One moment, she was fast asleep in bed in her Michigan home. An hour later, Samantha Stites was chained to the wall of a soundproof chamber with Christopher Thomas, her stalker of many years, facing her.
“I wondered if I would see daylight again,” she later recalled after managing a harrowing escape from the clutches of her captor.
Samantha is now using her terrifying story “to help others.”
“Telling my story has been helpful in my healing process, in making it less scary and regaining some power,” she said.
Samantha Stites first met Christopher Thomas in a student Christian group in 2011
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
Samantha, born on November 23, 1991, first met Christopher at a campus Christian group in 2011. She was studying at Grand Valley State University in Michigan at the time.
“I saw him at different events the Christian group was doing. He friended me on Facebook one day,” she recalled in Hulu’s docuseries Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror, which premiered on August 19.
“At first I thought he was just lonely and for some reason saw me as an approachable person to talk to,” she added.
Her roommate, Charissa Hayden, described him as a “sad, lonely guy” who seemed to be “very socially awkward.”
It didn’t take long for Christopher to start bombarding her with text messages and asking her out on dates.
Samantha would politely decline but made sure he understood she wasn’t romantically interested in him.
However, he continued pursuing her until she blocked his number.
He gradually became “a threat” and started following her around, randomly showing up at her workplace with flowers and at her sports practices.
Christopher was described as a “sad, lonely guy” who seemed to be “very socially awkward”
When Samantha was accepted to a ministry internship in Kansas City, she discovered that her stalker had enrolled in the very same program.
She went on to file a petition for a restraining order against him in 2014 and was granted a personal protective order (PPO) for six years.
Life seemingly returned to normal for Samantha. But when the PPO expired in 2020, Christopher returned to her life and began stalking her again.
He joined her gym and soccer league, would show up in the same bars and grocery stores she went to, and would stare at her and stick his tongue out.
The stalker paid no heed when her friends confronted him.
The stalker would follow Samantha around, stare at her, and stick his tongue out at her
Image credits: UpNorth Live
Samantha once again filed for a petition for a new PPO in July 2022, but the judge denied her request and claimed she had a “complicated relationship” with Christopher.
When he realized Samantha was once again trying to legally block him from making contact with her, he started building a bunker inside a storage unit.
He furnished the chamber with soundproof panels on the walls and a mattress on the floor.
Hidden inside were rifles and a crossbow, while water and a bucket were kept for bathroom needs.
Samantha woke up one day in October 2022 to find Christopher on top of her, tying her up
In the wee hours of October 7, 2022, Samantha woke up to the sound of a creaking floorboard and reached out for the hatchet under her bed.
But within moments, she found Christopher on top of her, choking her and placing her in handcuffs. He bound her ankles and wrists before ramming a ball-gag in her mouth, which he secured with duct tape wrapped around her head.
Christopher placed his blindfolded victim in the back of his car, along with her paddleboard, which he needed for his plot to fake her accidental drowning in Lake Michigan.
“He asked if I wanted to take some food with me as we left the house. I asked for a banana,” she told The Telegraph.
The stalker put her in the bunker he built and claimed he would hold her captive for two weeks, showing her the food supplies he kept for her.
He even bragged about how he placed GPS trackers on not only her car but even her friends’ vehicles.
Christopher admitted he built the bunker after being inspired by the Netflix series You, which tells the story of a love-bombing stalker who commits several homicides in the name of devotion to his women.
Christopher admitted his soundproof bunker was inspired by the Netflix series You
“This is like a horror film,” Samantha thought to herself while in the chamber. “Is he going to r*** me and k*** me in this room? I can’t fight my way out.”
There were moments where she was “talking to God,” especially when Christopher left her alone.
“Ironically, those were more terrifying, because I thought: if he gets in a car accident, then I’m chained to a wall where nobody can find me,” she told the outlet.
She “asked God: ‘Why Me? Haven’t I been through enough?’”
When Samantha realized she couldn’t fight her way out, she decided to engage in conversation with her captor.
She even pretended to show interest in a romantic relationship with him and promised not to tell the cops that he had abducted her.
But Christopher said he would only let her go if she engaged in intercourse with him.
“I said, ‘You promise me Christopher, that if I sleep with you, you will let me out tonight,’” she said during a Good Morning America interview. “He looked me in the eyes and shook my hand.”
What followed were hours of an experience Samantha called “painful.”
“I cried and I shook. I didn’t want him to know I was disgusted and terrified,” the victim said while narrating how she escaped
Image credits: ABC News
“I cried and I shook. I didn’t want him to know I was disgusted and terrified. I didn’t want him to get angry,” she told The Telegraph.
“I shook and sobbed after he r***d me, I wasn’t sure he would stop,” she said in her victim statement.
When he stopped having intercourse with her, he said: “You’re the person I’m supposed to marry,” Samantha recalled.
The abductor then dropped her off at home.
Once back in her house, Samantha asked her neighbor to drive her to the hospital since she knew her car still had a GPS tracker. Her story then quickly reached the sheriff’s office, and Christopher was soon arrested.
Investigators found the bunker, along with countless photos and videos of Samantha in Christopher’s possession. Some of the pictures were over a decade old.
Christopher was found with countless photos and videos of Samantha, some of which were over a decade old
Christopher tried convincing investigators that the abduction was part of some consensual “role-playing” that had “gone too far.”
Officials said he had a prior conviction for stalking another woman, Kelli, whose last name was left out of the docuseries.
Christopher pleaded guilty to kidnapping, tort**e and aggravated stalking and was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison.
For a long time, Samantha’s heart would race if she smelled duct tape, lumber, or even bananas.
Image credits: ABC News
Along with sharing her story to help others, she established a company to support stalking victims and offers courses on stalking to social workers.
“Document everything,” she advised others in similar situations. “I wish I had done that sooner. Get written proof, dates, times, photographs. Get other people involved and don’t keep it to yourself. Tell your friends and neighbours: this is what this person looks like, this is what car they drive.
“Change your routines,” she added. “I was really careful with that when he reappeared in 2020. I got additional security at home: locks and cameras.”
“I’m glad she made it out alive,” one commented online
