Crimehub: A True Crime Podcast · Crimehub Studios

The Girl in the Wardrobe: A Deadly Fantasy

·1 hr·5 clips

They were trapped in a perpetual state of suspended grief.

It begins with concealment. A figure is taken from a wardrobe, wrapped, pinned down, and forced into a duffel bag. The bag is sealed. The darkness closes in again. The narrative then shifts to Caroline Reed Robertson. On Friday, March 12th, she does not show up for work. Her supervisor calls several times, but she does not answer. Police are already trying to question her in connection with Rachel's disappearance. Around 9:20 a.m., two officers arrive at her front door and find that she is gone. She has already called a taxi and slipped out of the apartment. Later that day, Caroline calls Donna Waters twice. She is still trying to recover money she says she is owed. Donna hears that Caroline sounds desperate and out of sorts. The pressure is building. Officers return around 5:30 p.m. and decide not to leave without checking the apartment properly. They knock, announce themselves, and wait. When they reach the bedroom window, they see that it is open. Inside, they find Caroline on the floor, partly hidden by the bed frame. She is unconscious but alive. Empty bottles of epilepsy medication lie nearby. An ambulance takes her to hospital for assessment. The case does not stop there. It expands into the longer story of obsession, murder, and the way Caroline's fixation on Rachel seems to survive the years that follow. After nearly 5,000 days in prison, Caroline comes out thinner, with straighter hair and a more polished appearance. Elizabeth later looks at a prison photograph and sees the same unsettling resemblance in the eyes. The surface changes. The deeper likeness remains. The episode keeps returning to that uneasy idea, and it does so with patient, grave control.

As heard by us

A grim obsession story that keeps tightening long after the arrest.

Crimehub turns Caroline Reed Robertson's fixation into something almost airless, like a room with the door shut. It moves from the wardrobe image to the pressure building around Rachel's disappearance, keeping its focus on the missed calls at work, the taxi exit, the officers…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

When you want obsession, police pressure, and a final image that will not loosen its grip.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Crimehub: A True Crime Podcast