“I set everything up. I’m just so messed up. I’m sorry,” University of Wisconsin sophomore Audrey Seiler told detectives, according to a recently released criminal complaint against Seiler.
Seiler was charged Wednesday with two misdemeanors of obstructing officers after lying about her abduction. If convicted, Seiler could face up to nine months in jail and $10,000 in fines for each misdemeanor charge.
According to the complaint, Seiler also lied about being assaulted Feb. 1, when she told police she was grabbed by the arm and struck in the head from behind, leaving her unconscious behind a building on Bowen Court.
The complaint states she faked both incidents in order to get the attention of her boyfriend, UW freshman Ryan Fisher, who is from Seiler’s hometown of Rockford, Minn.
Seiler, who transferred to UW this year from Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minn., disappeared from her Regent Apartment March 27 and was found four days later in a marsh near the Alliant Energy Center.
A manhunt ensued for a non-existent abductor, captured the attention of the national media and employed 150 officers, police dogs and aircrafts to search for a man Seiler said kidnapped her from her apartment at knifepoint. The search cost the city $55,000.
Seiler told police she faked her abduction and assault because she discovered Fisher had been seeing an ex-girlfriend.
Fisher’s friend, Kyle Woulf said he was unaware of any problems in their relationship.
“To all appearances, they seemed normal,” Woulf said. “No problems.”
The day before Seiler went missing she went to Target, where she bought duct tape, rope, Nyquil cough medicine and a knife, all of which she said were used against her when she was abducted, according to the complaint.
Seiler was spotted several times during the four days she was missing. An employee of the Department of Revenue saw her Monday and Tuesday and finally reported to her boss Wednesday that she saw a woman, later identified as Seiler, lying in the fetal position on a path near the Alliant Energy Center.
When police arrived on the scene, Seiler told them a man with a gun abducted her.
“He’s out there right now. You’ve got to help me,” Seiler said to police.
Officers on the scene reported Seiler was clean, with freshly painted nails, and was dry despite the recent rainfall.
However, she continued to state she was a victim of a crime saying, “I can’t leave the woods, a bad man will kill me.”
When Seiler was initially interviewed by police, she told them a man abducted her from her room at knifepoint, apparently unaware of the surveillance camera that recorded her leaving her apartment alone around 2:30 a.m. She said the man drove her around for an hour before taping her mouth and taking her to the area near the Alliant Energy Center where she was later found. She said the man held her hostage there for the four days she was missing and that he gave her only water and Nyquil.
She said the man was watching her while she talked to the Department of Revenue Employee Monday and Tuesday and was in the woods when police arrived Wednesday.
Officers interviewed Seiler numerous times and asked her to clarify the inconsistencies in her story. She responded by saying, “I know you think I can’t handle Ryan, or my grades, but I can.”
Seiler later admitted she lied about being abducted.
She also admitted the Feb. 1 incident was a hoax; however, she did receive injuries of her own doing.
Police responded to the incident where they were met with a distraught Seiler who lied to them saying she was hit on the side of the face with an object and woke up in a different location, without being sexually assaulted or robbed.
Seiler’s friend, Alison Olfert, who was with her the night of the fake assault on Feb. 1, said Seiler told her she was attacked just minutes after the two separated outside the party they were attending. Both Olfert and Woulf said after the Feb. 1 incident, the side of Seiler’s face was puffy and black and blue.
Seiler’s family has hired prestigious Minneapolis-based lawyer Randy Hopper. Seiler and her family have not yet commented on the charges she faces.