Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard formally charged Audrey Seiler Wednesday with two misdemeanor counts of obstructing police officers stemming from Seiler's account of her disappearance in March.
The criminal complaint charged Seiler with obstructing officers both when she was located March 31 and during further interviews with detectives April 1. Both charges carry a maximum $10,000 fine and nine months imprisonment.
According to the criminal complaint, Seiler had problems with her boyfriend culminating in an argument Jan. 31. Later that night, Seiler reported she was attacked and knocked unconscious. Seiler wrote in her diary that after the alleged assault their relationship improved. In the complaint, her friend Andrea Niels said Seiler's boyfriend was more attentive to Seiler after the alleged attack. Audrey's mother said she was a perfectionist who was \extremely needy"" of her boyfriend.
According to police records, in the weeks before Seiler's disappearance, her boyfriend sent romantic e-mails from Seiler's computer to an ex-girlfriend in Minnesota. After discovering this, the complaint said Seiler wrote in her diary March 22 that he ""wants to be with her [the ex-girlfriend]. I love him [with] all my heart, but I know he needs to love me back. I won't be well for awhile-I know that. I've got to go, maybe to pray. Mostly for my well-being.""
The complaint stated that on March 24 and 25, Seiler's computer was used to search for the weather forecast, ""Madison parks"" and ""Madison area wooded areas."" Seiler was seen buying gum, Nyquil, rope, duct tape and a knife at a Westside Target March 26. She was recorded leaving The Regent Street Apartments, 1402 Regent St., at 2:27 a.m., and was reported missing later that day. Several workers in the John Nolen Drive area reported seeing a female matching Seiler's description on a bike path during her time missing, according to the criminal complaint.
March 31, Seiler was found near the Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way. She told the police at the scene and in later interviews she was abducted from her room by a man with a gun and a knife who walked her around the city for several days. She said she was not physically or sexually assaulted but was given Nyquil pills by her abductor.
April 1, police showed Seiler a videotape of herself buying items at Target and mentioned they believed she was under a lot of stress lately.
Seiler then began to cry, saying, ""It just got so out of hand. I did not mean for it to ... everybody did so much for me,"" according to the criminal complaint.
She said she put together the ""abduction kit"" and left because she needed time to herself. According to the criminal complaint, Seiler told police she was later abducted by a ""bad man"" in a park and held for the remainder of her time missing.
""If this is what I did by myself, it would wreck my life,"" she added, according to the report. ""I want so much for my life to be perfect.""
MPD Acting Public Information Officer Phil Moore said he was unsure whether Madison would be able to recoup the thousands of dollars spent in the investigation.
""As far as restitution, that would be something that would be decided depending on if there was a bargain struck or if it went to trial,"" he said.
Seiler's family and lawyer were unavailable for comment.
