Why did Christopher Thomas stalk Samantha Stites? Here's everything we know ahead of Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror

Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror is a new docuseries from ABC that follows the harrowing stalking case of a college freshman named Samantha Stites.

In Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror, Samantha shares her story for the first time, recounting how she lived in fear for over a decade and how her stalker, Christopher Thomas, terrorized her for thirteen years.

It features never-before-seen police interviews, surveillance videos, and disturbing content that was recovered from Christopher’s phone. Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror is a first-person narrative of Samantha's story with testimonies from the victim herself, as well as those close to her and investigators on the case who helped bring her stalker to justice.

---

Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror- Christopher Thomas's obsession led to a 13-year-long stalking case

Samantha Stites was stalked by Christopher Thomas for 13 years (Image via Getty)

Samantha Stites met Christopher Thomas in 2011 when they were both students at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Being good-natured and kind, Samantha would always include the socially awkward Thomas in her group, little knowing that soon an obsession would take over Thomas, which would lead to him stalking her for thirteen years.

Thomas began to virtually as well as physically stalk Stites, asking her on dates, even though she made it clear she was not interested. According to The Sun, Thomas, who had nicknamed her “Jellybean”, would send her long emotional text messages, refusing to accept her rejection.

Christopher even suggested that their relationship was “God’s plan," and Stites’s attempts at politeness in refusing him were often misinterpreted as encouragement. Samantha soon realised that Thomas had become a threat and even confronted him in public, but he persisted with his advances.

---

Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror- A gripping case of kidnapping and rape

The matter continued to escalate, as reported by The Telegraph, with Thomas showing up in Stites’s hometown of Elk Rapids, stalking her at her apartment and ambushing her at her workplace with flowers. Finally, in 2014, Samantha applied for a personal protection order (PPO), which was granted by Judge Norman Hayes.

When the PPO expired in 2020, Thomas resumed his stalking. According to The Sun, he joined her gym and soccer league, appeared at local bars and grocery stores. Samantha applied for a second PPO in 2022, but it was denied, which emboldened Thomas.

On October 7, 2022, Thomas broke into Stites’s home while she slept and abducted her. He overpowered her and forced her into the back of her own car before driving off to a soundproof pine bunker that he had built and stocked with weapons. He left her chained to the wall of the bunker for 13 hours while she tried to talk him out of it.

Eventually, under coercion, Samantha agreed to have s*x with him in exchange for release, as per The Telegraph. True to his word, Christopher Thomas released Samantha Stites after that and even drove her home. As soon as she got home, she contacted the neighbors, went to the hospital for a rape test, and gave the police her statement and information to track down Thomas.

---

What happened to Thomas?

Christopher Thomas was arrested within 36 hours of Samantha reporting the crime. Following a trial, Thomas was convicted of kidnapping, torture, and aggravated stalking and sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison in 2024.

---

Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror explores the terrifying ordeal Samantha endured over thirteen years, bringing to us the story of her resilience and survival. Catch the three-part documentary premiering tomorrow, August 19, 2025, on Hulu.