Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror is a disturbing new documentary series in which Samantha Stites describes for the first time her experience being stalked for over a decade by Christopher Thomas, whose obsession culminated in an unimaginable crime.
The true crime arena has been dominated by stories of stalking over the past year, whether that be Richard Gadd’s experience detailed in Baby Reindeer or the plight of the women targeted by serial stalker Matthew Hardy.
Taken together, these cases highlight how too often, existing laws fail to protect victims until it’s far too late. One case that did eventually lead to reform is examined in Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror, but Stites had to endure a hellish nightmare before justice was served.
As is revealed in the new documentary, after more than a decade of torment, the stalking reached a horrifying climax in 2022 when Thomas escalated from harassment to abduction. Warning: some may find this content distressing.
Where is Christopher Thomas now?
As of August 2025, Christopher Thomas, now 41, is incarcerated at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan. According to his inmate listing, the earliest he can be released is July 2062.
Stites initially met Thomas in 2011 while she was a Grand Valley State University student and took pity on him.
“He seemed very socially awkward,” she says in the docu-series, while her friend Charissa adds, “She felt sorry for him so she was a little bit nice to him, and he took that and spun it into something it wasn’t.”
As his stalking escalated, Stites was able to get a restraining order for six years. During this time she graduated and sadly lost both her mother and grandmother, and so decided to move home.
But when the restraining order period was up, Thomas returned. This time, he was “smarter” and made sure not to cross any legal boundaries – at least on the surface. What Stites and her friends didn’t realize at the time was that he’d installed GPS trackers on their vehicles.
He began showing up at every event, from soccer practice to nights out. Once again Stites tried to get out a protective order, only this time it was denied.
Things came to a head on October 7, 2022 when Thomas broke into her home, gagged and restrained her, before transporting her to a secret soundproof bunker he’d constructed in a storage unit.
Inside, he’d gathered food and a bucket for bathroom purposes, telling Stites that he’d been tracking her for the past year and that she’d have to stay there for the next two weeks.
What’s more, Samatha reveals in the docu-series that Thomas got the idea for the bunker from watching the Netflix show You.
“The show You is about a good-looking young man who becomes obsessed with a woman and he essentially kidnaps her and keeps her in this glass room… This main character is this psychopath,” she explains.
“He ends up murdering the woman, and he’s related to this person.”
Fearing for her life, Stites seized on a moment of opportunity when Thomas voiced his fear of being caught. She assured him she wouldn’t report the incident if he let her go. Before releasing her, however, he raped her.
After 14 hours, Stites was freed and she immediately sought medical help and reported the crime to the police.
Thomas was swiftly arrested, with the investigation discovering that he already had a previous conviction for stalking another woman in 2009.
Samantha Stites sparks change
In December 2023, he pleaded guilty to kidnapping, torture, and aggravated stalking. In early 2024, the court sentenced him to 40 to 60 years behind bars, with lifetime GPS monitoring required if he is ever released.
The judge stated that he doesn’t believe Thomas has the ability to be rehabilitated. What’s more, the case led to reform in how stalking incidents are handled.
A few months before being kidnapped, Stites’ request for an ex parte personal protection order, meaning the defendant wouldn’t be present, was denied. Although a hearing was offered, it would have required Thomas’ presence and she didn’t want to make him angry.
Following his conviction, the court has since changed its policy to require “referees obtain and examine any prior PPOs before making a recommendation to the court.”
Speaking in the documentary, Stites says, “Justice is a funny thing. It doesn’t necessarily come in the form of prison years.
“I can’t ever go back to before I was kidnapped. And that’s something I had to grieve. But knowing that I’m finally turning the page on this and that I should feel safe with him off the street and that I am protected meant a lot. I felt free.”
“I want other women, whether they’ve been stalked or sexually assaulted or not believed, I want them to see my story and think things can change,” she adds.
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