Strictly Stalking

Sarah was stalked by a woman she met through social media. A follower commented on Sarah's Facebook post asking to meet, and because she was female, Sarah didn't see any red flags. They became friends, but things quickly turned toxic and escalated when she tried to poison Sarah and sabotage her new music tour. When she was confronted, her friend blocked Sarah and posted lies about her on social me...

Melody is a single mom who met her stalker on an online dating site. After quickly starting a relationship, she noticed red flags like love bombing, control issues, and jealousy. They moved in together, and Melody discovered he knew details of her private phone conversations and where she went throughout the day. He accused Melody of cheating, showed up at her job, and the relationship became toxi...

Nina Hobson is a former UK police detective who became the target of a man she had arrested for stalking another victim. After his arrest, he turned his obsession to Nina, sending letters of his fantasies to murder her. Nina left the police force in the early 2000s after she became part of the investigative series, Dispatches: Undercover Copper, where she exposed sexism, apathy, and neglect in the...

Melanie was stalked by a man she met in a Facebook group for foragers and mushroom hunters. They chatted and video-called for a year before meeting in person. After the meeting, Melanie saw red flags and ended things. But he wouldn't take no for an answer and showed up at her job, her house, stole her keys, and even kidnapped her. Melanie called the police multiple times, but even after he was arr...

Amber and Athena were stalked by the same man – their ex-husband. Both women separately met and married a man who lied about who he was and then stalked them when they left him. Athena met and married the man first, and when the relationship turned toxic, she left him, but he continued to stalk her even after he met his new wife, Amber. When Amber discovered he was not who she thought he was, she...

Jerry was stalked by a woman he met during an acting class. They were casual friends, but the woman started texting him non-stop and showing up at events where his band was playing. He cut ties with her because she made him uncomfortable, but she was aggressive, impatient, and angry when he didn't respond to her texts. After thousands of texts, calls, letters, and voicemails, Jerry quit attending...

Maggie was stalked by an older man she met on a dating app. After they began dating, Maggie discovered his anger issues and controlling behavior. When they broke up, he sent texts, followed her, and sent unwanted gifts. Maggie went to the police when her stalker threatened her new fiancé, but when the police reached out to him, he showed up at her parent's house to confront them. He continued to s...

Sarah is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend, who shared their private sexual messages with her parents. After dating for eight years, Sarah ended her toxic relationship and moved to a new city for a fresh start. But her ex became obsessed and followed her. He confronted her friend when she stayed at his house, followed her to work, and texted her non-stop. Sarah even worried he would steal her pupp...

Nicolette is being stalked by someone who is trying to destroy her and her family. When Nicolette's high school friend met her brother, they were soon inseparable. They married and had a child during her senior year of high school, but the couple became volatile toward family members over the next few years. After Nicolette was cut out of her brother and sister-in-law's lives, she and others in th...

Amber was stalked by an obsessed coworker. Amber's female coworker took a romantic interest in her, showing up at places she would be and even befriending her grandmother. Amber made it clear that she didn't want her coworker to contact her or anyone in her family, but she didn't stop. The coworker sent hundreds of texts, took photos of her parked car, and left gifts at Amber's house. Things becam...

Abigail found a new friend in high school who introduced her to drugs, alcohol, cutting, and self-harm. The relationship became more toxic when Abigail was sexually abused, body-shamed, and emotionally tormented. When Abigail tried to pull away, her friend attempted suicide and was admitted to a mental hospital. After she was released from the hospital, the girls re-established their friendship br...

Danielle was stalked by an ex-boyfriend, which drove her to quit high school. In school, Danielle was bullied and mistreated by her classmates but thought things would change for the better when she began seeing a boy in her class. The relationship quickly went downhill because he was abusive and sexually assaulted Danielle. When she broke up with him and ignored him, he started rumors, followed h...

Leigh-Anne was stalked by an ex-boyfriend after the relationship went from love bombing to abusive. After the break-up, he hacked her social media and stalked her, called her repeatedly, harassed her friends, sat outside her house, and followed her to work. He also threatened to rape her, attack her family with acid, and even found others willing to help him harass her. After changing her phone nu...

Alex was stalked for over a decade by an acquaintance she met through an ex-boyfriend when she was seventeen. Ten years later, he reached out on social media after her divorce, and they met up, but there were too many red flags, so Alex ended things immediately. She then found out he had been collecting photos of her through the years from social media and using them as screen savers on his comput...

Patrick Brady is a criminologist and university professor who studies stalking behavior and its impact on victims. We discuss some cases he's worked on, types of technology used by stalkers, common stalking behaviors, and how the justice system responds to stalking. Along with his research, he has conducted interviews with officers, prosecutors, advocates, and survivors to understand the crime of...

Elaine Parker was stalked by a man she met on a dating app. The relationship moved quickly, and right after they were engaged, Elaine endured domestic abuse, sexual assault, and rape. She finally got him out of the house and turned to the police, who arrested him multiple times when he began stalking her, threatening her, and trying to break into her home. As his stalking continued, Elaine found o...

Jess is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. When Jess became too busy with work, she had to put her relationship on the back burner, but her boyfriend couldn't accept it. He became jealous and insecure, questioned her about their relationship, went through her phone, and stopped her from talking to her male friends. Jess ended the relationship, and he tried desperately to win her back. When she did...

Ashlee Levitch was in a toxic relationship with a narcissist, who later stalked her. Her ex-boyfriend used abusive tactics like trauma bonding, devaluing, bread-crumbing, dog-whistling, and future faking. Once she left him and began to heal, she could see the full impact of the trauma she had experienced. Her new podcast, "The Narc and Me," explores the effects of being with a narcissistic partner...

Kalie is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend, who impersonated a medical professional to try and kidnap her daughter. After Kalie and her boyfriend broke up, she married a man in the military the following year. Her ex, also in the military, impersonated a medical professional to get her and her new husband's contact information. When her ex found them, he threatened to kidnap Kalie's child and do D...

Megan Bruce was stalked by a man after one date. Megan wasn't interested in a second date, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He followed her to her usual hangouts and constantly contacted her. When she stopped responding to him, he broke into her house. Megan had little support from friends and family and felt her life starting to unravel. She attempted suicide believing her son would be safe...

Shelly is currently being stalked by an ex-boyfriend. After they broke up, he used an extra set of keys to enter her flat and place things around that would remind her of him. He also left lights on, ate her food, moved stuff in the cupboards, and stole her mail. Shelly saw her stalker regularly driving the opposite way on the road she took to work. She changed the locks on her flat, but he contin...

Lucy Walsh is being stalked by a stranger who hitchhiked from Minnesota to Los Angeles to marry her. He showed up at her father's house first, but when that didn't work, he found her address online and showed up there. When he couldn't break in, he built a shrine to Lucy in her front yard and left a note saying he'd be back. After Lucy alerted her family's security, they sent her to a hotel where...

Ty James was stalked by a woman who refused to take no for an answer. Ty is a single dad and social media content creator who met a woman through an online dating app. After a few dates, he ended things, but she couldn't accept it and sent him hundreds of messages and called him nonstop until he blocked her. She then began sending packages to his house, both hand delivered and online orders. He al...

Lili Greer believes a stalker murdered her missing mother. After leaving an abusive relationship, Lili's mother, Tina, moved them into a new house that was soon broken into and vandalized. They assumed it was Tina's ex watching them, frightening them, and making his presence known. Tina agreed to meet him and was never seen or heard from again. Lili was thirteen when her mother went missing, and s...

Clara was stalked in college by a student who catfished her. Clara befriended a student who lived down the hall in her dorm who told her that her guy friend from back home was interested in meeting. This guy friend and Clara started texting, but she noticed the guy would never respond when her friend wasn't around, and things didn't add up. Searching on Facebook, Clara found the guy and reached ou...