Paul Douglas Peters

Remember that story from Australia a while ago about the guy who strapped a fake bomb to a schoolgirl’s neck? They caught him on Monday in his home in America following a short but intensive investigation spanning two continents. Turns out he literally flew from America to Australia and back again to execute this prank. No, seriously. There is no spice here.

This is what happened:

Madeleine Pulver was studying in her bedroom at her home in Mosman, near Sydney, on 3 August when a man wearing a balaclava and carrying a black box and a black baseball bat walked in about 14:30 local time, according to the criminal complaint filed in the US court and obtained by the BBC. She tried to flee but the man warned her to ‘sit down and no-one needs to get hurt’, then placed the box around her neck and locked it with a device similar to a bicycle chain, the court document states. Also locked on to the chain was a USB flash drive and a plastic document sleeve, the court document states.The man then left, telling Ms Pulver: ‘Count to 200… I’ll be back… if you move I can see you, I’ll be right here.’ She eventually looked in the document sleeve and found a note saying the box contained explosives and warning her not to call police.”

Over the next 10 hours, she remained in her room as police bomb technicians examined and X-rayed the box locked to her neck. They eventually determined it contained no explosives, then removed it.

The guy suspected of being behind all of this is Paul Douglas Peters. Apparently he is a lawyer and investment banker who owns a company in Australia. He is also employed by a company “with which the victim’s family has links”.

Here’s how they nailed him:

Investigators began by discovering the Gmail account listed in the note was established from a computer at a Chicago airport on 30 May. Police in New South Wales then interviewed witnesses at locations where the Gmail account was later accessed. A review of CCTV footage and motor vehicle records led them to suspect Mr Peters of involvement. Immigration records showed Mr Peters had flown through Chicago on 30 May, putting him at the airport when the Gmail account was created from a computer there, the court filing said. Investigators also discovered Mr Peters had purchased a black baseball bat a few weeks before the encounter with Ms Pulver, it said. Using bank records and other evidence, they traced Mr Peters to the Kentucky residence of his ex-wife, where he was arrested.

[Source: BBC News]