Young Melbourne mother’s heartbreaking spiral before killing baby in Upwey train tragedy
A young Melbourne woman dreamt of becoming a mother just a few years before killing her baby daughter in a case that shocked Australia.
Devastating blog posts have revealed how a successful young vet’s life rapidly unravelled, ending in the shocking death of her baby daughter.
In 2016, Melissa “Missi” Germano was a 27-year-old animal lover and former “country girl” turned up-and-coming inner city vet who wrote in a personal blog about her love for travel, health and her “cheeky” boyfriend.
But just a handful of years later, the woman’s life would be torn apart after she developed severe major post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis following the birth of her daughter Lily.
But the diagnosis came a day too late to save the three-month-old baby girl, who died in July 2021 after her mother – who now went by her married name, Melissa Arbuckle – laid her on train tracks in Upwey in Melbourne’s east.
The baby died after being hit by a train and Ms Arbuckle was seriously injured as she attempted to lie down on the tracks next to the infant.
The high-profile infanticide case has stunned Australia and has sparked a nationwide conversation about post-partum mental health.
Who is Melissa Arbuckle?
Ms Arbuckle will be sentenced on Thursday – but just a few years ago, she seemed destined for a bright future.
In her “Missi’s Musings” personal blog – which she described as a public “gratitude journal” – Ms Arbuckle wrote over the course of 2016 and 2017 about her hopes and dreams for the years ahead, painting a picture of a happy, healthy and “lucky” life.
The young woman was raised by a single mum and moved to Melbourne from country Victoria at age 18 before completing two years of a Bachelor of Science at The University of Melbourne and transferring into the Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 2010.
She posted about her devotion to “helping people and their pets”, her passion for volunteering through the “incredibly rewarding” Scientist in Schools program and her love of hiking, snowboarding and running.
The keen traveller visited Vietnam in 2015 and in 2017 holidayed in Japan with her partner, who she later married, with the pair also planning to travel to India.
She also blogged about how her Italian background inspired her love of cooking, and shared her thoughts on the importance of personal growth.
“A diverse identity is important to me so I strive to always be more and am forever growing and learning,” she wrote.
“Growth is difficult but isn’t life so much more enjoyable when we challenge ourselves? Perhaps not at the time but certainly upon reflection.”
Private struggles
But despite the blog’s overall positive tone, Ms Arbuckle also regularly shared telling glimpses into her private struggles.
“I’m sensitive. Now that may be an understatement. I’m also a Romantic and I’m proud to say it because for a long time I fought against it,” she wrote.
“I pride myself on being an independent woman who don’t need no man (but loves her man nonetheless!) and thought I had to be one or the other but I’m both!
“I cry more than I would like because it often gets in the way of general life activities but when I experience something whether it’s pure joy or sadness I really feel it.
“And that’s okay.”
In late 2016, Ms Arbuckle wrote about a terrifying health scare a year earlier – and opened up about her dreams of becoming a mother one day.
In September 2015, she was referred to hospital after experiencing “severe bleeding” from her uterus.
“Awful right? It was as unpleasant and stressful as it sounds. It was the result of an uncommon side effect to a different contraceptive pill I had started three weeks earlier,” she revealed.
“This trip to hospital was the beginning of my journey to start focusing on my health. I’m not getting any younger and I look forward to having a family of my own one day so I decided it’s time to take my health seriously.”
She also opened up about the intense pressures of her gruelling career.
“Being a vet isn’t an easy job. Some days it can fill me with joy and fulfilment and other days with sadness,” she explained.
“The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) outlines that recent Australian studies show that vets are four times more likely to die by suicide than the general population … Common causes of stress for vets include long working hours, interpersonal relationship issues and dealing with difficult clients.
“To add to that I believe other factors such as isolation, lack of support and constantly managing people’s emotions and expectations contribute to the mental and overall health concerns of veterinarians today.”
In other posts, Ms Arbuckle detailed her perfectionist nature.
“I feel that our individual life evaluation is influenced by status and perception. I, like many others, suffer from “status anxiety” and am always comparing myself to others,” she wrote.
“I’ve always put a lot of pressure on myself. I don’t know why. My mum has never been pushy about my career and success and neither have my siblings so it all came from me internally.
“Looking back I know I didn’t need to stress as much as I did. I didn’t need to cry and panic myself as much as I did over every exam or assignment but that’s just how it was for me because that’s who I am.
“As I’ve said before, I’ve never considered myself to be an unhappy person … but I have my down days and sometimes weeks. I am incredibly sensitive and emotional so I can really struggle if a patient isn’t progressing how I had hoped or expected or if a client is unhappy with me.”
Young mum’s tragic decline
Ms Arbuckle appeared in Victoria’s Supreme Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to one count of infanticide.
The case has revealed just how quickly the 32-year-old’s life spiralled out of control after she developed severe major post-partum depression and psychosis following the birth of her daughter in April 2021.
Tragically, she was not diagnosed with those conditions until the day after her daughter died, with Ms Arbuckle revealing she had experienced suicidal thoughts and was hearing voices just the day before.
Victoria’s Supreme Court heard that in the weeks leading up to Lily’s death, Ms Arbuckle had been “really down” and believed she injured her baby after rocking her bassinet too vigorously, according to the summary read in court.
She became convinced the child had shaken baby syndrome as a result.
“She had a fixed delusional belief she had harmed her child and they were both broken,” Ms Arbuckle’s lawyer Megan Tittensor said this week.
“She had a perfectionist personality and need for control … she wanted to be the perfect mother.
“She had come to believe dying was her only option. She would hear voices telling her she was a bad mother.”
Ms Arbuckle will be sentenced on Thursday.