‘Girl In The Box’ Kidnapper Cameron Hooker Denied Parole


“Girl in the box” kidnapper Cameron Hooker was denied parole for the rape, torture, and kidnapping of Colleen Stan. Hooker was deemed the “most dangerous psychopath ever encountered” after he was convicted for kidnapping the young hitchhiker and keeping her as a sex slave for seven years.

Cameron Hooker, 61, was sentenced to 104 years in prison in 1985. The story made national headlines for months as the accused rapist appeared in court. The country appeared equally mesmerized and sickened by the story of the girl in the box kidnapping and sex slave story. Colleen Stan was kept in a box, shaped basically like a coffin, for 23-hours a day throughout her seven years in captivity.

Although Cameron Hooker was given one of the longest prison terms of all time, he was permitted to seek parole seven years earlier than typically allowed, according to a USA Today report. California recently enacted an Elderly Parole Program in an effort to reduce its overly crowded prisons. The policy reportedly permits convicts older than 60 who have served at least 25 years of their prison sentence to request parole.

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Corcoran State Prison parole board members denied the girl in the box kidnapper and rapist early release and stated that he will not be eligible for another hearing for 15 years, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The parole board found that Hooker was “far from suitable” for early release consideration.

Colleen Stan was hitchhiking near Redding, California, near Interstate 5 in the spring of 1977. Stan, then 20, thumbed a ride from a young couple driving by with their infant, assuming accepting such a ride was a safe decision. About an hour later, she was stripped naked and tied up in the basement of Cameron Hooker’s home. The kidnapper and rapist lived about 30 miles from where Stan was hitchhiking.

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The girl in the box was reportedly whipped, burned, starved, and raped by the then 23-year-old Hooker, a lumber mill worker. Stan was tied to the ceiling by her wrists for days on end with a 20-pound wood box locked around her head, court documents recount.

When she was not tied to the ceiling, Colleen Stan was reportedly pushed into the coffin-style box, which was then shoved under the bed Cameron shared with his wife, Janice. The hitchhiker also told the police that she was tied to a rack during her captivity. The torture caused permanent damage to the rape victim’s back and shoulder.

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Stan was ordered to sign a “slavery contract” stating that she agreed to anything Cameron Hooker wanted. The chores noted in the slavery contract reportedly included sex on command, mundane household chores, and babysitting for the Hooker children.

Cameron Hooker was able to convince his captive sex slave that if she ever tried to flee, a powerful group known as “The Company” would hunt her down and harm her and her family. Even though Colleen Stan was ultimately granted access to a telephone, an open door, and neighbors, she never made an attempt to escape from her rapist. Neighbors just reportedly thought she was the “family’s helper.”

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Stan was so afraid of retribution by The Company that she returned to Cameron Hooker after being allowed to go visit her family in 1981. Three years later, her kidnapper permitted her to start a job as a maid at a local hotel. In 1984, Cameron told Janice that he wanted to make Stan his second wife and garner more female slaves. Janice soon told Stan that Cameron was not part of The Company and helped the hitchhiker escape.

When Stan called from a bus stop to inform Hooker that she was leaving him, the kidnapper reportedly burst into tears. Even after she was free, the rape victim did not call the police and report her abduction. Stan said that at the time she wanted to give Hooker the chance to reform.

Colleen Stan ultimately joined a group for abused women, earned an accounting degree, got married, and had a daughter. It was Hooker’s wife, Janice, who alerted law enforcement about his crimes in exchange for immunity from prosecution for herself.

Stan was the focus of the 1984 best-selling book, Perfect Victim. She now lives under a new identity and said that she began having nightmares about her kidnapping and captivity in the weeks leading up to Cameron Hooker’s parole hearing.

“He didn’t show any remorse. Basically he’s wasted his life, 30 years in prison and hasn’t done anything to try to improve himself or change himself or figure out why he did this. I don’t know what his health issues are physically or mentally. But I don’t think he’s a feeble old man that couldn’t do this again,” Colleen Stan said during an interview after the parole board rendered its decision against the girl in the box kidnaper.

[Image via: Shutterstock.com]

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