Samantha Stites Survived 14 Hours in Captivity Before She Escaped Her Stalker

In 2011, Samantha Stites, a then-college student from Michigan, was befriended by a man named Christopher Thomas, who would later stalk and eventually track her with GPS devices placed on her car and those of friends. In 2022, he broke into her home, kidnapped her, and held her in a soundproof room inside a storage unit for 14 hours. But what happened to Samantha Stites during that time, and how did she escape?

She explained her ordeal in her official victim impact statement, per ABC News, "I shook and sobbed after he raped me, I wasn't sure he would stop," she wrote. Stites was able to escape, seek medical attention, and alert authorities to what happened. Thomas was arrested, and in 2024, he was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison, according to ABC News.

Stites explained in her victim impact statement that Thomas gave her supplies, including a bucket for her bathroom needs, while in captivity. She said she was told they were enough supplies to last her two weeks. She also revealed that, during her 14 hours in the soundproof bunker that Thomas put together himself in a storage unit, he repeatedly raped her.

The statement, which Stites posted on her personal Instagram account, also details how, according to Stites, Thomas strangled her while she slept before he removed her from her home and kidnapped her. She also explained that, for months following her return home, she endured the mental and emotional trauma that came from escaping her kidnapper.

Now, Stites is an advocate for survivors of stalking, kidnapping, and sexual assault, per her Instagram bio. She also founded Beekeepers Advocacy. The organization is dedicated to fighting for policy change and survivor support. The website features resources for survivors and details Stites's story.

Beekeepers Advocacy also has a GoFundMe for Stites to help with costs related to the medical, legal, and mental health expenses she needed following her kidnapping and continues to need.

Thomas was sentenced in 2024 at the age of 39. He is still in prison. However, should he be released after the minimum 40 years, he would be in his late 70's at that point. Per ABC News, he would also have to wear a GPS monitor for the rest of his life if he were to be released from prison at any point. Details of the case, and of Thomas's arrest around 36 hours after Stites got free, play out in the Disney Plus and Hulu docuseries Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror.

In it, viewers learn that, before Thomas met and began stalking Stites, which he was convicted of among other crimes, he had targeted another woman. After that, when he met Stites at a religious study group, his attention on her began. It didn't stop until 11 years later, when he acted on his plans to kidnap her. Two years after that, he was convicted.