She Faked Her Own Abduction After Having Problems With Her Boyfriend
In 2004, Audrey Seiler, a 20-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison student, vanished, setting off an intense search. Four days later, she turned up in a marsh and claimed a man with a knife had kidnapped her.
However, the entire abduction turned out to be a hoax, and Audrey was sentenced to three years of probation for faking the incident.
On March 27 that year, surveillance footage captured the college student leaving her apartment alone at 2:30 a.m. without a coat or her purse. After she failed to arrive at a gathering later that same day, she was reported missing.
The news of Audrey’s disappearance shook her loved ones. Dozens of volunteers traveled from her hometown of Rockford, Minnesota, to scour the woods and neighborhoods of Madison.
Four days passed by, and on March 31, Audrey was discovered alive in a marsh located close to the state Department of Revenue building.
An employee had been taking a walk during their lunch hour when they spotted Audrey curled up in the fetal position and contacted the police.
At first, she told authorities that she’d been kidnapped by a man at knifepoint. Officers descended upon the marsh with their weapons at the ready, but only a knife, duct tape, and other items were found.
The supposed kidnapper was nowhere to be seen, and complicating the mystery further was the fact that Audrey reported she’d been attacked from behind in a separate incident by an unknown person back in February 2004 and knocked unconscious.
Investigators ultimately concluded that Audrey had lied about getting kidnapped and being held captive. They revealed how she’d planted a knife and the other items in the marsh herself to drive the hoax.
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Authorities were able to obtain store video camera footage, which showed Audrey buying a knife, rope, duct tape, and cold medicine, the tools she alleged her kidnapper had used to restrain her.
Additionally, a search of Audrey’s computer indicated she’d looked up extended weather forecasts and maps of wooded regions in Madison.
Once the police confronted Audrey with the surveillance footage, she reportedly said, “I’m just so messed up,” before recanting her statement.
As for why she faked the abduction, the police stated it was because she was sad about issues with her boyfriend.
Audrey’s attorney, Randy Hopper, later explained how she’d become depressed after her aunt died, and relationship troubles only exacerbated her mental health problems. According to Randy, she’d had a “breakdown.”
“Everybody has different levels of coping skills. She probably discovered her coping skills weren’t what she hoped they’d be,” he noted.
The development shocked Audrey’s friends and family, as she had a reputation as a good student. The then-college sophomore had even been the captain of her basketball and volleyball teams in high school.
Following the incident, which was heavily publicized by the media, Audrey withdrew from school and entered therapy. She pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of obstructing officers as part of a plea agreement and received a sentence of three years probation.
During her court hearing, Audrey also read a statement. She detailed how she acted irrationally as a result of severe depression.
“I’m taking care of myself now, so someday people will see I’m still a girl to be proud of,” she said.
The probation conditions included reimbursing the Madison Police Department for their manhunt efforts, which Melanie Conklin, a spokeswoman for Mayor David Cieslewicz, had previously shared were estimated at over $70,000.
Audrey was told that she’d begin by paying $250 per month, but the figure could rise to $400 per month if she graduated from school and obtained a job before her probation ended. Additionally, if she completed her probation, she could have the charges expunged from her record.
Following Audrey’s hearing, her mom, Stephanie, thanked the police, searchers, and the media for their help.
“The fact remains she was lost in a very real sense,” Stephanie said of her daughter.
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