WAKING to a creaking floorboard in her bedroom, Samantha Stites was about to reach for a small axe hidden under her bed when she was suddenly attacked.

Intruder Christopher Thomas gagged her, tied her up and bundled her into a car before driving her to a bunker in a storage unit – where he kept her chained to a wall.

But this horrific kidnap, in October 2022, was no random attack.

Thomas had been stalking Samantha for over a decade, after becoming obsessed with her when they first met at Grand Valley State University in Michigan in 2011.

And his terrifying plot to kidnap, rape and murder her was inspired by watching hit Netflix show You, which saw its deranged main character Joe Goldberg, played by Penn Badgley, torture women in a glass box hidden in the basement of his New York bookshop.

Recalling the horrifying moment Thomas forced her into a custom-built soundproof bunker in a rental storage unit, Samantha said: “He takes off my bandana, I’m in this torture chamber. 

“Holy s***, this is like a horror film. Is he going to rape me and kill me in this room? I can’t fight my way out.”

Samantha had to summon every ounce of strength to survive and escape. 

Fighting for her life, she was eventually forced to strike a dark deal – to have sex with her sick captor in return for her freedom.

In a gripping three-part Disney+ documentary Samantha bravely shares her story for the first time, recounting years of fear and astonishing resilience. 

Featuring never-before-seen police interview footage, CCTV surveillance from the storage unit and disturbing images and videos recovered from Thomas’ phone, Stalking Samantha also includes powerful testimony from her friends and the investigators who helped bring her attacker to justice. 

Thomas’s dark obsession took hold the moment he laid eyes on her, 11 years before the attack.

After their first meeting Samantha turned down repeated requests for dates, but he refused to take no for an answer and became increasingly persistent. 

Several years older than her and socially awkward, Thomas bombarded Samantha with lengthy emotionally charged messages, insisting: “I want you to be part of my life.” 

He nicknamed her Jellybean and quoted passages from the Bible, suggesting their relationship was God’s plan. 

She said: “Every time I saw him I was more and more scared.”

Her former roommate Charissa Hayden explained: “He was a nobody, a sad, lonely guy. She felt sorry for him and was nice to him. He took that and ran away with it.”

Samantha’s childhood friend Patrick Bruening added: “He showed up with flowers at her work and I thought that was a huge red flag.

“He thought he was her knight in shining armour. Not at all – he was creepy.”

Every time I saw him I was more and more scared

Samantha Stites

Although pathetic Thomas continued to harass Samantha, she ignored him for months until she finally snapped one day when he approached her at a bus stop.

“On the inside I was flaming mad, the angriest I’ve been because I thought we were past all this,” she recalled.

She told Thomas: “I’ve told you I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to speak to you, I don’t want flowers, just leave me alone.

“I’ve told you multiple times, I’ve blocked you. I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to talk to you.”

She adds: “I think he was surprised that I wasn’t flattered. But he knows very clearly what my wishes are and doesn’t care.”

Another friend, Robin Trierweiler, said: “All I wanted to do was shake her and say please take care of yourself.

“It seems like she’s in danger and it’s frustrating to watch her downplay that. It’s not a normal situation, it’s a hazard.”

Drastic action

After graduating from college, Samantha returned to her home town of Elk Rapids, a small close knit community, where she thought the ordeal was behind her. 

But soon Thomas turned up there too, and even applied for the same internship she was starting.

“I just feared that I would never be free of him,” she said. “I felt scared and threatened.”

When he was spotted coming out of her apartment in 2016, Samantha took drastic action and applied for a personal protection order – banning him from all contact.

Judge Norman Hayes, who granted the order for six years, recalled: “I was really concerned. I’ve never seen a stalking case as severe as this. 

“He was obsessed, absolutely obsessed with her. He’s going to do something very severe – either rape, kill her or kidnap her. 

I was really concerned. I’ve never seen a stalking case as severe as this… He’s going to do something very severe – either rape, kill her or kidnap her

Judge Norman Hayes

“At the time it was the longest personal protection order I had ever granted.” 

With Thomas legally banned from making contact, Samantha’s life gradually returned to normal.

She trained as a social worker and bought a house, but in September 2022 – as soon as the restraining order expired – she spotted Thomas lurking as she played football.

“I stopped dead in my tracks,” said Samantha. “I worry that he’s coming after me in a vengeful way wanting to hurt me for denying him all those years ago.”

Thomas also joined Samantha’s gym and football league, but technically he had not done anything wrong and her request for another personal protection order was denied.

Gagged and bound

Lying in bed in the early hours of 7 October 2022, Samantha jumped as she heard a floorboard creak.

“My heart starts racing, my mind shoots to the hatchet I kept under my mattress,” she said.

“In a second somebody storms into my room and jumps on to me. I start screaming and I feel his hands around my throat and he begins to choke me. 

“It gets tougher to breathe and I think he’s going to kill me. I recognise immediately it’s Christopher.

In a second somebody storms into my room and jumps on to me. I start screaming and I feel his hands around my throat and he begins to choke me

Samantha Stites

“I say, ‘If you want to rape me just do it,’ but he said, ‘I just want to talk to you, not here.’

“He shoves a ball gag in my mouth, pulls out black gorilla tape, puts it around my head and hair multiple times. I feel like a prisoner.”

Thomas handcuffed and blindfolded Samantha, and bundled her into her own car, along with her dog.

She added: “Once we leave my house the likelihood of me surviving goes down drastically – this really becomes a fight for my life.”

Chilling plan

Once they reached the bunker Thomas revealed his chilling plan for them to spend two weeks holed up together.

He gave Samantha pyjamas, told her to use a bucket as a toilet and then chained her to a wall.

Then he calmly explained that he intended to fake Samantha’s death by leaving her paddle board in a nearby lake so people would assume she had drowned.

She said: “On the inside I’m freaking out – there’s no way we’re going to just talk for two weeks. Is he going to rape me and kill me? Will I see daylight again?

“I need to stay focused, I can’t fight my way out  – this guy is faster and stronger than me.

“Christopher is a psychopath, he is someone I can’t use normal logic with. I try not to react with disgust.

On the inside I’m freaking out – there’s no way we’re going to just talk for two weeks. Is he going to rape me and kill me? Will I see daylight again?

Samantha Stites

“He talks about the TV show You, about a good-looking young man who becomes obsessed with a young woman, kidnaps her and keeps her in a glass room – which he says wasn’t logistically possible, he looked into it.

“In the show he ends up murdering her.”

Thomas gave Samantha a football shirt with her name on the back – which he’d bought when first he asked her out 11 years earlier.

Over the next 13 hours Samantha begged him to let her go, promising not to go to the police.

She said: “I try to convince him we can be friends, and what he’s done isn’t a big deal.

“I said, ‘As a social worker, I’m good at keeping secrets,’ but he says, ‘What will convince me is if you sleep with me.’

“I told him, ‘I’m seeing somebody, I don’t want to sleep with you,’ but he said, ‘That’s the only way I can trust you.’

“I think this person is capable of killing me, he holds the key to my life.

“I don’t see anything sharp I could hide and stab him with, not a screwdriver I could take the locks off the door, there is no way out of this. If I say no is he going to rape me anyway?

“I say, ‘You promise me if I sleep with you, you’ll let me out tonight?’ He looked me in the eye and shook my hand. His integrity is important to him, I was banking on that.”

‘Dead inside’

At the time, she thought the actual rape would be over quickly.

She adds: “This guy hasn’t had a girlfriend in a long time, this might be a quick endeavour.

“But then he says, ‘I masturbate 12 times a day so this might take a while.’

I felt myself go dead inside. It was painful, I cried and I shook. I didn’t want him to know I was disgusted and terrified. I didn’t want him to get angry

Samantha Stites

“I felt myself go dead inside. It was painful, I cried and I shook. I didn’t want him to know I was disgusted and terrified. I didn’t want him to get angry.

“He said, ‘That’s all I’ve wanted for so long, you can’t imagine how long I’ve wanted that. You’re the person I’m supposed to marry.’

“My stomach turns just thinking about that, but I said, ‘I’ve held up my end of the bargain, you need to let me go’.”

Astonishingly, Thomas agreed and drove Samantha home.

Within 36 hours he had been arrested, having chemically burnt the skin off his head and body in a desperate bid to conceal evidence. 

Cops then discovered he’d had a tracker on Samantha’s car for months, and found more than $5,000 worth of receipts for tools and equipment he bought to create the lair – where he also hid rifles and a crossbow.

It also emerged that he had been arrested for stalking a former colleague in 2009.

Although he claimed Samantha participated in ‘role play’, Thomas was convicted of kidnapping, home invasion, torture, aggravated stalking and four counts of criminal sexual conduct. 

He was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison.

In a call to his mother from prison, he admitted he had thought about Samantha every day for 12 years.

Samantha has chosen to share her story to help other women avoid harm.

“I would want other women or people in general to know how to identify those signs that somebody is potentially stalking you or is at risk of harming you in some way,” she says.

“Knowing some things that you can do, places you can go to get help, and really advocating for yourself if you’ve got a gut feeling that something’s wrong, it likely is and really pursuing that.

“I felt like I did that to the best of my ability.”

Stalking Samantha is available on Disney+ from August 19.