A US woman who was held captive in a soundproof bunker by her stalker has spoken out about her experience in a new documentary series.
In 2011 Samantha Stites, then a student at Grand Valley State University in Michigan met Christopher Thomas at a Christian student group.
Thomas then began bombarding Stites with numerous requests for a date, with the 33-year-old ultimately blocking his number after he wouldn't take no for an answer.
Over the years the stalking escalated, with Thomas placing a tracker in Stites' car, showing up in the same public places as her and even delivering flowers to her work.
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After graduation in 2014, Stites was granted a six-year personal protection order (PPO) after a friend spotted Thomas leaving her apartment block.
However, Thomas was back the moment the PPO expired in 2020, showing up in bars and supermarkets at the same time as Stites.
He would even join the same gym and soccer league as her.
The renewed harassment prompted Stites to apply for a second PPO against Thomas, who was secretly building a soundproof bunker at the time, after being inspired by the Netflix series You.
Thomas would then break into Stites' home, abduct and hold her hostage in the makeshift torture chamber for 13 hours in 2022.
"This is like a horror film," she recalled thinking in an interview with The Telegraph.
"Is he going to rape me and kill me in this room?" Stites recalled asking herself, adding: "I can’t fight my way out."
Faced with an impossible situation, Stites utilised the skills learnt from her job as a social worker to engage Thomas in conversation.
Thomas would ultimately agree to release Stites in exchange for sexually assaulting her and agreeing not to contact the authorities.
After arriving home, Stites made her way to a hospital and took a rape kit, before working with police to locate the soundproof bunker.
Thomas was later arrested and sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison for his crimes after pleading guilty to kidnapping, torture and aggravated stalking in December 2023.
Stites has now decided to tell her story in new Hulu and Disney+ documentary Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror, which lays bare the ordeal she suffered for over a decade.
"Justice is a funny thing. It doesn't necessarily come in the form of prison years," she explained in an interview with ABC. "I can't ever go back to before I was kidnapped.
"And that's something I had to grieve. But knowing that I'm finally turning the page on this and that I should feel safe with him off the street and that I am protected meant a lot. I felt free."
Stalking Samantha: 13 Years Of Terror is available to stream on Disney+
Topics: Crime, Documentaries, TV, True Crime, Disney
Brenna Cooper