Every Town - This Girls Twisted Journal Detailed All The Crimes She Committed - The Story Of Rachel Barber

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

https://www.magicmind.com/EVERYTOWN20 - And get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code EVERYTOWN20 Everybody has their down days…you know those times when you feel like the world is against you….Like your dreams may never come true or in more extreme cases, maybe you’ve even through about just getting away from it all and starting life anew. Somewhere where you can get it right this time…..Well a woman from Australia named Caroline Robertson felt like this every single day only to the most extreme degree. Her journal is a testament to a deeply troubled individual and her only way out was take the life of someone who was everything she wanted to be. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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like your dreams may never come true, or in more extreme cases, maybe you've even thought about just getting away from it all and starting life anew. Somewhere where you can get it right this time. Well, a woman from Australia, named Caroline Robertson, felt like this every single day, only to the most extreme degree.

Our journal is a testament to a deeply troubled, troubled individual, and her only way out was to take the life of someone who was everything she wanted to be. I'm Andrew, and welcome everybody to another episode of Everytown. Thank you so much for tuning in. Today, we're headed back to Australia, where according to our data, 7% of our listeners reside, to check out the very disturbing story of a woman obsessed with a younger girl, and how she would infiltrate her way into this promising 15-year-old's life, and ultimately, ended. Rachel Barber was 15 years old back in 1999.

She was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. But unlike a lot of teens her age, Rachel had a real talent for the arts. She was a dancer and was so serious about it that she was a full-time student at the Dance Factory. And she dreamed of one day starring in Broadway musicals like Chicago and Cats, which were two of her favorites. and she was going to make it happen. She had hypnotic green eyes and was very popular. Of course, being a dancer, she was athletic, so she had a lot of admirable traits. She also had a steady boyfriend, 16-year-old Emmanuel, and the two had a solid relationship.

And it was, perhaps, because of all this, that she caught the eye of her neighbor, 19-year-old Caroline Robertson, who felt like Rachel was everything that she wasn't. Caroline was nothing all that special and we don't say that to be mean. She said it in her own words many times. She was bullied at school and was mostly a loner. When she was by herself, she spent her time dreaming, just like Rachel did, except her dreams weren't to be a star on Broadway, but to be anybody other than herself. In her journal, she wrote,

I feel like a troubled and tortured lost soul thrown into a world of angels. I'm ugly and fat and a social failure. Caroline would come home to her mother's house because her parents were divorced with an overwhelming depressed feeling. Right next to her, she was forced to watch Rachel grow up in a loving home

and become the happy-go-lucky talent that she was. Caroline would get to know the Barber family. She even babysat for the younger two kids. She likely snooped around Rachel's room when she had a chance, looking at all the happy pictures of her with her friends and boyfriend and family, desiring all that she was. Caroline eventually moved out of her parents' home and got an apartment nearby, and she was eager to start things new in a fresh spot.

However, nothing really changed other than her physical location. Because in her mind, she couldn't stop thinking about Rachel's. A jealousy raged inside of Caroline and I guess a person can only take so many negative thoughts. So ultimately, she decided she was going to do something about it. She was going to become not just the embodiment of who Rachel was. She was going to become Rachel herself. So for the last few days, I've been using this little elixir called Magic Mind. It reached out to me, sent me a pack to try and I started taking it in the morning.

And surprisingly, I actually started to feel more fun. focused and was actually getting things done because it sort of cleared my head. There's all these natural ingredients in there, strange stuff, like Bacopa Moneri, which I looked up and is responsible for making you more focused and less impulsive. So I'm not constantly feeling that need to check my phone or read random articles. So if you're looking for something new to help you throughout your day, you should give it a try. And right now, for our Everytown listeners, they're offering 56% off of your phone. first subscription or 20% off a one-time purchase.

They have a money-back guarantee, no questions asked, and no products sent back. So go get some magic mind and try it off yourself using the code every town 20 and get up to 56% off of your subscription. But hurry up because that code is only available for the next 10 days. Links are down in the description below. On Monday, March 1st of 1999, Rachel finished up her class. of the dance factory on Church Street, before heading home, told her friend that she was going to be making a lot of money that night, but wouldn't tell her exactly how. She had mentioned to her

boyfriend that she had a secret job, and he didn't think much of it at the time. Even though her friend pried about what she was doing, Rachel had been sworn to secrecy. The secret was, and she was going to be taking part in a psychology experiment, and part of the parameters were that she couldn't tell anybody about it because that would affect the outcome of the result. At least, that's what Caroline told her when she offered her $100 to come over to her apartment that night. Caroline met her at the tram station and they rode out together the rest of the way to Caroline's home. They picked up a pizza along the way and ate it once they got back. And after that, Caroline showed how the study would begin. She couldn't give all the information as to what they were going to do, but she had Rachel

close her eyes and try and relax. She wanted to get her into a meditative state and think only about happy and pleasant things. All this might seem a bit strange, which of course it was, but Rachel was just 15 years old and had no reason to distrust her neighbor from growing up. And Carolina babysat for her siblings, and plus, she was going to make some cash. It didn't take long for Rachel to get into that meditative state because Carolina laced her pizza with some sedatives. Once she was drowsy enough, Caroline's real plan began to unfold when she wrapped a telephone cord around the girl's neck and strangled her to death. Phase one of becoming the girl she envied was now complete. Back at the barber home, her parents wasted no time and reported her missing that very night.

It was unlike her to not come home after school, and certainly she would have told them what she was up to if she knew she would be late. Of course, the super secret experiment kept her from saying anything, so nobody knew it was happening. Police weren't sure where to start, but soon they'd start closing in. Caroline stuffed the girl's body into her closet. Was she admiring her work, or was she in a state of shock at this point? It's hard to tell, but soon we'd all get that answer. Knowing she had to play everything cool, Caroline showed up to work the next day. It was a Tuesday.

and tries she might to pretend she hadn't just murdered a child. It was written all over her face. At work, she was withdrawn and appeared pale. At some point, she seemed to be so ill that a co-worker drove her home. The next day, she called in sick, so it was just her in her apartment, sitting with the body of Rachel. A few days after the incident took place, Caroline knew she had to do something. She grabbed two old rugs. She hadn't yet laid out in her new place and ran it. She had a large army bag as well, which she had used in her move, which he then stuffed her into. She called up a cab. When the driver arrived, she gave him a little tip and had him help her move her statue into the trunk. They then drove out to her father's isolated farm where she buried the girl

in a shallow grave right next to where her dead cat lay. Meanwhile, investigators were trying to retrace the steps that Rachel had taken the night she mysteriously vanished. They had put up flyers, and because of that, a witness came forward who was on the same tram as Rachel on the night of March 1st. And they told police that she was with another woman, a plain-looking woman. Searching through the phone records of the Barber family, they noticed a couple of recent calls from Caroline, so they decided to go to her apartment to see what she knew. On March 12th, detectives entered the home where they found Caroline unconscious after suffering an epileptic fit. No doubt the seizure was likely brought on by the stress of the murder and disposal of the body.

An ambulance took her to the hospital, and that's when the police discovered Caroline's Journal. And by this time, it had transitioned into writings and drawings that were much darker than self-deprecating words. I'm a nobody, and I want to be pure. Drug Rachel, use the drowsy powder, toxic cloth over mouth, put body into armament, me bag and disfigure. Dump somewhere way out. She wrote down specifically about Barber when she said, Hypnotic green eyes, strikingly attractive with a very clear pale skin.

In comparison, she thought of herself as unattractive with a pimply face. She talked more about covering up the murder. Check farm, including bag. Tuesday, arrange bank loan. Moving van. Night to disguise hair. Thoroughly clean house and steam clean carpet. There were drawings as well in the journal that showed grotesque images of how Caroline perceived herself.

Next to them were words like ugly and fat. Besides the journal, police also found two applications. One was for a bank loan and the amount of $10,000. The other was for a birth certificate in Rachel Barber's name. It was clear she was planning on running off and assuming. the identity of the girl she had become obsessed with. If she couldn't actually be Rachel, then the next best thing would be to pretend she was her. Down at the station with the evidence of the journal and the applications, as well as the guilt weighing down on her, didn't take long for

Caroline to admit that she had killed Rachel. However, she said it was by accident. He eventually brought the police out to where she had buried the body. Rachel's autopsy showed she had been given an antihistamine which impaired her alertness, allowing her to be strangled with that phone cord. Caroline's murder trial began in October of 2000, where forensic psychiatrist Justine Barry Walsh said that Caroline was profoundly disturbed, but not legally insane. In other words, what she did was horrific, but she knew exactly what she was doing. And furthermore, according to Barry Walsh, It is possible that she thought she could somehow reinvent herself in the image of the victim. The prosecutor, Jeremy Rapke, saw her motive as wanting to emulate who Rachel was

and that her jealousy and obsession drove her to commit the crime. And Caroline herself spoke at her trial, which she described herself as being a friendless nobody, someone who wanted to be somebody better. She explained that she wanted to be an actress one day, but feared that she just wasn't good-looking enough and talented enough to become that. The pain and reality day in and day out that she faced essentially drove her to murder, an act that she had distorted in her mind would solve all her problems.

Ultimately, she pled guilty to murder, and because of that, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the minimum term of 14 years. The presiding, Judge Vincent, called her a real danger to any who made her, become the unfortunate subject of her fixation. In an interview later on, Caroline explained that at one point shortly before killing Rachel, she had a moment of clarity and thought about not doing it. But that only lasted a moment. As the girl sat in front of her dazed and confused, Caroline just grabbed the cord and wrapped it around her neck. In 2015, at the age of 35, Caroline was paroled and is a free woman. She now lives around 125 miles from her old apartment and the barber family. In Victoria,

now she's trying to start her life anew, only this time hopefully she's able to do it on her own. Although she may have already been transforming. Once out of jail, she seemed to have changed her appearance drastically. She's leaner, and her characteristics are much more like that of her victim. Rachel's mom upon seeing her for the first time in 15 years said, there's a Rachel likeness there, the eyes. And she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Many people are outraged that this disturbed woman was able to get out of jail for this crime, and that's a fair opinion, but there are also those who feel sorry for her.

Shortly after the crime, she was diagnosed with a personality disorder. Barely an adult herself at the time of the killing, She was clearly a tortured soul who lost her way, thinking she could become Rachel by taking her life. That certainly doesn't excuse what she did, but surprisingly Rachel's parents were among those who showed a bit of compassion towards their daughter's killer. They of course opposed allowing her to be paroled. They expressed their wishes that Caroline be left alone and be able to reenter society so that possibly she could someday give something bad. whether she will or take someone else away, only time will tell. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown.

Thanks for tuning in today, and please do subscribe, like, and share with your friends. And come back next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.