Stalker sentenced to decades in prison after keeping the woman in an soundproofed bunker
A man from Michigan was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison for kidnapping and tortured a woman whom he tracked down for more than a decade, in a case that highlighted the potentially devastating impact of harassment.
Christopher Thomas, 39, pleaded guilty of kidnapping, torture and harassment aggravated in December 2023, and was condemned in 2024. The charges arose from a horrible incident of October 2022 in which he had kidnapped Samantha states and held him in an insonored hint which he had built inside a storage unit.
“I was wondering if I would see the light of the day again,” stated in his declaration of impact of the victim during the conviction. “I trembled and sobbed after having violated myself, I was not sure he would stop.”
“Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror” by ABC News Studios, a three -part series, broadcasts in its entirety on Hulu and Disney + from Tuesday, August 19.
While Thomas was initially accused of criminal sexual conduct, these charges were then abandoned as part of a plea agreement.
Samantha states shares her poignant history of survival in “Stalking Samantha: 13 years of terror”, a documentary exploring how a harassment campaign of decade resulted in a terrifying 14 -hour captivity in a soundproofed bunker.
ABC News Studios
The case drew national attention because of its disturbing details, but also because Stite had already requested protection against Thomas by the legal system. A few months before the abduction, his request for an explanation – which means that the accused was not present – the personal protection order was refused.
Harassment began in 2011 when Stite was a student at the Grand Valley State University. Thomas, who is seven years older than states, began to appear in the same Christian group she attended. What started as apparently innocent interactions quickly evolved into something more sinister.
“At the beginning, I think he is just alone and for any reason finds me a person accessible to whom to talk to,” stored at ABC News told. “And then at some point, it changes somehow.”
Despite the repeated refusals of the states and the clear limits, Thomas’ behavior has intensified. He would appear in his workplace with flowers, would present himself to his sports practices and finally began to follow his movements through GPS trackers whom he secretly placed on his vehicle and those of his friends.
“She was sorry for him. So she was a little nice to him,” said Charissa Hayden, the former roommate of Stite, at ABC News. “And he took that and he turned him into something he was not and fled with it.”
Samantha Stite talks about his victim’s trip to the defense of lawyers.
ABC News Studios
On October 7, 2022, Thomas burst into the house of states early in the morning and kidnapped her. He had spent months preparing at that time, building an soundproofed piece in a storage unit.
“He spent thousands of dollars to create this box so that he could spend time with Sam,” the detective Mike Matteucci told ABC News from the Sheriff’s Bureau of Grand Traverse. “And make God only knows what.”
Inside the bunker, Thomas revealed that he had followed the strict movements for more than a year using GPS devices, showing him the follow -up application on his phone. He told her that she would be detained for two weeks, showing his supplies which he had gathered, including food, water and a bucket for bathroom needs.
States, fearing for his life, strategically engaged in the conversation. When Thomas expressed his fear of going to prison, Stite saw an opportunity. After almost 2 p.m. in captivity, she convinced her to free her by promising not to report the crime. Once free, she immediately asked for medical care and brought the incident to the authorities.
The investigation revealed that Thomas had already been convicted of having tracked down another woman. Kelli, whose family surname was retained for legal reasons, told ABC News that she had obtained a protection order against Thomas in 2009 after adopting a similar harassment behavior.
“I always knew that there would be someone else,” said Kelli after being contacted by detectives investigating in the case of states. “When they called me in 2022, there is like this feeling of culprit as if he did to someone else. I was right.”
During the conviction, judge Kevin Elsenheimer – who had rejected the request for an ex -part of states in July 2022, only three months before the kidnapping – recognized the seriousness of Thomas’ actions and his probability of recurrence.
The judge underlined the conversations of Thomas’ prison with his mother as proof of his obsession, noting that Thomas admitted “nothing would matter, that nothing would have prevented what you were going to do.”
If Thomas is released, he will have to wear a GPS instructor for the rest of his life.
“Justice is a funny thing. It does not necessarily take the form of years in prison,” said stories. “I can never come back before I was kidnapped. And this is something that I had to cry. But knowing that I finally turn the page on this subject and that I should feel safe with him on the street and that I am protected meant a lot. I felt free.”
According to court documents, the case has caused changes in the way the courts manage protective orders in Michigan. New policies require arbitrators – who consider PPO requests and refer to the judge on what to do – to examine any previous PPO before making recommendations in court.
According to national statistics presented in the case, one in three women will be tracked down during their lifetime.
“I want other women, whether they have been tracked or assaulted sexually or not, I want them to see my story and think things can change,” said stories.
