18-year-old Madeleine Pulver was home alone in Mosman, an affluent, harbourside suburb in Sydney, when a man wearing a rainbow balaclava broke in.
He strapped what looked like a bomb to her neck, chained it shut, and left a ransom note demanding money – warning her not to move.
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For 10 agonising hours, police and bomb technicians worked to free her from the collar bomb device.
The world waited for news that Madeleine was safe – before the collar bomb was revealed to be fake.
Paul Douglas Peters was a 50-year-old Australian lawyer and investment banker with three daughters of his own.
The day after the bomb hoax, Paul fled to the United States. However, he left a clumsy trail of clues behind, including CCTV footage which captured his every move.
The FBI arrested Paul and extradited him back to Australia. In 2012, he was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison for aggravated break and enter, and kidnapping.
The judge described the crime as “an act of evil” that caused “prolonged psychological trauma.”
Madeleine later spoke about the panic attacks and anxiety that followed, but said she didn’t want to be defined by what happened to her.
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