October 13, 2025 • 40 mins
Early on a cold Friday morning, Samantha Stites hears the wood floors creak and footsteps coming down the hall. Sam calls her roommate's name, and getting no answer, quickly reaches under her bed for a hatchet.
The intruder bursts in the door and, within a matter of seconds, is on top of her with his hands around her neck, places a ball gag in Sam's mouth, then wraps duct tape on her hands.
The intruder then blindfolds Sam, loads her into her own car, and starts driving. This is when Sam immediately recognizes her attacker as her stalker, Christopher Thomas.
Thomas tells Samantha the Netflix show, "You," inspired him and gave him the idea of also building a constructed 'soundproof' cell in a storage unit. Thomas shows Samantha how he'd been tracking her on his phone and tells her he plans to keep her for two weeks, then dispose of her body.
Sam tries to count the turns while Thomas is driving her to her possible torture chamber. Despite her intense fear, Samantha, a therapist and social worker, keeps calm and uses psychological tactics to negotiate with Thomas.
Samantha talks to Thomas like a friend and lets Thomas vent to her, knowing all along exactly what Thomas wants, but she gets out of him that he's also terrified of going to jail.
Sam tells Thomas she will never tell anyone about the kidnapping and says the sex was consensual and will even be his friend going forward if he takes her home safely afterward.
Thomas agrees to Sam's deal, but soon after raping her, he leaves her there, and she fears he is not going to go along with her escape plan.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
Samantha Stites - Kidnapped by Her Stalker
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
She is trapped inside a storage container, bound hands and feet,
abused by a Bible group flunky, and she lives to
tell the tale, and she joins us tonight. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Samantha was a well liked college student with a steady job,
close friends, and a future wide open until a chance
encounter on campus sets off a chilling chain of events.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Her life just starting friendly, outgoing, polite, and caring. She
befriended an awkward acquaintance. She'll probably never do that again.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
First, I think he's just lonely for some reason, finds
me an approachable person to talk to, and then at
some point.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
It changes.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
That was from stalking Samantha.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Thirteen years of Terror streaming now on Hulu and Hulu
on Disney. Joining me right now, Samantha, Samantha stites, joining us, Samantha,
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Thanks for having me, Samantha.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
How difficult is it for you to talk about what
happened and relive it?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I think having significant therapy, you know, the last few years,
it's not as difficult as one might think. For me
to kind of discuss my experience at this point.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Tell me about you befriending the guy that turned out
to be your stalker. What led you to befriend him?
I would have done the same thing.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I think the word befriend is maybe a bit strong.
I wouldn't ever say we were actual friends. I think
it was an acquaintance at best, and he was someone
I was, you know, friendly too. He was awkward, you know,
I introduced myself at this sort of group setting at
this Christian organization, and it kind of spiraled from there.
(02:19):
I mean he quickly became obsessed with me and stalked
me for years.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Also, you enter into a Christian Bible group thinking you
would make like minded people, like we all do when
we enter into like Sunday School or NYF that is
Youth Fellowship or you know, Family Night Suppers. Was there
a red flag at all?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Not initially. I mean, he was an awkward person. I
don't know that that in itself is a red flag.
There was nothing that really indicated to me that he
was potentially dangerous or that I ever could have seen
this coming, even when he began stalking me.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
When you say he was awkward, what do you mean by.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
That he had difficulty carrying on conversation in groups. He
would ask some basic questions, but he was just kind
of shy, you know. He wouldn't make a lot of
eye contact. He'd sort of look down. He didn't really
have too many close friends from what I could see.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
M And that's just this kind of person that I
would reach out to in a group to try to
make them more comfortable and engaging. I guess I would
feel a little bit sorry for them, want to help
them out and include them guys. The next thing, you know,
(03:50):
Samantha finds a red rose on her car.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
One day after the group meeting, Samantha finds a rose
on her car. Christopher Thomas event tells Samantha he left
it for and asks her on a date. Samantha politely declined,
but Thomas continues to pursue her, frequently striking up text
conversations and bringing flowers to her work. Samantha continues to
echo no to date requests, eventually telling Thomas she is
not romantically interested.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
He was following me to my work, following me to
my internship there at Frisbee Practice.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
You're seeing clips from stalking Samantha, thirteen years of terror
on Hulu and Hulu Disney Plus. Tell me how it
escalated and all started with a single rose on your
vehicle when you came out to your car. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I found a rose on my car after my internship
at Grand Valley State, and I thought it was odd.
You know, I didn't know many people who knew where
my internship was. I had just started that. I kind
of went on this quest to figure out who it was.
You know, it was something I thought could be exciting,
(05:00):
maybe somebody I had romantic interest in, potentially, and.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I couldn't figure out who it was for a few days.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You know, I was texting anyone in everyone I could
think of, and I felt silly, and finally I looped
back to Christopher after he initially said no, and he
admitted that it was him, and he admitted that he
had followed you from my house to my internship and
that's how he knew.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Where it was.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
And I thought, that's really weird. That's not a normal
thing somebody would do.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Oh my stars, Samantha. So he tells you, to your face,
I followed you from your home to your internship.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
What was that on the phone? Or did he tell
you that to your face?
Speaker 5 (05:48):
It was over the phone. We had this conversation.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
What did you say what he told you? He followed you.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I, I don't know that I really said.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I don't know that.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
I had a big reaction at the time.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
I you know, inside, I was kind of thinking, Wow,
that's really strange. I think my kind of what I
ended up saying to him was something like, you know,
I'm not interested in you in that way. I you know,
don't please, don't ask me out, you know. And he
kind of kept trying, and I ended up blocking him
(06:28):
and asking him to leave me alone shortly after that.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
How did he respond when you would tell him, look,
I'm not interested in you in that way.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
It's not romantic, we're just friends. How would he react?
Speaker 5 (06:47):
He kind of just would not and say you know sure,
or you know.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Often this was kind of via some sort of messaging,
either texting or Facebook or something like that in that era,
and he sometimes just wouldn't respond and then would act
a few days later like everything was fine and message
me again, you know, something innocent and just kind of hey,
(07:13):
how's your day going sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
A lot of times I wouldn't even respond, so he
would mix in the crazy with the normal, like Hey,
how's your day, And it would start off innocently and
then suddenly get weird.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I mean it wasn't like he was asking me out NonStop.
I mean it would often be like, Hey, are you
going to this event on campus? Or I'll be studying here,
I'm having lunch here if you happen to have a
break and want to join, you know, very casual types
of things. And then after I sometimes after i'd kind
(07:53):
of turn him down, he would, you know, kind of
throw out different Bible verses and things that you know
he was thinking about in terms of faith or even
framing it in terms of a potential relationship with me.
And this was even after I had blocked his number
on my phone and email and tried to get like
(08:15):
other guy friends and stuff involved.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Wait did he know he had been blocked?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Uh? Yeah, I mean he wasn't couldn't, wasn't able to
text me anymore.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
I blocked his phone number, and I.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Think he I think I maybe left that method of
communication open, like on Facebook or something, or maybe I
think it must have been Facebook that was where most
of the messages were.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I guess he thought persistence would be the key to
winning you over.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Well. The text messages continued.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
Listen when he was not at work or sleeping, he
was tracking her.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
He was following me to my work, following me to
my gym, grocery shopping.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
He was everywhere.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Don't talk to me, don't text me, don't show up
where I am.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Lead me alone. This guy's stalking me.
Speaker 7 (09:16):
Thomas continues incessant text messages, showing up at work, staying
glued to her at church, and now he seems to
show up wherever sam is, even finding her out with friends.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
He was following me. But at that point I was like,
I just want to graduate. I just want to get
through and do the things I'm going to do next.
I felt like it was just something I could deal
with on my.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Own, that I'm stalking Samantha. Thirteen years of terror on Hulu.
Tell me where all Samantha. He would show up unsolicited.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
At the beginning in college, it was like, you know,
my internship. It would be you know, just commonplaces around campus.
I'd pass him in the hall headed to class, and
then every week from there I'd pass him. At that
same kind of time period, I began seeing him at
the gym, in the grocery store, at a bar, him
(10:22):
meeting a friend for a drink, anywhere.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
So where would he be at the grocery store, in
the parking lot, in one of the aisles, He'd.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Usually be like in the in the actual store, like
in the aisles. I never noticed him like in a vehicle.
Toward that last summer before I was abducted, I was
trying to kind of figure out what sort of vehicle
he drove because I never actually saw him in a car.
He was often on foot or.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I never actually saw him try to get into a vehicle,
which was something I was to do, so I knew
at least what his car looked like.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Samantha, think about it.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
How would he realize she's going to the grocery store,
get to the grocery store, and get in the grocery
store before you came in, and be wandering the aisles
for you to find him in there.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
That took a lot of planning.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Yeah, I mean, essentially, it seemed like he was everywhere
I was. And initially I thought maybe it was kind
of a coincidence, because it would happen, you know, once
every couple of weeks, and then it was every week,
and then you know, it seemed like it was more
than a coincidence at that point, and my friends and I,
you know, started looking for a tracker on my vehicle
(11:44):
and we couldn't find anything.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
And where would he be at the gym?
Speaker 5 (11:51):
He'd usually be like running on a treadmill.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
So he would already be there.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Did you go the same day every week so he
could be there and get on the tread before you
got there? I mean, how would he actually make this happen?
The mechanics of.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
It, I don't know, you know, I don't know how
he spent his time. Really, I'm not sure if he
sounded like he spent several hours at the gym from
what he told me when he abducted me. But I
mean I vary the times I would go slightly. I
mean it was usually after work, so it was sometime
(12:27):
in the evening. I would never go in the morning,
but almost, you know, whatever day of the week i'd go,
I feel like I often saw him.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Then the stocking extends to her friends.
Speaker 8 (12:40):
When Samantha learns Thomas's stalking has extended to her friends,
she seeks a restraining order. Three years after their first meeting,
the court approves her personal protection order and Thomas must
stay away or face arrest. Samantha finishes her degree and
moves to Traverse City.
Speaker 9 (12:57):
Six years later, Samantha's PPO is exped hiring and Thomas
was prepared. He transfers to Traverse City, and Thomas is
suddenly at Sam's soccer practices and matches, following her around
grocery stores and working out across the room from her,
no matter how many times she changes gyms. Samantha considers
applying for a PBO again, but learns it would require
a court appearance that Thomas would also attend. In fear
(13:20):
of angering him further, Samantha abandons her plan to renew
the restraining order.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Oh my stars, when you say he started stalking your friends,
what did he do?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
He ended up.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Telling me when he abducted me that he had trackers
on my roommate's car. You know, all of the in
my friend's car. But that purpose was for figuring out
who I was with and what I was doing. He
wasn't actually stalking my friends.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I think if somebody puts a tracker on your roommate's car,
that would.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Be stalking them.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Maybe the motive was to find you, but I would
not like it if somebody put.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Trackers on my friend's cars.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
You decided not to see another protection order for obvious reasons.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
What was your thinking?
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I did seek a second protection order once the first
one expired. It was after the first one expired that
I began seeing him in Northern Michigan again. You know,
all those years later. I got the help of one
of my soccer teammates who is an assistant prosecutor, and asked,
you know, for help filing another PPO, And essentially the
(14:32):
court denied ex parte order, which meant I would have
had to appear in court with Christopher for a judge
to make a final determination.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
And I chose not.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
To pursue that option because I thought, if they don't
rule in my favor, I potentially am you know, letting
this who I think is a dangerous person know that I'm.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
On to him.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Wow, Okay, getting no support from the judge there at all.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Disagree with the juzz. There's a lot of ways to
do that, ex party.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
In other words, you talked to the judge outside the
presence of the defendant.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
What went through your mind?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
You leave, you graduate, you leave, you start fresh somewhere else,
and then after a few years past, there he is again.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
When did you see him for the.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
First time after that period of years.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
I first saw him at a soccer field. I was
playing in an adult recreation league and I saw him there,
and I was shocked. I never thought he would be
living in that city, or that I would see him again.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
And I had found that my ppo had expired like
shortly before that.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
And then a cold Friday morning.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
On a cold Friday morning in October, Samantha's roommate has
already left for work, but she's still soaking up a
few more minutes in d than Sam here's the wood
floor's creek and footsteps coming down the hall. Samantha calls
her roommate's name, and, getting no answer, quickly reaches under
her bed for a hatchet. The intruder throws the door
open and is on top of her with his hands
around her neck before she can reach it. Samantha immediately
(16:13):
recognizes her attacker as Stalker Christopher.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Thomas guys joining us tonight, Samantha stides, tell me what
went through your mind when you heard that floor creek?
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I knew my house well, Adolph to know that it
wasn't one of my pets, like stepping on the floor.
I knew that a creek would have had to be
likely a person. I assumed, you know, it was my roommate,
something normal, potentially, and when I didn't get a response
or hear any more movement, I thought there must have
(16:55):
been someone on the other side of my bedroom door
who was waiting for me. If it was a burglar
or something, they would have been taking items, they wouldn't
be waiting outside my bedroom door. I you know, was
confused whether maybe I was hearing something in a dream
or you know, I wasn't sure.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Exactly what was going on, let alone.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Suspecting who it was at this point, but I did
strongly believe there was a person on the other side
of that door, and that they wanted to me what happened.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Then I decided not to reach for the hatchet.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
I figured, you know, if this person doesn't have a weapon,
now I'm introducing one, and if they're they're likely more
prepared than I am. Bundled up in my bed having
just woken up, and I decided to reach to turn
on my bedroom lamp and figure out.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
What was going on, And at that point he.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Flung open the door and jumped on me in bed,
and I be am screaming, and he put his hands
around my throat to get me to stop screaming.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Listen.
Speaker 7 (18:08):
Thomas places a ballgag in Sam's mouth, then wraps duct
tape around her mouth, hands, and feet. Thomas blindfolds Sam,
loads her into her own car, and drives to a
storage unit where he has constructed a soundproof cell. Thomas
tells Samantha he was inspired by the Netflix show You.
Thomas shows Samantha how he'd been tracking her on his
phone and tells her he plans to keep her for
(18:30):
two weeks, then dispose of her body. Sam tries to
count the terms to work out where Thomas is taking
her and maintains a calm demeanor with her captor.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
It's overwhelming to me the terror you must have felt
when he gagged you. Did you think he was going
to kill you?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I mean, the moment he jumped on me and began
choking me, I thought he was going to kill me, certainly,
you know, all those statistics ran through my head once
he handcuffed me and ball gagged me and just told
me he was planning to take me somewhere I knew.
You know, when people are abducted and move from one
(19:15):
location to another, their likelihood of survival decreases significantly. So,
you know, I thought, if he's angry with me, you know,
I'm guessing he wants to rape and kill me.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
It's amazing to me that he man is to stay
so calm. You were even trying to figure out where
he had taken you.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Yeah, I thought if I had any chance to get
out of the situation that you know, he had blindfolded
me while we were in the car. I figured if
I could get an idea of where I was in
the event I could escape, then I would know maybe
what direction is better to run than another, you know,
things like that.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
When did you realize you were in a storage container?
Speaker 4 (20:01):
I didn't really know that until he told me. I
think I could hear that there was like a garage
door sort of opening, and I could see a little
bit under the blindfold that it looked like potentially a
storage unit or a set of garages or something. It
was still dark when he took me there. You know,
(20:25):
I wasn't sure exactly which unit it was, but I
knew that I wasn't far from home. I was maybe
a quarter mile from my house.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
What did he say when he was chaining you to
the wall? Did he apologize?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I wouldn't say he was apologetic. Initially I could tell
he was surprised. I think that he had done this.
He was definitely kind of shaking and you know, thinking
about what to do. He seemed a little unprepared.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I assumed that maybe he was living there. You know,
I had no idea what this structure was. I couldn't
see as we entered it. I could tell that we
went through two little low like thresholds as you're kind
of seeing here into this small room. But I had
no idea that he had constructed this whole soundproof bunker
(21:23):
just for me.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Take a listen to Stalking Samantha.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
If you change somebody into a wall, you have no boundaries.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
He's going to do something violent. He's a monster.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
This becomes a fight for my life.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
It's just this ticking time bomb and we're all holding
our breath. My mind is the only thing that's going
to get me out of here.
Speaker 8 (22:00):
Spite her intense fear, Samantha, a therapist and social worker,
keeps calm and uses psychological tactics to negotiate with Thomas.
Samantha talks to Thomas like a friend and lets Thomas
vent to her.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
While she tries to find a way out.
Speaker 8 (22:15):
Seeing the rings Thomas attached to the walls, Sam knows
exactly what Thomas wants, but she gets out of him
that he's also terrified of going to jail. Sam tells
Thomas she will never tell anyone about the kidnapping and
even be his friend going forward if he takes her
home safely. After Thomas agrees to Sam Steele.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
The strength this woman has. You saw a clip of
talking Samantha thirteen Years of Terror as now on Hulu.
You actually were trying to save your life by reasoning
with him, bargaining with him.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
How did you come up with that? Most people would
have just.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Melted into a pile of tears on the floor of
that storage unit, But you kept your wits about you.
You saved your own life by bargaining with him. What
was going through your mind?
Speaker 5 (23:15):
Survival?
Speaker 4 (23:16):
I mean, I think anyone is capable of, you know,
doing what they need to do to get out of
a deadly situation, and it was clear that using my
mind was the only thing that was really going to
get me out of that situation. No one could hear me,
no one could see me. You know, I had no
(23:36):
means of escape. You know, I looked for different tools
or things I might be able to do to potentially
injure him. You know, I couldn't find any easy way
to potentially get out of this situation other than at
his hand. So you know, I took what I knew,
which you know was motivational interviewing and speaking with people
(24:03):
to try to get to the crux of what motivated
him and what he wanted. And I tried negotiating any
possible way of you know, getting out of there in
a timely manner. And you knowing, time wasn't on my side.
You know, if people suspected I was missing or went
looking for me, that he'd be the first person they
(24:25):
looked for.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
So I was also fearful.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
That as time drew on, you know, we'd both become
more agitated, and that you know, he'd become really nervous knowing.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
The police were looking for him.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
So time was also of the essence, and that I
needed to come up with something to convince him that
we could forget about all this and that we could
get out of this situation, you know, quickly. And the
only way he was going to let me out was
by having sex with me. I tried everything I could
(24:59):
do to get out of that situation, and you know,
there was no real way unless I was going to
sit in there for days on end.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Everybody, you are seeing the actual place where this beautiful
young woman was kidnapped and held by a former Bible
group attendee. It's and we showed you where he had
prepared this. As she is telling us, long prepared this
(25:31):
bunker to keep her, including a way to chain her.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
To the wall. It's just it's almost more than I
can take in.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
We run into people every day, Samantha that are awkward,
that are kind of in the fringe of our lives,
are not really a player in our day to day.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
He would leave you in there, chained up and just
leave right. We've got video of him stride across the
parking lot.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yeah, at the beginning, especially before he felt like he
could trust me, he did cheem me to the wall
and drive my vehicle to like a local home improvement store,
so that my vehicle wasn't you know, if people went
looking for me, they wouldn't find my vehicle at home
or you know, at at the location where he had me.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
It seems to me, Samant, that he dumped your car
in a Minard's parking lot to make it look like
maybe you had gone to Minards had been abducted from there.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
He obviously put a lot of thought into this.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
I mean, that was probably the closest location that had
a decent sized parking lot.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
You know, he had plans to, you know, if we
were supposed to be there for two weeks, like.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
He had planned, he had planned to leave my car
out by Lake Michigan and have my pas board on
the beach somewhere and make it look like potentially I drown.
So I'm not sure, you know, other than having my
car at some basic parking lot nearby that he could
easily walk from there back to.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
The storage unit.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
You know, I'm not sure, but that was the location that,
you know, after he had raped me, that when he
followed through with this promise to let me go, he
dropped me back off at my car at this parking.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Lot, locked in the bathroom, Samantha manages to make a call.
Most people would be devastated, but she manages to summon
up the strength and save herself Listen.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Still locked in her bathroom, Samantha manages to call a friend,
who takes her to a hospital and has police meet
them there. Nurses perform a rape kit and give Sam
precautionary STI medication. Thomas has arrested just hours later, while
officers search the storage unit and track down Sam's car.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
I went right to the storage units. We didn't know
if he was hiding in the bunker. We didn't know
if there were booby traps or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Christopher, if you're inside, let us know. I'm man have
my dog and find you and he will bite you.
Call out to us now, if you're inside.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
From talking Samantha thirteen years of Terror on Hulu, what
went through your mind? What were you thinking when you
managed to make that phone call from inside the bathroom?
Speaker 4 (28:32):
I mean I had a plan from you know, the
time I was in the bunker. If I were to
get out, I knew he had a tracker on my vehicle.
I couldn't just drive to the hospital. I couldn't go
to the police station for fear of.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Him following me. You know, I went.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
I knew I couldn't call my roommate for help or
a close friend because he knew who they all were.
So I called a coworker who was also a neighbor
and a nurse, and I knew I needed to get
to the hospital to try to recover DNA from a
rape kit and hopefully put this person behind bars.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
You know what, I have taken so many victims for
a rape kit. It's nothing anybody wants to endure. But
you speaking about that tonight can give other people the strength, Samantha, to.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Know they're not alone. They're not alone. Other women have.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Been through it as horrible as it is, and they
have survived. And you haven't just survived, you have conquered
so much. And by speaking out, I'm just so grateful
to you. And because of her, we land here.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Listen.
Speaker 8 (29:54):
So we executed a search warrant in his house the
night that that Christopher was rested.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
We're able to get a lot of good information from
his house. He didn't get rid of anything, really. We
found the sheets that were on the bed and sword
you in it. At his apartment we'd found the ballgag,
the duct tape that we believe he used to secure
the ballgag.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
In her mouth, And of course he lies over and
over listened.
Speaker 8 (30:35):
This man is not just obsessed with you, and he's dangerous.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
I've never seen a stalking case as severe as this,
next level psycho.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
This is like a horror film.
Speaker 7 (30:53):
Stalking Samantha thirteen years of Terror. In an interrogation, Thomas
lies over and over. Thomas first claims he was hunting
when he kidnapped Sam. When officers tell Thomas they have
footage of him at the storage unit with Sam and
have been inside. Thomas then claims it was a role
play fantasy that he surprised Sam with, but he wasn't
(31:15):
happy about it. Thomas initially pleads not guilty, but his
trial approaches, Thomas takes a deal that drops the home
invasion and criminal sexual conduct charges.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 10 (31:36):
You're believe that you add in such a way as
to create severe mental pain on her partner. You believe
a reasonable person with supper sejurs and pain based on
of those actions.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Trauma was talking Samantha thirteen years of Tearror on Hulu
role playing. Did you hear him say you just were
surprised and you didn't like it?
Speaker 5 (31:58):
He sure was right.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
I sure was surprised by her, him coming into my
home and kidnapping me, and I did not like it.
But the I mean, that was just kind of a
you know, excuse he had, he had to tell the
police something that wasn't. Yes, I abducted her because I'm
stalking her and have been helplessly in love with her.
(32:24):
You know, I'm not surprised, and I'm also disgusted at that,
you know, pitiful excuse.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
When you see him, even as showing a clip of
him in court, what is your reaction.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Because he totally repulsed me.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
Yeah, I mean I when I tend to talk about
the situation or see or you know, see his face
or watch the videos, you know, I feel tense. I've
kind of come back to that, you know, time that
day with him.
Speaker 5 (32:59):
You know, I feel sweaty and nervous.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Samantha, how has this whole thing affected you? I keep
talking about how strong and how brave you are, and
how you are.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Thinking your way out of this.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
All of that is true, but then you're diagnosed with
post traumatic stress syndrome. I know it's got to affect you.
I mean, I know the murder of my fiance has
affected the rest of my life and there's nothing I
can do about it except try to move forward as
best as I can. From my family, How has this
affected you and how do you move forward in life?
Speaker 4 (33:41):
Yeah, I think as you know, you know, your life
is never the same after something like that that you've
been through or that I've been through. You know, things
are always different and you have to make a new normal.
You know, you have to choose to move forward each day,
and you know, decide how you're going to look at
(34:05):
the bright side, how you're going to move on. In
some days, especially at the beginning, we're difficult. You know,
I was having trouble sleeping. I was scared by every
little noise. I felt like I was also afraid to
be alone. You know, all these things made it difficult
for me to go back to work where I had
to think on my feet and be empathetic with others
while I'm going through this like terrifying situation. I really
(34:28):
feel like therapy has helped me a lot in terms
of being able to talk about the situation and kind
of decrease that sort of stress response I have where
I'm able to sleep better at night and you know,
not feel startled by every little thing or the story
of like what's happened to me is, you know, something
(34:52):
I can move past. You know, as sad as it
is and as difficult as it's been, I feel very
thankful overall that I'm alive, very grateful that I was
able to get through that situation, because so many people,
so many women don't get that opportunity.
Speaker 5 (35:14):
They die at the hands of their.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Stalker or abductor or rapist, and you know, never get
to tell their stories, never get the opportunity to recover,
and their loved ones never get to see them again.
You know, I feel like it gives me sort of
a different lease on life, knowing that I have survived something,
(35:36):
and I'm grateful for every day and want to help
prevent this from happening from anyone else.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
And that's really why I'm.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Speaking out, you know, to give a voice to the
folks that have gone through this or victims that never
got the opportunity to tell their stories, and to encourage
those that you know, think they may be being stalked
or have been assaulted to report it and try to
seek justice.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Samantha, I don't know if anyone has told you this,
but you're amazing.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
You're amazing. I've dealt with.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
So many kidnap or stalking rape victims. They cannot or
will not testify. They don't have the strength.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
They just.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
It destroys their lives forever, and they can't find a way,
even difficult as it is, to move forward. I've had
people ask me how do you stay happy? You seem
happy all the time. It's a decision, and sometimes it's
(36:55):
a really hard decision about living that day and what
you're going to do that day, just this one day.
Could you offer advice to other people that are out
there suffering as you have suffered.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
Yeah, I can't imagine having gone through something like this
and having my stalker rapists still out there, you know.
I can't imagine trying to face each day not knowing
whether or not I'm safe. You know, I can take
comfort in that that he's behind bars now. I feel
(37:36):
like my one I don't know, piece of advice would
be to, you know, get help from therapists, from legal counsel,
you know, do what's right for you. There's not there's
not one single solution that's right for everyone. In some
(37:56):
situations that may not be possible or feasible to find,
you know, legal justice, but it's worth trying. It's worth
trying to feel safe every day and be able to
move on in such a way, and that you deserve
that as a victim. You deserve that as a human
(38:18):
when someone has wronged you. I feel like that's my
one piece of encouragement.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Guys. Joining us tonight is.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Samantha's Tides, who is navigating life after being kidnapped from
a bed, held in a storage container, and so much
more that could have destroyed anyone, but she is soldiering
on and sending a message to other women out there
(38:55):
that are suffering tonight. Look at her. She has survived
and triumphed. If she can do it, you can do it. Samantha.
Thank you all of us here at Crime Stories, thank
you from the bottom of our hearts, and God bless you.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Now we remember an American hero, Sheriff Robert Rogers, Wilcox
County Sheriff's Georgia, killed in the line of duty after
twenty two years and law enforcement, leaving behind a grieving
Widowhalley and son Robert American hero sheriff Robert Rogers.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend
Speaker 2 (40:00):
As
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
She is trapped inside a storage container, bound hands and feet,
abused by a Bible group flunky, and she lives to
tell the tale, and she joins us tonight. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Samantha was a well liked college student with a steady job,
close friends, and a future wide open until a chance
encounter on campus sets off a chilling chain of events.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Her life just starting friendly, outgoing, polite, and caring. She
befriended an awkward acquaintance. She'll probably never do that again.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
First, I think he's just lonely for some reason, finds
me an approachable person to talk to, and then at
some point.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
It changes.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
That was from stalking Samantha.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Thirteen years of Terror streaming now on Hulu and Hulu
on Disney. Joining me right now, Samantha, Samantha stites, joining us, Samantha,
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Thanks for having me, Samantha.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
How difficult is it for you to talk about what
happened and relive it?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I think having significant therapy, you know, the last few years,
it's not as difficult as one might think. For me
to kind of discuss my experience at this point.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Tell me about you befriending the guy that turned out
to be your stalker. What led you to befriend him?
I would have done the same thing.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I think the word befriend is maybe a bit strong.
I wouldn't ever say we were actual friends. I think
it was an acquaintance at best, and he was someone
I was, you know, friendly too. He was awkward, you know,
I introduced myself at this sort of group setting at
this Christian organization, and it kind of spiraled from there.
(02:19):
I mean he quickly became obsessed with me and stalked
me for years.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Also, you enter into a Christian Bible group thinking you
would make like minded people, like we all do when
we enter into like Sunday School or NYF that is
Youth Fellowship or you know, Family Night Suppers. Was there
a red flag at all?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Not initially. I mean, he was an awkward person. I
don't know that that in itself is a red flag.
There was nothing that really indicated to me that he
was potentially dangerous or that I ever could have seen
this coming, even when he began stalking me.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
When you say he was awkward, what do you mean by.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
That he had difficulty carrying on conversation in groups. He
would ask some basic questions, but he was just kind
of shy, you know. He wouldn't make a lot of
eye contact. He'd sort of look down. He didn't really
have too many close friends from what I could see.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
M And that's just this kind of person that I
would reach out to in a group to try to
make them more comfortable and engaging. I guess I would
feel a little bit sorry for them, want to help
them out and include them guys. The next thing, you know,
(03:50):
Samantha finds a red rose on her car.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
One day after the group meeting, Samantha finds a rose
on her car. Christopher Thomas event tells Samantha he left
it for and asks her on a date. Samantha politely declined,
but Thomas continues to pursue her, frequently striking up text
conversations and bringing flowers to her work. Samantha continues to
echo no to date requests, eventually telling Thomas she is
not romantically interested.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
He was following me to my work, following me to
my internship there at Frisbee Practice.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
You're seeing clips from stalking Samantha, thirteen years of terror
on Hulu and Hulu Disney Plus. Tell me how it
escalated and all started with a single rose on your
vehicle when you came out to your car. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I found a rose on my car after my internship
at Grand Valley State, and I thought it was odd.
You know, I didn't know many people who knew where
my internship was. I had just started that. I kind
of went on this quest to figure out who it was.
You know, it was something I thought could be exciting,
(05:00):
maybe somebody I had romantic interest in, potentially, and.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I couldn't figure out who it was for a few days.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You know, I was texting anyone in everyone I could
think of, and I felt silly, and finally I looped
back to Christopher after he initially said no, and he
admitted that it was him, and he admitted that he
had followed you from my house to my internship and
that's how he knew.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Where it was.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
And I thought, that's really weird. That's not a normal
thing somebody would do.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Oh my stars, Samantha. So he tells you, to your face,
I followed you from your home to your internship.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
What was that on the phone? Or did he tell
you that to your face?
Speaker 5 (05:48):
It was over the phone. We had this conversation.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
What did you say what he told you? He followed you.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I, I don't know that I really said.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I don't know that.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
I had a big reaction at the time.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
I you know, inside, I was kind of thinking, Wow,
that's really strange. I think my kind of what I
ended up saying to him was something like, you know,
I'm not interested in you in that way. I you know,
don't please, don't ask me out, you know. And he
kind of kept trying, and I ended up blocking him
(06:28):
and asking him to leave me alone shortly after that.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
How did he respond when you would tell him, look,
I'm not interested in you in that way.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
It's not romantic, we're just friends. How would he react?
Speaker 5 (06:47):
He kind of just would not and say you know sure,
or you know.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Often this was kind of via some sort of messaging,
either texting or Facebook or something like that in that era,
and he sometimes just wouldn't respond and then would act
a few days later like everything was fine and message
me again, you know, something innocent and just kind of hey,
(07:13):
how's your day going sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
A lot of times I wouldn't even respond, so he
would mix in the crazy with the normal, like Hey,
how's your day, And it would start off innocently and
then suddenly get weird.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
I mean it wasn't like he was asking me out NonStop.
I mean it would often be like, Hey, are you
going to this event on campus? Or I'll be studying here,
I'm having lunch here if you happen to have a
break and want to join, you know, very casual types
of things. And then after I sometimes after i'd kind
(07:53):
of turn him down, he would, you know, kind of
throw out different Bible verses and things that you know
he was thinking about in terms of faith or even
framing it in terms of a potential relationship with me.
And this was even after I had blocked his number
on my phone and email and tried to get like
(08:15):
other guy friends and stuff involved.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Wait did he know he had been blocked?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Uh? Yeah, I mean he wasn't couldn't, wasn't able to
text me anymore.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
I blocked his phone number, and I.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Think he I think I maybe left that method of
communication open, like on Facebook or something, or maybe I
think it must have been Facebook that was where most
of the messages were.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I guess he thought persistence would be the key to
winning you over.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Well. The text messages continued.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
Listen when he was not at work or sleeping, he
was tracking her.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
He was following me to my work, following me to
my gym, grocery shopping.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
He was everywhere.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Don't talk to me, don't text me, don't show up
where I am.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Lead me alone. This guy's stalking me.
Speaker 7 (09:16):
Thomas continues incessant text messages, showing up at work, staying
glued to her at church, and now he seems to
show up wherever sam is, even finding her out with friends.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
He was following me. But at that point I was like,
I just want to graduate. I just want to get
through and do the things I'm going to do next.
I felt like it was just something I could deal
with on my.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Own, that I'm stalking Samantha. Thirteen years of terror on Hulu.
Tell me where all Samantha. He would show up unsolicited.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
At the beginning in college, it was like, you know,
my internship. It would be you know, just commonplaces around campus.
I'd pass him in the hall headed to class, and
then every week from there I'd pass him. At that
same kind of time period, I began seeing him at
the gym, in the grocery store, at a bar, him
(10:22):
meeting a friend for a drink, anywhere.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
So where would he be at the grocery store, in
the parking lot, in one of the aisles, He'd.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Usually be like in the in the actual store, like
in the aisles. I never noticed him like in a vehicle.
Toward that last summer before I was abducted, I was
trying to kind of figure out what sort of vehicle
he drove because I never actually saw him in a car.
He was often on foot or.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I never actually saw him try to get into a vehicle,
which was something I was to do, so I knew
at least what his car looked like.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Samantha, think about it.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
How would he realize she's going to the grocery store,
get to the grocery store, and get in the grocery
store before you came in, and be wandering the aisles
for you to find him in there.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
That took a lot of planning.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Yeah, I mean, essentially, it seemed like he was everywhere
I was. And initially I thought maybe it was kind
of a coincidence, because it would happen, you know, once
every couple of weeks, and then it was every week,
and then you know, it seemed like it was more
than a coincidence at that point, and my friends and I,
you know, started looking for a tracker on my vehicle
(11:44):
and we couldn't find anything.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
And where would he be at the gym?
Speaker 5 (11:51):
He'd usually be like running on a treadmill.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
So he would already be there.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Did you go the same day every week so he
could be there and get on the tread before you
got there? I mean, how would he actually make this happen?
The mechanics of.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
It, I don't know, you know, I don't know how
he spent his time. Really, I'm not sure if he
sounded like he spent several hours at the gym from
what he told me when he abducted me. But I
mean I vary the times I would go slightly. I
mean it was usually after work, so it was sometime
(12:27):
in the evening. I would never go in the morning,
but almost, you know, whatever day of the week i'd go,
I feel like I often saw him.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Then the stocking extends to her friends.
Speaker 8 (12:40):
When Samantha learns Thomas's stalking has extended to her friends,
she seeks a restraining order. Three years after their first meeting,
the court approves her personal protection order and Thomas must
stay away or face arrest. Samantha finishes her degree and
moves to Traverse City.
Speaker 9 (12:57):
Six years later, Samantha's PPO is exped hiring and Thomas
was prepared. He transfers to Traverse City, and Thomas is
suddenly at Sam's soccer practices and matches, following her around
grocery stores and working out across the room from her,
no matter how many times she changes gyms. Samantha considers
applying for a PBO again, but learns it would require
a court appearance that Thomas would also attend. In fear
(13:20):
of angering him further, Samantha abandons her plan to renew
the restraining order.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Oh my stars, when you say he started stalking your friends,
what did he do?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
He ended up.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Telling me when he abducted me that he had trackers
on my roommate's car. You know, all of the in
my friend's car. But that purpose was for figuring out
who I was with and what I was doing. He
wasn't actually stalking my friends.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I think if somebody puts a tracker on your roommate's car,
that would.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Be stalking them.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Maybe the motive was to find you, but I would
not like it if somebody put.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Trackers on my friend's cars.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
You decided not to see another protection order for obvious reasons.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
What was your thinking?
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I did seek a second protection order once the first
one expired. It was after the first one expired that
I began seeing him in Northern Michigan again. You know,
all those years later. I got the help of one
of my soccer teammates who is an assistant prosecutor, and asked,
you know, for help filing another PPO, And essentially the
(14:32):
court denied ex parte order, which meant I would have
had to appear in court with Christopher for a judge
to make a final determination.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
And I chose not.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
To pursue that option because I thought, if they don't
rule in my favor, I potentially am you know, letting
this who I think is a dangerous person know that I'm.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
On to him.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Wow, Okay, getting no support from the judge there at all.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Disagree with the juzz. There's a lot of ways to
do that, ex party.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
In other words, you talked to the judge outside the
presence of the defendant.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
What went through your mind?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
You leave, you graduate, you leave, you start fresh somewhere else,
and then after a few years past, there he is again.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
When did you see him for the.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
First time after that period of years.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
I first saw him at a soccer field. I was
playing in an adult recreation league and I saw him there,
and I was shocked. I never thought he would be
living in that city, or that I would see him again.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
And I had found that my ppo had expired like
shortly before that.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
And then a cold Friday morning.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
On a cold Friday morning in October, Samantha's roommate has
already left for work, but she's still soaking up a
few more minutes in d than Sam here's the wood
floor's creek and footsteps coming down the hall. Samantha calls
her roommate's name, and, getting no answer, quickly reaches under
her bed for a hatchet. The intruder throws the door
open and is on top of her with his hands
around her neck before she can reach it. Samantha immediately
(16:13):
recognizes her attacker as Stalker Christopher.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Thomas guys joining us tonight, Samantha stides, tell me what
went through your mind when you heard that floor creek?
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I knew my house well, Adolph to know that it
wasn't one of my pets, like stepping on the floor.
I knew that a creek would have had to be
likely a person. I assumed, you know, it was my roommate,
something normal, potentially, and when I didn't get a response
or hear any more movement, I thought there must have
(16:55):
been someone on the other side of my bedroom door
who was waiting for me. If it was a burglar
or something, they would have been taking items, they wouldn't
be waiting outside my bedroom door. I you know, was
confused whether maybe I was hearing something in a dream
or you know, I wasn't sure.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Exactly what was going on, let alone.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Suspecting who it was at this point, but I did
strongly believe there was a person on the other side
of that door, and that they wanted to me what happened.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Then I decided not to reach for the hatchet.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
I figured, you know, if this person doesn't have a weapon,
now I'm introducing one, and if they're they're likely more
prepared than I am. Bundled up in my bed having
just woken up, and I decided to reach to turn
on my bedroom lamp and figure out.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
What was going on, And at that point he.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Flung open the door and jumped on me in bed,
and I be am screaming, and he put his hands
around my throat to get me to stop screaming.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Listen.
Speaker 7 (18:08):
Thomas places a ballgag in Sam's mouth, then wraps duct
tape around her mouth, hands, and feet. Thomas blindfolds Sam,
loads her into her own car, and drives to a
storage unit where he has constructed a soundproof cell. Thomas
tells Samantha he was inspired by the Netflix show You.
Thomas shows Samantha how he'd been tracking her on his
phone and tells her he plans to keep her for
(18:30):
two weeks, then dispose of her body. Sam tries to
count the terms to work out where Thomas is taking
her and maintains a calm demeanor with her captor.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
It's overwhelming to me the terror you must have felt
when he gagged you. Did you think he was going
to kill you?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
I mean, the moment he jumped on me and began
choking me, I thought he was going to kill me, certainly,
you know, all those statistics ran through my head once
he handcuffed me and ball gagged me and just told
me he was planning to take me somewhere I knew.
You know, when people are abducted and move from one
(19:15):
location to another, their likelihood of survival decreases significantly. So,
you know, I thought, if he's angry with me, you know,
I'm guessing he wants to rape and kill me.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
It's amazing to me that he man is to stay
so calm. You were even trying to figure out where
he had taken you.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Yeah, I thought if I had any chance to get
out of the situation that you know, he had blindfolded
me while we were in the car. I figured if
I could get an idea of where I was in
the event I could escape, then I would know maybe
what direction is better to run than another, you know,
things like that.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
When did you realize you were in a storage container?
Speaker 4 (20:01):
I didn't really know that until he told me. I
think I could hear that there was like a garage
door sort of opening, and I could see a little
bit under the blindfold that it looked like potentially a
storage unit or a set of garages or something. It
was still dark when he took me there. You know,
(20:25):
I wasn't sure exactly which unit it was, but I
knew that I wasn't far from home. I was maybe
a quarter mile from my house.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
What did he say when he was chaining you to
the wall? Did he apologize?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I wouldn't say he was apologetic. Initially I could tell
he was surprised. I think that he had done this.
He was definitely kind of shaking and you know, thinking
about what to do. He seemed a little unprepared.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I assumed that maybe he was living there. You know,
I had no idea what this structure was. I couldn't
see as we entered it. I could tell that we
went through two little low like thresholds as you're kind
of seeing here into this small room. But I had
no idea that he had constructed this whole soundproof bunker
(21:23):
just for me.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Take a listen to Stalking Samantha.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
If you change somebody into a wall, you have no boundaries.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
He's going to do something violent. He's a monster.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
This becomes a fight for my life.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
It's just this ticking time bomb and we're all holding
our breath. My mind is the only thing that's going
to get me out of here.
Speaker 8 (22:00):
Spite her intense fear, Samantha, a therapist and social worker,
keeps calm and uses psychological tactics to negotiate with Thomas.
Samantha talks to Thomas like a friend and lets Thomas
vent to her.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
While she tries to find a way out.
Speaker 8 (22:15):
Seeing the rings Thomas attached to the walls, Sam knows
exactly what Thomas wants, but she gets out of him
that he's also terrified of going to jail. Sam tells
Thomas she will never tell anyone about the kidnapping and
even be his friend going forward if he takes her
home safely. After Thomas agrees to Sam Steele.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
The strength this woman has. You saw a clip of
talking Samantha thirteen Years of Terror as now on Hulu.
You actually were trying to save your life by reasoning
with him, bargaining with him.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
How did you come up with that? Most people would
have just.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Melted into a pile of tears on the floor of
that storage unit, But you kept your wits about you.
You saved your own life by bargaining with him. What
was going through your mind?
Speaker 5 (23:15):
Survival?
Speaker 4 (23:16):
I mean, I think anyone is capable of, you know,
doing what they need to do to get out of
a deadly situation, and it was clear that using my
mind was the only thing that was really going to
get me out of that situation. No one could hear me,
no one could see me. You know, I had no
(23:36):
means of escape. You know, I looked for different tools
or things I might be able to do to potentially
injure him. You know, I couldn't find any easy way
to potentially get out of this situation other than at
his hand. So you know, I took what I knew,
which you know was motivational interviewing and speaking with people
(24:03):
to try to get to the crux of what motivated
him and what he wanted. And I tried negotiating any
possible way of you know, getting out of there in
a timely manner. And you knowing, time wasn't on my side.
You know, if people suspected I was missing or went
looking for me, that he'd be the first person they
(24:25):
looked for.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
So I was also fearful.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
That as time drew on, you know, we'd both become
more agitated, and that you know, he'd become really nervous knowing.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
The police were looking for him.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
So time was also of the essence, and that I
needed to come up with something to convince him that
we could forget about all this and that we could
get out of this situation, you know, quickly. And the
only way he was going to let me out was
by having sex with me. I tried everything I could
(24:59):
do to get out of that situation, and you know,
there was no real way unless I was going to
sit in there for days on end.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Everybody, you are seeing the actual place where this beautiful
young woman was kidnapped and held by a former Bible
group attendee. It's and we showed you where he had
prepared this. As she is telling us, long prepared this
(25:31):
bunker to keep her, including a way to chain her.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
To the wall. It's just it's almost more than I
can take in.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
We run into people every day, Samantha that are awkward,
that are kind of in the fringe of our lives,
are not really a player in our day to day.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
He would leave you in there, chained up and just
leave right. We've got video of him stride across the
parking lot.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yeah, at the beginning, especially before he felt like he
could trust me, he did cheem me to the wall
and drive my vehicle to like a local home improvement store,
so that my vehicle wasn't you know, if people went
looking for me, they wouldn't find my vehicle at home
or you know, at at the location where he had me.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
It seems to me, Samant, that he dumped your car
in a Minard's parking lot to make it look like
maybe you had gone to Minards had been abducted from there.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
He obviously put a lot of thought into this.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
I mean, that was probably the closest location that had
a decent sized parking lot.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
You know, he had plans to, you know, if we
were supposed to be there for two weeks, like.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
He had planned, he had planned to leave my car
out by Lake Michigan and have my pas board on
the beach somewhere and make it look like potentially I drown.
So I'm not sure, you know, other than having my
car at some basic parking lot nearby that he could
easily walk from there back to.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
The storage unit.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
You know, I'm not sure, but that was the location that,
you know, after he had raped me, that when he
followed through with this promise to let me go, he
dropped me back off at my car at this parking.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Lot, locked in the bathroom, Samantha manages to make a call.
Most people would be devastated, but she manages to summon
up the strength and save herself Listen.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Still locked in her bathroom, Samantha manages to call a friend,
who takes her to a hospital and has police meet
them there. Nurses perform a rape kit and give Sam
precautionary STI medication. Thomas has arrested just hours later, while
officers search the storage unit and track down Sam's car.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
I went right to the storage units. We didn't know
if he was hiding in the bunker. We didn't know
if there were booby traps or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Christopher, if you're inside, let us know. I'm man have
my dog and find you and he will bite you.
Call out to us now, if you're inside.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
From talking Samantha thirteen years of Terror on Hulu, what
went through your mind? What were you thinking when you
managed to make that phone call from inside the bathroom?
Speaker 4 (28:32):
I mean I had a plan from you know, the
time I was in the bunker. If I were to
get out, I knew he had a tracker on my vehicle.
I couldn't just drive to the hospital. I couldn't go
to the police station for fear of.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Him following me. You know, I went.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
I knew I couldn't call my roommate for help or
a close friend because he knew who they all were.
So I called a coworker who was also a neighbor
and a nurse, and I knew I needed to get
to the hospital to try to recover DNA from a
rape kit and hopefully put this person behind bars.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
You know what, I have taken so many victims for
a rape kit. It's nothing anybody wants to endure. But
you speaking about that tonight can give other people the strength, Samantha, to.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Know they're not alone. They're not alone. Other women have.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Been through it as horrible as it is, and they
have survived. And you haven't just survived, you have conquered
so much. And by speaking out, I'm just so grateful
to you. And because of her, we land here.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Listen.
Speaker 8 (29:54):
So we executed a search warrant in his house the
night that that Christopher was rested.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
We're able to get a lot of good information from
his house. He didn't get rid of anything, really. We
found the sheets that were on the bed and sword
you in it. At his apartment we'd found the ballgag,
the duct tape that we believe he used to secure
the ballgag.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
In her mouth, And of course he lies over and
over listened.
Speaker 8 (30:35):
This man is not just obsessed with you, and he's dangerous.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
I've never seen a stalking case as severe as this,
next level psycho.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
This is like a horror film.
Speaker 7 (30:53):
Stalking Samantha thirteen years of Terror. In an interrogation, Thomas
lies over and over. Thomas first claims he was hunting
when he kidnapped Sam. When officers tell Thomas they have
footage of him at the storage unit with Sam and
have been inside. Thomas then claims it was a role
play fantasy that he surprised Sam with, but he wasn't
(31:15):
happy about it. Thomas initially pleads not guilty, but his
trial approaches, Thomas takes a deal that drops the home
invasion and criminal sexual conduct charges.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 10 (31:36):
You're believe that you add in such a way as
to create severe mental pain on her partner. You believe
a reasonable person with supper sejurs and pain based on
of those actions.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Trauma was talking Samantha thirteen years of Tearror on Hulu
role playing. Did you hear him say you just were
surprised and you didn't like it?
Speaker 5 (31:58):
He sure was right.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
I sure was surprised by her, him coming into my
home and kidnapping me, and I did not like it.
But the I mean, that was just kind of a
you know, excuse he had, he had to tell the
police something that wasn't. Yes, I abducted her because I'm
stalking her and have been helplessly in love with her.
(32:24):
You know, I'm not surprised, and I'm also disgusted at that,
you know, pitiful excuse.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
When you see him, even as showing a clip of
him in court, what is your reaction.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Because he totally repulsed me.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
Yeah, I mean I when I tend to talk about
the situation or see or you know, see his face
or watch the videos, you know, I feel tense. I've
kind of come back to that, you know, time that
day with him.
Speaker 5 (32:59):
You know, I feel sweaty and nervous.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Samantha, how has this whole thing affected you? I keep
talking about how strong and how brave you are, and
how you are.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Thinking your way out of this.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
All of that is true, but then you're diagnosed with
post traumatic stress syndrome. I know it's got to affect you.
I mean, I know the murder of my fiance has
affected the rest of my life and there's nothing I
can do about it except try to move forward as
best as I can. From my family, How has this
affected you and how do you move forward in life?
Speaker 4 (33:41):
Yeah, I think as you know, you know, your life
is never the same after something like that that you've
been through or that I've been through. You know, things
are always different and you have to make a new normal.
You know, you have to choose to move forward each day,
and you know, decide how you're going to look at
(34:05):
the bright side, how you're going to move on. In
some days, especially at the beginning, we're difficult. You know,
I was having trouble sleeping. I was scared by every
little noise. I felt like I was also afraid to
be alone. You know, all these things made it difficult
for me to go back to work where I had
to think on my feet and be empathetic with others
while I'm going through this like terrifying situation. I really
(34:28):
feel like therapy has helped me a lot in terms
of being able to talk about the situation and kind
of decrease that sort of stress response I have where
I'm able to sleep better at night and you know,
not feel startled by every little thing or the story
of like what's happened to me is, you know, something
(34:52):
I can move past. You know, as sad as it
is and as difficult as it's been, I feel very
thankful overall that I'm alive, very grateful that I was
able to get through that situation, because so many people,
so many women don't get that opportunity.
Speaker 5 (35:14):
They die at the hands of their.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Stalker or abductor or rapist, and you know, never get
to tell their stories, never get the opportunity to recover,
and their loved ones never get to see them again.
You know, I feel like it gives me sort of
a different lease on life, knowing that I have survived something,
(35:36):
and I'm grateful for every day and want to help
prevent this from happening from anyone else.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
And that's really why I'm.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Speaking out, you know, to give a voice to the
folks that have gone through this or victims that never
got the opportunity to tell their stories, and to encourage
those that you know, think they may be being stalked
or have been assaulted to report it and try to
seek justice.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Samantha, I don't know if anyone has told you this,
but you're amazing.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
You're amazing. I've dealt with.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
So many kidnap or stalking rape victims. They cannot or
will not testify. They don't have the strength.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
They just.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
It destroys their lives forever, and they can't find a way,
even difficult as it is, to move forward. I've had
people ask me how do you stay happy? You seem
happy all the time. It's a decision, and sometimes it's
(36:55):
a really hard decision about living that day and what
you're going to do that day, just this one day.
Could you offer advice to other people that are out
there suffering as you have suffered.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
Yeah, I can't imagine having gone through something like this
and having my stalker rapists still out there, you know.
I can't imagine trying to face each day not knowing
whether or not I'm safe. You know, I can take
comfort in that that he's behind bars now. I feel
(37:36):
like my one I don't know, piece of advice would
be to, you know, get help from therapists, from legal counsel,
you know, do what's right for you. There's not there's
not one single solution that's right for everyone. In some
(37:56):
situations that may not be possible or feasible to find,
you know, legal justice, but it's worth trying. It's worth
trying to feel safe every day and be able to
move on in such a way, and that you deserve
that as a victim. You deserve that as a human
(38:18):
when someone has wronged you. I feel like that's my
one piece of encouragement.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Guys. Joining us tonight is.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Samantha's Tides, who is navigating life after being kidnapped from
a bed, held in a storage container, and so much
more that could have destroyed anyone, but she is soldiering
on and sending a message to other women out there
(38:55):
that are suffering tonight. Look at her. She has survived
and triumphed. If she can do it, you can do it. Samantha.
Thank you all of us here at Crime Stories, thank
you from the bottom of our hearts, and God bless you.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Now we remember an American hero, Sheriff Robert Rogers, Wilcox
County Sheriff's Georgia, killed in the line of duty after
twenty two years and law enforcement, leaving behind a grieving
Widowhalley and son Robert American hero sheriff Robert Rogers.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend
Speaker 2 (40:00):
As
Host
Nancy Grace
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