The Kidnapping of Colleen Stan – Scare Street

During the first night of her captivity, Collen said that Cameron tied her to the rafters by her hands, leaving her suspended. He beat her, and then he and Janice had sex underneath her while she hung there.

Afterwards, he locked her in a box that was about the same dimensions as a coffin, and she was kept there for just under a year, 23 hours a day. He would only take her out to torture her.

During this time, Stan recalled that part of her view from the box was, horrifyingly, a photograph of Marie Elizabeth Spannhake, though it’s uncertain whether or not Colleen knew who she was or what had happened to her.

In January 1978, Cameron Hooker forced Colleen to sign a document that said that she was his slave.

She further testified that Cameron had been leading her to believe he was a member of a powerful organization called The Company – if she tried to escape, this organization would hunt her down and harm her family.

He also began referring to her as “K” and made her call him “Master”.

She couldn’t speak to him, or anyone else, without permission. He apparently fantasized that she was like the female character from a French erotic novel that was published in 1954, Story of O. 

He soon began raping her orally and violating her with objects – these actions apparently did not breach the agreement he had with Janice.

The Hooker family moved into a mobile home in Red Bluff during this period and took Colleen with them – they confined her in a wooden box underneath their water bed.

Janice would give birth to their second daughter on that bed while Colleen was underneath it in 1978.

Colleen was terrified of The Company, and Cameron reinforced this fear with her daily. She would comply with his orders to avoid his sadistic punishments, and he would eventually allow her to leave the house to jog or work in the yard.

She was also responsible for caring for Hooker’s children and was enlisted to help Cameron build an underground dungeon where he could keep more slaves.

She was still imprisoned by her fear of The Company that even when she had access to an open door or a phone, she did not seek help.

In 1981, she was allowed to visit her family – the first time alone, and the second time with Hooker posing as her boyfriend.

She didn’t reveal her situation to them out of fear. They thought that she had become involved in a cult because of her handmade clothing, lack of money, and lack of contact.

However, they were worried that pressuring her would push her away completely, and thus didn’t try and get her to open up to them.

They took a photo of her and Cameron, smiling as though nothing was wrong – this photo was later shown at the trial.

According to Stan’s testimony, Cameron began to worry that he’d given her too much freedom after this visit, so he took her home and locked her back in the box underneath the waterbed. She, then, stayed in the box for three years.

He would only take her out to feed, rape, and torture her after his children were in bed.

Her bodily functions were dealt with using a bedpan, which she had to position underneath herself using her feet. She wasn’t allowed to make any noise and had to lie still in the dark with little air.

Summers, she recalled, were especially harsh because the temperature in her box could rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.