EXCLUSIVEElia is the sort of painfully ordinary woman you wouldnt give a second glance... until you spy the ankle monitor. We reveal her history of stalking so awful shes been dubbed Australias Baby Reindeer
With her dark hair, large sunglasses, oversized tote bag and her striped Country Road T-shirt, Elia Papillo looks like any other time-pressed, mid-twenties woman nipping out for a few errands.
With her dark hair, large sunglasses, oversized tote bag and her striped Country Road T-shirt, Elia Papillo looks like any other time-pressed, mid-twenties woman nipping out for a few errands.
But what her plain Jane new look conceals - in particular her unflattering baggy linen trousers - is a history of alleged stalking so terrifying she has been dubbed Australias own real-life Baby Reindeer.
For on Papillos left ankle is an electronic tag tracking her every movement as she prepares to front court next year over allegations she breached a sentencing order by relentlessly stalking multiple people, including a man with whom she had a brief romantic relationship and his new partner.
Indeed, the 25-year-old former student support worker from Salisbury, a quiet suburb in Adelaides north, now looks like an entirely different woman to the one when her offending first began.
Back then, in mid-2021, she sported long, neatly brushed blonde hair and was working as a teaching assistant in the nearby Holy Family Catholic School, where her mother teaches kindergarten.
A photo of Papillo taken in March 2022 - while she was in the midst of a stalking campaign for which she would later plead guilty - shows her beaming in a baby-blue summery dress with lace-up wedges on her feet - and crucially no monitoring device in sight.
The disturbing offences she was originally accused of read like they could have been inspired by Martha, the antagonist in the hit Netflix show that captivated global audiences earlier this year.
They include allegedly faking a pregnancy and miscarriage, creating dozens of fake social media profiles in the names of the victims friends and family, falsely accusing the victim of sexual misconduct and claiming she had cancer to con him out of $1,000.
With her dark hair, large sunglasses, oversized tote bag and her striped Country Road t-shirt, Elia Papillo (pictured) looks like any other time-pressed, mid-twenties woman nipping out for a few errands
But what her Plain Jane new look conceals is a history of alleged stalking so terrifying she has been dubbed Australias own Baby Reindeer. For on Papillos left ankle is an electronic tag (seen here) tracking her every movement as she prepares to front court next year over allegations she relentlessly stalked multiple people, including a man she had briefly dated
Last year, Elizabeth Magistrates Court, in Adelaides north, also heard Papillo bombarded her victim with unwanted packages and gifts, sent explicit messages or threats to 100 of his friends and family, and listed him as her emergency contact with SA Health.
But perhaps most chilling of all, she allegedly set up a fake memorial page for a dead family friend of the victim.
The page, which used pictures of the deceased, was a ruse so that she could monitor her victims life.
The court also heard she set up fake professional social media pages to dupe a photography business into supplying photos of her former boyfriend and his new partner that had been taken with their consent.
Papillo pleaded guilty in November last year to one count of stalking, one count of dishonestly dealing with documents and two counts of breaching her bail, according to the Adelaide Advertiser.
Prosecutors accepted those charges as representative of her overall conduct and the other counts were withdrawn.
She was handed a suspended sentence with a $1,000 good behaviour bond and was banned from contacting any of her victims either directly or indirectly.
Her provisional teaching licence was also cancelled a couple of months earlier, according to the Teachers Registration Board of South Australia.
A photo of Papillo (right) taken in March 2022 - while she was in the midst of a stalking campaign for which she would later plead guilty - shows her beaming in a baby-blue summery dress with lace-up wedges on her feet - and crucially no monitoring device in sight. The other woman shown is not involved in the stalking allegations
But she now faces a second trial after allegedly breaching her bail conditions almost immediately by repeatedly contacting the victim and his close friends and family members, in addition to allegedly stalking another man.
It is alleged that just two weeks after her conviction, she filed a formal complaint with her victims employer, falsely accusing him of sexual misconduct.
The complaint was investigated and dismissed but it remains on his permanent record.
Papillo was arrested for a fourth time in June this year.
By that stage, police allege she had briefly dated another man whom she subsequently went on to stalk.
Papillos lawyers have reportedly said the first three stalking charges she faces will be strongly defended.
As she awaits her trial, her liberty is only guaranteed by strict bail conditions.
These include surrendering her passport, wearing the ankle monitoring device, and mandatory home detention, except in rare circumstances such as a medical appointment or visiting her lawyer.
She is also banned from using any device with access to the internet and from trying to speak to, or going within 100 metres of, her alleged victims.
Papillos provisional teaching licence was also cancelled a couple of months earlier, according to the Teachers Registration Board of South Australia (pictured: her school photo)
It is alleged that just two weeks after her conviction, Papillo filed a formal complaint with her victims employer, falsely accusing him of sexual misconduct
Her parents had to stump up a $10,000 surety and the whole family, including her older sister, had to promise to ban all smart devices from their three-bedroom, $750,000 family home.
This means that they cannot access Wi-Fi in their own home.
Papillo was spotted visiting her lawyers offices in Adelaides CBD on Tuesday last week for a 30-minute meeting.
She emerged into the sunlight with a worried look on her face and spoke hurriedly to someone on the phone before rushing home.
At a bail hearing last month, the prosecutor discussed the panic and fear Papillos alleged victims have faced.
The very nature of the offence of stalking, particularly online stalking, is that it is insidious and far more difficult to stop or be protected against, the prosecutor told SAs Supreme Court.
This type of offending is invasive and is unable to be escaped from. The complainants in this matter, quite simply, cannot move states for their protection due to the online nature of this offending.
This publication is not naming the victims to protect their privacy.
Papillo was spotted visiting her lawyers offices in Adelaides CBD on Tuesday last week for a 30-minute meeting
She emerged into the sunlight with a worried look on her face and spoke hurriedly to someone on the phone before rushing home
It is not the Papillo familys first experience of the criminal justice system, however.
In 2015, Papillos father, Ron, was fined almost $30,000 after pleading guilty to threatening and abusing Environmental Protection Authority staff on several occasions.
Mr Papillo, who ran an earth-moving business, was abusive to officers who were trying to inspect his property for illegal waste storage.
I have been arrested before. I have guns, Mr Papillo reportedly told one officer who came to inspect his property.
I dont like being messed with. Leave my site and stop looking through my stuff.
Ive been locked up for people being on my property. Ive had my guns out for that.
His daughter is banned from owning a firearm under her bail conditions.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Papillos lawyers for comment.
