Dueling stories of romance and betrayal open NC castle trial
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A Durham psychologist says she got caught up in a dream of transforming an unfinished castle into a lucrative event business.
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The castle’s owner and builder says the psychologist offered to bankroll its completion and an extravagant expansion featuring a drawbridge, moat and dungeon.
Those competing accounts opened a trial Tuesday over the future of Castle Mont Rouge, the four-story landmark Robert Mihaly has spent nearly three decades building atop Red Mountain near the Durham-Person county line.
In the lawsuit, filed in 2024, Julie Seel seeks to recover more than $200,000 she says she invested in the castle. She is asking a judge to impose a lien for her labor and materials, award attorney’s fees and order the castle sold to satisfy the debt.
In his counterclaim, Mihaly, a sculptor, accuses Seel of leaving the castle damaged by unfinished renovations and says she should pay to restore it.
Each accuses the other of using romance to gain control of the castle. Seel contends in court documents that Mihaly sought a wealthy partner to finance the castle’s completion and pay looming balloon payments. Mihaly alleges he is the latest victim of what he calls Seel’s “romance scam enterprise” to acquire valuable assets from men after brief relationships.
A dream, drive and deceit. Those are the three words Julie Seel’s attorney, Michelle Schalliol, asked jurors to remember.
The dream was to finish Mihaly’s castle. Seel became excited about transforming it into a profitable wedding venue, Schalliol said. She would provide the money and drive to complete the castle Mihaly had spent nearly 30 years building.
Mihaly presented himself as a licensed and insured contractor, a professional sculptor and financially stable partner who could perform nearly all the work, Schalliol said.
“The evidence will show that none of that was true,” she said.
The relationship moved quickly. Seel and Mihaly connected on Match.com, met for drinks July 1, 2023, moved in together and began planning the castle’s transformation. Seel immediately invested her money, time and energy, Schalliol said.
The romance faded, but Seel remained committed to the project. As her concerns grew, she suggested hiring an attorney. But Mihaly, who graduated from law school but never sat for the bar exam, said he could handle the legal work, Schalliol said.
Mihaly promised to create a limited liability company that would give Seel nearly half-ownership of the castle but never followed through, Schalliol said. Seel also learned that his contractor’s license had lapsed and began questioning whether he could complete the promised work.
Eventually, Seel called for Mihaly’s work to stop.
“At that point she stopped being a partner and she started becoming an enemy,” Schalliol said.
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Mihaly then pursued criminal charges, challenged Seel’s professional license and attacked her character on social media, Schalliol said.
“Listen carefully to how things changed and how it affected her, because it doesn’t matter how exciting your dream is if you can’t follow through with the drive that you’re given,” Schalliol said.
Mihaly, who is representing himself, told jurors a different story: Seel entered his life with grand promises, persuaded him to stop working and focus on the castle, then turned against him.
The two connected on Match.com shortly after Mihaly separated from his partner of 20 years. Within days of meeting for drinks July 1, 2023, they began planning to transform the castle and move in together.
Mihaly said he had worked on the castle since about 1998 and recently pushed the project into “hyperdrive” to finish it for his children.
“I was passing inspections right before she got there because the work was getting completed,” he said. “I was getting close to a certificate of occupancy.”
Mihaly said he never portrayed himself as a construction expert or financially stable. Seel, meanwhile, presented herself as an experienced builder and entrepreneur who could finance the project and recruit contractors, he said.
Seel showed him records indicating she earned $24,000 a month and encouraged him to stop accepting stone and brick repair jobs, Mihaly said. She promised to not only finish the castle, but to add a gatehouse, gazebo, drawbridge, moat, carriage house and dungeon. She talked of buying the property next door and opening a winery, he said.
“She said, ‘We’ll be making $100,000 a month on the wedding venue,’” by spring, Mihaly told jurors.
Seel took over as project manager, he said. At her direction, Mihaly demolished a two-story building he had constructed and allowed trees to be cut down, along with other changes that left the castle worse off, he said.
Mihaly also said other men would describe a similar pattern in which Seel proposed major investments during brief romances, then accused the men of wrongdoing and sued them.
He said roughly 600 pages of text messages would document her promises.
“You’ll be amazed by what it shows,” he said.
This story was originally published July 21, 2026 at 7:18 PM with the headline “Dueling stories of romance and betrayal open NC castle trial.”
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