IN SHORT
- A simple picnic took a terrifying turn when a 17-year-old girl and her boyfriend were seemingly kidnapped by a masked stranger.
- However, in a shocking betrayal, it was revealed the ordeal was a fake kidnapping and the perpetrator was no stranger at all.
- Before the kidnapper could be jailed, he fled Australia leading police on an international chase to bring him to justice.
- Here, we reveal the full disturbing story…
In March 2008, Julian Mathias Buchwald, 22, invited his 17-year-old girlfriend for a picnic at his parents’ rural property.
Julian lived in Budgeree, in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
The pair had met through their church two years earlier and, deeply religious, they planned to eventually marry.
They had also taken a vow of celibacy until marriage.
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But there was some tension over their future.
Julian was keen to marry soon, while his girlfriend wanted to finish her high school studies first.
During their outing that day, Julian left his girlfriend alone in the car.
Suddenly, a terrifying figure appeared.
Wearing a balaclava, the mystery man grabbed the teenager.
He tied her up, taped her eyes shut and bundled her into the vehicle.
Unable to see her captor, she had no idea who had taken her or what had happened to Julian.
For around six hours, the girl was driven deeper into the Victorian wilderness, eventually arriving in the remote Alpine National Park.
When the vehicle finally stopped, the teenager’s nightmare worsened.
Her captor produced a knife, and then cut off all her clothes.
Terrified and completely vulnerable, she had no idea what he intended to do next.
Then, at some point during the terrifying ordeal, her attacker disappeared.
Shortly after this, the teenager discovered Julian, who claimed he’d been kidnapped, too.
Naked and apparently restrained, Julian told his girlfriend that their mysterious attacker had taken both of them.
The pair managed to free themselves.
Meanwhile, back home, their families realised something was terribly wrong.
The couple had been expected home, but there was no sign of them.
Police were alerted and an extensive search was launched.
For six days, Julian and his girlfriend wandered naked through remote bushland, desperately trying to find their way to safety.
The teen had no idea where their captor had gone or whether he could still be lurking somewhere nearby.
During their ordeal, Julian proposed marriage, which she refused.
He also suggested they should have sex to keep warm. Again, she said no.
Finally, after six days in the wilderness, the couple came across a farmer.
He took them back to his home and alerted the authorities.
When talking to the police, Julian claimed he and his girlfriend had been abducted by a satanic cult.
But as detectives investigated the bizarre kidnapping, Julian’s behaviour during the couple’s six days in the bush also began to take on new significance.
While his girlfriend had believed they were fighting for survival, Julian had repeatedly brought up the two issues that had caused tension before they disappeared – sex and marriage.
Then came an extraordinary breakthrough.
Julian confessed.
The masked man who had snatched the terrified 17-year-old from the car was Julian himself.
He had donned a balaclava, tied and blindfolded his girlfriend, then driven six hours to the National Park.
The girl had been completely unaware that the terrifying stranger controlling her was the boyfriend she trusted.
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Once in the bush, Julian had used a knife to cut off her clothes.
He then cut off his own clothes and buried their belongings before staging his own kidnapping and restraint.
When he later appeared to his girlfriend as another victim, it had all been part of the elaborate charade.
And while she believed they were lost, Julian had maps and knew where they were.
He could have ended the ordeal at any time.
Instead, he allowed it to continue for six days.
His reason for putting his girlfriend through such terror was almost unbelievable.
Julian admitted staging the kidnapping because he wanted to spend more time alone with her.
Prosecutors argued his motive went even further.
He wanted to persuade the teen to marry him and have sex with him.
Julian made two statements to police confessing to much of what had happened.
But he later retracted them, claiming his admissions had been false and made in an attempt to “buy his freedom”.
He instead offered increasingly bizarre explanations involving satanic cults, deer poachers and a miraculous escape.
Investigators weren’t convinced.
In 2009, Julian faced a jury in the Victorian County Court, charged over the extraordinary plot.
Prosecutors argued his actions in the bush supported his girlfriend’s account. He had isolated her for days and then repeatedly raised marriage and sex.
The jury found Julian guilty of kidnapping and making a false report. But the bizarre case still wasn’t over.
Julian remained on bail while awaiting sentencing.
Then he disappeared.
Facing years behind bars, the blond, blue-eyed Julian obtained an Indian passport and substituted his own photograph into it.
He dyed his blond hair jet-black, darkened his eyebrows and tanned his pale complexion in an attempt to disguise himself as an Indian man.
He fooled immigration officials in Sydney and leave Australia.
His ultimate plan was to reach Germany, where he had relatives.
But when his journey took him through India, authorities saw through his disguise and detained him.
He was sent back to Singapore and extradited to Australia.
In his absence, Julian had been sentenced to seven years and nine months behind bars for his original offences.
He also pleaded guilty to skipping bail and received another six months.
His minimum non-parole period was five years and three months.
But Julian continued fighting his conviction.
He appealed, arguing there had been a miscarriage of justice and that his sentence was manifestly excessive.
In December 2011, Court of Appeal judges Marcia Neave, Robert Redlich and Hartley Hansen rejected his arguments.
“There was a complete lack of motive for anyother person to have kidnapped the victim,” Justice Hansen said.
“Against this, the applicant’s behaviour in the bush regarding requests for sex and marriage vows was entirely consistent with the victim’s evidence that he was pushing for marriage.
“The applicant had a clear, albeit bizarre, motive for the crime.”
