KIDNAPPING: Carolynne Watson

Manipulation of morals and betrayal of trust all because of the want for sex before marriage.

 

On the morning of March 4th, 2008, 22-year-old Julian Buckwald and his 17-year-old girlfriend Carolynne Watson made plans to have a picnic lunch date. It was the typical date for them to do especially since Julian lived in the very small town of Budgeree, Australia and Carolynne lived just a short drive away in Churchill.

The couple had been together for two years and despite their young age they had already planned to get married and had recently spoken to the local pastor at their church. It is that church where the couple first met.

Julian drove from Budgeree to pick up Carolynne for their date before driving right back into town, to his parent’s 1200 acres of property. They loaded up food and little supplies for the trip into Julian’s vehicle before telling his parents that they would be back at 3 pm. They planned on heading to a spot near a waterfall on the land, just a short drive from the house.

It was an uneventful and typical drive up until the point that Julian saw an animal carcass on the side of the road. His supposed curiosity got the better of him a little further up the road and he pulled over, telling Carolynne he wouldn’t be long. Not interested in silently waiting on her boyfriend, Carolynne pulled out her phone just passing the time on the device. Ten minutes would go by without any sign of Julian returning and Carolynne began to question if she should follow behind her boyfriend to make sure he was okay.

Before she could make her final decision, she spotted something in the side mirror. A figure dressed in entirely black with gloves and a balaclava was running full sprint towards the passenger side door. Towards her.

Carolynne was unable to react before the stranger dragged her from the car. She was put on the ground, her mouth was duct taped and she was hog-tied before getting thrown into the backseat. Carolynne had little visibility from the backseat so she had no idea where the stranger was driving, all she knew was that they drove for hours.

Once they finally stopped the stranger dragged her out of the SUV before shoving her forward, guiding her through a densely wooded area. Her attacker then used a knife to cut off her clothes before leaving her lying on the floor. Carolynne heard the sound of digging not long after her clothes were cut, thinking that she was about to die, Carolynn prayed.

Back home, Julian’s parents had noticed that the couple still weren’t home, their lateness was cause for concern since neither was ever late. Within an hour past the set time to be home, Julian’s mother was pacing up and down the drive hoping to spot Julian’s car. Instead, she would find a bottle with paper inside stuck in the wire fence that surrounded the property. She pulled the note out, reading what was written. The following is what she would see on the note with profanity blanked out.

“You — — couldn’t leave us alone so your son and girl went walkabout you get Carolynne and Julian back when we finish our business in the area but only if you behave yourself and don’t — — us around again tell everyone they are on holiday don’t you dare talk to the cops again and you’ll get your kids back — — us again and you never see them again because we’ll — — the girl to death and burn her alive and — — the boy will really enjoy the — — and sacrifice to our god to pay back 180x the hurts to us he did when we picked him up this is your last warning. Do what we say and the kids come back in alive condition.”

Despite the threats in the note, Julian’s mother called the police instantly and within the first few hours that the couple were missing there were search efforts organised. Authorities started looking on the Buckwald’s land but found that the search would prove difficult since most of the terrain was bushland that held a maze of dirt paths and side roads.

10 days prior to this, Carolynne’s family had received a note similar to the Buckwald’s. The note was discovered by Carolynne’s father on the front porch. It was handwritten and warned them to “stay away or they would make their lives miserable” and that they “would destroy their family”. At the time the police deemed it a dark and twisted prank and didn’t do much else.

The two notes were quickly linked together and handwriting analysis was able to tell that both notes were written by the same person. Both notes together would reveal a possible suspect and motive. Each note had a bizarre symbol that was soon discovered to be a sign used by a satanic, left-hand path neo-nazi group called the Order of the Nine Angles (ONA).

The ONA began in the UK in the 1960s and is responsible for many rapes, killings and acts of terrorism. Several UK politicians calling for ONA to be proscribed as a terrorist group. The group would eventually spread around Europe, America, Canada, Russia and Australia but at the time of the case, 2008, there wasn’t any confirmation that ONA was in Australia. The police were unsure of this but the public thought it to be the groups’ way of announcing that they were in Australia.

Days would pass and there were no leads on where the couple could be, the police didn’t have faith that they were going to survive.

Six days. It would take six days for the police to be able to deliver some news to both families. Carolynne and Julian had been found nearly 200 km from Budgeree stumbling onto a road near the Alpine National Park. The couple had suffered serious sunburns, cuts, blisters and bruised but otherwise, they physically were not majorly harmed.

Police interviews would reveal what the couple experienced during the time in the woods. Carolynne’s accountant was she was left tied up, naked on the ground as she continued praying when the sounds of digging stopped. To her, it sounded like the attacker walked away so she began to struggle against her restraints but she was unable to free herself. She heard Julian begin screaming her name and she would soon see Julian was in the same state as her, naked and tied up. Julian would grab the attacker’s discarded knife and together, he and Carolynne worked to break free of their restraints. They grabbed a sleeping bag and food both left by the attacker before they ran away. Whilst they were walking, Julian told Carolynne about what she missed, he claimed that whilst he was bent over the animal carcass something hit him on the back of his head and he was knocked out. He had only just woken up when he rescued Carolynne.

Over the following days, Carolynne told the police that she and Julian could barely stay warm at night and that they were constantly scared of accidentally running into their attacker or getting caught by them. At one point they had unintentionally returned to the site they were first held at. Julian rushed into the camp, stealing some clothes he spotted before they ran away again.

Julian’s account would mirror Carolynne’s account aside from the many hours he was unconscious.

The police wanted to find the hostage site to try and find any evidence or leads on who had done this and shockingly they had managed to find the site. They recovered a shovel, duct tape, bits of rope and cut clothing. After analysing the items it is found that they all belonged to the same person. That person was Julian Buckwald. This along with the lack of injury to the back of his the police began to suspect Julian.

Under the pressure of questioning Julian confessed to being behind the attack against his girlfriend of two years. He had planted items for the crime ahead of time and wrote the notes that would be sent to both families meaning the attack had at least been planned for over ten days. Everything that the stranger did to Carolynne had been Julian. The digging she thought was her attacker preparing her grave was in fact, Julian hiding evidence that linked him to the crime. When the attacker walked away, Julian hid his car before tying himself up and cutting off his own clothes.

Julian’s reason for attacking and traumatising Carolynne was because she wanted to wait for marriage.

Despite the fact that they had planned to marry, they couldn’t agree on what date. Carolynne wanted to wait, and finish her schooling but Julian wanted to marry right away. He wanted to have sex with Carolynne but they both believed in waiting for marriage.

Julian had hoped the environment and intense emotions would mean he could pressure and manipulate Carolynne into “consummating their relationship.”. He would use a plethora of excuses over the days but Carolynne stuck to her principles believing that God would get them out safely.

To make the mental torture on Carolynne last longer, hoping that he would get his way, Julian would lead them in circles, avoiding the roads in Alpine Park. He managed this with a map he had stashed away, reading it whenever Carolynne wasn’t paying attention to him. The only reason they managed to escape was because he realised that Carolynne wouldn’t change her mind.

After his confession, Julian was charged with multiple crimes and in August 2009 he was convicted of kidnapping and making a false report.

Before trial, Julian was granted bail so he wasn’t in custody until sentencing. Just before sentencing in September 2009, Julian managed to obtain an Indian passport and boarded a flight to Chennai. He had disguised himself with dark hair dye and extremely dark fake tan, he managed to get past the Australian border but was denied access into India. He was sent part way back to Singapore where he was arrested by Australian police and taken back.

Back in Australia, Julia was sentenced to 7 years and 3 months for kidnapping and 6 months for fleeing.

(originally posted on medium.com/@natasha.leigh)