The Deadly Obsession – The Murder of Rachel Barber

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4th January 2021  •  4 min read

Rachel Barber was a 15-year-old dance student and model who came from a good family. She had dreams and ambitions of starring in musicals, her favorite of which was Cats and Chicago. She was popular and was in a steady relationship with a boy who went to the same school as her. Never in a…


The Deadly Obsession - The Murder of Rachel Barber

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Rachel Barber was a 15-year-old dance student and model who came from a good family. She had dreams and ambitions of starring in musicals, her favorite of which was Cats and Chicago. She was popular and was in a steady relationship with a boy who went to the same school as her. Never in a million years did Rachel believe that she had an enemy, one who was unimaginably jealous of her.

On the 1st of March, 1999, Rachel vanished. She had had left The Dance Factory in Church Street, Richmond, Melbourne, that evening, telling a friend that she was going to make “a lot of money that night.” The last reported sighting of her came around an hour later, when she was spotted getting off a tram in the company of a woman. That night, when Rachel never returned home, her concerned parents reported her missing right away. According to her 16-year-old boyfriend, Emmanuel Carella, Rachel had told him that she was going to a secret job where she would be “well paid.” However, nobody had any idea as to what this secret job could have been.1

There was no real update in the case until the 14th of March when it was announced that a 19-year-old woman had been arrested in relation with Rachel’s disappearance. Even more disturbing for Rachel’s family, the news of the arrest came with news that Rachel’s body had been discovered in a shallow grave on a property near Kilmore. She had been strangled to death and then buried.

The woman would be identified as Caroline Reed Robertson. Investigators had uncovered that Caroline was the woman who was seen in the company of Rachel shortly before she vanished. When they brought Caroline in for questioning, she directed them to Rachel’s body but claimed that she had killed her accidentally…2

The Deadly Obsession - The Murder of Rachel Barber
Caroline Reed Robertson.

As it would turn out, Caroline was well-known to Rachel and her family. She had developed a disturbing obsession with Rachel and stalked her from a distance before befriending her and gaining her trust. Caroline was also successful in gaining the trust of Rachel’s parents, so much so that they hired her to babysit Rachel and her younger siblings.

An investigation into the murder would reveal that Caroline had plotted to drug and murder Rachel after compiling a psychological profile of her victim in her journal. There were notes in her journal which detailed Caroline’s plans to: “drug her, put her body in an army bag and then disfigure and dump the body somewhere way out.” Rachel’s autopsy would show that she had been given an anti-histamine which impaired alertness before she was strangled to death with a cord.

Alongside these graphic notes, self-loathing Caroline drew pictures of how she perceived herself with hateful words written alongside them. Caroline described herself as “ugly,” “fat,” and a “social failure,” and shared her fears that she would be a failure at achieving her dream of acting. She wrote how she hated her life and appearance and in one posting, she wrote: “I feel like a troubled and tortured lost soul thrown into a world of angels.”

Over time, however, these journal entries began to focus solely on Rachel and how Caroline would assume her identity after killing her. In the journal, Caroline referred to ordering a pizza and then lacing it with “drowsy powder.” There were other references to “toxic cloth over mouth, dump far away.”3

Caroline concocted a plan to lure Rachel to her own apartment under the pretense of earning $500 to take part in a highly-confidential psychological survey. Rachel agreed; she thought that she knew Caroline and had no reason to suspect that she had been planning something sinister. Once inside Caroline’s apartment, Rachel was drugged with laced pizza and then strangled to death with a telephone cord. The body of Rachel lay in the apartment for two days while her family franticly searched for her. Caroline then took the body to her father’s farm and buried her beside her cat which she had buried years earlier.

After burying Rachel, Caroline began to plan her new life. She applied for a large loan and made inquiries with V-line trains. Unbeknownst to Caroline, however, investigators were already in the process of linking her to the disappearance of Rachel via phone records. Following her arrest, when her apartment was searched, an application for a birth certificate in the name of “Rachel Elizabeth Barber” was discovered.

In October of 2000, Caroline pleaded guilty to the murder of Rachel. During the court appearance, Caroline described herself as an unhappy and friendless “nobody” and wanted to be somebody else, somebody better. She had become obsessed with Rachel because she felt as though she was the embodiment of “pure” and everything that she had wished to be.4

During the court hearing, forensic psychiatrist Justine Barry-Walsh said that Caroline was “profoundly disturbed” when she murdered Rachel but was not legally insane. She said: “It is possible that she thought she could somehow re-invent herself in the image of the victim.”5 Prosecutor Jeremy Rapke said that the motive was Caroline’s “obsession with Rachel, her jealously of her attractiveness, popularity and success and perhaps a desire on her part to emulate the success of a younger person with whom she had become infatuated.”

Caroline was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a minimum term of 14 ½ years. She would later say that at one point, the veil had lifted and she reconsidered killing Rachel – she thought for a mere moment that she had gone too far before going ahead with the murder anyway. Caroline Reed Robertson was paroled in 2015. Rachel’s parents opposed her parole but expressed their wishes that Caroline, who has shown no remorse, be left alone to be able to re-enter society and hopefully give something back. 

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Footnotes:

  1. The Age, 14 March, 1999 – “Missing Dancer, 15, Found Dead”
  2. The Australian, 15 March, 1999 – “Teen Dancer’s Parents Feared Something Sinister”
  3. The Age, 1 February, 2000 – “Family Friend Plotted to Kill Teen, Court Told”
  4. Herald Sun, 11 October, 2000 – “Insane Jealousy Ends in Murder”
  5. The Age, 26 October, 2000 – “Killer Jealous of Girl’s Perfect Life”

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Dan
Dan
2 years ago

Unbelievable sentencing in the shIthole Down Under.
This freak should at least been sentenced to life, better yet executed. SMH

Nella
Nella
2 years ago
Reply to  Dan

Says someone from the land of daily mass murders.

aussieaussieassieoioii
aussieaussieassieoioii
2 years ago
Reply to  Nella

what the fuck does what country someone lives in have to do with a ridiculous court sentencing in a murder care? So by your flawless logic someone living in America has no right to voice an obviously popular opinion that 15 years for this murder is just fine? News flash: America has the death penalty. We punish “mass murders’ or anything of the sort more seriously than this. Your logic is so stupid I feel dumb having toe explain this. How low of an IQ must i drop to before understanding your gibberish and thought process? That being said, Americans… Read more »

Fatty dogan
Fatty dogan
2 years ago

I live in Australia… and your reply is gold lol. 👏👏

Quleverone
Quleverone
1 year ago
Reply to  Fatty dogan

I’m American and smart enough to know that we absolutely fail in all categories of mass, serial, and school shootings. In fact, the only one I ever associate with Australia is Martin Bryant, which led to immediate and effective changes in your gun laws. Cheers for you! Ever seen that happen in America? NOPE! In fact, the NRA is the second most powerful Political Action Committee next to big pharma, what a shock. The two go hand in hand when you consider mental health treatment to be absolute crap in our country. Good luck to all of us. I don’t… Read more »

ChinasAgreatPlaceTryThere
ChinasAgreatPlaceTryThere
1 year ago
Reply to  Quleverone

Feel free to go to Australia and be locked in Detention camps for Covid and being beat and not allowed to protest. I’m sure you’ll love it. Why not complain about that evil 4chan and free speech too? Where people are allowed to say not nice things or say….criticize their country like you, while in countries without a 2nd Amendment to protect the 1st you can be locked up for speech.

Jo Wilkins
Jo Wilkins
4 months ago

I live in Australia. I don’t understand the statement you made about locked in detention camps for covid and being beaten. I think you have read fake news. Living here through covid before and after covid I don’t know a single person that was beaten or put into detention camps. We had lock downs and I was fortunate that I lived in Queensland and we hardly had a lock down. Feel bad for the people living in Melbourne and Sydney, they were in long lockdowns as the population density caused a major breakout. But the rest of Australia had it… Read more »

Jo Wilkins
Jo Wilkins
4 months ago

oh and my neighbour was all about protesting against getting vaccinated. He also believed the 5 G towers were controlling our minds and UFOs. Either way he was beaten in fact there was a lot of protesting as some people believed that covid wasn’t real and it was a way for the government to kill the population off. I had this discussion with my neighbour. What would be the point of killing the population? Why start with the essential workers to be vaccinated first if the plan was to kill. His response was not all the vaccines are deadly. I… Read more »

Jo Wilkins
Jo Wilkins
4 months ago

I meant my neighbour wasn’t beaten. I should proof read lol.

S LEE
S LEE
1 year ago
Reply to  Quleverone

That has nothing to do with the fact that they don’t properly sentence people for horrific crimes in Australia!!

This psycho was given twenty years and was out in fourteen. She never showed remorse for her crime. I’d much rather live in America where these people can be properly sentenced for their crimes. No, our system isn’t perfectly, but it’s a hell of a lot better than this witch out on the streets with no parole. The girl who was murdered was only 15! This scumbag deserved the death penalty imo.

C.ross
C.ross
1 year ago

TY….I agree

UrAmoronAndHaveNoRights
UrAmoronAndHaveNoRights
1 year ago
Reply to  Nella

Says someone from the land of Covid detention camps and the gestapo forcibly banning protests and beating civilians for not showing their papers. Almost as if, if you don’t have a 2nd Amendment to defend the 1st, you won’t have a 1st either. So you just stay in your land of “freedom”, convicts and serial killers (but no guns).

Dolly
Dolly
2 years ago
Reply to  Dan

We don’t have the death penalty in Australia. Unlike the USA we do not have the 3 strikes and you’re out policy either. While the crime was indeed cruel, unusual and calculated, the perps age and her f*kked up early years likely played a part in her getting a reduced sentence. Had she committed her crime just 2 years earlier she likely would have been out in less than 5 years. Australia focuses on prisoner rehabilitation and giving people a second chance. From what I have read, it appears that Caroline was obsessed with Rachel. While this does not excuse… Read more »

sandra
sandra
2 years ago
Reply to  Dolly

Would you have said the same thing if this was your daughter. If it was my daughter she would endup in a casket the same day she was released. Not a treat but a promise. If I have a child one day and someone does harm to my child they will endup 6 feet under!!!!! No rehabilition for killers they deserve the death penalty. Go and look at the list how many killers are released and they endup killing again! Murder is not a bank robbery get your head out of the sand. Come back when it’s your child being… Read more »

Kelsey
Kelsey
1 year ago
Reply to  Dolly

So how does Caroline being obsessed with Rachel make you believe that she does NOT pose a significant risk of reoffending? This logic makes absolutely no sense in fact I would say this is a behavior that she will repeat and this puts her at a higher risk of reoffending. If she could be that cunning as a teenager to do what she did and almost get away with it. I feel bad for the next person she becomes OBSESSED with as an adult!

ChinasAgreatPlaceTryThere
ChinasAgreatPlaceTryThere
1 year ago
Reply to  Kelsey

It doesn’t because there’s no logic there at all. It’s just a m0r0n given a mouthpiece spewing their emotions with no actual facts to back any of it up.

Bjerk
Bjerk
2 months ago
Reply to  Kelsey

I found Caroline really hot, I’ll do her if given a chance. That would have skyrocketed her self confidence

Susanna
Susanna
1 year ago
Reply to  Dolly

So whar happens the next time she becomes obsessed with someone?

Bronte
Bronte
1 year ago
Reply to  Dolly

From reading others comments, this murderer is not even remorseful of taking a young girls life. How can she be rehabilitated if she doesn’t even acknowledge any wrongdoing?

S LEE
S LEE
1 year ago
Reply to  Dan

I’m appalled that this psycho is already out and with zero remorse!!! The United States frequently gets trashed for our gun crimes, but I still think we’re the best in the world at putting monsters like this woman away and throwing away the key. The sentences are sometimes too light, especially with the increase of pleading cases out indeed of trying them, but here in the U.S. her murderer would have gotten life with no parole and possibly the death penalty. Imo, killers like her can’t be rehabilitated.

ShiS
ShiS
2 years ago

Just another example of our ridiculous legal system in Australia. There is no way she should ever be allowed to set foot outside of those prison walls after what she did, yet 15 years later she walked free. If you willingly take the life of another person like she did, you should spend the rest of your life locked up. We don’t have the death penalty here, so that option isn’t available

Quleverone
Quleverone
1 year ago
Reply to  ShiS

It’s not just Australia, it’s Western Culture and a need for early intervention and treatment of serious mental disturbances in adolescents. If Caroline had been identified by someone outside of the home, or if her parents hadn’t been so keen on hiding her issues, which will require a serious paradigm shift, she’d have gotten treatment and Rachel would be alive. That’s more to the core of the issue. In America, we’re just letting people die and building more cages to fill up. And when they do get out, they are more apt to commit further violent crimes. I’m not being… Read more »

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[…] The Deadly Obsession – The Murder of Rachel Barber […]

Tina Seaboch
Tina Seaboch
1 year ago

Wonder if her Daddies Money helped get her out of this like he did everything else cause he was too much into himself to give his daughter any love which started all this & her insecurities…

Tina Seaboch
Tina Seaboch
1 year ago

I hope the family SUED the crappy Police Department.. anyone that didn’t take this seriously should of lost their jobs!! Just watched the movie & read the real story. So many wrongs here..

Susanna
Susanna
1 year ago

Hard to believe they let this dangerous whack job out

DoryD
DoryD
1 year ago

why TF did they let a psychopath who has NO REMORSE back into society?!?! YOU CANT CHANGE A PSYCHOPATH!!!!!!!!!!!

Geoffrey
Geoffrey
1 year ago

Its sad how light murderers are treated in the west, but I feel worse for the people of Australia in general. They’ve surrendered their freedom of speech their gun rights all because they are afraid to sacrifice their own lives to fight for the freedoms they’re grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents fought to ensure they would have. How quickly they bowed to their government in fear (see covid camps and beatings). The last two generations have taken George Orwells group think to heart. Can’t think for themselves out of fear of what people might think or say?… Read more »

monica j zarate
monica j zarate
7 months ago

Wow, I just saw the movie in her skin, so gruesome, I can;t believe they released her I for sure don;t want her arounds us. There was no real justice she was released at 33 years old

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