A woman speaking out for the first time after being stalked for over a decade, then kidnapped and chained in a soundproof bunker. Samantha Stites is opening up in a new ABC News three-part docue series as she recounts a story of fear, resistance, and resilience. This guy’s stalking me. And then one night, I heard the squeak of a floorboard just outside my bedroom door. My heart starts racing.
[Music] I’ve been kidnapped. I’m in this torture chamber. I see these soundproof patches on the wall. So, no one’s going to hear me scream. She was not going to get out of that box alive. I just want to find him and I want to get him into custody. I wanted him gone. I wanted him dead. If you shame somebody into a wall, you have no boundaries.
He’s going to do something violent. He’s a monster. This becomes a fight for my life. Now, Samantha sharing how she escaped that soundproof bunker and lived to tell her story. And she is here now to tell us all about it. Samantha, thanks so much for being here. First of all, I’m so sorry that you had to deal with this.
And I cannot imagine what you have endured and what it has taken for you to get to this point. Yeah, thank you. It’s definitely been an ordeal. um you know, several years aside from the stalking, the legal process um was extensive. So, how does it feel to be speaking out and sharing your story now after all this time? It feels nice.
It feels like I’m kind of owning back my my power and that which was taken from me through the kidnapping and, you know, imprisonment. Um, so it I hope my story will um, you know, lead others to learn about stalking and make some legal changes as well. Your stalker had been following you for over a decade and you met him as a student in passing.
So what was that first encounter like and when did you start realizing how dangerous he really was? Yeah, that first encounter I met him I would say my sophomore or junior year of college and um you know we just kind of made small talk. We were in this um you know student group together and he was just an awkward person and I thought I would be nice and make conversation with him so he wasn’t standing alone and you know it was kind of a short interaction.
Um, it really wasn’t until I graduated college and he found me in my hometown and, you know, said he wanted to move states and do the same internship I was doing after college, but I realized something wrong. You talked about the legal system. I know firsthand how difficult the legal system can be for stalking victims, and you actually did get an order of protection against him.
So, what did you make of that process and then what happened next? Yeah, the first PO I um was given in 2014 um was a relatively straightforward, quick process and it was granted for 6 years which ran until 2020. Um he seemingly sort of disappeared from my life when I moved out of state. Um, little did I know he was surveilling me in other ways.
And um, when I moved back to my hometown area, northern Michigan, I began seeing him again. Um, and I certainly had concern, you know, at that point what his intentions were, but he hadn’t like tried to speak with me or anything. So, I it was kind of confusing at first. We’re going to hear the full story in the docue series, but what can you tell us about your experience in that bunker and how you finally escaped? Um, it’s every person’s worst nightmare.
You know, it’s something you watch in a scripted film for entertainment. You know, I I knew that, you know, being locked in this tiny room he had made for me that I likely had a low chance of survival. Um, you know, it was frightening with him there, but it was also potentially more frightening with him gone and being locked in this silent, you know, dark room with no one knowing where I was.
So, what do you hope viewers take away from this docue series and from your story in general? Yeah, I hope that this sheds some light on on stalking and how prevalent it is. like one in three women are stalked in their lifetime to some degree. Certainly and thankfully most not to the extent that I was.
Um it can happen to anyone at any stage of life. You know I was 30 when I was um kidnapped by my stalker. So um older than I had expected. I hope I hope it changes some of the discussions about and protections as well. All right, Samantha Stites. Thank you. You’re welcome. Thanks for having me. Thank you. And stalking Samantha, 14 Years of Terror is streaming now on Hulu.
