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Colleen Stan didn't know what to think. Other than her captors, the young man approaching her and Cameron Hooker was the first person she'd seen since her abduction ten and a half months earlier. The man eyed Colleen up and down as he joyfully addressed Cameron, saying, "'So this is your little ragamuffin?' Colleen had no idea who the man was or what his intentions were, but his mere presence filled her with terror."
Surely he could see the metal collar around her neck and must know something wasn't right. Even if he didn't, there was little she could do to raise the alarm. With her master by her side, Colleen was hyper aware that one wrong move could result in severe punishment. Colleen kept her mouth shut and her eyes to the ground, carrying on with her shoveling. Cameron led the man to the front of the trailer where they had a brief conversation.
Colleen later learned that the man was Cameron's younger brother, Dexter Hooker. Cameron had previously told Colleen that both Dexter and their father, Harold, were also members of the company. According to Cameron, Harold Hooker owned a staggering 26 slaves that he kept in a large dungeon and tortured at will. He'd warned Colleen never to act like a slave in front of his family, saying,
If they know you are a slave, they will want to borrow you. But Dexter left the trailer without incident. Days after the trench was filled, Cameron took Colleen outside and once again handed her a shovel. He ordered her to dig a hole six feet long, three feet wide, and five feet deep. Colleen asked, Are you having me dig my own grave? He replied, Just keep digging.
One day, Colleen was scrubbing the trailer floor on her hands and knees, wearing nothing but her nightgown and slave collar. "Anyone home?" she heard someone shout. Colleen looked up and froze. An elderly couple had let themselves in without knocking. Janice Hooker rushed into the room and quickly spirited Colleen away, dressing her in some ill-fitting, mismatched clothes. Then she led Colleen back to where Cameron was entertaining the two unexpected guests.
They were his parents, Harold and Lorena. Colleen was introduced to the older couple as Kay, a family friend the Hookers had employed as their nanny and housekeeper. Colleen kept a low, unassuming profile during the brief encounter, before Janice told her husband, "Dear, isn't it time you take Kay back home?" Cameron agreed. He led Colleen out the front door and to a yellow plywood storage shed he'd recently constructed on the property.
He locked her inside and then drove off in his pickup truck to create the illusion that he was driving her home. After Cameron's parents left, Colleen was taken back into the trailer and returned to her box under the waterbed. From this point on, Cameron's parents dropped in several more times. Colleen kept to herself during their visits, unnerved by Harold Hooker's unrelenting gaze. She sensed he was sizing her up.
What if he knew she was a slave and wanted to borrow her, like Cameron had warned? Cameron's brother Dexter also continued to visit from time to time, as did Janice's parents and some of the Hooker's neighbours. Each time, Colleen successfully pulled off the role of Kay, the couple's seemingly happy yet quiet and reserved nanny. She was too scared to do anything else, unsure who to trust and afraid of the consequences.
In time, her obedience was rewarded and Colleen was occasionally permitted to spend her days working in the garden. 200 feet away in the distance, she sometimes saw the Hooker's neighbours, a couple named Al and Dorothy Copper. Just grateful for the opportunity to be outside, Colleen knew better than to draw any attention to herself. Meanwhile, the abuse continued. Cameron ordered Colleen into the living room.
There, she found a wooden structure hooked up to the ceiling. It looked like a large, empty picture frame. She was suspended naked from the device whilst blindfolded and gagged. Cameron had built the frame himself, designing it so that it could be easily disassembled and stored out of sight when not in use. This setup was fraught with risk.
Not only were Cameron's parents inclined to drop in unannounced, his daughter was getting older and had a greater understanding of what was going on around her. Cameron therefore moved the torture sessions into the Yellow Shed, before constructing a second windowless shed for this sole purpose. There, Colleen endured the same abuse she'd been subjected to at Oak Street. No matter how many times she was strung up and whipped, she never became accustomed to the pain.
Cameron sometimes ended the torture sessions with so-called cuddle time, during which he demanded Colleen give him a warm embrace. For this small window of time, his silent, stern demeanour eased, and on one occasion, Colleen was allowed to ask him anything. She found this extremely uncomfortable, but as she'd been starved of meaningful conversation for over a year, she welcomed the mental stimulation. The first question she asked was,
Cameron calmly detailed how he first started drawing women in bondage gear when he was just 5 or 6 years old. He didn't elaborate on what prompted this, leading Colleen to assume he'd either been exposed to pornography at a young age or been abused himself. She asked Cameron what he'd do if someone treated his daughter like he was treating her. He responded, Colleen pressed on.
"How do you think my dad feels about what you're doing to me?" With that, the conversation came to an abrupt end. Colleen was immediately taken back into the trailer and sealed under the bed. During one instance when Colleen was being whipped in the shed, Janice arrived. As Cameron struck Colleen hard, her leg inadvertently jerked and she accidentally kicked Janice's stomach. Cameron was enraged.
He forced Colleen back into her bed box, leaving her to agonize over what punishment laid in store. One week later, Colleen was once again restrained naked in the shed. After her usual whipping, Cameron began prodding her with the sharp tip of a ski pole. He then lit a match and held the flame under each of her breasts until her skin burned and blistered.
Unbeknownst to Colleen, the reason Cameron reacted so strongly to the stomach kicking was because his wife was pregnant. In September 1978, after 15 and a half months in captivity, Colleen was lying in her bed box when she heard Janice moaning in pain on the mattress above. Cameron offered words of support before Colleen heard a high-pitched cry. Moments later, her box was opened and she was allowed to crawl out.
Cameron and Janice introduced her to their healthy newborn daughter. Witnessing innocent new life brought Colleen to tears. Within minutes, she was ordered back into her box. 1978 ended much like the year before it. Once again, Christmas, Colleen's birthday, and New Year's passed by with Colleen locked under the bed, listening to the muffled sounds of her captors celebrating in the next room.
She prayed that 1979 would be better, but things only got worse. One day, Cameron presented Colleen with a bottle of wine and demanded she drink it. He explained that the company had issued her with a test. Colleen was to have sex with Janice, who lay naked and restrained on the waterbed nearby. Colleen sipped the wine slowly before Cameron tilted the bottle and forced her to guzzle it all down. The alcohol took immediate effect.
She staggered over to the bed to do as she was told before Cameron ordered her back into her box. Colleen then heard the couple having sex on the bed above her. Woozy from the drink, she vomited loudly into her bedpan. Irritated, Cameron and Janice stopped what they were doing and ordered her into a cold shower. Another time, Cameron drove Colleen to an isolated dirt road in the mountains and ordered her out of the car. He demanded that she run down the road.
If she stopped at any point, he threatened to chain her neck to the back of the car and drag her. Colleen took off, with Cameron driving alongside. Months of captivity had left her body weak and Colleen's lungs and limbs burned with each stride. She pushed through until she reached a lake. There, Cameron ordered her to strip naked and swim 10 laps. Struggling immensely, Colleen completed the difficult task.
Without a word, Cameron then drove her back to the trailer and locked her back under the bed. This grueling exercise regime became a regular occurrence, happening multiple times each week. Cameron once forced Colleen to run a mile along a secluded road to and from the trailer, timing her as she did so. It took her 15 minutes. To Colleen's surprise, Cameron allowed her to complete the run by herself from that point on. There was just one condition:
If she didn't return within 15 minutes, Cameron warned that the company would be notified. The one-mile run took Colleen past a trailer belonging to a man named Roger George. Roger glared at her as she went by, leading Colleen to believe that Roger knew she was a slave and was keeping tabs on her. She once overheard him say that he was planning a trip to Sacramento. She wondered, was he heading to the company headquarters to report on her?
The mere possibility was enough to deter Coleen from running away. The company's looming presence kept Coleen entirely in line. Her head was filled with nightmare scenarios about what might happen if she was caught and resold to an even more violent and depraved master. On the off chance she did make it to the police, there was no guarantee that they'd believe her story.
Besides, if the hookers were ever incarcerated and Colleen was placed in witness protection, she feared the company would just go after her family. During one run, Colleen's neighbor, Al Copper, stopped her for a chat. Each moment ate into her precious 15 minutes. By the time she returned to the trailer, she was late. Cameron and Janice were furious, telling Colleen they were just about to report her to the company.
After that, Colleen was forbidden from exercising alone. Colleen continued to toy with the possibility that the company wasn't real, but finding out wasn't a risk she was willing to take. Instead, she continued to hold onto hope that one day she would be freed. Until then, she vowed not to give her captors any reason to kill her.
While Colleen was confined to the box during the day, Cameron went to work at a lumber mill. The money he made there wasn't enough to support his growing family, and by April, Janice had secured a job as a night cook. Despite the couple's constant coming and going, their work schedules aligned to ensure Colleen was never home alone. When Janice left in the evenings, Cameron released Colleen from her box and raped her.
On the nights they were both home, the hookers kept Colleen suspended from the wooden frame by her wrists within eyeshot of the television. This way, they could watch their favourite shows while observing Colleen suffer from the corners of their eyes. Some nights, Colleen was chained to the toilet and assigned various craft projects before being returned to the box in the morning.
When she devised a shortcut that allowed her to complete her work faster and with fewer materials, she thought the Hookers would be impressed. Instead, they suspended her by the wrists and taped wires to her body before zapping her with 120 volts of electricity from an old lamp switch. Colleen realized that nothing she did was ever good enough for the Hookers. All of her efforts were met with scrutiny, criticism, and punishment.
One icy night, Cameron drove Colleen deep into an isolated pine forest. He ordered her to walk a further 30 yards in and remove her clothes and shoes. Then Cameron disappeared. Colleen had no idea if he'd left her for dead or was watching on from the surrounding darkness. At sunrise, the cracking sound of gunfire rang out.
Realising there were hunters amongst the trees, Colleen pressed her naked body to the ground, hoping they wouldn't mistake her for game. Cameron finally reappeared around mid-morning. Without uttering a single word, he drove Colleen back to the trailer and put her back into the box under the bed. Colleen was later alone with Cameron when he ordered her to get into the shower.
Her body shook as she cleaned herself, scared of the unknown terrors that awaited. She was then led into the living room and confronted with a new handmade contraption. Lying on the floor was a large wooden cross. Colleen was forced to lie across it, naked and blindfolded. Her wrists were restrained to either side while her ankles were chained at the bottom.
Through the gap in her blindfold, Colleen could see Cameron grasping a winch at the base of the cross. He told her, "I'm not doing this to punish you. I'm doing this because I like to." He then turned the winch, tightening Colleen's restraints and causing her limbs to stretch out. The apparatus, which Cameron called the "stretcher," was based on a medieval device used to dismember people while they were still alive.
Once Colleen was pulled taut, Cameron began groping her. He turned the tension up again, pulling her limbs out even tighter. The pain was excruciating. Colleen could barely breathe. Anything deeper than a tiny inhale caused her diaphragm immense pain. Cameron started choking her. Everything went black and Colleen was certain this was it. She was going to die. But it wasn't over.
Colleen regained consciousness to find she was still on the stretcher. Cameron stood over her and commanded that she beg for mercy. Colleen could barely muster the breath to speak. Cameron then raped her before pulling the winch as hard as he possibly could. Suddenly, the hook securing Colleen's left wrist broke. Cameron was furious. Colleen could barely stand as Cameron forced her back into the bed box.
Over the next five days, her left shoulder was in constant agony. Colleen was certain it was dislocated but made no mention of it to her captors in case they'd use the injury to torment her further. Upon reaching her pain threshold, Colleen prayed to God, pleading, "You've got to help me." Flat on her back under the bed, Colleen pressed the palm of her injured arm against the roof of the box.
She then forcefully hit her elbow from underneath, snapping her shoulder back into place. When autumn came, Cameron took Colleen into the forests 25 miles outside of Red Bluff and put her to work cutting cedar trees for firewood and fencing. It was cold, grueling work, but Colleen enjoyed being out in nature. They sometimes passed by other men with whom Cameron exchanged a wave. He told Colleen they were all members of the company.
By this point, Colleen's original slave collar had deteriorated and been replaced with a steel ring that was welded around her neck. With Colleen now coming into contact with more people, Cameron was concerned that the ring was too noticeable. After a year of Colleen wearing it day in day out, it was finally removed. As a replacement slave marker, Cameron pierced Colleen's labia with a gold hoop earring.
Colleen wasn't provided with any pain relief and the piercing made it painful to sit or kneel. As 1979 came to a close, Cameron had Colleen work on his next big project, an underground dungeon below one of the sheds. He referred to it as "The Hole", telling Colleen she'd share the space with several other slaves. As the "senior slave", it would be Colleen's job to help train and discipline the newcomers.
Colleen knew this meant that she'd be expected to torture other women. This thought haunted Colleen as she spent hours each night digging out the hole and making the concrete blocks that would line its interior. At Christmas, the Hookers surprised Colleen by asking what she'd like as a gift. Colleen's faith had gotten her through the lowest points of her time in captivity. Wanting to build a closer relationship with God, she asked for a Bible,
But Christmas, her 23rd birthday, and New Year's passed without her receiving one. By mid-January 1980, Colleen accepted that it would never come. Then, just when she least expected it, Cameron and Janice presented her with a white Bible. Inscribed on the first page was the handwritten message: "A gift to Kay Powers from Cameron and Jan."
Colleen was permitted to read her bible for a short period each day after her chores were complete. She also snuck passages at night when she was chained to the toilet for craft work. 1980 was looking to be a promising year. Colleen was presented with three pairs of underwear, the first she'd worn since her abduction, as well as several more items of clothing. She also began spending less and less time in the box under the bed,
For Easter, Cameron took Colleen on an interstate trip to the tourist city of Reno, Nevada. When they arrived, he ordered Colleen to approach strangers and beg for money. He took every cent she collected, before driving them back to Red Bluff. Colleen was forced to panhandle again, first in the nearby city of Redding and then again in Red Bluff itself.
As she stood in the parking lot of the hooker's local supermarket, begging passers-by for money, she was interrupted by a man's voice. You need to move along, he said. Panhandling is not permitted in Red Bluff. Colleen turned around. The person speaking to her was a police officer.
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Colleen's mind raced as she was overcome with a combination of fear and relief. She considered telling the officer the truth about what she was doing there, but all she could think about was the company. Her fear of what they might do drowned out everything else. She politely told the officer, "Yes sir," before moving along. Janice Hooker eventually took a new job at an electronics store which required her to work during the day.
This meant Colleen was left at home alone for the first time. She spent the day tending to the couple's two young children, whom Colleen had come to adore. Watching the sisters play and interact brought a rare smile to Colleen's face. She held nothing against the two girls, who were innocent parties in their parents' crimes.
They were too young to understand Colleen's true purpose in their household and remained blissfully unaware even when one accidentally stumbled across her chained to the toilet. While the girls napped during the day, Colleen was granted a short moment in the trailer entirely to herself. She eyed the telephone and contemplated calling her family. She looked at the front door, which was now left unlocked. The threat of the company was omnipresent.
Colleen's fear of what they were capable of was embedded deep within her soul. By the third anniversary of Colleen's abduction, she had developed a greater understanding of her captors. She used this to her advantage, manipulating them to improve her quality of life. In a letter to Cameron, Colleen wrote: "You know how to make me feel good about myself, and I love you so much for it. I only wish that our dreams could be fulfilled with you."
This was a blatant lie, but pandering to Cameron's ego and desires paid off. Colleen's torture sessions became shorter and less severe. She was even permitted to spend some nights sleeping on the bathroom floor while chained to the toilet.
But the most perplexing experience of her entire ordeal came when Janice took Colleen out to a bar, not once, but twice. Colleen danced and socialized, yet still couldn't bring herself to alert anyone there to her situation. Afterwards, she was returned to the box under the bed like nothing had ever happened. Colleen couldn't understand what motivated these nights out.
She suspected the hooker's marriage was tenuous and Janice was seeking the company of other men. Despite Janice saying that it was Colleen's role to take the pain for her, Colleen sometimes overheard Cameron beating or whipping his distressed wife. The fact that they were both victims of his violence didn't garner any camaraderie from Janice. Colleen was once crying outside of the trailer when the hooker's neighbor, Dorothy Copper, approached and asked what was wrong.
Colleen told her she was upset because of Janice, but refused to say more. Sensing Colleen was suppressing something, Dorothy offered to contact her church who could provide Colleen with shelter and assistance. Colleen wanted to reveal the truth, but didn't want to put Dorothy in danger of the company. All she could bring herself to say was, "No, I'll be okay, but thank you."
Colleen was thankful for every moment she spent outside of the bed box and did whatever she could to extend this time. She was occasionally taken on family outings, including a shopping trip in the town of Chico on Friday June 6, 1980. As Janice browsed the stores, Cameron made Colleen an offer that left her stunned.
"I'm going to let you call home, but you had better not say anything wrong. If you do, I will cut off the call and make you wish you hadn't." Colleen didn't know what to think. Was it some kind of test? Punishment? Or reward? Cameron took her to a payphone and dialed the number of Colleen's father's home. He handed her the receiver, keeping his hand hovering over the switch to let her know he could end the call at any moment.
The phone rang three times before Colleen heard her younger sister Bonnie answer "Hello". It had been three years since the sisters had heard one another's voices. Bonnie's excitement was palpable and she began bombarding Colleen with questions. Under the intense watch of Cameron, Colleen could only provide vague answers. After five minutes, Cameron signalled for her to wrap it up. She said a rushed goodbye to Bonnie before Cameron pressed the receiver switch.
That night, as Colleen lay in the bed box, she was proud to have maintained her survival long enough to have been able to talk to her family again. If nothing else, they could sleep better having that. Without any explanation why, Colleen was allowed to call her family twice more. She was also permitted to write them three letters, provided they were brief and contained little detail.
Cameron mailed the letters from Chico with no return address to ensure they couldn't be traced. Eventually, Colleen gained enough confidence to ask Cameron for a major favor: could she visit her family in person? Cameron dismissed the suggestion outright, saying the company would never allow it and no slave had ever visited their family. By that fall, after two years of Colleen and Cameron's hard work, the hole was finally complete.
Cameron called the 10 foot by 10 foot underground dungeon "Colleen's New Home." He took her into one of the sheds and down a ladder. The concrete space was illuminated by a single light bulb and contained a lawn chair, Colleen's sleeping bag, her bible, and a battery-powered radio. Cameron had designed the space to be expandable for his future goal of imprisoning more slaves.
He climbed out of the hole, lifted the ladder out behind him, and covered the exit with plywood. Shortly after, Colleen stood on the lawn chair and pressed upwards on the plywood. It wouldn't move. Cameron had placed something heavy on top. With nothing else to do, Colleen waited. After several nights, it started to rain. Water pelted down incessantly and filtered into the hole. Before long, Colleen was flooded up to her knees.
Realising the hole was unlivable, Cameron sent Colleen back into the box under the bed. On Christmas Eve of 1980, Colleen was briefly allowed to call her father. The hookers also let her send a handmade blanket to her newborn half-sister. To Colleen's further surprise, they gifted her a new sleeping bag. Days later, while chained to the trailer's toilet, Colleen turned 24.
As the new year dawned, Colleen was allowed to sleep on the living room floor. However, Janice's resentment towards her continued to grow. One day, Janice stumbled upon Colleen's personal diary. Cameron had ordered her to use it to write about her time as his slave. In an attempt to appease him, Colleen had filled the pages with fictitious musings about her love for Cameron and feigned pleasure about his sexual assaults.
Upon reading the diary, Janice was livid. She had been unaware anything sexual was happening between her husband and Colleen. Now the diary convinced her they were in love. Janice's rage was further fuelled when one of her daughters called Colleen "mum". To punish Colleen for Janice's animosity, Cameron tied Colleen between two trees and administered a harsh beating.
There was little Colleen could do besides sob and say, "I'm sorry, master. I will do better." Janice quit her job, making Colleen anxious about what her days would now be like. But to her surprise, in early March, Cameron announced, "The company has agreed to permit a visit with your family in Riverside."
He explained that he'd brokered the deal by providing $30,000 for additional security personnel, phone taps, and listening devices. If Colleen caused any trouble, security would swarm the house and people would get hurt. The company just had one catch. Before she could go, Colleen's obedience and trust had to be put to the test. The first test took place immediately.
Cameron drove Colleen to his father's farm a few miles south. Harold Hooker wasn't home, which allowed Cameron to take Colleen into a large hog-filled barn behind the house. She was then suspended naked from the rafters. But before Cameron could commence the test, his father suddenly returned. Cameron scrambled to release Colleen, succeeding just as the barn door opened. Colleen quickly hid behind a stack of feed bags.
Cameron greeted his father and left with him. That night, Colleen had dinner with Cameron and his parents. She remained quiet as her master's stern eyes remained fixed on her. For the second test, Colleen had to tell one of their neighbors that she was returning home to Riverside. She also had to say goodbye to the Hooker's daughters. Colleen did as she was told and then got into Cameron's pickup truck.
He drove around aimlessly under the guise of dropping her at the bus stop before sneaking her back into the bed box when the household was asleep. It was the first time in months that Colleen had been there and she was immediately overwhelmed by the familiar stomach-churning claustrophobia. Yet, as far as those around her were concerned, she was gone. Over the coming days, Cameron subjected Colleen to more tests involving bondage and whipping.
Then came her final test. Colleen was ordered out of the box and onto her knees. Cameron handed her a shotgun. He told her to put the barrel in her mouth and pull the trigger. Colleen did so without hesitation. She heard a click, and then nothing. The weapon wasn't loaded. She had passed the test.
In the early hours of Friday March 20 1981, Colleen was scurried into Cameron's car before anyone could see. They sped along Interstate 5 towards Southern California as the sun rose. Cameron eventually veered off into Sacramento. To Colleen's dread, he told her that he needed to check in with the company. They had just one last test for her. In the city, Cameron pulled up outside an impressive high-rise building.
He ordered Colleen to wait in the car while he went inside. Colleen began to pray. Her mind was flooded with all the horrific stories of torture that the company had inflicted on other slaves. After 20 minutes, Cameron reappeared. "This is your lucky day," he said. "The company is too busy to see you." Colleen breathed a sigh of relief as they continued on to Riverside.
After 12 hours on the road, they finally arrived at her father's house. Cameron intended to spend the weekend at a local motel, but he warned Colleen that the company would be watching. As she knocked excitedly on the front door, Cameron drove away. It was an emotional reunion as Colleen and her father embraced for the first time in four years. The house was soon full of other family members who rushed over, eager to see Colleen.
She wanted to tell them everything about her time away, but was afraid of what the company might do to them if she spoke up. Later that night, during a private conversation with her younger sister Bonnie, Colleen felt close to telling the truth, but she managed to resist the urge. After spending the next day visiting relatives, Colleen answered a call from Cameron on the home phone. He said he'd be over in 10 minutes to pick her up. Colleen was shattered.
She thought she'd be spending the entire weekend with her family, not just one night. Cameron arrived and introduced himself as her fiancé, Mike. As he lied to Colleen's family about their life together, she kept quiet. At her stepmother's request, she posed in a photo alongside Cameron, wrapping her arms around him and forcing a smile. Cameron then led her to his car. Just like that, it was over.
As they made their way back towards Red Bluff, Colleen began to weep. Cameron asked how the visit went. She responded, "'Wonderful. Thank you, Master. I'm so glad the company allowed me to visit.'" When they arrived back at the trailer the next morning, Cameron raped Colleen before ordering her back into the bed box. The joy she'd felt after visiting her family quickly washed away. It soon became clear that Cameron regretted allowing the trip.
The risk had simply been too high. What if Colleen's family took note of his car details and decided to report him to the police? Or what if it gave Colleen the confidence to finally escape? Every freedom, luxury and privilege that Colleen had worked so hard to gain was swiftly taken away. Colleen's time in captivity resorted back to how it was at the beginning.
Days spent alone, naked in the bed box, before being released for brief intervals to be tortured and raped. The attacks increased in severity to a point where Colleen felt relief when Cameron choked her as it took her mind off the pain. On average, she was given just four or five meals a week consisting of nothing but rice or oatmeal. No level of obedience earned Colleen any rewards.
Being restricted in the darkness caused Colleen's skin to turn pale and her hair to fall out. She developed strep throat and urinary infections, for which Cameron refused to get her medical treatment. Each morning when Cameron left for work, the fumes from his car filtered through the box's air holes. As a result of being starved, Colleen's body sweated constantly. Yet, she felt cold all over.
At one point when she was taken out to shower, Colleen weighed herself on a set of scales. Prior to being abducted, she weighed 135 pounds. The scales now read 98. It all became too much. One day when Cameron was at work, Colleen was overcome with rage. She scooted as far down into the bed box as she could and began kicking fiercely at the wooden panel that blocked the exit. Something broke.
Colleen knew that if she kept kicking she could burst out, but fear kept her from going any further. Instead, she lay terrified, contemplating what Cameron would do when he saw what she'd done. Upon discovering the damage, Cameron simply replaced the broken panel without saying a word. In the summer of 1981, the Hooker family went away for a long weekend.
Colleen was left in the box with nothing but a jar of water and some chocolate chip cookies. The temperature in Red Bluff soared to record heights, turning the bed box into an oven. Colleen considered the very real possibility that she could die of dehydration or heat stroke. When the family returned three days later and Cameron let Colleen out, she was too weak to stand.
Devoid of sensory input, Colleen's time in the box was defined by what little she could hear of the outside world. The odd truck passing, a dog barking, or a visitor arriving. Nothing was worse than the sound of Cameron constructing his latest torture device. All Colleen had left was God. To survive, she shut off all her emotions until she became completely numb.
Days, weeks and months passed until 1981 rolled into the new year. The entirety of 1982 came and went with Colleen confined to the bed box, save for the torture sessions. In October 1983, after two and a half years, Cameron moved Colleen from the box and back into the hole below the shed.
While these conditions were still ghastly, it was a major improvement as Colleen had room to move and could access both her Bible and the radio. After a week in the hole, the trap door opened. Colleen looked up, expecting to see Cameron. Instead, three angelic faces looked down at her. It was the two Hooker daughters and another young girl. Cameron had warned them against playing in the shed, but curiosity had gotten the better of them.
Colleen wasn't sure if the girls saw her, but Cameron moved her back into the bed box regardless, putting an end to his plans for the whole once and for all. When no one came looking for Colleen by late 1983, Cameron began reintegrating her back into his family. For reasons unknown, the rapes also stopped. This led to an improvement in Colleen and Janice's relationship. They began studying the Bible together.
This was the first time the two women had engaged in meaningful conversation since the day of Colleen's abduction in 1977. Cameron exploited the women's connection to the Bible, interpreting its words to fit his agenda. He told them that the Bible ordered wives to obey their husbands or they'd be sent to hell. He told a story about a path that led in two directions, one to righteousness and the other to hell.
Cameron told Colleen that she'd been going down the wrong path until he saved her, saying, "God wanted you to be here." December 31 1983 marked Colleen's 27th birthday. By this point, it had been nearly three years since the visit home that ultimately led to her second phase of intense captivity. Slowly but surely, Colleen had rebuilt the hooker's trust in her.
In January 1984, she asked Cameron to let her do something with her life. A month later, he had a surprise announcement. God said, "You can get a job." To increase her chances of finding employment, Colleen was permitted more time out of the box to improve her mental and physical health. Resuming the role of Kay, the live-in nanny, she was reintroduced to the Hooker's daughters, who were now aged six and eight.
The girls were delighted to see her again, as were the neighbours, who remained oblivious to the fact that Colleen had been living next door the entire time. Colleen could spend time in the garden again. At night, she was allowed to sleep in the bathroom, unchained, before eventually moving back into the living room. Cameron told her to stop calling him "Master" and refer to him by his real name instead.
This made Colleen uncomfortable, so she settled on calling him "Sir". During this time, Colleen began to think she was no longer being viewed as Cameron's sex slave, but his second wife. She continued acting like his slave regardless, not wanting to lose her privileges. In late May, Janice took Colleen around looking for work. She even used her real name on her resume.
Yet the name Colleen Stan didn't ring any alarm bells in Red Bluff. Eventually, Colleen was offered a job as a housekeeper at a motel called King's Lodge. Janice dropped her off every morning at 8 o'clock and picked her up at the end of her shift five hours later. Sometimes, Colleen was allowed to ride a bike to and from work. A fast, efficient worker, she was soon promoted to a front desk position.
Working longer hours meant Colleen was able to spend more time away from the trailer. She earned $200 a fortnight, 180 of which was taken by her captors. Fear of the company continued to keep Colleen in line. She was friendly and helpful towards her colleagues but rarely engaged them in conversation and volunteered no details about her life.
Even when the Hookers permitted her to go out for drinks with a co-worker, Colleen revealed nothing about her situation, not wanting to jeopardise her newfound freedoms. By now, Colleen's relationship with the Hookers vastly improved. She was allowed to drive their car to the shops and joined them on a picnic at Burnie Falls. There, Colleen posed for a photo with the Janice and the girls in front of the waterfalls, each woman embracing one of the children.
Colleen smiled for the photo as if they were one big happy family, knowing in her heart they were anything but. After this, Colleen was allowed to attend church. Sometimes Janice went with her and would be brought to tears by the pastor's words. After a year free from sexual abuse, Cameron told Colleen: "God wants you to have sex with me." He said he wouldn't force it, but pressured her nonetheless and even gained Janice's support.
Cameron eventually broke Colleen down into submission and the two women were put on a schedule in which they were each delegated to sleeping with Cameron for two nights a week. Janice felt the arrangement was sinful and wrong. She confided in Colleen that she was thinking of leaving her husband. Not wanting to be left alone with Cameron, Colleen pleaded with her to reconsider. Meanwhile, Cameron began making plans for the future.
He told Colleen about his desire to move to a large plot of land in the forest where she could have her own cabin and he could acquire more slaves. Cameron told Colleen, "Someday you can have my baby." Although she eventually wanted a child of her own, Colleen shut this plan down. This prompted Cameron to respond, "What if I don't give you a choice?"
At 11:30am on Thursday August 9 1984, Colleen was cleaning one of the rooms at the King's Lodge Motel when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. By this point, it had been seven years, four months and 21 days since her abduction. Colleen looked up to see Janice Hooker standing there. "We need to talk," she said.
Janice told Colleen that Cameron Hooker was not a member of any slave trading company. The contract he'd forced her to sign was fake and everything he'd told Colleen had been a lie.
Janice apologised for the role she had played, saying she hoped Colleen could find it in her heart to forgive her. Colleen stood in shock as the full weight of Janice's revelation sunk in. The years of torture she'd endured flashed before her eyes until she collapsed onto the bed in tears. Colleen scolded herself out loud, asking how she could be so stupid to believe such a lie for so long. Janice began to cry too.
Whether it was guilt, a religious epiphany, or simply a desire to remove Colleen from the picture once and for all, Janice offered no explanation for why she'd finally decided to reveal the truth. She simply stated, "We need to get out." Colleen was frightened. She suggested they go to their church and speak with their pastor, a man named Frank Dabney. The pair immediately left the motel and headed to the church where they found Pastor Dabney in his office.
He listened intently as Janice opened up about her problematic marriage. Withholding the full truth, Janice said her husband was abusive and having an affair with Colleen, who was being held against her will. Colleen then spoke up, adding: "Colleen Stan is my real name. Pastor Dabney was taken aback. He firmly advised both women to get away from Cameron Hooker immediately.
They began brainstorming ways to go about it, but at 3:30pm, Janice realized she was supposed to pick Cameron up from work in 30 minutes. Not wanting to arouse any suspicion, Pastor Dabney advised Janice to collect her husband as though everything was normal. When Cameron went to work the following day, the trio could reconvene to orchestrate the escape.
Janice and Colleen returned to Janice's car. As soon as they sat inside, Janice had a panic attack. She'd never kept a secret from Cameron and feared what would happen if he suspected anything was going on. Both women were convinced that Cameron would kill them if he found out they were conspiring against him. Colleen thought it was best if Janice spent as little time around Cameron as possible.
She advised Janice to pretend she was feeling unwell and needed to sleep in the living room to prevent him from getting sick too. They picked Cameron up from work and Janice did as Colleen suggested. That night, the two women settled down in the living room as Cameron slept alone in the bedroom. It was a restless, anxiety-ridden night. The following morning, Cameron left for work at 5 o'clock.
Janice and Coleen immediately started packing their belongings. By 1pm they were ready to go. Coleen, Janice and the two children got in the car and headed to Janice's parents' house nine miles south of Red Bluff. Janice told her parents she and Cameron were having marital issues and asked if they could stay for a few nights.
Once settled safely inside, Colleen heard what she believed to be God's voice telling her to go home to her family in Riverside. On the day of Colleen's abduction, she ignored a voice that told her to run from the hookers. She now believed that had been a warning from God. Not wanting to ignore him again, she told Janice she was going home. To her surprise, Janice agreed, but she begged Colleen not to go to the police.
The thought hadn't even crossed Colleen's mind. She just wanted to be with her family. Colleen phoned the local bus company and learned that there was a bus departing to Riverside early the following morning, but it would set her back $150. Colleen didn't have any money. Needing the cash fast, she dialed the number of her father, Jack Martin.
By this point, three years had passed since the two had spoken, but with his daughter in need, Jack didn't hesitate. He told Colleen he'd wire her the money plus some extra straight away. Waiting for the bus ride was agonizing. Colleen pictured Cameron returning to the trailer to find it empty. He knew where Janice's parents lived and there was every chance that he'd come looking for them there.
Sure enough, just before dusk, Cameron's car pulled into the driveway. Janice ordered Colleen and the girls to hide in the bedroom and not come out under any circumstances. She then went outside to speak to Cameron. An hour and a half later, she returned and told her parents everything, including the truth about Colleen being held as a sex slave. Janice's parents struggled to comprehend the scope of their daughter's story.
They rationalized it as a typical marital spat and told Janice that they hoped she'd get back with Cameron for the sake of the children. The following morning of Saturday, August 11, Janice drove Colleen to collect the money her dad had wired her and then took her to the bus station. As they waited for the bus to depart, Janice once again implored Colleen not to contact the police, saying, "'We need to give Cameron a chance to change.'
The two then said their goodbyes. Alone at the station, Colleen had one last thing she needed to do. She went to a payphone and dialed the number for the hooker's trailer. Cameron answered. Colleen didn't bother with a greeting. Serious and resolute, she said, "'I'm leaving you and you can't stop me. I'm getting on the bus and going home and there's nothing you can do about it.'"
Colleen then heard a sound she'd never heard before. Cameron was crying. "Goodbye," she said. As Colleen hung up the phone and boarded the bus, the only emotion she felt was joy. Her prayers had finally been answered. She was going home. The bus arrived in Riverside at 7am on Sunday August 12.
Colleen's parents and sisters were waiting with other members of the family, who rushed to embrace her the moment she disembarked. Colleen's mother grabbed her and said, "'You're going to tell us where you have been, and you're going to tell us now.'" Over a meal of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, Colleen explained to her loved ones that the man they'd met as Mike had in fact abducted her and held her against her will.
To save them the pain, she withheld the horrific details about the torture she'd endured, simply saying she was forced to clean his house and watch his children. Colleen's family urged her to go to the police, but she explained that her captor's wife had begged her not to. "I want to give them a chance," she said. Colleen's family couldn't comprehend this. Colleen herself didn't fully understand her own motives.
Perhaps it was her religious faith and belief in forgiveness, or maybe the relief of finally being home outweighed any desire for justice. She wondered if there was a part of her that still feared Cameron. Colleen told her family, "'You don't understand everything, and I would appreciate it if you would let me take care of this.'" Colleen endeavoured to rebuild her life, but found it hard to sever all ties with the Hookers.
She called Janice, only to learn that she had decided to stay with her husband in a bid to salvage their marriage. Cameron had promised to change, and Janice believed him. Colleen remained in touch to see if Cameron was being true to his word. Once, she even spoke to Cameron himself. He asked how to make a tuna sandwich. Without his connection to the company instilling her with fear, Colleen found Cameron pathetic and felt sorry for him.
By Sunday November 11 1984, Colleen had been home for three months when she received a call from a panicked sounding Janice Hooker. Janice told Colleen, "Someone's going to call you, you need to talk to them." She then hung up. Perplexed, Colleen immediately called back to find out what was going on. Janice was now crying. She explained, "I told the police everything.
After Colleen left Red Bluff, Janice was convinced that Cameron would lash out and perhaps even kill her. She was therefore surprised when he begged her to come home and save their marriage. Cameron promised he'd change by giving up his appetite for sadism, getting rid of all his sexual paraphernalia, and even getting counseling. Janice spent a week contemplating her options before concluding that she needed Cameron to support her and their two young daughters.
She returned to their Red Bluff trailer. Cameron began joining her at church and made a solemn bow to change his ways. Several weeks later, Janice woke up to find a tense Cameron awake beside her. She asked what was wrong. "I don't know," he replied. Janice had the instinctive feeling that Cameron was about to do something terrible, and it filled her with fear.
In a bid to settle Cameron's nerves, Janice suggested that they get up and burn everything he'd amassed during Colleen's time in captivity. Cameron was apprehensive, but ultimately agreed. He collected his entire pornography collection, bondage equipment, images he took of Colleen, and even the fake slavery contract he had her sign. He threw them all into a barrel in the backyard and set it alight.
Janice was surprised to learn that Colleen wanted to remain in contact. In letters to Janice, Colleen wrote, Meanwhile, Cameron failed to deliver on his promises.
He refused to go to therapy, instead blaming his criminal behavior on a hormonal imbalance that he claimed could be cured by drinking one beer every night. Janice soon discovered a hidden stash of hardcore pornography, bondage gear, and sculptures of naked women that Cameron had made. Ridden with anxiety, she feared it was only a matter of time before her husband procured another slave.
At a doctor's appointment in Reading, Janice struck up a conversation with the clinic's receptionist, a woman named Connie Fleming. The pair became friends and over time, they started opening up to one another about a range of personal topics. During one meeting, Janice presented Connie with a long list of questions about her fears and motivations. One asked: "Are you afraid of your husband?"
Despite the story that Cameron had told Colleen about acquiring Janice through the company, the truth was that the pair had been introduced by a mutual friend in 1973. At the time, Janice was an insecure, unpopular 15-year-old who had a poor relationship with her neglectful father. Consequently, she latched onto any boy who gave her attention and was so scared of rejection that she submitted to them entirely.
Cameron Hooker harbored his own insecurities. The tall, skinny 19-year-old was ungainly with large horn-rimmed glasses. While he didn't participate in extracurricular activities and barely passed his academic classes, he excelled at shop, where he learned about tools, machines, and construction. Despite being an awkward outcast amongst his peers, Cameron appealed to Janice just by being nice to her.
A few months into their relationship, Cameron revealed a hidden side of himself. He told Janice that he wanted to suspend her from a tree by her wrists, totally naked. He assured her that other girlfriends had let him do that and lots of other people did it too. Sexually naive and hungry for love and approval, Janice reluctantly agreed to Cameron's request.
Janice found the experience painful and frightening, but afterwards Cameron showered her with tenderness and affection. She agreed to let him do it again, even when things escalated to include being whipped and beaten. Several times each month, Janice endured the pain so she could relish in Cameron's subsequent kindness. Once, she even consented to being tied up and almost drowned in the lake.
Janice was confused. Cameron's desires disturbed her, but outside of these sadistic encounters, he was the nicest man she'd ever met. She considered him to be polite, funny, and easygoing, and she found herself falling in love. After dating for a year and a half, the two were married. To outsiders, the Hookers were a happy young couple setting up a future together. Behind closed doors, Cameron's abuse escalated.
He began choking Janice and once held a knife to her throat, asking if she wanted to die. Cameron threatened Janice with photos of people being crucified, warning that he'd do the same to her. For the first few years of their marriage, Janice appeased her husband by fully submitting to his demands. But as Cameron's appetite for violence grew, Janice struggled to conceal her true feelings.
Too insecure to outright refuse him, she made it clear she no longer wanted to participate in his games. One day, Cameron presented Janice with a small, carpet-lined wooden box. He wanted her to try it on to see if it fit on a woman's head. Janice reluctantly did so. Cameron momentarily locked it shut, which terrified Janice so much that she vowed never to go through it again.
Therefore, in 1975, she didn't protest when Cameron presented her with a proposition. He wanted a slave who could take the pain, humiliation and torture away from Janice. She agreed, on one condition. Cameron was forbidden from having sex with his slave. Cameron accepted, assuring his wife the arrangement would only be temporary. He just wanted, quote, a girl who couldn't say no.
Cameron got to work sorting out his plans' logistics. He prepared the basement of their Oak Street home, equipping it with torture devices and handmade restraints. Then he started stalking unsuspecting women. His plans were abruptly put on hold when Janice fell pregnant with their first child. After their baby girl was born, the couple took a drive together on Thursday May 19 1977.
They cruised the streets of Red Bluff for half an hour before spotting Colleen Stan hitchhiking on the side of the road. Seven and a half years later, Janice Hooker cautiously began to confide in her new friend and confidant, Connie Fleming. She confessed that her husband was evil and hesitantly disclosed everything that had happened with Colleen Stan. Connie was astounded. She asked, "'Why didn't you do anything?' Janice replied,
I did. I let her go." Connie urged Janice to go to the police, but Janice was too scared of what her husband might do, saying, "I'm afraid he will kill me." She was also terrified of being viewed as an accomplice and what this might mean for her two young daughters. But then Connie asked Janice an unbearable question: What if Cameron did something to their children? For Janice, this thought was the straw that broke the camel's back.
She went to the police. Janice told detectives that while she knew what her husband was doing was wrong, she felt powerless against him. She'd even contemplated taking her own life in a desperate attempt to be free of his control. After hearing her outrageous story from start to finish, the detectives were stunned. Neither Cameron nor Janice Hooker had a criminal record and both were completely unknown to law enforcement.
If what Janice was saying was true, the police had many questions. Primarily, why hadn't Colleen Stan tried to escape when the opportunities arose? Janice explained: "She was brainwashed. 100% totally brainwashed." The following day, detectives went to Riverside to hear Colleen's side of the story.
Surrounded by her supportive family, Colleen finally revealed the truth about what she'd endured at the hands of the Hookers. Her version of events fully aligned with the Janus's. There was just one key detail missing. A detective asked Colleen, "Did the Hookers ever talk about the woman kidnapped prior to you?" During her police interview, Janus had made one final confession.
She said that on Saturday January 31 1976, 16 months before Colleen Stan was abducted, the hookers were driving through the Californian town of Chico when Cameron spotted a young woman with long dark hair walking alone. He pulled over and offered her a ride. The woman gratefully accepted and climbed into the back seat of their Dodge Colt.
She introduced herself as Ma Liz and asked to be dropped off at her apartment nearby. Cameron drove Ma Liz to her building as directed, but when she started to get out of the car, he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back in. He jammed her head between the car seats and demanded that she cooperate. From there, everything played out just like it had at the beginning of Colleen's abduction.
Cameron drove down an isolated dirt road where he proceeded to restrain Marliz and shut her head in the carpeted box. Once they arrived at the Hooker's Oak Street home, Cameron released Marliz from the head box and momentarily left her alone with Janice. The young girl pleaded to be let go. According to Janice, she didn't know what her husband had in store for the young woman and could only reassure her that everything would be okay.
Cameron forced Marliz into the couple's basement and stripped her naked. When she wouldn't stop screaming, Cameron cut her vocal cords with a knife. The procedure was sloppy and Marliz lost a lot of blood. Cameron then strung her up in the basement and spent the night shooting her in the abdomen with a pellet gun. At one stage, Marliz motioned for a pen and paper so she could write a message for her captors.
She wrote that her loved ones would pay them any amount of money if they'd just let her go. Cameron realized it was only a matter of time before Marliz bled to death. He therefore opted to choke her with his bare hands. Once Marliz was dead, Cameron wrapped her body in a blanket and bundled her into the trunk of his car. He and Janice then drove to a secluded forest northeast of Red Bluff and buried Marliz in a shallow grave.
Janice asked her husband if he was bothered by what happened. Although Cameron was disappointed that his first attempt at securing a slave had failed, he replied with a cool, "No." Back at the couple's home, they went through Marliz's belongings. Her purse contained an identification card that named her as 18-year-old Marie Spanicki.
Cameron burned this, along with the rest of Marlissa's belongings, keeping only her small gold wristwatch, which he then started to wear. Given it was a women's watch, Cameron's co-workers noticed and thought it was odd. The watch soon broke off and was destroyed by a wood chipper.
Colleen Stann told the detectives she had no knowledge of Marie Spanicki or Janice's allegations. However, she did recall that in the early days of her own captivity, Cameron had warned her, "'I will cut your vocal cords. I did it once, and I can do it again.'" But that wasn't all. When she was later moved to the bed box in the trailer, she noticed that her own personal belongings had been hidden in a space near the opening.
Among them was a photo of a smiling young woman with long dark hair and dark eyes. As Colleen described the woman in specific detail, one detective remarked, "That's her. That's Marie." Janice Hooker led a search party to the forest to locate Marie Spanicki's remains, but once they arrived, she announced, "I can't remember. It was dark, cold, and so long ago.
The group left the forest empty-handed. Meanwhile, police arrived at Cameron Hooker's trailer and placed him under arrest. A search of the property failed to uncover any evidence pertaining to the disappearance or death of Maurice Spanicki, and Janice's allegations alone weren't enough to lay any charges for that case. For his crimes against Colleen Stan, however, Cameron Hooker was charged with 16 felony counts, ranging from kidnapping to rape.
Cameron's arrest left the Red Bluff community in complete shock. Not only had he been viewed as a hard-working family man, the various people who'd met Colleen during her time in captivity thought she'd seemed happy enough and they hadn't suspected a thing. While some sensed something was off about Colleen's reserved and distant behaviour, none could imagine the degree of depravity that was occurring behind closed doors.
The case stirred a media frenzy, with Colleen Stan being dubbed "the girl in the box". Reporters camped out in front of her home, desperate for an interview. But Colleen wasn't interested in speaking to anyone about the case, including Janice Hooker, whom she severed ties with. With Cameron behind bars, she saw no further need for them to communicate.
After pleading not guilty, Cameron Hooker faced trial in September 1985. A total of 140 pieces of evidence were presented to the jury, including the torture devices used on Colleen such as the head box, the rack, the frame, the stretcher, and even a diagram of the hole. The bed box Colleen had spent the bulk of her latter years in was put on display, its inside stained with an imprint of her body.
Photographs from a roll of film found in Cameron's home had also been developed and shown during the trial. Among them were images of a naked, blindfolded and restrained Colleen, plus similar images of Janice in varying stages of pregnancy. Cameron's defence relied on two points: firstly, that the seven-year statute of limitations for kidnapping had passed, and that those charges should therefore be dropped entirely.
Secondly, that Colleen Stan was a, quote, "...willing participant who was free to leave at any time." In support of this claim, the defense referred to the signed slave contract, the love letters that Colleen had written for Cameron, and the diary she kept that detailed her treatment in a positive light.
They also showed the jury smiling photos of Colleen during her time with the Hookers, including the one of her and Cameron during their brief trip to visit her family in 1981. Various witnesses also testified to having seen Colleen out and about unchaperoned. Janice Hooker had been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for her full cooperation in her husband's trial. On the stand, she told the court,
Janice asserted,
"I feared for my life and wasn't able to escape from Cameron any more than Colleen was able to free herself. We are both survivors from a horrible situation." While Colleen wished that Janice had taken action earlier to save them both from a lot of pain, she bore no ill will towards Janice for escaping prosecution. She was just grateful that the truth had finally been exposed.
When it was time for Colleen to testify, she was petrified that the jurors would believe Cameron's claims that her entire ordeal had been consensual. If just one juror believed this, Cameron would be a free man. Over three exhausting days, Colleen detailed her experience from the moment Cameron put a knife to her throat in his car, to her bus ride back home to Riverside.
The defense whittled her entire experience down to simple yes or no questions, asking: "Did you write love letters to Cameron? Did you put your arms around Cameron and kiss him? Did you tell Cameron you loved him?" All Colleen could do was answer with an honest, helpless "yes". The prosecution gave her the opportunity to justify her actions, asking: "Why did you tell the defendant you loved him?" Colleen explained:
When asked, and did you love him, Colleen replied firmly, For the entire duration of the trial, Cameron Hooker wore a confident smirk. He testified in his own defence, during which he admitted to having a fascination with bondage, discipline, and sadomasochism.
As far as he was concerned, many people involved in this lifestyle either kept slaves or wanted to be slaves, and these activities were both entirely normal and legal between two consenting adults. Cameron admitted to kidnapping Colleen and taking her to his basement, but he claimed that within days they started to develop a close relationship.
He intended to release Colleen after a month, but her attitude improved and he felt they were stuck with her. Cameron claimed that three months in, Colleen began to develop an interest in bondage and he gradually introduced her to his fetishes. After that, any sex or master-slave relationship between them was entirely consensual. He only fabricated the company to prevent Colleen from going to the police if she ever left him.
Cameron claimed everything fell apart when Janice and Colleen fell in love and plotted to have him arrested so they could live happily ever after together. Cameron Hooker's trial lasted for five weeks before the jury delivered its verdict. Guilty. The next day, Cameron called Colleen from jail, saying, "'I wanted to give you a chance to chew me out.'
Colleen immediately hung up and Cameron was prevented from making any further calls to her, making that the last time the pair ever spoke. At Cameron's sentencing, the judge remarked, "'I consider this defendant the most dangerous psychopath I have ever dealt with, in that he is the opposite of what he seems. He will be a danger to women as long as he is alive.'"
With that, Cameron Hooker was sentenced to 104 years imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay Colleen Stan $50,000 in restitution, but as of 2023, she hasn't received a cent. Neither he nor anyone else has ever been charged in relation to the disappearance or murder of Marie Spanicki and her case remains unsolved.
When Cameron was convicted, Colleen felt a great sense of relief, safe in the knowledge that he could no longer hurt anyone else. Over time, her relief turned to anger and she began to truly resent him and the time he stole. Colleen became overwhelmed with guilt and shame for submitting to Cameron and not trying to escape. It took the words of a psychologist to reassure her that what she did wasn't wrong. After all, she came out alive.
She was a survivor. As a result of her time in captivity, Colleen faced a long road to recovery. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and required shoulder surgery to correct the damage Cameron had caused by tying her to the stretcher. She could no longer sit for long periods of time without back support.
Being kept in the darkness for so long had also damaged Colleen's eyesight and she needed glasses, while the constant whining of the ventilation fan in the bed box caused hearing loss in her left ear. Her skin was scarred from the restraints, whipping, and electrical shocks. Her hair remained thin and balding. Despite these constant reminders of what she'd endured, Colleen endeavoured to live a normal life,
She obtained a degree, got married, and had a baby. Every day she was grateful for the freedoms in life that most people took for granted. She relished in small pleasures such as getting up in the middle of the night to drink a glass of water or cooking herself breakfast. It bothered her how fast people rushed through their daily lives, either unwilling or incapable of slowing down to enjoy a beautiful sunset or look up at the stars.
She refuses to be defined by her experience, saying, "I was normal before I was abducted, so why shouldn't I be normal now? It was Hooker, not me, who was abnormal. He may have stolen years from me, but I'm not going to let him steal everything from me. He's not going to prevent me from living and enjoying life." During a brief encounter at Cameron's trial, Janice Hooker promised Colleen that she'd one day tell her the whole story.
Years later, Colleen drove past the Hooker's old trailer in Red Bluff and was stunned to see Janice was still living there, raising her two daughters. Janice had divorced Cameron the year after his trial, citing "irreconcilable differences". Colleen approached Janice, willing to reconnect and finally hear the entire story she'd been promised.
However, Janice quickly escorted Colleen back to her car before her daughters could see, and barked, You were the cause of my broken marriage. All these problems were your fault. Surprised and shocked, Colleen could only respond, I'm out of here, before driving away. The two women never saw each other, or spoke again.