Juliet Hulme, shared an intense and imaginative friendship.1 They created their own elaborate fantasy world, a paradise they called "The Fourth World," complete with its own religion and moral code.2 But when their parents threatened to separate them, this fantasy world collided with reality in the most brutal way imaginable.
On June 22, 1954, the girls lured Pauline's mother, Honorah Rieper, to a secluded path in Victoria Park and bludgeoned her to death with a brick wrapped in a stocking.3 The crime was not a spontaneous act of rage but a premeditated murder, planned to remove the one person they saw as an obstacle to their life together.
Join us as we delve into the sensational case that shocked a nation. We'll explore the girls' complex relationship, which some at the time speculated was a lesbian romance, a factor that fueled the media frenzy. We will examine the contents of Pauline's diary, which provided a chilling account of their plans and motivations. We'll also discuss the trial, where the defense argued insanity, claiming the girls were suffering from a shared delusion or "folie à deux."
Finally, we will uncover the surprising second acts of their lives. After serving just five years in prison, both women were released, changed their names, and disappeared from the public eye.3 One became a reclusive horse-riding instructor, while the other, under the name Anne Perry, became a world-renowned, best-selling author of crime novels.