22.509
some other pieces of furniture, were placed inside of the
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00:20:22.549 --> 00:20:26.230
driver's truck and taken to Caroline's father's hobby farm in
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00:20:26.289 --> 00:20:31.950
rural Kilmore. Around 9 a.m. on March 12th, investigators decided
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to pay a visit to Caroline's apartment. expecting to find
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00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:41.529
a rebellious Rachel Barber hidden inside. When they arrived, however,
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00:20:41.710 --> 00:20:45.819
there was no trace of anyone at all. Officers came
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00:20:45.859 --> 00:20:48.960
back to the apartment around five o'clock PM to see
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00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:52.299
if there had been any change. This time, when no
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one answered the door, the officers decided to let themselves in.
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The apartment was messy, but nothing seemed out of the
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00:21:00.579 --> 00:21:05.549
ordinary initially. That is until they opened the bedroom door
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00:21:05.730 --> 00:21:10.789
to find Caroline face down on the carpet. At first,
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00:21:10.890 --> 00:21:15.380
investigators thought she was dead as she was unresponsive. After
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00:21:15.450 --> 00:21:18.799
checking her pulse, they realized that she was still alive,
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but appeared to have suffered a seizure. Caroline was immediately
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rushed to the hospital, but some of the officers decided
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to stick around and look for any trace of Rachel
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00:21:29.180 --> 00:21:33.289
in her apartment. investigators were not sure what they had
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00:21:33.349 --> 00:21:37.549
expected to find, but they were surprised to discover a
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00:21:37.609 --> 00:21:41.089
bag of size 8 clothes that were far too small
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00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:45.369
for Caroline and various scribble-filled notebooks littering the tables and
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00:21:45.470 --> 00:21:51.450
chairs of the apartment. At first glance, the notebooks appeared insignificant. However,
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00:21:51.569 --> 00:21:54.569
after taking a closer look, it was clear that the
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00:21:54.630 --> 00:21:58.089
notebooks were filled to the brim with copious notes and
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00:21:58.170 --> 00:22:04.410
deeply personal information about none other than Rachel Barber. Among
357
00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:09.119
the seemingly endless handwritten biographies on her old neighbor were
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00:22:09.180 --> 00:22:12.960
papers in Caroline's handwriting that indicated that she had planned
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00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.519
on changing her name. More than that, she had plans
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00:22:16.579 --> 00:22:20.700
to get plastic surgery and completely reconstruct her facial features.
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00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:25.480
The notebooks also asserted that Caroline had been looking forward
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00:22:25.549 --> 00:22:28.130
to moving to nearby Byron Bay in.
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The near future.
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Caroline had been planning to start her life over as
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00:22:33.089 --> 00:22:37.470
someone new. The legal paperwork to change her name held
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the final chilling clue for the officers. The name Caroline
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00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:48.720
had chosen was none other than Rachel Barber. Investigators quickly
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00:22:48.859 --> 00:22:52.730
rushed to the hospital to interrogate. When they arrived, they
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00:22:52.789 --> 00:22:56.430
found that Caroline had regained consciousness from her epileptic fit.
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Law enforcement took the opportunity to ask Caroline some questions
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about Rachel in hopes that they could find a clue
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as to where she was. Officers were shocked when Caroline
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stated coldly, she's dead. Investigators quickly searched the land belonging
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00:23:15.250 --> 00:23:18.769
to Caroline's father. During their search, they came across a
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00:23:18.849 --> 00:23:22.329
shallow grave in a wooded area near a creek. It
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00:23:22.390 --> 00:23:26.589
was inside this grave that officers found the lifeless body
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00:23:26.730 --> 00:23:31.059
of 15-year-old Rachel Barber, with a black telephone wire wrapped
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00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:31.970
around her neck.
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She had been strangled to death.
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00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:39.559
Caroline was later discharged and immediately taken into police custody.
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At her trial, it was noted that she had suffered
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years of emotional trauma, depression, extreme introverted personality, and had
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00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:50.180
often pleaded with her parents to help her with her
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00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:50.829
mental health.
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00:23:51.609 --> 00:23:56.029
Pretty Rachel Barber diarised her deadly fantasies, then killed her
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00:23:56.089 --> 00:23:59.490
in a jealous rage. Caroline Reid Robertson is eligible for
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00:23:59.539 --> 00:24:00.599
release next year.
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00:24:00.619 --> 00:24:02.240
I'm really fearful of this.
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00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:06.079
I mean, I spoke to the victims' register and I said,
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00:24:06.099 --> 00:24:09.309
I don't want Caroline to come looking for us. Reed
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00:24:09.349 --> 00:24:13.009
Robertson was jailed for 20 years in 2000. Her innocent
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00:24:13.029 --> 00:24:15.549
victim's parents have penned a letter of warning to the
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00:24:15.589 --> 00:24:18.829
parole board, which will assess her in July and look
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at whether she should be released.
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00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:23.880
After her arrest, she was diagnosed with a deeply entrenched
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00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:28.619
personality disorder, which is usually a coping response to difficult
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00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:33.160
and adverse situations. Caroline's journals over the years stated that
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00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:36.700
she thought of herself as a troubled, tortured, lost soul
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00:24:37.180 --> 00:24:41.720
thrown into an alien environment full of angels. Her journal
400
00:24:41.829 --> 00:24:46.250
also revealed her detailed plans to lure and kill Rachel Barber.
401
00:24:47.210 --> 00:24:49.769
On the way to dance school, say that she can't
402
00:24:49.809 --> 00:24:52.430
tell anyone that she's meeting me, as I'm not allowed
403
00:24:52.470 --> 00:24:56.470
to give the study results to anyone. Ethics, highly confidential.
404
00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:01.519
Not even your boyfriend or parent. drug Rachel, toxic over mouth,
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00:25:02.099 --> 00:25:05.640
put body in army bag and disfigure, and dump somewhere
406
00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:10.799
way out. Court documents reveal that Caroline carried out this
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00:25:10.900 --> 00:25:15.359
premeditated plan closely to how she described it. She had
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00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:18.099
told Rachel that she had a quick and easy way
409
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:22.079
for her to make $ 100 by participating in a psychology study,
410
00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:24.700
but that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it.
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00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:29.450
Just as Caroline planned, Rachel had been true to her word.
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00:25:30.390 --> 00:25:34.299
When Rachel arrived, Caroline drugged Rachel's pizza before placing the
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00:25:34.339 --> 00:25:39.099
telephone cord around her neck and strangling her. Disturbingly, Caroline
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00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:42.299
had kept Rachel's body in her closet for two whole
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00:25:42.380 --> 00:25:45.480
days as she pretended to be ill, with the telephone
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00:25:45.539 --> 00:25:49.640
cord still around her victim's neck before finally moving the body.
417
00:25:50.339 --> 00:25:54.069
For two days, Caroline had the reminder of her evil
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00:25:54.150 --> 00:25:58.049
deed hidden in her closet. When her father had visited,
419
00:25:58.170 --> 00:26:01.509
Caroline refused to let him into her apartment, knowing that
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00:26:01.609 --> 00:26:04.579
Rachel's body was right there and he would find it.
421
00:26:05.230 --> 00:26:07.910
The movers had no idea that when they showed up
422
00:26:07.950 --> 00:26:11.710
to remove a statue from Caroline's apartment, they had actually
423
00:26:11.769 --> 00:26:16.900
carried out Rachel Barber's body. In court, it was revealed
424
00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:20.700
that Caroline has been obsessed with Rachel for years, as
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00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:24.420
she had filled journals with details about Rachel and her life.
426
00:26:25.319 --> 00:26:28.640
In fact, Caroline had been jealous of Rachel's life since
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00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.589
she used to babysit her as a child. As a
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00:26:31.630 --> 00:26:35.369
beautiful dancer with a promising career, Caroline would watch how
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00:26:35.430 --> 00:26:39.509
people flocked to spend time with Rachel, unable to help
430
00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:42.490
the growing resentment she had for the young girl who
431
00:26:42.529 --> 00:26:46.220
had been in her care. Caroline had been five years
432
00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:49.900
older than Rachel and never properly fit in with any
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00:26:49.940 --> 00:26:52.900
of the Barber children or her own siblings as they
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00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:56.289
grew up together. According to her journals, she had been
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00:26:56.349 --> 00:26:59.990
severely bullied her entire life for her weight and looks
436
00:27:00.170 --> 00:27:04.880
and regarded herself as a misfit. In Caroline's eyes, Rachel
437
00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:10.079
had everything while she had nothing. So Caroline killed Rachel
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00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:13.720
in hopes that she could assume her identity and become her.
439
00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:18.230
This is why Caroline had chosen to legally change her
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00:27:18.289 --> 00:27:22.289
name to Rachel Barber. By killing and taking her name,
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00:27:22.650 --> 00:27:25.589
Caroline hoped it would mean she could finally become the
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00:27:25.630 --> 00:27:30.309
person she had been jealous of for years. Caroline Reed
443
00:27:30.410 --> 00:27:34.750
Robertson was charged with the premeditated murder of Rachel Barber,
444
00:27:35.150 --> 00:27:38.279
despite the fact that she claimed to have no recollection
445
00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:41.940
of the events while on trial. Caroline asserted that she
446
00:27:41.980 --> 00:27:43.960
had been in a daze at the time that she
447
00:27:44.019 --> 00:27:49.339
murdered Rachel. To her psychologist, Mr. Michael Crudson, who treated
448
00:27:49.380 --> 00:27:52.569
her while in prison, Caroline revealed that there had been
449
00:27:52.609 --> 00:27:56.670
a moment where she considered not killing Rachel. Just for
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00:27:56.710 --> 00:27:59.369
a moment, the veil lifted and I didn't want to
451
00:27:59.410 --> 00:28:02.509
do it. But something said that I was in so
452
00:28:02.549 --> 00:28:05.329
much trouble now, I had to, and it was as
453
00:28:05.410 --> 00:28:09.049
though the veil had been dropped again. A year and
454
00:28:09.089 --> 00:28:12.640
a half after Rachel was murdered, Caroline was sentenced to
455
00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:17.099
20 years in prison with the possibility of parole. Caroline
456
00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:23.130
allegedly never expressed any remorse for her crime. And in 2014,
457
00:28:23.130 --> 00:28:27.849
after serving 15 years of her 20-year sentence, Caroline's application
458
00:28:27.890 --> 00:28:34.180
for parole was actually approved. In January of 2015, the
459
00:28:34.579 --> 00:28:38.089
cold-blooded killer who murdered one of her childhood friends out.
460
00:28:38.049 --> 00:28:39.849
Of jealousy was released.
461
00:28:40.769 --> 00:28:46.829
Rachel's family has no real closure for their daughter's untimely demise. Rather,
462
00:28:46.950 --> 00:28:50.099
they worry about the safety of the individuals in any
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00:28:50.150 --> 00:28:54.700
community that Caroline finds herself in. they will live knowing
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00:28:54.859 --> 00:28:58.279
that Caroline may strike again and take another life at
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00:28:58.380 --> 00:29:01.829
some point in the hopes of making her own life better.
466
00:29:02.769 --> 00:29:08.250
Perhaps most disturbingly, Caroline radically changed her appearance while in jail,
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00:29:08.849 --> 00:29:13.069
losing weight and changing her hair in order to mimic Rachel.
468
00:29:13.390 --> 00:29:18.339
Seeing her, Rachel's own mother remarked that something in Caroline's
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00:29:18.579 --> 00:29:21.839
eyes looked just like her deceased daughter.
1
00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:03.450
There is an old saying along the lines of some
2
00:00:03.509 --> 00:00:06.509
people only hate you because of the way other people
3
00:00:06.549 --> 00:00:10.919
love you. That's the thing about jealousy. It stems from
4
00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:15.160
someone having something that someone else desperately wishes they had
5
00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:19.579
or from the desire to keep someone or something all
6
00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:24.420
to oneself. Jealousy, as many of you know, can bring
7
00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:28.929
people to do crazy things. But just how far would
8
00:00:29.010 --> 00:00:33.590
jealousy drive someone to feel that they too could have everything?
9
00:00:35.270 --> 00:00:39.159
What is up, EWU crew? Today, we will be covering
10
00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:43.460
the twisted case of Rachel Barber and see just how
11
00:00:43.579 --> 00:00:48.009
jealousy drove someone to murder. This is the case of
12
00:00:48.090 --> 00:00:52.329
a missing teenage girl, an intricate series of clues, one
13
00:00:52.490 --> 00:00:57.380
fateful phone call, and envy so strong it led someone
14
00:00:57.460 --> 00:01:03.420
to kill. If you enjoy true crime, mysteries, and true stories,
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be sure to hit the like button and subscribe. Now,
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let's get into it. 15-year-old Rachel Barber had absolutely everything.
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Rachel was a tall, toned, elegant Australian dancer whose elfin
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features and emerald green eyes mesmerized every person who was lucky.
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Enough to become acquainted with her.
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As she was the eldest of three children, her parents,
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Michael and Elizabeth, often thought of Rachel as a budding
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role model for her two younger sisters. The only thing
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in the world that Rachel loved as much as her
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family was dancing. As a child, she had taken ballet
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classes at the Melbourne Dance Academy after having begged her
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parents to enroll her. From Rachel's first few proper dance lessons,
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it had been exceptionally clear to Michael and Elizabeth Barber
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that Rachel's talent exceeded everyone's expectations. Rachel's household had been
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full to the brim with creative minds who understood and
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respected the creative process. So, when her parents found that
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Rachel desperately wanted to continue her dance practice at home,
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they went so far as to rip up the carpet
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in her childhood bedroom. With the old hardwood floors exposed,
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Michael and Elizabeth developed a small-scale personal dance studio for
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their eldest daughter to embrace her passion. As Rachel got
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older and her dancing skills continued to develop, it was
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evident that she was in need of new opportunities. Though
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Rachel's dance skills as a young teen were unmatched, she
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never had much of a drive for formal education. Rachel
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feared failure, like many other artists. More than that, she
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feared her potential being halted for the sake of her studies.
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In this regard, it came as no surprise to her
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parents when Rachel begged them to take her out of
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conventional high school and allow her to attend a local
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dance academy called Dance Factory instead. Michael and Elizabeth could
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not deny their daughter's inherent talent and knew all too
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well that she possessed the potential for a career on
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stage and in front of a camera. So they allowed
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Rachel to follow her dreams by agreeing to send her
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to the Dance Factory. Rachel's life consisted of a relatively
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busy schedule during the week. Wake up, get ready for school,
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have one of her parents drop her off at the
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local tramway, take the tram into a nearby neighborhood where
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one of her friends lived, meet up with her friend group, and.
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Head off to school.
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After school, she would walk back to the tramway with
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her friends and her boyfriend, Manny, before meeting up with
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her parents in the same location as in the morning.
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For all intents and purposes, Rachel's life was perfect. But
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you know what they say, sooner or later, all good
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things must come to an end. The morning of March 1st,
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1999 was like any other for the Barber family. Yet
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the events that were about to unfold would irrevocably change
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their lives forever. Rachel woke up to her alarm and
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prepared for school. As a bit of a perfectionist, she
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dressed in the outfit she had picked out the night before.
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A pair of black pants, a blue top, her favorite
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jazz shoes, jewelry, and her backpack. She grabbed some breakfast
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and headed out the door with her father. Rachel had
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never been outwardly confident in using public transport, as she
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had always been a timid individual outside of the dance
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studio or stage. In fact, Rachel's dad would drive her
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all the way to the tram station before school most
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days so that Rachel wouldn't have to take the bus
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there by herself. That was the case on that fateful
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morning of March 1st. Michael dropped Rachel off at the
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tram station around 9.30 in the morning and reminded her
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to meet him at the same location around 6.15 that
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evening when he would be off work and ready to
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pick her up. Rachel gave her father a quick hug
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and told him to have a nice day before parting
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ways with him. Perhaps if Michael had known that would
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be the last time he ever hugged his daughter, he
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would have held on a little tighter. or perhaps he
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would have never let her go in the first place.
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But sadly, we never know when life-changing events will occur,
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just as Michael had no idea the fate that would
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take his daughter. Rachel took the tram to Richmond, a
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nearby town where one of her friends from Dance Factory lived. There,
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she met up with her talented group of school friends
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and her love-struck boyfriend, Manny. Not long after Rachel transferred
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to the dance factory, she became acquainted with Manny, another
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dance student whose charm and wit leveled her own. The
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two had been almost immediately enthralled with one another and
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quickly found themselves falling in love. Their fellow classmates had
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even begun referring to the teenage couple as.
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Romeo and Juliette.
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Though their love was not unrequited nor forbidden, it was
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nonetheless Shakespearean in the sense that its beauty and promise
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was cut short by tragedy. During their walk to school,
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Rachel excitedly explained to her friends that she was going
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to make a lot of money later that night. When
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her friends urged her to tell them more, Rachel simply
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asserted that she couldn't tell them exactly how, but that
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her pockets would be sufficiently filled by the next day.
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Rachel was beautiful. That was obvious to anyone who knew
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of her. So her friends innocently assumed that her secretive
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job that evening had something to do with modeling. During
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their assigned lunch break from school, Rachel and Manny walked
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a few blocks away from the dance factory to a
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nearby shopping center called Swan Street. There, they grabbed a
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bite to eat and Rachel stopped inside one shop in
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particular to show Manny a pair of shoes that she
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had been eyeing for months. Manny looked closely at the
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gorgeous blue platform shoes. She had been eyeing them for
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as long as he could remember, but they had always
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been just a bit out of her budget. Yet, Rachel
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asked the shop attendant to put the blue platform shoes
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on hold for her and explained that she would come
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back the next day to pay for them. It was
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evident to Manny that Rachel's plans for the evening would
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leave her with a decent amount of money, but still,
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he wanted to know what the big secret was. If
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it was safe, then why couldn't she tell him anything
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about it? He asked her again what exactly she was
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going to be doing. Instead, she simply told Manny that
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she would be meeting up with an old friend that
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night who had managed to get her a job, and
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it was supposed to remain a secret. Rachel explained that
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the work was harmless, and she would be making a
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bunch of money and even getting to take home.
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Some free clothes.
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Whatever excitement Rachel had been feeling that moment had completely
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clouded her judgment of the situation. Although Manny continued to
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express his curiosity and concern, Rachel decided to keep the secret.
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What she couldn't have known at the time was that
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secrets can often turn out to be deadly. As classes
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came to an end at the dance factory at 5.35,
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Rachel and her friends grabbed their things and began walking
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towards the tram station to head to their respective homes.
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Manny would remember that Rachel gave him a long, drawn-out
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goodbye hug, told him that she loved him, and stated
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that she would call him later that night when she
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got home. The image of Rachel walking away from him
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that day would remain forever ingrained.
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In his memory.
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Instead of continuing with her usual routine, Rachel abruptly explained
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that she needed to catch a different train to meet
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up with someone. As she had already explained that she
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had a job that evening, her friends didn't question Rachel's
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sudden departure. Rachel's mother, Elizabeth, would remember the exact time
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that she looked up at the clock as she prepared
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dinner that night, wondering why at 6.15, Michael and Rachel
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were taking so long to come home. The two were
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usually extremely punctual and rarely arrived home after 6.15 on
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any given school night. It wasn't until 7.40 PM that
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Elizabeth was given an ounce of hope when the phone rang.
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She picked it up in a hurry and was extremely
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relieved to hear Michael's voice on the other end. However,
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the relief left Elizabeth as fast as it had entered
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when Michael explained that Rachel had never shown up at
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their regular meeting spot.
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Elizabeth.
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And Michael were rightfully worried when they realized that neither
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of them had heard from Rachel since she was dropped
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off at the tram station that morning, especially considering that
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Rachel had been followed home once or twice by strange
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men in the past. More so than that, Rachel was
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afraid of the dark. Elizabeth immediately called the Box Hill
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Police Department to report Rachel missing. Much to the barber's dismay,
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the authorities had other ideas. A distressed Elizabeth and Michael
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were essentially told that all teens go through a phase
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where they rebel against their household. They run away to
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feel alive before returning home eventually. Hearing their plea to
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find their missing daughter, the police were certain that Rachel
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had simply gotten caught up with her friends and would
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come back home when she wanted to. Officers simply told
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Elizabeth and Michael to go about their evening and remain calm.
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There was no need for a massive search. It may
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be true that some teens run away, but Rachel had
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never been a rebellious teen. In fact, she was quite
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the opposite. The Barbers were a family that relied on
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open communication with each other, and Rachel had been able
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to confide in her parents whenever necessary. If something was
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going on, she would have let them know. Desperate to
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find their missing daughter, the Barbers decided to conduct their
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own search. They called Manny and asked him if Rachel
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had been with him, to which he said no. Realizing
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that Rachel could be in serious danger, he told them
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what Rachel had said on their lunch break. To the
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best of his ability, Manny informed the barbers of Rachel's
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secretive plans for the evening, plans that they had.
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No idea were in place.
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After calling around to the other members of Rachel's friend group,
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Michael and Elizabeth soon found out that Rachel had split
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off from the others on the way home and taken
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off in a different direction. With this new information, the
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barbers returned to the Box Hill Police Station once more
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and Elizabeth pleaded with the officers on duty to file
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a missing persons report. Yet again, the barbers were denied
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any help from the police as they insisted Rachel was
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just another runaway case and would be a waste of
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their time and resources. The barbers were forced to go
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home without any information about what may have happened to
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their beautiful and gifted daughter. The next morning, there was
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still no trace of Rachel anywhere. As the police department
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had been no help, the Barbers decided to continue the
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search for their daughter themselves. Elizabeth and Michael drove all
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over town, handing out flyers and asking anyone if they
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had seen Rachel. Manny had mentioned to them that Rachel
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had put a pair of shoes on hold at the
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shopping center near their academy, so the barbers headed that
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way to investigate. The clerk at the shop remarked that
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Rachel had not come in to pick up the shoes
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she had so desperately wanted. It was starting to seem
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like she had vanished into thin air. Their worry deepened
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when another shop attendant told them a man had come
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to the shopping center a few weeks prior. attempting to
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recruit girls to come work for his completely legal brothel
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in Fitzroy. This man, as it had turned out, was
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a recently released prisoner. Terrified that their daughter could have
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ended up in such a place, Michael and Elizabeth called
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the brothel themselves to ask if anyone matching Rachel's description
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was working there. To their surprise, the people working at
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the brothel asserted that they never recruited people off the street,
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and they never hired underage girls to protect the legality
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of their establishment. Despite their obvious relief, the barbers once
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again found.
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Themselves at a dead end.
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After receiving no help from the local law enforcement, the
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Richmond and Box Hill communities bound together to aid the
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barbers in their search for Rachel. By the third day
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of Rachel's disappearance, the Box Hill Police Department found themselves
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collapsing under the community's mounting pressure as many people criticized
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their lack of concern.
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For a missing young girl.
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Eventually, the authorities promised to help search for Rachel, stating
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that they would start by interviewing people from the dance factory.
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As it had turned out, those interviews never actually happened,
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and the police never explained why. However, they did end
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up interviewing Manny, as many missing person cases led to
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a guilty boyfriend having murdered their partner in a fit
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of jealous rage.
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When law enforcement.
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Realized that Manny had a solid alibi and could not
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have been a factor in Rachel's disappearance, they came to
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the conclusion that she really must have run away. Investigators
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assumed that Manny had gotten Rachel pregnant, and she had
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subsequently run away because she had been too afraid to
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tell her parents. Over and over again, Manny asserted that
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there was no truth to the investigators' claims. The barbers
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sided with Manny as they knew that Rachel could tell
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them anything without fear of anger or disappointment. Again, they
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felt that the investigation had come to a standstill. That is,
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until a crucial piece of information was brought to light.
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A family friend of the Barbers named Allison only learned
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of Rachel's recent disappearance on March 4th and reached out immediately.
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As it had turned out, Allison had seen Rachel on
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00:15:45.129 --> 00:15:48.649
the day that she had gone missing. Allison recalled that
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00:15:48.750 --> 00:15:51.740
Rachel and another girl had been at the East Richmond
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00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:56.139
Railway Station waiting for the 6th tram. Allison had overheard
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00:15:56.179 --> 00:15:58.740
the two girls chatting, as teenage girls do.
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About boys, school, and dance.
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Allison had even been on the 6th tram with them
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for a while and saw the two girls get off
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at the intersection of High Street and Williams Road. Police
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00:16:11.529 --> 00:16:15.309
were able to confirm this sighting in reviewing the CCTV
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00:16:15.370 --> 00:16:19.649
footage from the tram station. The investigators on Rachel's case
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00:16:19.809 --> 00:16:23.570
released the information they had to the local news. The
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00:16:23.629 --> 00:16:27.409
story of Rachel's sudden disappearance took off across the media.
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00:16:28.070 --> 00:16:31.909
and Rachel's name was even added to Australia's most wanted list.
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00:16:32.429 --> 00:16:35.909
For a moment, the entire country was hoping to find
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00:16:36.149 --> 00:16:40.549
one missing teenage girl. With pressure from the entire country,
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00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:43.659
the police department asked the Barbers to come up with
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00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:47.200
a list of all known acquaintances associated with the family.
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00:16:47.820 --> 00:16:50.600
Over the course of the week since Rachel had gone missing,
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00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:53.870
a variety of friends and family members had started calling
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00:16:53.909 --> 00:16:58.399
the Barber residence to express their condolences. One such family
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00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:03.120
friend was an old neighbor of the Barbers, Caroline Reed Robertson.
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00:17:03.740 --> 00:17:06.460
Caroline and her family had lost touch with the Barbers
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00:17:06.500 --> 00:17:10.529
in recent years. In fact, the only reason Elizabeth and
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00:17:10.589 --> 00:17:13.849
Michael had even remembered to put Caroline on their list
283
00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:17.289
of acquaintances of the family was that Caroline had called
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00:17:17.309 --> 00:17:22.359
the Barber house on March 7th around 9.15pm to inquire
285
00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.859
about Rachel's disappearance. But this would prove crucial.
286
00:17:27.670 --> 00:17:28.509
The call had.
287
00:17:28.410 --> 00:17:31.890
Been short and sweet, not unlike any other calls the
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00:17:31.930 --> 00:17:36.839
Barbers had received regarding Rachel. After having pulled the Barbers'
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00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:41.960
phone records for investigative purposes, the police were particularly interested
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00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:46.500
in the calls made prior to Rachel's disappearance. As it
291
00:17:46.539 --> 00:17:50.519
had turned out, Caroline had apparently called the Barber household
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00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:53.000
on February 28th around 5.25 p.m., not once, but twice.
293
00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:00.619
even though the girls had not been in contact for years.
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00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:05.720
Both calls had lasted around 15 to 30 minutes, respectively.
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00:18:06.980 --> 00:18:08.680
Police quickly informed.
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00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.940
The barbers that Caroline had been renting an apartment in
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00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:13.799
the town near the location where Rachel had last been
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00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:17.849
seen getting off the tram. The barbers were instantly relieved,
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00:18:18.089 --> 00:18:21.609
assuming that perhaps the police were right and Rachel had
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00:18:21.710 --> 00:18:25.930
run away to Caroline's. After all, Caroline had been Rachel's
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00:18:25.970 --> 00:18:30.769
babysitter when she was younger. Police tracked down Caroline's workplace,
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00:18:31.150 --> 00:18:34.970
an electronics shop nearby her apartment, and headed that way
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00:18:35.029 --> 00:18:39.960
to interview her. However, upon arrival, the officers were surprised
304
00:18:40.019 --> 00:18:43.039
to find that Caroline had called out of work that day.
305
00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:48.059
They were even more surprised to find that Caroline had
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00:18:48.140 --> 00:18:50.339
called out of work on the first of the month,
307
00:18:50.859 --> 00:18:56.079
the same day Rachel had gone missing. According to her manager,
308
00:18:56.259 --> 00:18:59.059
Caroline had shown up for work again on the 2nd
309
00:18:59.420 --> 00:19:01.539
and then called out the rest of the week because
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00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:05.359
she had come down with some kind of flu. Police
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00:19:05.420 --> 00:19:08.920
interviewed Caroline's neighbors, who recalled having awoken in the early
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00:19:08.980 --> 00:19:12.029
hours of March 2nd to a person sobbing from the
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00:19:12.049 --> 00:19:17.009
direction of Caroline's bedroom. No other information was given aside
314
00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:20.369
from the notion that the sobbing sounded similar to that
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00:19:20.529 --> 00:19:24.750
of a furious tantrum held by a toddler. Police soon
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00:19:24.789 --> 00:19:27.779
discovered that Caroline's father had come to visit her when
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00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:30.700
he had found out that she had been sick. When
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00:19:30.740 --> 00:19:34.559
being interviewed by police, Caroline's father recalled that the entire
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00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:37.279
time he had been in his daughter's apartment, she had
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00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:42.460
kept her bedroom door shut and locked. Caroline's co-workers informed
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00:19:42.549 --> 00:19:45.309
the police that she had recently asked for some money
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00:19:45.490 --> 00:19:48.150
from a few of the employees from the electronics shop.
323
00:19:48.890 --> 00:19:52.049
She apparently intended to have some furniture brought up to
324
00:19:52.130 --> 00:19:54.990
one of her dad's properties during the week and needed
325
00:19:55.029 --> 00:19:58.990
the cash to pay the moving company. Caroline could not drive,
326
00:19:59.230 --> 00:20:01.690
so she had hired someone to take her things for her.
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00:20:02.349 --> 00:20:05.759
This turned out to be true. On March 4th, a
328
00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:09.259
driver arrived at Caroline's apartment and Caroline told him that
329
00:20:09.299 --> 00:20:12.460
she needed to move a statue. The statue had been
330
00:20:12.529 --> 00:20:16.109
pre-wrapped by Caroline in blankets and carpets and stuffed into
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00:20:16.130 --> 00:20:19.609
a duffel bag for carrying. The duffel bag, along with
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00:20:19.670 --> 00:20:22.509
some other pieces of furniture, were placed inside of the
333
00:20:22.549 --> 00:20:26.230
driver's truck and taken to Caroline's father's hobby farm in
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00:20:26.289 --> 00:20:31.950
rural Kilmore. Around 9 a.m. on March 12th, investigators decided
335
00:20:32.009 --> 00:20:36.170
to pay a visit to Caroline's apartment. expecting to find
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00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:41.529
a rebellious Rachel Barber hidden inside. When they arrived, however,
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00:20:41.710 --> 00:20:45.819
there was no trace of anyone at all. Officers came
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00:20:45.859 --> 00:20:48.960
back to the apartment around five o'clock PM to see
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00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:52.299
if there had been any change. This time, when no
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00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:56.079
one answered the door, the officers decided to let themselves in.
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00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:00.440
The apartment was messy, but nothing seemed out of the
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00:21:00.579 --> 00:21:05.549
ordinary initially. That is until they opened the bedroom door
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00:21:05.730 --> 00:21:10.789
to find Caroline face down on the carpet. At first,
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00:21:10.890 --> 00:21:15.380
investigators thought she was dead as she was unresponsive. After
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00:21:15.450 --> 00:21:18.799
checking her pulse, they realized that she was still alive,
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00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:22.819
but appeared to have suffered a seizure. Caroline was immediately
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00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:26.299
rushed to the hospital, but some of the officers decided
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00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:29.099
to stick around and look for any trace of Rachel
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00:21:29.180 --> 00:21:33.289
in her apartment. investigators were not sure what they had
350
00:21:33.349 --> 00:21:37.549
expected to find, but they were surprised to discover a
351
00:21:37.609 --> 00:21:41.089
bag of size 8 clothes that were far too small
352
00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:45.369
for Caroline and various scribble-filled notebooks littering the tables and
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00:21:45.470 --> 00:21:51.450
chairs of the apartment. At first glance, the notebooks appeared insignificant. However,
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00:21:51.569 --> 00:21:54.569
after taking a closer look, it was clear that the
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00:21:54.630 --> 00:21:58.089
notebooks were filled to the brim with copious notes and
356
00:21:58.170 --> 00:22:04.410
deeply personal information about none other than Rachel Barber. Among
357
00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:09.119
the seemingly endless handwritten biographies on her old neighbor were
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00:22:09.180 --> 00:22:12.960
papers in Caroline's handwriting that indicated that she had planned
359
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.519
on changing her name. More than that, she had plans
360
00:22:16.579 --> 00:22:20.700
to get plastic surgery and completely reconstruct her facial features.
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00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:25.480
The notebooks also asserted that Caroline had been looking forward
362
00:22:25.549 --> 00:22:28.130
to moving to nearby Byron Bay in.
363
00:22:28.109 --> 00:22:28.869
The near future.
364
00:22:29.410 --> 00:22:32.950
Caroline had been planning to start her life over as
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00:22:33.089 --> 00:22:37.470
someone new. The legal paperwork to change her name held
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00:22:37.490 --> 00:22:42.200
the final chilling clue for the officers. The name Caroline
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00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:48.720
had chosen was none other than Rachel Barber. Investigators quickly
368
00:22:48.859 --> 00:22:52.730
rushed to the hospital to interrogate. When they arrived, they
369
00:22:52.789 --> 00:22:56.430
found that Caroline had regained consciousness from her epileptic fit.
370
00:22:57.509 --> 00:23:00.890
Law enforcement took the opportunity to ask Caroline some questions
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00:23:00.930 --> 00:23:04.029
about Rachel in hopes that they could find a clue
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00:23:04.170 --> 00:23:08.869
as to where she was. Officers were shocked when Caroline
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00:23:08.950 --> 00:23:15.210
stated coldly, she's dead. Investigators quickly searched the land belonging
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00:23:15.250 --> 00:23:18.769
to Caroline's father. During their search, they came across a
375
00:23:18.849 --> 00:23:22.329
shallow grave in a wooded area near a creek. It
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00:23:22.390 --> 00:23:26.589
was inside this grave that officers found the lifeless body
377
00:23:26.730 --> 00:23:31.059
of 15-year-old Rachel Barber, with a black telephone wire wrapped
378
00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:31.970
around her neck.
379
00:23:32.690 --> 00:23:34.319
She had been strangled to death.
380
00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:39.559
Caroline was later discharged and immediately taken into police custody.
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00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:42.480
At her trial, it was noted that she had suffered
382
00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:47.700
years of emotional trauma, depression, extreme introverted personality, and had
383
00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:50.180
often pleaded with her parents to help her with her
384
00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:50.829
mental health.
385
00:23:51.609 --> 00:23:56.029
Pretty Rachel Barber diarised her deadly fantasies, then killed her
386
00:23:56.089 --> 00:23:59.490
in a jealous rage. Caroline Reid Robertson is eligible for
387
00:23:59.539 --> 00:24:00.599
release next year.
388
00:24:00.619 --> 00:24:02.240
I'm really fearful of this.
389
00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:06.079
I mean, I spoke to the victims' register and I said,
390
00:24:06.099 --> 00:24:09.309
I don't want Caroline to come looking for us. Reed
391
00:24:09.349 --> 00:24:13.009
Robertson was jailed for 20 years in 2000. Her innocent
392
00:24:13.029 --> 00:24:15.549
victim's parents have penned a letter of warning to the
393
00:24:15.589 --> 00:24:18.829
parole board, which will assess her in July and look
394
00:24:18.849 --> 00:24:20.059
at whether she should be released.
395
00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:23.880
After her arrest, she was diagnosed with a deeply entrenched
396
00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:28.619
personality disorder, which is usually a coping response to difficult
397
00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:33.160
and adverse situations. Caroline's journals over the years stated that
398
00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:36.700
she thought of herself as a troubled, tortured, lost soul
399
00:24:37.180 --> 00:24:41.720
thrown into an alien environment full of angels. Her journal
400
00:24:41.829 --> 00:24:46.250
also revealed her detailed plans to lure and kill Rachel Barber.
401
00:24:47.210 --> 00:24:49.769
On the way to dance school, say that she can't
402
00:24:49.809 --> 00:24:52.430
tell anyone that she's meeting me, as I'm not allowed
403
00:24:52.470 --> 00:24:56.470
to give the study results to anyone. Ethics, highly confidential.
404
00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:01.519
Not even your boyfriend or parent. drug Rachel, toxic over mouth,
405
00:25:02.099 --> 00:25:05.640
put body in army bag and disfigure, and dump somewhere
406
00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:10.799
way out. Court documents reveal that Caroline carried out this
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00:25:10.900 --> 00:25:15.359
premeditated plan closely to how she described it. She had
408
00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:18.099
told Rachel that she had a quick and easy way
409
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:22.079
for her to make $ 100 by participating in a psychology study,
410
00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:24.700
but that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it.
411
00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:29.450
Just as Caroline planned, Rachel had been true to her word.
412
00:25:30.390 --> 00:25:34.299
When Rachel arrived, Caroline drugged Rachel's pizza before placing the
413
00:25:34.339 --> 00:25:39.099
telephone cord around her neck and strangling her. Disturbingly, Caroline
414
00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:42.299
had kept Rachel's body in her closet for two whole
415
00:25:42.380 --> 00:25:45.480
days as she pretended to be ill, with the telephone
416
00:25:45.539 --> 00:25:49.640
cord still around her victim's neck before finally moving the body.
417
00:25:50.339 --> 00:25:54.069
For two days, Caroline had the reminder of her evil
418
00:25:54.150 --> 00:25:58.049
deed hidden in her closet. When her father had visited,
419
00:25:58.170 --> 00:26:01.509
Caroline refused to let him into her apartment, knowing that
420
00:26:01.609 --> 00:26:04.579
Rachel's body was right there and he would find it.
421
00:26:05.230 --> 00:26:07.910
The movers had no idea that when they showed up
422
00:26:07.950 --> 00:26:11.710
to remove a statue from Caroline's apartment, they had actually
423
00:26:11.769 --> 00:26:16.900
carried out Rachel Barber's body. In court, it was revealed
424
00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:20.700
that Caroline has been obsessed with Rachel for years, as
425
00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:24.420
she had filled journals with details about Rachel and her life.
426
00:26:25.319 --> 00:26:28.640
In fact, Caroline had been jealous of Rachel's life since
427
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.589
she used to babysit her as a child. As a
428
00:26:31.630 --> 00:26:35.369
beautiful dancer with a promising career, Caroline would watch how
429
00:26:35.430 --> 00:26:39.509
people flocked to spend time with Rachel, unable to help
430
00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:42.490
the growing resentment she had for the young girl who
431
00:26:42.529 --> 00:26:46.220
had been in her care. Caroline had been five years
432
00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:49.900
older than Rachel and never properly fit in with any
433
00:26:49.940 --> 00:26:52.900
of the Barber children or her own siblings as they
434
00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:56.289
grew up together. According to her journals, she had been
435
00:26:56.349 --> 00:26:59.990
severely bullied her entire life for her weight and looks
436
00:27:00.170 --> 00:27:04.880
and regarded herself as a misfit. In Caroline's eyes, Rachel
437
00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:10.079
had everything while she had nothing. So Caroline killed Rachel
438
00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:13.720
in hopes that she could assume her identity and become her.
439
00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:18.230
This is why Caroline had chosen to legally change her
440
00:27:18.289 --> 00:27:22.289
name to Rachel Barber. By killing and taking her name,
441
00:27:22.650 --> 00:27:25.589
Caroline hoped it would mean she could finally become the
442
00:27:25.630 --> 00:27:30.309
person she had been jealous of for years. Caroline Reed
443
00:27:30.410 --> 00:27:34.750
Robertson was charged with the premeditated murder of Rachel Barber,
444
00:27:35.150 --> 00:27:38.279
despite the fact that she claimed to have no recollection
445
00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:41.940
of the events while on trial. Caroline asserted that she
446
00:27:41.980 --> 00:27:43.960
had been in a daze at the time that she
447
00:27:44.019 --> 00:27:49.339
murdered Rachel. To her psychologist, Mr. Michael Crudson, who treated
448
00:27:49.380 --> 00:27:52.569
her while in prison, Caroline revealed that there had been
449
00:27:52.609 --> 00:27:56.670
a moment where she considered not killing Rachel. Just for
450
00:27:56.710 --> 00:27:59.369
a moment, the veil lifted and I didn't want to
451
00:27:59.410 --> 00:28:02.509
do it. But something said that I was in so
452
00:28:02.549 --> 00:28:05.329
much trouble now, I had to, and it was as
453
00:28:05.410 --> 00:28:09.049
though the veil had been dropped again. A year and
454
00:28:09.089 --> 00:28:12.640
a half after Rachel was murdered, Caroline was sentenced to
455
00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:17.099
20 years in prison with the possibility of parole. Caroline
456
00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:23.130
allegedly never expressed any remorse for her crime. And in 2014,
457
00:28:23.130 --> 00:28:27.849
after serving 15 years of her 20-year sentence, Caroline's application
458
00:28:27.890 --> 00:28:34.180
for parole was actually approved. In January of 2015, the
459
00:28:34.579 --> 00:28:38.089
cold-blooded killer who murdered one of her childhood friends out.
460
00:28:38.049 --> 00:28:39.849
Of jealousy was released.
461
00:28:40.769 --> 00:28:46.829
Rachel's family has no real closure for their daughter's untimely demise. Rather,
462
00:28:46.950 --> 00:28:50.099
they worry about the safety of the individuals in any
463
00:28:50.150 --> 00:28:54.700
community that Caroline finds herself in. they will live knowing
464
00:28:54.859 --> 00:28:58.279
that Caroline may strike again and take another life at
465
00:28:58.380 --> 00:29:01.829
some point in the hopes of making her own life better.
466
00:29:02.769 --> 00:29:08.250
Perhaps most disturbingly, Caroline radically changed her appearance while in jail,
467
00:29:08.849 --> 00:29:13.069
losing weight and changing her hair in order to mimic Rachel.
468
00:29:13.390 --> 00:29:18.339
Seeing her, Rachel's own mother remarked that something in Caroline's
469
00:29:18.579 --> 00:29:21.839
eyes looked just like her deceased daughter.
