Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - VICTIM TRAPPED IN STORAGE CONTAINER, BOUND, ABUSED BY BIBLE GROUP FLUNKY

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

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 burst 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 duck 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 is her stalker, Christopher Thomas.  Thomas tells Samantha the Netflix show, "You." inspired him and gave him the thoughts of also building the constructed 'sound proof' 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 usespsychological tactics to negotiate with Thomas. Samantha talks to Thomas like a friend andlets Thomas vent to her, knowing all along exactly what Thomas wants, but she gets out of him  he's also terrified of going to jail. Sam tells Thomas she will never tell anyone about the kidnapping and say the sex was consensual and will even be his friend going forward if he takes her home safely afterwards. 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   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. 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. 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.

Her life just starting, friendly, outgoing, polite, and caring, she befriended an awkward acquaintance. She'll probably never do that again. At first, I think he's just lonely. for some reason, finds me an approachable person to talk to. And then at some point, it changes. That was from stalking Samantha, 13 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. Thanks for having me. Samantha, how difficult is it for you? to talk about what happened and relive it? I think having significant therapy, you know, the last few years, it's, you know, not as difficult as one might think for me to kind of discuss my experience at this point. 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. I think the word befriend is maybe a bit strong. I wouldn't ever say we were actually 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. I mean, he quickly became obsessed with me and stalked me for, years. 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, Methodist Youth Fellowship or, you know, Family Night Suppers. Was there a red flag at all? 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. When you say he was awkward,

what do you mean by 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 looked down. He didn't really have too many close friends from what I could see. Mm-hmm. And that's just the 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, Samantha finds a red rose. on her car listen one day after the group meeting samantha finds a rose on her car christopher thomas eventually tells samantha he left it for her 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 at work Samantha continues to echo no to date requests eventually telling thomas she is not romantically interested he was following me to my work following me in my internship there at frisbee practice You're seeing clips from stalking Samantha, 13 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, 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. Maybe somebody I had romantic interest in potentially. And I couldn't figure out who it was for a few days. You know, I was texting anyone and everyone I could think of, and I felt silly.

And finally, I loop back to Christopher after he initially said no, and he admitted that it was him. And he admitted that he had followed from my house to my internship. And that's how he knew where it was. And I thought, that's really weird. That's not a normal thing somebody would do. Oh, my star, Samantha. So he tells you to your face, I followed you from your home to your internship.

Was that on the phone? Or did he tell you that to your face? It was over the phone. We had this conversation. What did you say when he told you he followed you? I don't know that I really said, I don't know that I had a big reaction at the time. 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 and asking him to leave me alone shortly after that. How did he respond when you would tell him, look, I'm not interested in you in that way. It's not romantic. We're just friends. How would he react? He kind of just would nod and say, you know, sure.

or, you know, 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 a, hey, how's your day going sort of thing? 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 um 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 um 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 um And then sometimes after I'd kind 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, other guy friends and stuff involved. Wait, did he know he had been blocked? Yeah, I mean, he wasn't able to text me anymore.

I blocked his phone number. And I 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. I guess he thought persistence would. be the key to winning you over well the text

messages continued listen when he was not at work or sleeping he was tracking her he was following me to my work following me to my gym grocery shopping he was everywhere don't talk to me don't text me don't show up

where I am leave me alone this guy's stalking me 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. 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 own.

That from stalking Samantha, 13 years of terror on Hulu. Tell me where all, Samantha, he would show up unsolicited. At the beginning in college, it was like, you know, my internship. It would be, you know, just common places 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 meeting a friend for a drink, anywhere. So where would he be at the grocery store? In the parking lot, in one of

the aisles? He'd usually be like 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, you know, I never actually saw him try to get into a vehicle, which was something I was aiming to do. So I knew at least what his car looked like.

Samantha, think about it. 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. That took a lot of planning. 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 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 and we couldn't find anything. And where would he be at the gym? He'd usually be like running on a treadmill. So he would already be there. Did you go the same day every week so he could be there and get on the treadmill before you got there? I mean, how would he actually make this happen, the mechanics of 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'd vary the times I would go slightly.

I mean, it was usually after work, so it was sometime 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. then the stalking extends to her friends when Samantha learns Thomas's stocking 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 six years later Samantha's PPO is expiring and Thomas was prepared he transfers to Traverse City and Thomas is suddenly a San Francisco 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 PPO again but learns it would require a court appearance that Thomas would also attend in fear of angering him further Samantha abandons her plan to renew the restraining order oh my stars when you say he starts talking your friends what did he do he ended up 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. I think if somebody puts a tracker on your roommate's car, that would be stalking them. Maybe the motive was to find you, but I would not like it if somebody put trackers on my friend's cars. You decided not to seek another protection order for all. obvious reasons. What was your thinking? 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 was an assistant

prosecutor and asked, you know, for help filing another PPO and essentially the court denied to ex parte order, which meant I would have had to appear in court with Christopher for a judge to make a final determination. And I chose not 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 on to him. Wow. Okay, getting no support from the judge there at all. I obviously disagree with the judge.

There's a lot of ways to do that. party. In other words, you talked to the judge outside the presence of the defendant. What went through your mind? You leave, you graduate, you leave, you start fresh somewhere else, and then after a few years past, there he is again. When did you see him for the first time after that period of years? 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. And I had found that my PPO had expired like shortly before that. And then a cold Friday morning. 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 bed. Then Sam hears the wood floors 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 recognizes her attacker as stalker Christopher Thomas. Guys joining us tonight, Samantha's tights. Tell me what went through your mind when you heard that floor creek? Um, I knew my house well enough 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.

Um, I assumed, you know, it was my roommate, something normal, potentially. Um, and when I didn't get a response or hear any more movement, I thought there must have 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 exactly what was going on let alone suspecting who it was at this point but i did strongly believe there was a person on the other side of that door um and that they wanted me what happened then? I decided not to reach for the hatchet. I figured, you know,

if this person doesn't have a weapon, now I'm introducing one. And if 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 what was going on and at that point and what happened he he flung open the door and jumped on me in bed and I began screaming and he put his hands around my throat to get me to stop screaming listen Thomas places a ball gag in Sam's mouth then wraps duct tape around her mouth hands and feet Thomas blindfold 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 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. It's overwhelming to me the terror you must have felt when he gagged. you? Did you think he was going to kill you?

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 was told me he was planning to take me somewhere. I knew, you know, when people are abducted and move from one 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. It's amazing to me that you managed to stay so calm. You were even trying to figure out where he had taken you? 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. When did you realize you were in a storage container? 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, 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.

What did he say when he was chaining you to the wall? Did he apologize? eyes? 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. You know, I assumed that maybe he was living there.

You know, I had no idea what this structure was. was i couldn't see as we entered it i could tell that we went through too low 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 just for me crime stories with nancy grace take a listen to stalking samantha 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. 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. 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 while she tries to find a way out. 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's deal. the strength this woman has you saw a clip of stalking Samantha 13 years of terror it's now on Hulu you actually were trying to save your life by reasoning with him bargaining with him how did you come up with that most people would have just melted into a pile of tears on the floor of that storage unit but you kept your about you. You saved your own life by bargaining with him. What was going through your mind?

Survival. 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 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 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 know, when 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 looked for. So I was also fearful that as time drew on, you know, we'd both become more agitated and that, you know, he'd become really nervous knowing the police.

were looking for him. So time was also of the essence in 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 quickly. And the only way he was going to let me out was

by having sex with me. I tried everything I could 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. Everybody, you are seeing the actual place where this beautiful young woman was kidnapped and held by a former Bible group attendee. It's just, and we showed you where he had prepared this as she is telling us long prepared

this bunker to keep her including. a way to chain her to the wall. It's just, it's almost more than I can take in. We run into people every day, Samantha, that are awkward, that are kind of in the fringe of our lives, or not really a player in our day to day. He would leave you in there chained up and just leave, right? We've got video of him striding across the parking lot. Yeah.

beginning, especially before he felt like he could trust me, he did chain 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 the location where he had me. It seems to me, Samantha, he dumped your car in a Menard's parking lot to make it looked like maybe you had gone to Menards and been abducted from there? He obviously put a lot of thought into this. Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, that was probably the closest location that had a decent sized parking lot. You know, he had plans to, you know, if we were supposed to be there for two weeks like he had planned, he had planned to leave my car out by Lake Michigan and have my

paddle 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 the storage unit, you know, I'm not sure, but that was the location that, you know, after he had raped me that he, when he followed through with his promise to let me go, he dropped me back off at my car at this parking 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.

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 is arrested just hours later while officers searched the storage unit and tracked down Sam's car. We 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. Christopher, if you're inside, let us know. I'm going to have my dog come find you and he will bite you.

Call out to us now if you're inside. From stalking Samantha, 13 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? 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 him following me. You know, I went, 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. 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 get. other people the strength, Samantha, to know they're not alone. They're not alone. Other women have 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. Listen. We executed a search warrant at his house the night that Christopher was arrested. We were 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 in the storage unit at his apartment. We had found the ball gag. the duct tape that we believe he used to secure the ball gag in her mouth and of course he lies over and over listen this man is not just obsessed with you he's dangerous i've never seen a stocking case as severe as this next level psycho

this is like a horror film Stalking Samantha, 13 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 roleplay fantasy that he surprised Sam with, but she wasn't 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.

Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Your belief that you act in such a way as to create severe mental pain on her partner? Yes. We believe a reasonable person would suffer severe mental pain based on those actions. From stalking Samantha, 13 years of terror on Hulu,

role playing. Did you hear him say? You just were surprised and you didn't like it? He sure was right. I sure was surprised by her him coming into my home and kidnapping me. And I did not like it. But 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 hopelessly in love with her. Um, you know, I'm not surprised and I'm also disgusted at that, you know, pitiful excuse. When you see him, even as showing a clip of him in court, what is your reaction? Because he totally repulsed me. 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. You know, I feel sweaty and nervous. Samantha, how has this whole thing affected you?

I keep talking about how strong and how brave you are and how you are thinking your way out of this. 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 fiancé 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 for my family. How has this affected you? And how do you move forward in life?

Yeah, I think as 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 the bright side, how you're going to move on. And some days, especially at the beginning, were 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 able.

empathetic with others while I'm going through this like terrifying situation. I really 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, um, you know, something I can move past, um, you know, as sad as it is and as difficult as it's been, I feel very thankful overall that I'm alive. I'm very grateful that I was able to get through that situation because so many people, so many women, um, don't get that opportunity. They die at the hands of their stalker or abductor or rapist.

and, you know, never get to tell their stories, never get the opportunity to recover and their, you know, 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, and I'm, like, grateful for every day and want to help prevent this from happening from anyone else. And that's really why I'm speaking out, you know, to give a voice to the first. 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. Samantha, I don't know if anyone has told you this, but you're amazing. You're amazing.

I've dealt with so many kidnap or stalking. rape victims, they cannot or will not testify. They don't have the strength. They just, it destroys their lives forever. And they can't find a way, even difficult as it is to move forward. of how people ask me how do you stay happy you seem happy all the time it's a decision and it's sometimes it's 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. Yeah, I can't imagine having gone through something like this and having my stalker or rapist 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 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 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 when someone has wronged you.

I feel like that's my one piece of encouragement. Guys, joining us tonight is Samantha Stites, 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 that are suffering tonight look at her she has survived and triumphed if she can do it you can do it

Samantha thank you from All of us here at crime stories. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And God bless you. Thank you. Now, we remember an American hero, Sheriff Robert Rogers, Wilcox County Sheriff's, Georgia, killed in the line of duty after 22 years in law enforcement, leaving behind a grieving widow, Haley, and son, Robert.

American hero, Sheriff Robert Rogers. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. Thank you.