Money Crimes with Nicole Lapin - Reddit’s Most Shocking Stalker Stories

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

Sabrina Deana-Roga brings Alexis Linkletter three of Reddit's most disturbing stalker stories, and with zero knowledge of what's coming, Alexis reacts in real time.One man is stalked by his ex at his own wedding. Another discovers someone has been secretly breaking into their apartment and moving things around. And a third shares their story of being stalked and catfished...with an ending nobody sees coming.Sabrina and Alexis break down the warning signs, the choices each person made, and the shocking aftermath of dealing with a stalker.Follow CRIMES OF REDDIT for a new episode every Tuesday. https://pod.link/1838511303If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Scams, Money, & Murder to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Scams, Money, & Murder is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios.🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of Reddit, Crime House 24/7, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Murder True Crime Stories, and more wherever you get your podcasts!Follow me on SocialInstagram: @CrimehouseTikTok: @CrimehouseFacebook: @crimehousestudiosX: @crimehousemediaYouTube: @crimehousestudios

Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Are you the type to fall down an internet rabbit hole and not come up for hours? You'll love Crimes of Reddit, a new crimehouse original with Sabrina Deanna Roga and Alexis Linkletter. Every week, one host brings real true crime stories from Reddit, while the other reacts completely blind. No prep, no spoilers, then they swap. It's the feeling of sending your group chat a threat at 2 a.m. that starts with, You have to see this. Except Sabrina and Alexis. are in the chat with you. Follow Crimes of Reddit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify or subscribe

at Crimes of Reddit Pod on YouTube. This is Crime House. Stalking is such a terroristic crime that it makes me sad that these people had to turn to Reddit because resources are so scant when it comes to crimes like this. And no one stalk us. Yeah, please don't. I think that's a good rule of them here. at Crimes of Reddit.

Yes. Hi, everyone. Welcome to Crimes of Reddit. I'm Sabrina Deanna Roga. I promised some exciting news and updates about Crimes of, which is introducing Crimes of Reddit. And our new co-host, Alexis Link Letter.

Hi. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited to have you here and have you be my new co-host. I've only known you for a short while, but I already know that you're going to be one of my as friends. I know. I'm too blessing. I know. It's, it might be a problem how obsessed we are with each other in such a short amount of time. It's serendipitous, which means this is going to be an amazing show.

It is. And Alexis is such an incredible woman and human, but you also have such an amazing resume behind you in the last 10 years. You've hosted the first degree. You are an incredible investigative journalist. You've worked on true crime cases like the Long Island serial killer, which, I mean, I have so many questions about it was insane. Insane. And I'm sure you'll share some stories along the way as we get into Crimes of Reddit. If you're loving Crimes of Reddit, please follow, rate and review us wherever you listen. It helps us build this community.

And we love hearing from you. To get early access and ad-free listening, subscribe to the Crimehouse Plus community on Apple Podcasts. And you can also catch us on YouTube where we include visuals that bring every case to life. Do you want to know what we're diving into? Yeah, I honestly can't wait. I'm so excited. Okay, the theme for this week is stalker stories. Ooh.

Let's get into it. Okay. This is called Am I the asshole for having my ex arrested at my wedding? This happened two days ago at my 28 male and my wife's 39 female wedding. A lot of people are telling me I'm in the wrong for having my ex, who is a 27-year-old female, arrested, and my wife is saying I ruined the wedding and caused a scene. First, a little backstory on my ex. We were together over five years ago for a matter of weeks.

So like not really a full ex. Barely a relationship. Gone on a couple dates situation. I broke things off because I wasn't that into her. She began to pester me over text and social media all the time to get back together or just hook up. This went on for months and in a particularly weak moment I gave in and I slept with her again. At this point, things got a lot worse. I tried to explain that it was a mistake and I still didn't want anything to do with her.

From then on, the messages ranged from abusive to begging me for sex and eventually I just blocked her. She then started showing up at my house, my work, and social spaces that I went to. She attempted to force herself on me and threatened violence and at that point, I got a restraining order. Since then, I haven't heard from her in years. Could be the end of the story, right? should be. I met my wife three years ago and she's honestly the best thing in my life. We fell in love hard and have a great relationship. We got engaged after two years and two days ago finally had our wedding. The day was going amazingly well until a friend of mine who I will

call Chris turned up with his plus one. His plus one, my ex. Okay. Yep. I spoke to him and he had absolutely no idea about my history with her, and we tried to get her to leave. She refused, so I decided just to ring the police. Two officers showed up to arrest her for breaking her restraining order, and she flipped out. She was shouting and screaming, hurled abusive language at my wife, and claimed that she and I were meant to be together, which obviously distracted from our wedding. Now, my wife is upset with me for causing a scene, and a lot of our friends are saying that I should have just ignored it and focused on the day because she wasn't causing problems until the police showed up. So am I the asshole? Ooh, I really see both sides here. Okay. There's a lot left

unsaid in this and we do get an update in a little bit that answers a lot of questions. But yeah, what is your verdict? I see both sides here. I can see how if it was extremely distracting for the groom, whose ex this was, it's his wedding too. Right. You know, he doesn't want to be distracted. That being said, what did everyone know? Did the date know that she was going? to the wedding of the person she was obsessed with. Did Chris says he has no idea, the friend, she brought her. Yeah. That's what we get the update on. Okay. Yeah. Because that matters. It does matter. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I have the context that I would say not an asshole, but also like if rules were reversed, if it was a woman and her stalker that you have a restraining order against showed up,

I feel like there be no question. Yeah. That's true. I also understand out of context, it's a little murky. ready for the context, bring it on. Okay. Well, let's read some comments because people had thoughts based on the first, you know, Reddit comments. Horrible, but also amazing. Yes. Okay. So the first one was very much like in agreement with the original poster. You had a restraining order for a reason. I believe she was very well aware of it and knew what consequences could have been. She knew better than to be attending. Who knows what plans she had in mind before she was taken away. Knowing that she was there, you would not have enjoyed yourself if you let her stay. And then, yeah, original poster said, God, knows her intentions, but everyone seems to think she was doing nothing wrong and was harmless. And the people were like bashing the wife, but I'm like, which I won't read those because rude. Yeah, no context. Okay. The last comment I'll read is definitely not the asshole. I don't understand why anyone would say that was wrong of you to do. Clearly, your ex broke the restraining order. And that's, that is true. Because if you're a plus one to someone's wedding, you probably ask, okay, whose wedding is this? What are their names? She knew. Yeah. Yeah. Women are also detectives.

We don't just show up. They're just show up. They're were like, what's the dress code? Show me the invitation. People don't go blind into these things unless you're like extremely type B, which rare. Rare. Agreed. It says clearly your ex broke the restraining order. Good on you for calling the police.

Who knows what she could have done. It's completely unfair for you or your wife or whoever was at your wedding to be acting this way. If they knew you had a restraining order and what she did to you and it seems like your wife did, then it doesn't make any sense for her to be acting this way. Perhaps you should talk to her. Congrats on the wedding, though. Agreed. Congrats on the wedding. And they said, I hope you were able to enjoy the day apart from what happened

with your ex. Which I do, like, that sucks to have your wedding tainted by this. It's just weddings are just, everything is so heightened because for the people who are spending the money and flying their family in, the stakes feel so high. Yes. So anything feels like the biggest deal. Absolutely. In the world. Yeah. I can understand the wife's perspective, like, but I don't think the husband, it was a lose, lose for him. It was. It really was. Because I feel like the bride would have been like, you didn't do anything. You let your stalker be there. But it was just such an unfortunate situation she couldn't control the wife that it's like, it just sucks. It just sucks. Yeah. Yeah. I think even if the police hadn't been called, the ex was going to make a scene. Like she was yelling that we should

be together. It should be her and I, you and I. Like she was prompted at that point being arrested, but she would have done that at some point in the wedding. Yeah. I believe. Totally. And what's so interesting is like, they're way more male stalkers, way more. Like, yeah, no question. But female stalkers, when they lock in, they're terrifying. Terrifying. So I can only imagine. Yeah. I do have some stats later in the episode about stalkers, but this story kind of reminded me, or all these stories that I'm going to share, remind me of that podcast Love Trapped. Have you listened to that one? Yes. Yeah. Yes. Intense. Highly recommend if you haven't. Amazing, amazing podcast.

Okay. So now we have an update. Okay. And this answers a lot of questions. So the original poster wrote, I got a lot of requests for an update on my original post. So here it is. It's been a very long day since I first posted, and I have spoken to both my wife and Chris. Starting with my wife, we had a very long, tearful conversation about everything from my ex to the wedding. I apologize for the fact that I didn't consider involving her before calling the police. which meant that my ex's outburst while being escorted out came as a complete surprise to her. She apologized for the way she reacted and explained that she wasn't angry at me, but angry with my ex, and the fact that the wedding was ruined and that the focus was shifted away from us and to my ex.

She says that her anger was misdirected. Another reason for the anger is that a lot of guests had no idea who my ex was, so my ex's comment of were meant to be together led people to theorize that I had been cheating on my wife with my. my ex. So now we're out having to put fires out before rumors begin to spread. My wife is now very much focused on making sure I'm okay after all of this, although she is distraught about our special day being ruined, but we'll work through that together. On to Chris, and here is where things get a little scary. Ooh. So my wife and I called him together, firstly to check that he's okay. He is. Secondly, we wanted to see how the hell my ex managed to worm her way into his life in order to

get to my wedding. According to Chris, they connected over social media. She started liking his post over the course of about a month and then slid into his DMs and they started chatting from there. The crazy part is that to Chris, my ex, has a completely different name. But her posts on her profile dated back three years, meaning she's had this profile with a fake name for at least three years and it's not the only one, which also means that the original poster and his wife never would have known that the ex was coming because in the RSVP, it's a different name. Oh my gosh. Chris told us that a few other guys contacted him after the wedding saying that they recognized

her because they also received DMs from her on different accounts all with different names. In this friend group, trying to kind of get closer to this groom. Specifically. Yeah. Yeah. So there's so much forethought here. Commitment too. There are at least three other accounts that.

we are currently aware of. Apparently, my ex showed no signs of being obsessed with me or even that she knew who I was. He invited her to my wedding as a plus one, thinking they might eventually get serious as they were having a really good time together. Chris has since apologized profusely, but we made it clear that we do not blame him for this. There's been no word currently on what's going on with my ex, but considering her breaching the restraining order and resisting arrest, we assume maybe she'll end up in prison. My wife and I have spoken about it, and if we are contacted by the police, we will absolutely press charges. And my wife is planning to also get a restraining order.

For now, we're going to go try and enjoy our honeymoon and deal with the rest of this mess when we get back. Thank you, Reddit, for all the advice and opinions. You gave a lot of perspectives on a situation, things that I hadn't considered. Oh, my God. I mean, as someone who's had a wedding, it's just like I would be, I could imagine being really distraught about something like that happening. But what's even scary is just like someone being so locked in, not really. realizing what they're about to do. Yeah.

And how delusional it is that you're still pursuing this. And the amount of work to like slowly, like, weasel your way into getting an invite to this wedding by targeting all of the friends and just seeing who's going to be the one. Yeah, whoever she can con into being invited. It's so scary. Yeah. And it's hurtful. And, like, now Chris is a victim, too. being used to sort of as a, you know, vessel to destroy this friend's wedding is really a bummer.

It's so sad. Yeah. And creepy. Have you ever had a stalker? Not like a committed one. Okay. I've definitely had a couple internet. I like the categorizing of stalkers.

Yeah, because like it's definitely like blew over. Okay. But that's not, it can get really bad. Well, also with social media nowadays, I feel like there's so many different levels of stalking. Yeah. But it's so easy, especially you and I, we have like digital footprints. Yeah. We have public professions.

And you also dabble a lot in the true crime space and like with really dangerous people. Yeah, mean. That it's scary to think that someone can find you based on your posts or whatever you're posting online. Yeah. I'm really careful about that actually. And I usually don't post anything in the moment like, especially if I'm at a certain place. Have you had a stalker? Yes, but it was mostly a lot of like calls and heavy breathing.

that's horrifying. It was disturbing. Yeah. And it happened for a period of like maybe a year. I still have no idea who it was. I have a theory. Someone who you know. Yeah, because I think it's like 78%. I might, in the 70% of people you know your stalkers. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was. So when I was in college, I did, I like went and spent one day and did like background work for a movie. And I befriended. a bunch of people who were doing extra work. And I think it was someone I met there. Because then one of the calls, like one of the first calls when I answered, and this is back in the day where like you would answer unknown numbers. Now I just like send them all to voicemail, right? Yeah. But this was probably like 10 years ago at this point. And they said, is this Sabrina from

like the one who like we met on set or something like that? And then the heavy breathing started. And then I hung up, obviously, because that's unsettling. Yeah. And then, yeah, occasionally I get that same call and they would just sit there heavy breathing, which I feel like, you know what they're doing. Yeah. Yeah. No, and like digital stalkings really unnerving and really dangerous because obviously like our whole networks are connected to us on the internet. So I've heard stories about stalkers where it's like they're contacting your mom.

they're and the stalking is so bad that they're isolating you from like your support system so scary yeah it can be really really damaging to your livelihood and thank god i haven't experienced anything to that degree what was your light level stocking so i lived in hollywood yeah and it was a really high foot traffic area and someone was leaving stuff on my doorstep and it started with like a corsage like what you get at prom and then i was just it was really really weird and I just, someone was leaving like romantic things on my doorstep. That's scary because it's at your home. I know. And I went to the gym. There was a gold's gym right across the street and I worked out there almost every day because it was like you could see it from my front door. Yeah.

And so I'm like, it must be someone who knows I live here. It didn't feel like dangerous, but it was weird because it was my house. Yeah. Like they know where you live. Yeah, but it didn't last that long. That's good. They found someone else. Yeah, they found someone else. Which is like not, it blew over. I'm sad. for whoever else they found, but yeah, no. And I mean, I'm no psychologist, but I feel like the psychological profile of someone who gets this obsessed is really like complicated. It's very complicated. And I don't think I personally am of the mind. I don't think there's a cure for it. You know, there are all these really horrible stories where like men lock in on their exes and

10 years later, you know, I don't know if you heard this story. The Tepe case, where literally this husband and wife, they were murdered in their home. And it turns out, and, you know, they were young. They were, you know, under 40. It turns out it's the ex-husband of the woman who they haven't had contact in years. They divorced amicably. And the ex-husband's a surgeon, like a doctor. And he did this sort of out of the blue just because he just wasn't over it and murdered both of them. And it's a case that's unfolding. It's unfolding right now. The trial hasn't happened yet. Yeah. Some people just hold that grudge, like gone girl level. Yeah. And like especially that many years later, you wouldn't expect a pivot like that or, yeah. You just think I have too much to lose. You know, the guy's a doctor. It's crazy. Oh my gosh. All right. Well, okay, now that you have that context, do you think that the original poster is the asshole or no? He's not the asshole. He was in a lose-lose situation. Yeah, totally. I also do feel bad that. they're like using the narrative of the wedding was ruined. It wasn't. Because it wasn't. No. She just embarrassed herself.

Yeah. And that's not, it's not their fault. No. Yeah. And this is nothing about them for, you know, neither of them did anything to ruin the wedding. No. Yeah. And I do think, I mean, I don't know the timeline of the wedding, but if they were able to get her escorted out earlier, on the earlier side of the wedding, I hope that, like, they got to enjoy themselves after.

Honestly, no one shoved anyone's face in a cake. No one fell into water. Like, I've seen horror. Or what's that show that was on Hulu? Tell Me Lies. Yes. The very last episode. Oh, the last scene in the last episode where people are admitting to a face. Yeah. Yeah. At least it wasn't that. Right. Yeah. It could be worse. Okay. Should we do the second story? Are you ready? Yes. Dying to hear it. Second story. This is called I think someone is playing with me. And I really like this one because it presents as potentially something maybe paranormal, which obviously I love. But then once we get to the update, it's unhinged. Oh my God, I can't wait. And then this was translated from Danish, but the subreddit roughly translates to advice column.

This is going to sound a little crazy, but I need some advice anyway. I just want to start by saying that I've never had any problems with paranoia, delusions, or psychosis, and I don't believe in any. ghosts or anything like that. I'm also 35 years old now, so I don't think it's likely that those types of mental health issues would arise at such a late age, which in the comments, people were like, it can come on at any time. Yeah. That being said, I do feel like I'm going crazy. I am pretty sure someone is moving small things in my apartment when I am not home. I live alone, and no one as far as I know has a key to my apartment. I have two keys and both are in my possession. I've checked several times.

I have tried putting glasses and plates on the table as a test before I go to work. I've taken pictures of them to compare with pictures when I get home, and so far I have not been successful in proving anything. The most obvious things that I've noticed that have moved are a plate that I had breakfast on one day, and it moved maybe 30 centimeters from where I put it. Candles have moved from the center of the coffee table to the edge of the table, and a shampoo bottle has moved from one shelf to another, that I never used to put shampoo on.

So that one is like, because the other ones is like, okay, maybe there's like... A mini earthquake, yeah. But the shampoo switching shelves. That can't just happen accidentally. There are several other things that I have noticed. But there are very small things that I'm like, maybe or maybe not, it was me. But I'm also very aware of where everything is. My ex-boyfriend had the key to my apartment for many years before we broke up.

up, but we broke up two years ago. We didn't fall out. He has a new girlfriend now, and I'm 99% sure it's not him. He also works in Copenhagen several days a week, and I live in Jetland. I've asked him on days where things have moved where he was, and he's in Copenhagen on those days. He even shared his location on Messenger to prove where he was, and that feels enough for me. What would you do? I have no evidence of anything, and in principle, I could have been sleepwalking or something, and just noticed the changes when I got back home from work, because I did occasionally sleepwalk as a child. But as far as I know, it hasn't happened in maybe 25 years, and it's starting to get pretty creepy. Okay. Well, what should they do is get some cameras, first of all. I mean,

that seems like the obvious thing. But as far as what has retroactively already occurred, I don't know. So the thing's moving a little bit here, a little bit there, there are a lot of possible explanations for that. So many reasons, yeah. As for the shampoo bottle ending up on the different shelf. I mean, I'm the kind of person where I can be in my kitchen. I'm like, did I take my medication? Or did I take, you know, I truly have no idea. Yeah. And I'm like, you know, it's like I get in a mode or I answer the phone and I'm doing something while I'm on the phone and I have no idea what I've moved or done. Right. So I don't know if there's something like that going on. Yeah, like you just get distracted and put it back in the wrong place. You know,

I just think it's like we live in a stimulating world. with like phones going off and alerts and things pulling our attention, I think it's totally possible that she moved it and doesn't recall. It was unclear. We didn't get the, yeah. But I do have a really big fear of, and I don't even live in a house, but these stories where it's like someone's living in the walls of your house. Yes.

Is that what they're called frogs? I think they're called froggers. Yeah. Or frogs. Like I'm terrified of that. So that's where my mind jumps to immediately. And clearly it's enough where this original. poster is taking to Reddit.

Like, they've gotten to a point where it's probably happening for a prolonged period of time where they're like, I feel like something is happening. Did you see the documentary voyeur? No. Or the guy was, like, living in documenting, but you'll have to watch it. But I don't know. As someone who's lived in apartments all over L.A., I've had things disappear. Okay.

That there's no – that I did not lose. Okay. That disappeared. The thing is, if you are renting a place, the landlord has keys. True. Contractors are given keys. Yeah. These things happen.

Yeah. Where people are like, okay, they know you're at work because they're working at this other apartment or they have cameras just for the building. Like, people do weird entitled stuff. It's very true. Especially people who own the building, even though the law is that like that's your apartment. And they have to like give you 24 hours or whatever. People don't care. And there's just, I know from my experience, things disappeared. Things were taken from my apartment. That's so weird. But not in a burglary. What was going missing? I've had purses go missing. But it's not like a burglary. Like it's not like someone broke in. But I don't notice till way later. So I don't know when it happened. Well, someone could have broken in.

No. But like not in an obvious way. I guess like really good thieves. No, not to make it obvious. people don't notice till right away. Yeah. Till way later, I mean. Yeah. So it's possible. But like someone could be messing with him. Someone, her, them.

Someone could be messing with them. Someone could have showered in their place. Like I've heard stories like- Which is so, well, that's so- I've heard stories like that too. Also, the idea of someone having a key, which is true, like if you rent, multiple people have keys, like you can do whatever you want, but like someone could hypothetically sneak in and take a picture of you sleeping.

Yeah. At any point. Yeah. Okay, so here are some comments. There's a well-known Reddit thread that sounds very similar to what you describe. It turned out that person had severe carbon monoxide poisoning that created paranoia and delusions. So I would strongly advise you to see if you can find somewhere else to sleep for the next few nights and then buy a biotector. The original poster said, thanks, I googled it. I'm staying with my parents tonight and then I'm going to buy a carbon monoxide detector tomorrow just in case, because that is true. Could be something that's happening. Another commentary wrote, I don't know what it is, but I would like to add a comment. to it's too late to have these kinds of mental problems. As a nurse in psychiatry, I meet patients of all ages who come in with similar experiences. It happens that we have people in their 60s admitted who suddenly have psychotic symptoms for the first time, which I agree. Like, that can come on at any point in life, and it can be triggered. Yeah, medication, you know, traumatic events, depression.

Yeah. And the original poster did respond saying, I've been very stressed and haven't slept well, which is why I thought maybe I was sleepwalking again after so many years. Have you ever slept to walk before? No, it's so scary. Have you? Mm-hmm. What have you done? I had a lot of sleep.

I continue to have a lot of sleep-related problems. Oh, I thought you were going to say you still sleepwalk. No, I don't sleepwalk, but like my parents told me, and it's really scary. My parents told me that what I used to do is that they would wake up to me screaming bloody murder and I was under their bed. So I would go into their room. I was like six, seven. I was young. But I would find my way under their bed and then just blood-curdling screaming and they would,

you know, maybe that's why their marriage didn't last. I don't know. You're the problem. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I can't even believe that, but I'm not surprised. I mean, I've had sleep issues as long as I can remember. I don't sleep walk anymore.

But now I just don't sleep. And that's probably why. I know. Under their bed. A little girl, a scary girl. It's like a horror movie. What would you say, like, when you would wake up for it? I don't know.

You don't know. You don't remember. No. Isn't that crazy? Horrifying. Do you have siblings? I have two. Do they sleepwalk?

No. My one sister, I have two younger sisters. My first younger sister sleeps like a rock. She could sleep anywhere. She could sleep on the floor right now in this room. I feel like I'm closer to that. Really? Yeah.

I'm jealous. It depends on my like stress levels. Yeah. No, no. My other sisters have no problems. Just me. Lucky me. Lucky you.

Lucky your parents. Yes. waking up to their child screaming under the bed. Oh my gosh. It's like that scene in AI when the AI child cuts the hair. Yeah. Yeah. Terrifying. Children are scary. Yep. Okay. Then someone else was commenting basically saying that they live in a place that shakes 24-7, like feels like a constant earthquake. I guess there was like construction and stuff. So the original poster was like there are a number of apartments being built nearby with associated noise. So it's not entirely impossible. I'll say that. We renovated our condo and our neighbor told us that like a mirror fell off her wall. During their renovations. Yeah, but not during, like, things were just slowly shifting. And like one day they were working, but like it was on a different wall in her place. Interesting.

But the only explanation was the work we were doing. Yeah. The slow shifts. Yeah. So that makes sense. Are you ready for the update? Yes. It's crazy.

Okay. Hi again, everyone. A lot has happened since I wrote the post. I figured out what's up with this situation. I bought two cameras, so took your advice. Smart. Yeah. And set one up in the living room slash kitchen and then one in the entrance hall.

It turns out my apartment actually has three keys, not two, as I thought. My neighbor, also 35 years old, apparently looked after the previous tenants cat occasionally and had a key to their apartment. She didn't return the key after they moved out of what is now my apartment. This girl and I were pretty good friends to start with when I moved. in, but she became more and more clingy to the extent that she would call up to 15 times a day and talk for over four hours in total per day. I couldn't even leave the apartment without her wanting to know where I was going and she would get angry if I didn't respond immediately to her messages. Even if I was asleep, there was so much drama surrounding her that I couldn't

take it anymore and chose to completely cut off contact and I thought she had respected that. Turns out that she has let herself into my apartment, gone through my cupboards and drawers, and apparently deliberately was moving things around to make me paranoid. She can hear when I go in and out of my apartment because her entrance is only five meters from mine, and that is why she always knew when I wasn't home, even though I work shifting hours. I confronted her and said that I would call the police, and she panicked and contacted her father who came over to my apartment. He's a doctor and said that she has borderline personality disorder and refuses treatment because she doesn't think she's wrong.

He said she's impulsive, outwardly reacting, and often feels a strong urge to reverect. vend herself on people who she feels have treated her unfairly or let her down, which is a terrifying thing to be told. This has apparently been a theme throughout her life with almost all of her relationships, romantic, and friendships. And her dad practically begged me not to call the police and said that he would do everything he can to prevent anything similar from happening again. I got him to pay for a locksmith to change the lock, and I said that I would report her to the housing association who would then report her to the police if she didn't voluntarily move out of the apartment as soon as possible because I didn't want her as a neighbor anymore. They both accepted that,

and she has now chosen to move back to her parents at the end of February. So the ending was relatively good for me, albeit very chaotic. People like that woman who was breaking in are not safe people. I don't think they can be helped. The level of entitlement, how brazen and bold it is, like going into someone's home is so violating. So violating. But this is exactly the kind of thing that I always suspected when things would disappear was happening. Like, did you think it was a landlord or a previous tenant? No, I think with my last place, there were several people who had switched units. Oh.

There was like, you know, 12 units and a couple, one woman had like two for an Airbnb. It was just a very like communal. One person was like showing units for the landlord. I just sensed it was something like that and I just could never prove it. But I moved out. But these things happen all the time. Which is so scary. But these people are everywhere.

Like that kind of entitlement is everywhere. I want to believe it's something that could get helped. Like I have been in unhealthy relationships where the codependency is like, it's unhealthy. Right. And you take, like there was one relationship where I was like, I just need like two months of space. And within a week they showed up at my door. Like flew across country showed up at my door. And I thought it was romantic.

But it could turn into a situation where it's like unsafe. And I like to think that, I don't know, like people could work through their own traumas to not have that behavior. I don't know. I think there are some situations that demand more nuance, like the age of the person, maturity. But I think if you're an adult, if you're cooked, like a baked individual. And you're doing this, I don't think so. Like, so scary. If you're still in college and you're, like, obsessed with your boy, like, I think maybe

if you're not dangerous, you're just a little immature, fine. Yeah. But, like, I don't know. Yeah. Well, I think at the crux of it is, like, a deep internal, like, insecurity. 100%. And, like, you become obsessed with someone else because you can't deal with your own stuff. I'm also scared because I have, like, re-entered the dating world again.

And it is scary putting myself out there and meeting people. Like I text all my friends. I'm like, this is who I'm going on a date with. This is where I'm going to be. Everyone has, like, all my girlfriends have my location. They know where I am. But like I could meet someone and have one date and it's fine, but I just decided to like not continue it. I don't know that they're not going to follow me home or turn into one of these people.

Or they already are one of these people. It's scary. You know, that's every interaction, though. Like, it could be a colleague, it could be a friend, it could be... It could be someone who sees you at the gym. It could be someone to see... It could be a family member. You know, a lot of stalking is your own family.

See, this is why I love it and hate reddick. It's like... It's telling us things that we already know about the world, but then it makes me scared of... And a true crime in general, too. Yeah. It's like this fine line of wanting to immerse yourself and know more about it to be aware and also like protect yourself in a way, but the reality is that you can't. You can't. And the scariest thing is like statistically all crime, all stalking. It's way more likely to occur.

You know, you're most vulnerable to those closest to you. Okay. So this next story or the last story that I have is maybe the scariest one of the episode. Okay, I'm ready. So this is called, has anyone had success with private investigators? For the past six months, I have been relentlessly stalked and had threats against my life made from someone I dated for a month. It started with phone calls upwards of 45 to 50 a day, 50-page text messages, and him showing up outside of my house at 5 a.m. When I wouldn't comply or feed the negative attention, I began to receive threats. Claims that he would murder me and get away with it, all he would have to do is flee the country.

He would tell me that he shouldn't have to force me to be his friend, and that I have to. had to give him another chance or else. Every time I blocked his number from contacting me, he would then call me from different ones. He would try to pretend to be other people or have his friends, or sometimes even random strangers he'd ask on the street to contact me. I once scared an unsuspecting guy half to death after informing him that the person who had told him to call me

was actually stalking me, and I sent him proof. He ended up calling the police on my stalker, but my stalker fled, of course. After about two months of this, I was evicted from my apartment building due to my neighbors no longer feeling safe because of his looming presence. I then applied for and was granted a temporary protection order. This is like what you were talking about, how like it's isolating you from everything in life. A few days afterwards, I received a picture of the message of the note that the civil sheriff had left on the door of my stalkers then residence with a message taunting me. What you're trying to do is stupid.

A restraining order is just a piece of paper. So ultimately he just ended up avoiding the process server and as simple as that, I was not being protected at all. Which is, I think, the scariest thing about stalking and also domestic violence in general is you can get a restraining order, but it is a piece of paper. Yeah, usually by the time someone is that committed to hurting you, they don't really care if they get in trouble. Yeah. So it's like the piece of paper only helps if they're worried, if they have something to lose. Yeah. And I feel like in so many situations when you do get like the judicial system involved,

And you're like, this person, I'm scared of my, for my life about this person. The answer is that they can't really do anything unless they make an attempt. Or they're like, prove it. Yeah. And it's like, okay, I can't yet because I'm not dead or her. Yeah, you want to wait for me to die. Yeah. And then that's the proof.

Yeah. Okay, so May 31st of this year, I relocated. This did not deter my stalker. He vowed to find me wherever I moved to and threatened that if he couldn't find me, he would find my family. and then he would proceed to send me a map of my mother's home, who he had never met. I received messages from a woman claiming to be my former landlord, letting me know that I owed a balance on my account to avoid late fees,

and I needed to pay it, which I could do with the link provided in the messages. Turns out it was my stalker pretending to be a woman, and the link turned out to be a tool used to grab the user's IP address when they clicked the link. Upon this discovery, I changed my phone number and began to systematically dismantle my trace of an online presence that I ever had. This action only seemed to anger him more, and before deleting the profiles outright, I would attempt to block him from contacting me. Each and every time I blocked one, he simply created a new one and proceeded to contact me as if nothing happened. Twelve different Reddit accounts. Nine different tumblers, ten different Instagrams, three meetup

accounts, four Facebooks, with which he changed his location of that to my hometown and proceeded to add nearly everyone from my graduating class in high school, and even three duly lingo accounts and MySpace. I then received an empty package from him addressed to my former residence with the declaration address correction requested do not forward, which I'm assuming he thought that the post office would adhere to his request, return the package to him with my new corrected address on it. Mid-July, he created a profile using my photos and likeness to threaten my family, and when I didn't respond, he proceeded to post semi-nude pictures of me on the profile in an attempt

to blackmail me into speaking with him. I did not. I contacted Twitter to remove the account, and eventually they did. On August 21st, I woke up around 8 p.m. to vigorous knocking and ringing of my doorbell. I looked out my window to see who it was, and I was horrified to see my stalker there.

I called the police, and of course he had fled again. There were over seven separate police reports filed, and this incident was followed by threatening emails from my stalker, demanding that I meet him somewhere, or because he had found me that no. next time I would wake up to gunshots. This past Sunday night, I woke up at 6.45 a.m. to ringing and banging again. I proceeded to record him on video while I was on phone with the police.

He fled on foot once again, and I was hit with the same hoopla from law enforcement. Well, we can't really do much because technically at this point, he's not doing anything wrong. But my question is, he keeps fleeing, so clearly he knows he's doing something wrong. I obtained a temporary protection order again, but I have no solid address for this dangerous person, which is why I'm in dire need of a private investigator to assist with finding said residents so he can be served. I hope you might be able to refer me to someone who might be able to assist me. I've developed insomnia, depression, anxiety, and paranoia. I'm completely isolated. I'm 22 years old. I have no social life anymore. I have zero friends and I've become a shell of my

former self. I've faced eviction. I've lost a job because of this man's behavior and I don't know how much longer I can survive. There's actually so much more that he has done to terrorize me, but for the sake of this already lengthy post, I tried to condense it. I have proof in the form of recordings, event diaries, and copies of all his threats, interactions, and attempts to communicate and would be more than willing to show them

and to show that I'm not lying. I'm also in Las Vegas if that helps at all. I mean, I've heard of stories like this and these people are terrorists. You know, it's like, you might as well, it's life ruining. I think this is the, so this is where I started looking up statistics and I'll read them

a second, but I think the most bewildering part of all these stories and just stalkers in general is I do feel helpless. Like, what can you do if you're in this situation? Nothing. You know, pursue, hope they break the law enough to go to jail for long enough, but then they get out, you know, and I have acquaintances who deal with stalkers who've been sent to jail and then they come out and it just starts again. They don't care. And there's no logic there because to what end? This person's afraid of you. Yeah. They're never going to be with you.

Right. You're making it worse. Yeah. And it's like so there's really no logic behind it. It's just an obsession. It's obsession. Yeah. Yeah.

Which is the scariest part. Yeah. And the really scary part is like you're ruining this person's ability to have a job to live somewhere safely. To have healthy relationships with their family. Like people distance themselves won't be friends with you on social media because then the stalker can find them. Yeah.

and start sending emails to their work and their bosses. Like, that's usually what they do. Yeah. Because a stalker wants to make everyone mad at you. So you have no one else. Scary. Yeah. Okay.

So I'll give the stats and then we have an update on this. Okay. An estimated 13.5 million people are stocked in the U.S. each year. About one in three women and one in six men experienced stalking at some point in their lifetimes, which is very similar to rates of domestic violence in general. Research shows that stalking increases the risk of intimate. partner homicide by three times. Survivors need support and resources to respond to these dangerous behaviors before they escalate. But I feel like the support and resources, they're limited.

They're limited. They vary between states. So there isn't like recourse that can be ubiquitously researched by people. Like every state, every department, certain jurisdictions have just limited knowledge about digital stalking. Sometimes, like, police departments state, police jurisdictions won't do anything. And they'll refer you to like, oh, that's federal. That's wire fraud. That's, there's nothing they can do. Yeah.

A lot of them, which is just so helpless for the person being targeted. Okay, well, this is the update that, like, I feel like when it comes to stalker, you dread. Oh, no. Update. I shot my stalker tonight. I'm writing this, staring at the mess the police left for me. I'm in a bit of fog.

After six months of stalking and threats against my life, my stalker finally snapped, decided to kick my door in and make good on his promise. Out of fear, the past month, I had begun sleeping with a chair propped against my front door to give myself a few extra precious seconds in case of emergency. I shudder to think how differently things would have turned out had I not barricaded the door. So I woke up around 1.15 a.m. to the sound of the door giving way after one kick followed by the sounds of my stalker struggling to dislodge the chair. while forcing his way inside. I jumped up and I grabbed the gun because as of recent I've done

everything with it, even showered with it. That's how scared I've been. I stood at the top of my stairs and I fired twice, hitting him in the chest. I heard his scream, his disbelief that I stood up for myself, zero to 100 milliseconds. I have never been so afraid in my life and I don't know if he's living, but I do know the police have him and that's what helps the most. For months, he evaded the police and I began to question whether he was unstoppable. Untraceable. Houdini, who would murder me and get away with it, and as of now I'm in a haze of guilt, surprise, relief, and disbelief.

I survived where so many people do not. Holy shit, I survived. Then they edited, The outpouring of support is wild. I can't think you guys enough. Everyone can be a critic and the fact still remains. You don't know what you would do in a situation until it's presented in front of you. Those who believe there are other things to have been done have never had someone tell you that you no longer deserve to draw a breath and mean it.

And for the you should have fired a warning shot, folks, there are no warning shots. He kicked my door in. There was no longer a deterrent preventing harm. Warning shots are dangerous and could have hurt someone unintended. This is not a Wild West movie. That's what responsible gun ownership is. I'll update once things have calmed down a bit, I promise. I'll write back to everyone and after being isolated for so long, anyone who wants to be friends, I'm always accepting those. And they posted a picture of their door being kicked in.

the... Oh my God. Yeah. I mean, so scary. And there was a news article that we found about this story. It says, a man was shot in the chest early Friday morning after trying to break into the home of a former girlfriend, according to police. Lieutenant Eric Lloyd with Las Vegas Metro Police said the shooting happened near the area of South Durango Drive and Tropicana Avenue about 1 a.m. Siding the woman living at an apartment complex, Lloyd said she called officers regarding a former boyfriend kicking in her door. Police said the woman fired. two shots of the man once he made entry into the unit, hitting him once in the chest.

The man fled from the scene, tried to hide in the area, but a canine unit was able to locate him behind bushes. So he still fled. Adrenaline. Yeah. Police on Friday afternoon confirmed that the suspect is 22-year-old and the name was redacted. The victim in contact with Fox does not wish to be identified and said her past relationship with the redacted name wouldn't qualify as romantic. The victim sent a series of screenshots, she said, detailed numerous texts and online messages from Jackson. She wrote in a blog that a stalker forced her to move, obtain a restraining order, and require a

license to carry a concealed weapon. The victim told Fox that she'd been sleeping with a chair in front of her door to keep her stalker out. And then six years later, we have an update. A Nevada man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to stalking a female acquaintance while on parole for a similar crime that has happened in Las Vegas. So this just proves. There's something wrong with this man. He did it again. The sentence for the 28-year-old name was redacted on Friday was arrested in Arizona in January and pleaded guilty to the aggravated stalking charge in July.

According to prosecutors and investigation by the Sparks Police Department determined Jackson had sent numerous threatening text messages to a woman over several months in 2019. The text included threats against the woman's dog, her property. He also called the woman's family and friends in an effort to get more information about her. At the time of the threats, Redacted was on parole for stalking a former girlfriend in Las Vegas. The woman ended up shooting him at her home. According to the district's attorney's office, prosecutor redacted sought a maximum sentence because of the terrifying nature of Redacted's conduct, which came after only a month on parole for the previous crime. I mean, I have a lot of thoughts.

Let's hear them. First of all, that's exactly what guns are for. Yeah. Like that is a proper use of a gun. 100%. It's like law enforcement's not helping you because the law, not because they don't want to, but because the laws are what they are. And until they have just enough to be able to charge the perpetrator,

like she defended her life. To be so scared that you are one, like you have to obtain a gun and then shower with it, sleep with a chair under your door. That's horrifying. It's disgusting that she had to do that. And then now she's traumatized. For so many, yeah. I mean, it's all horrible.

It's all horrible. It's horrible. And it's like, you know, and then I think about the person he stalked next, like, threaten my dog. I dare you. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It's horrible. Because think about the mental torment.

It's like sometimes we have to leave our dogs. Yeah. Our dogs need to go out. Our dogs need to be left at home alone. I would change my life around a threat. like that. Yeah. Because it's just disgusting. Well, this is also just like the worst, I mean, the worst case scenario is that he came in and he killed her, right? Like, but the escalation here is the worst case scenario of a stalking situation that they follow through with their threats, that they're so

obsessed with you that if you refuse to be with them, they are going to kill you. And we don't know which ones will and won't. Like that's the, yeah, you don't know. Yeah. And, but it's a lot due. Like, If you're that kind of obsessed stalker, a lot are not willing to stop. I hope that no one has ever been stalked. And I hope that no one stalks anyone. Ever again. Maybe not. Let's just focus on our own mental health if that's what you're trying to do.

Yes. But if you have been stocked, I would love to hear people's stories. So we want to invite you to share your stories on our subreddit. It is Crimes of Pod and we will put it in the show notes that you can find it. Yes. Tell us everything. Tell us all of your secrets, all of your stories. And then, yeah, if you have any other Reddit stories that you want us to cover on the show, you can also share them with us in the comments or link them in Reddit posts that you put on our subreddit.

Because we have a lot that we want to dive deep into on Reddit. Stalking is such a terroristic crime that it makes me sad that these people had to turn to Reddit. Because resources are so scant. when it comes to crimes like this. When I was trying to transition to be like, I want to hear your stories. It's like bleak because there's, there's, I wish I had an answer and I don't and like, we don't have answers. I mean, crimes are, people shouldn't commit crimes.

And I wish I could wave my magic wand and that be the answer. But stalking specifically, it's like there's something so disorienting about it. Because once you know you're being stalked, even when you're not, everything feels intentional. Everything feels scary. Yeah, and the paranoia that you create in your own mind is just as bad as the chaos they are creating in your life. It really distorts your reality and it's traumatic. Yeah, and no one stalk us. Yeah, please don't.

I think that's a good rule of thumb here at Crimes of Reddit. Yes. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. So if you like what you've heard today, reach out on social media at Crime House. And don't forget to rate review and follow Crimes of Reddit. wherever you get your podcasts, and your feedback absolutely makes a difference. Sabrina and I will be back next week to pull at more Reddit threads. And next time, I'll be reading this story.

I'm so excited. I know, me too. I can't wait for more stories. We'll see you next week. I'm Lindsay Cormack, host of Government That Doesn't Suck with Greg Jackson from History That Doesn't Suck, a narrative history podcast about the American institutions that you'll never look at the same way again. Listen to and follow Government That Doesn't Suck, available now wherever you

get your podcasts. Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Are you the type to fall down an internet rabbit hole and not come up for hours? You'll love Crimes of Reddit, a new crimehouse original with Sabrina Deanna Roga and Alexis Linkletter. Every week, one host brings real true crime stories from Reddit, while the other reacts completely blind. No prep, no spoilers, then they swap.

It's the feeling of sending your group chat a threat at 2 a.m. that starts with, you have to see this. Except Sabrina and Alexis are in the chat with you. Follow Crimes of Reddit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify or subscribe at Crimes of Reddit Pod on YouTube.