The Monster of Mangatiti

The Mangatiti Valley is 30 miles

east of Raetihi. It's isolated,

rough and hostile country,...

so remote that for a long time, wild pigs,

cattle and goats were the only residents.

Then in the early '60s, the land

was bought by the Cornelius family.

By the '80s there was still no

running water, power or telephone.

It was the perfect place for a predator

to hold captive vulnerable young women.

By the time he'd be held accountable,

there'd be seven known victims.

Whoa. Whoa. Hey, hey, hey.

It's me. You're OK.

He's already come back, Doug. He'll know

I'm gone. Jump in the truck, mate. Come on.

Joanne had escaped not

long before I arrived.

I was 19 years old, and I was about to

spend 23 weeks of absolute horror,...

held captive by

William Paul Cornelius.

# Folks round here call me crazy.

# I walk a lonely road,

# I know it's true.

# And if sometimes I'm bad,

# I know they'll understand,

# little girl, it's just

my crazy love for you. #

I'd, um, worked in offices, and I really

wasn't happy doing that kind of work.

I just didn't like being inside all

the time. So I was looking for a job

when I saw the ad in the paper -

tutoring correspondence in a...

farm situation.

So I just thought it would be a

really different opportunity that

I could work at for six months,

save all my money, cos, you know,

I wouldn't be spending the money.

And it was quite a lot of

money that was being offered.

And then I'd be able to go overseas

cos that's what I wanted to do,

was to travel overseas.

Oh, that sounds fantastic.

Paris, Rome, Berlin...

and Raetihi.

So there's jobs in Raetihi?

Could've fooled me.

Yeah, well, I'm actually doing

some live-in tutoring. The guy who's

employing me seems really keen, but-

Oh, we... we already

met in Tauranga, so... Tauranga?

Christine. Yeah. He's got a sister who

lives up there, so we met at her place.

It is remote.

Initially I-I thought he was a bit

of a... a hippy, because he had long

hair and a beard,

and his son had long hair, but they

were obviously farmers, and I was

used to farmers.

But he was very nice,

he was charming and polite,

and his son just seemed

like a really lovely boy.

Listen. If you're talking about...

Christine. Morning, Heather.

Oh, hi. How's the drive?

Yeah, good.

Morning. Morning, Chrissie.

The river's up. Must be raining

somewhere. But here? Sunshine. Come

on. We'd better get your things,

get you up to the farm.

You can leave your dinky

toy in here if you like.

Don't think it will like the road

up to the farm - it's a bit rough.

Are you sure your friend won't mind?

Yeah. I leave things in here

all the time. No one'll find it.

I mean, they won't go breaking into

it or anything. Benn's gonna be very

excited to see you again.

Looking back now, I realise that

he'd probably interviewed several girls

and he'd picked the one he thought

would be easiest to control.

I think it's 30 miles out to the

farm, but that's as the crow flies.

It definitely takes quite a long

time, through very rough terrain, a

lot of high ranges and deep gorges.

It's not a drive for

the faint-hearted.

# My love's like

a freight train in motion.

# It speeds along the

track that leads to you.

# Through the sea and snow,

# no matter where you go,

# this never-ending crazy love for

# you. #

Initially, when we were first

driving out to the farm, I... I felt fine.

He was a very charismatic person

who was just friendly and nice,

just seemed like a really nice man.

And then we got to a gate that was

locked, and that was a private road,

and I... I didn't know about this.

I knew that the farm was remote, but I

didn't realise it wasn't on a public road.

I started getting... a bit nervous,

cos I, sort of, thought, 'Oh,

I'm going to the middle of nowhere,

and I don't know this person, and,

'you know, this is

a little bit scary.'

Get out the car.

Come on. Jump out.

I wanna show you something.

I've got nearly 3500 acres here.

Beautiful country.

Isolated, yeah,...

but beautiful.

Remote, the wife said.

She hated it.

It wasn't enough.

I'm sorry.

Oh, look, don't worry. I understand

you're probably a bit nervous, but

you've got nothing to worry about.

You know, you can trust me.

Everything's fine. You won't

have to work the farm or anything.

Just keep Benn up with his lessons

and maybe cook the odd meal or two

if you don't mind.

No, that's cool. Well, I enjoy cooking.

Well, that'll be a treat.

I'm a pretty ordinary cook, myself.

Come on.

So I felt quite reassured and

thought I was just being a bit silly.

It was about another hour over

the clay road. Finally we reached a

condemned bridge high over a gorge.

And after that we were there. I was

still a bit apprehensive, but I was

really excited too.

Hi!

Hi!

Hi, Dad!

Hey, son.

Hello.

I thought it was... I mean, it

was very rustic, if I can call it that.

I think the cabin was built back

in the 1940s, but it was adequate.

Benn, why don't you show Heather

around the place while I get her pack?

OK. Inside and out? All right. Come

with me. This is your room. This is

where you'll sleep.

I had my own room, which was very

nicely made up, had a nice bed

with a new quilt on it.

This is your bed.

So that was all very tidy, and,

yeah, it didn't worry me at all.

Um, everything was there.

And then this is where we all

eat dinner. And, uh, we've got veggies...

Well, I thought I was gonna be there

for six months, so I did take some

personal possessions with me.

Not a huge amount, but just things

that were sentimental to me.

There's no electricity going, so

it's not like there's a radio going

or anything like that, so you...

you just hear the outside noises.

But very peaceful, very very quiet.

I just thought it was exciting, so I wasn't

really a big TV watcher, I was a reader,

so it didn't really bother me.

I just thought it was something

different and would be just

a really cool experience.

He wants me to meet the pigs. Good-oh.

Get him to tell you about the schoolhouse.

Schoolhouse? Work in progress.

Gotta have a schoolhouse.

That's the piglet's mum. She'll

be ready for butchering soon.

This is where we milk our cow, Bluebell.

I named her. It was in a book I read.

I thought his son was lovely.

He was just such a gorgeous kid.

He told me his mum had left with one

of the cattle musterers and taken

his younger brother with her.

Hey, I... I don't

think we should be-

Jed's my little brother.

Dad was really cut up about it.

You too, I imagine.

I'll show you the chooks.

OK.

He's shown me the, um...

Oh.

I was just putting your things out

for you. I hope you don't mind.

So, you play the flute?

Um, yeah, just a bit.

I'm not very good. Well, we should find

out. Maybe have a tune tonight, eh, Benn?

Yeah, sure!

No, honestly. It's just a hobby.

The kids were all happy.

The dogs were too. They ate their...

dinner...

quick... quick... quick... quickly!

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