The Murder of Rachel Barber: The Horrific Story of the Psychotic Nanny Who Tried to Steal Someone Else's Identity

Being a nanny seems like the perfect job: flexible hours, no diplomas, and parents get peace of mind for little money. It all sounds perfect, but there's a catch. When we hire a nanny, we're introducing a stranger into our children's lives. And that stranger can be dangerous.

Rachel Barber's story is a terrifying example of how trusting a stranger can ruin a life. Caroline Reed Robertson, the Barber family's nanny, didn't just walk into their home — she took their daughter, hoping to steal her identity. Want to know how jealousy turned caring into a nightmare? Read on — the truth will give you goosebumps!

In 1996, the Barber family from Melbourne hired 19-year-old Caroline Reed Robertson as a nanny. She had to look after three children: 7-year-old Ashley, 9-year-old Heather and 13-year-old Rachel, who, despite her age, was already quite independent. The girls' parents spent a lot of time at work and wanted to make sure that their children ate on time, stayed healthy and did their homework.

The girls quickly found a common language with the nanny, and everything was going well. But one day, Rachel Barber disappeared on her way home from school. Since a child from a well-off family, who had never run away or hung out with dubious company before, had disappeared, the situation immediately caused serious concern. The same day that Rachel did not return home, the police began an active search.

The missing schoolgirl deserves a more detailed account. Rachel Barber had just recently celebrated her 15th birthday. She was an obedient daughter and a diligent student. She was described as a bright, expressive and graceful girl. Rachel was keen on dancing and seriously considered a modelling career – she had all the qualities to appear on the cover of a magazine in the future. The girl had many friends and was dating a guy from her school.

Nanny Caroline Robertson was only 4 years older than Rachel, but she could be considered the complete opposite of the girl. She was a poor student at school, had no friends, and her life was marred by numerous complexes. The main reasons were excess weight and epilepsy. During her two years of working for the Barber family, Caroline became close to Rachel. Moreover, the nanny developed a strange, unhealthy attachment to the teenager.

In 1997, Robertson took several photographs of Rachel, supposedly for some project. About a year later, she told the girl's mother that the pictures had attracted the attention of a serious representative of the modeling business. And in the summer of 1998, Caroline asked Rachel's sister for the details of her birth certificate, explaining that they were needed to fill out an application at a modeling agency.

At the same time, Robertson secretly used Rachel Barber's details and photographs to obtain a copy of her birth certificate. According to the police, she was already preparing for the murder and was waiting for the right moment. The day before Rachel's disappearance, on Sunday, February 28, 1999, Robertson called her ward twice in the evening, and they discussed something. It was these facts that made the nanny the main suspect in the Barber case.

On March 1, 1999, Rachel's father, as usual, drove her to the tram stop, from where she was going to dance school. At 9:30 they said goodbye, agreeing to meet at the same stop at 18:15. When the father did not find his daughter at the agreed place in the evening, he immediately contacted the police.

Interviews with Rachel's friends and classmates helped detectives reconstruct her day. When she arrived at school, she met her boyfriend, Emmanuel Corella, and chatted with him for a while. By 10:15, she was already in class. The day went normally, although toward the end of classes, Rachel told one of her friends that she would not be going home after school.

She said she was "going to make a lot of money" that evening. She also added that it was "related to someone he doesn't know." That same day, Rachel told her boyfriend that she had her eye on a pair of $100 shoes in a store that she had been wanting for a long time. She hinted that she would soon have the money to buy them.

Rachel Barber left school with her friends, but at 5:45 p.m. she said she was in a hurry and continued on alone. Investigators later learned that she met Caroline Robertson and they went to the nanny's house together. Robertson promised Rachel $100 for participating in a "little psychological experiment."

Rachel was last seen alive at 6:45 p.m., according to one of the witnesses found by the police. According to him, the girl was walking with Caroline from the bus stop towards the nanny's house. The investigation knows everything that happened next only from the words of the killer herself. At home, Caroline and Rachel cooked pizza, into which the nanny mixed sleeping pills.

They ate, after which Robertson offered to drink alcohol, but the guest refused. Then Caroline asked Rachel to do a dance exercise and think about something good. When the girl turned her back to her, the nanny strangled her with the cord of an old telephone.

Rachel's body was kept in the cupboard for two days, Caroline did not even remove the noose from her neck. On March 2, her father, David Reed, dropped in on the killer. When the man was in the apartment, the body of the strangled girl was still lying in the cupboard behind the wall, in the bedroom. The next day, Caroline wrapped the body in two blankets, put it in a large bag and took it out of town by taxi to her father's farm in Kilmore. She told the taxi driver that there was a garden sculpture in the bag. There, Caroline buried the body in a shallow grave in a secluded place near the dam.

On March 12, police arrived at Caroline Robertson's rented apartment. The officers had keys to the front door given to them by the owner of the apartment. But the door was locked from the inside and they were unable to enter the premises. No one answered the phone. The police had to call the fire brigade, who were able to enter the apartment through a bedroom window later in the evening.

Caroline was found unconscious on the floor of the apartment. The paramedics who arrived were able to bring her to her senses. As it turned out, the police's appearance outside the door provoked Robertson to have an epileptic seizure. During the search, items that could have belonged to the missing woman were found in one of the rooms. In addition, an application for a copy of a birth certificate in the name of Rachel Elizabeth Barber was found in one of the desk drawers.

Caroline Robertson was taken to hospital. On the evening of March 12, Detective Patterson conducted the first interview with the suspect right there in the hospital room, and the killer confessed to everything. The next day, police found Rachel's body in a shallow hole on a farm in Kilmore. The telephone cord was still tightly tied around her neck.

While investigating this relatively simple case, detectives still encountered several strange circumstances. It turned out that Robertson made a copy of Rachel Barber's documents for a reason. She had already registered a credit card with a limit of 10 thousand dollars in the girl's name. In addition, she tried to get a car loan, although she did not even have a driver's license.

Caroline envied the beautiful, successful and goal-oriented Rachel. This envy was so strong that she decided not only to kill. Robertson wanted to steal the victim's identity, leave Melbourne and start a new life with her documents. Diaries were found in her, where notes about Buddhism were bizarrely intertwined with plans to live under a false name.

Robertson created a new biography for herself, full of vivid and unusual details that were supposed to make her story interesting. She also wrote about her passionate love for Barber, which she tried unsuccessfully to overcome. Of course, all this had deep roots. A psychiatric examination revealed that the killer had serious mental disorders that made her a social danger.

Despite serious psychiatric diagnoses, Caroline Robertson was found sane and the case was sent to court. During the trial, the defendant repented, sobbed and asked for forgiveness from the parents of the dead girl. However, the judge noted that her repentance was not sincere - the main motive for her behavior was fear for her future.

Robertson was right to worry — the court sentenced her to 20 years in prison. According to the verdict, she could count on parole only after 14 and a half years of imprisonment. Caroline changed a lot in prison. In 2013, her photo was shown to Rachel's parents. Michael and Elizabeth Barber were shocked: their daughter's killer had lost a lot of weight, grown long hair and became remarkably similar to Rachel!

In 2013, Caroline applied for early release, but Rachel's relatives publicly protested. As a result, the criminal remained behind bars. She was released only in January 2015, when the Barber family decided that she had atoned for her guilt. One of Caroline's cellmates told the press that over the years of communication, she never wanted to discuss her terrible act and showed no signs of remorse.

Of course, the grief-stricken parents wanted to preserve Rachel’s memory for posterity. This desire became especially clear after the public outcry showed that people really did care about the details of this tragedy. The girl’s mother, Elizabeth Southall, co-authored a book, Perfect Victim, with journalist Megan Norris. In it, she laid out the pain of the loss, telling about her daughter – her dreams of becoming a dancer, her kindness, and the bright life that was cut short so suddenly. The book was published in 2002 and quickly found a response from readers. It not only told about the tragedy, but also showed how the family dealt with the loss, trying to find meaning in what happened.

In 2009, Rachel's story became the basis for the film In Her Skin. The film was originally called How to Change in 9 Weeks - this was the phrase written on the cover of Caroline's notebook, where she meticulously planned Rachel's murder. Director Simone North created a drama starring Guy Pearce, Miranda Otto and Samara Weaving, who played Caroline. The film recreated the events of 1999 with documentary accuracy, paying attention not only to the terrible details of the crime, but also to the emotional state of the Barber family.

Rachel Barber's story is a chilling reminder of how blind trust can lead to tragedy. Is it possible to recognize in advance the hidden threat in the person who is trusted with the most valuable thing - a child? What signs do you think parents should be wary of when choosing a nanny? Let's discuss!