Evan Ebel pictured at the Pacific Coast Academy in June 2001. Ebel later killed two people and was shot to death.

A former United States special agent who protected golfer Tiger Woods from a terrorism threat in New Zealand later rescued dozens of children from a behavioural modification camp in Western Samoa, a new book has revealed.

Later, one of those children would go on to commit a double murder before being killed in a nationwide manhunt.

A video smuggled out of the Pacific Coast Academy in 2001 showed US Embassy officials deplorable conditions within the camp, including children suffering from infectious boils and complaints of rape and sexual abuse.

When Samoan police demanded the video be returned, special agent Robert Starnes called on a former New Zealand police officer to help find the children.

READ MORE: Tiger Woods, the NZ Golf Open and the terrorist cyanide threat

They were hiding in a remote part of the island, frightened the camp organisers would find them and punish them.

SUPPLIED Former United States special agent Robert Starnes is now retired and living in San Marcos, Texas.

Twelve years later, one of the children murdered a prison director and a pizza delivery driver before being shot dead.

Starnes – the first US security attache in the country – has written about the experience in his new book Dictators and Diplomats, A Special Agent's Memoirs and Musings.

DR MOREAU MEETS LORD OF THE FLIES

He wrote about the Samoan mission under a chapter he titled 'Dr Moreau meets Lord of the Flies'.

"It really was exactly that, an experiment gone wrong," he told Stuff.

"One of the individuals who was involved in the camp's set-up and moderation had previously been charged for negligent homicide in a similar type camp in Utah, where a girl died from alleged neglect.

"He was found not guilty of that charge, but was not allowed to operate any camps in Utah, and eventually Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands."

CRAIG SIMCOX Tiger Woods at the 2002 New Zealand Golf Open with police and security in abundance.

The Pacific Coast Academy had been set up by US citizens as a non-profit organisation and had the full backing of the Samoan government, he said.

As the regional security officer posted in Wellington, Starnes was tasked with security responsibilities for US missions in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Apia.

When Starnes was called to Apia he was shown the video, which had been covertly obtained by a parent of a student in the camp.

"It showed these children crying with boils and mosquito bites which had become infected," he said.

"There were even allegations of sexual harassment – one girl accused a chief of rape."

KURTISWACKO/YOUTUBE The video of the students was covertly given to the US Embassy which sparked a rescue mission involving special agent Starnes.

Samoan police had become aware of footage and refused to let the parent leave the country until the video was handed over. Eventually the parent came under the protection of the US embassy where the video was secured by the charges d'affaires.

The ensuing investigation into the camp was initially met with resistance from the Samoan government, but Starnes said once the local media were involved local authorities got on board.

"Following a raid on the camp, we eventually located the children who were hiding and extremely frightened the camp members would force them back to the academy and punish them.

"They were put up in a local hotel and we brought staff in to help the with the repatriation of more than two dozen children."

The camp was eventually shut down, but an investigation into the mistreatment of the children fell by the wayside shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

DOUBLE MURDER IN COLORADO

KURTISWACKO/YOUTUBE The students said they were living in deplorable conditions, and were scared if they complained they would be beaten.

One of the rescued children was Evan Ebel​, a boy who Starnes spoke with on several occasions.

"He seemed to be independent and a smart kid," Starnes told Stuff.

Ebel was very vocal about the beatings, he recalled.

"He mentioned he had been beaten several times by staff members at the camp, and even beaten by some of the students, for fear that the staff members would be prosecuted for assaulting by juveniles."

Some of the students claimed staff members forced other students to keep camp discipline through regular beatings, therefore ensuring they wouldn't get in trouble.

﻿In 2013 Ebel murdered Colorado's prison chief after forcing a pizza delivery man, whom he kidnapped to record a message denouncing the prison system.

Ebel lured 27-year-old pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon to a remote location under the pretence of ordering a pizza, forced him at gunpoint into the trunk of his car, and ordered him to record the statement before killing him.

Leon's body was found in the Denver suburb of Golden.

The head of the Colorado Department of Corrections, Tom Clements, was then shot and killed at his doorstep when he answered the doorbell to the killer.

The murder of the high-ranking government official triggered a nationwide manhunt.

KURTISWACKO/YOUTUBE Some students complained they were forced to take medication at the camp which suppressed their appetite.

"After that [Ebel] travelled from Colorado to Texas where he shot a deputy sheriff in the head, wounding the deputy, and following a chase he was shot and killed by police," Starnes said.

Ebel had been arrested at least seven times between 2003 and 2010 for offences including burglary, unlawful weapons possession, assault, menacing, robbery and trespassing.

Colorado prison officials later released documents showing Ebel spent the bulk of his sentence in solitary confinement for repeated disciplinary violations.

"I did not detect any anti-social behaviour in my short dealings with him at the camp," Starnes said.

"But clearly something went awry that landed him in prison, joining a neo-Nazi gang, and committing double murder."