When Samantha Stites, a bright college freshman, met Christopher Thomas in 2011, charm turned to obsession.
By the time she noticed, it was too late.
Inside his fixation
Stites, now 33, first met Christopher Thomas when they were both students. She described him as “awkward” at the time, but what followed was far more sinister: Thomas developed an obsession that would shape the next 13 years of her life.
Despite repeatedly rejecting his advances, Thomas pursued her with relentless messages and unwanted attention. In 2014, Stites obtained a six-year personal protection order (PPO) to keep him away.
But once the order expired, his harassment began again.
By 2022, his fixation escalated to its most disturbing point. Thomas kidnapped Stites from her home and locked her inside a soundproof underground bunker he had built. According to investigators, the space had been stocked with supplies designed to hold her captive for weeks, ABC News reports.
Stites later revealed that Thomas admitted he had been inspired by the Netflix thriller You when constructing the bunker. For the next 13 hours, she was his prisoner and unsure whether she would survive.
Realizing her best chance was to stay calm, Stites relied on skills she had learned as a social worker. She carefully engaged him in conversation and noticed his fear of going to prison. Seizing the moment, she promised she wouldn’t contact police if he released her.
To convince him further, she pretended to be open to a relationship. Thomas told her he would only free her if she agreed to sleep with him. With no other option, she agreed; later recalling on Good Morning America: “I said, ‘You promise me Christopher, that if I sleep with you, you will let me out tonight.’ He looked me in the eyes and shook my hand.”
After the assault, Thomas returned Stites to her home. She immediately went to a hospital, where doctors collected evidence of the rape, and then worked with police to help locate the bunker.
Within 48 hours, Thomas was arrested. He later pleaded guilty to kidnapping, torture, and aggravated stalking, and was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison. Prosecutors dropped the sexual assault charge in exchange for his plea.
Reflecting on her ordeal, Stites credited her training for helping her think fast in an unimaginable situation. “As social workers, we take courses on crisis intervention,” she told PEOPLE. “My education and training definitely contributed to quick thinking and knowing what I should do.”
Her story is now the subject of a new Hulu documentary, in which she hopes to raise awareness about stalking and survival, and how trust in her instincts ultimately saved her life.
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