A Horrifying Experience UnprecedentedThe story of the FBI, Colleen Stan, is both shocking and fascinating. Popularly referred to as the “Girl in the Box” from 1977 to 1984, Stan was kidnapped by an unsuspecting young couple and subjected to physical, mental and inhumane treatment while in captivity. Here are the chilling details of the then 20-year-old high-spirited hitchhiker whose story continues to shock the world.
The kidnapping of Colleen Stan
On May 19, 1977, an attractive and adventurous young lady Colleen Stan chose to hitchhike from her home in Eugene, Oregon to her friend’s birthday party in Westwood, Northern California. Unknown to the then 20-year-old Stan, this was the beginning of a very torturous journey that would take seven long years. As a regular hitchhiker, Stan trusted her instincts to choose safe rides on each of her trips, but this particular spring getaway was different. After refusing a few other rides when a blue van pulled up by a man carrying his wife and baby, Stan deemed the young family safe and boarded their ride.
Unfortunately for Stan, that family of 23-year-old Cameron Hooker and his 19-year-old wife, Janice Hooker, were far from safe. After less than an hour, Cameron drove to a remote area, held a knife to Stan’s neck and blindfolded her with a heavy cloth casserole. Her captors eventually drove to a house and led Stan to a basement where she would be held captive for a long time.
That was the beginning of Stan’s nightmare as she was subjected to various forms of torture, beatings and rape. Hooker tortured Stan by starving, electrocuting, burning, and even tied her wrists to the ceiling. Although the initial agreement was for Stan to watch the couple have sex after the violent abuse, it later deteriorated when Cameron raped her as part of his torture.
She was initially held captive with the heavyweights. When the couple moved into an RV that didn’t have a basement for their prisoners, Cameron built another coffin box for Stan to keep under her captor’s waterbed.
Aside from her daily torture, Stan harbored a much greater fear that kept her in captivity. Cameron had brainwashed her into claiming he was part of a feared and powerful organization shadowing her family home called The Company. Cameron had threatened that the company would harm Stan’s family if she ever tried to escape.
In the early years of Stan’s capture, she was only allowed out of the box for about two hours each day, but over time she gained more freedom, such as accompanying Janice on social outings. After living with her captors for over three years, Cameron visited her parents briefly in Oregon in March 1981. Stan, who introduced Cameron as her fiancé, was so shocked by his threats that he revealed any information about their predicament to her parents. Stan’s parents, who were more than happy to be reunited with their daughter, viewed her lack of communication as a result of joining a cult and didn’t want to force her to talk lest she disappear for good. They even took a picture of the couple before Stan returned to the hooker’s house.
How she regained her freedom
Janice Hooker had agreed to her husband’s plan to kidnap and keep Colleen Stan as his sex slave because it would save her from Cameron’s torturous and routine beatings. But after years of keeping Stan as his sex slave, Cameron declared to his wife that he intended to make her his second wife. Janice wasn’t entirely happy with this information and decided it was time for a change.
In August 1984 and seven years later, Janice was held captive and not only dispelled Stan once and for all from the misconception that Cameron was part of the company, but also helped her escape by taking her to a bus stop where Stan was calling her father for a ticket called home. Intending to redeem her husband through counseling and prayer, Janice also made Stan promise not to say a word about her seven-year ordeal after her release. Surprisingly, Stan, too terrified by the experience, did not tell anyone after she escaped from captivity.
However, when Janice realized she couldn’t, she saved her husband from his insanity and reported him first to her pastor and then to the authorities. On November 18, 1984, Cameron Hooker was arrested and his wife testified against him in court in exchange for full immunity. A few days later, Cameron Hooker was found guilty of kidnapping, bestiality and rape and sentenced to 104 years.
Colleen’s life after
After seven years of eternal sex lifeattacks, violence and imprisonment. Colleen Stan suffered from chronic back and shoulder pain. Upon her return, Stan underwent years of intense therapy and attempted to lead a normal life. Eventually, she earned an accounting degree, married, had a daughter, and became an activist for victims of abuse.
Now a grandmother, Colleen Stan, who is currently living under a new name, recently revealed she was able to cope with her horrific seven-year ordeal by stepping away from the real situation and going to a different place in her mind. In 2009, she released a book, Life’s Simple Gifts , where she gave a detailed account of her ordeal and life lessons.