According to results from the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 1 in 6 women (16.2%) and 1 in 19 men (5.2%) in the United States have experienced stalking victimization… (National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Summary Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 2011).

Stalking doesn’t just mean some creep following you around. The National Institute of Justice defines stalking as “harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a person’s home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person’s property.” (Source)

Good news: All 50 states have laws that address stalking.

Bad news: the legal definition for stalking various across jurisdictions. Some state laws depend on the level of victim fear and emotional distress, as well as the intent of the stalker. States also vary on what level of fear is required for an offense to be considered stalking. (Source)

Some of the worse stalking happens between ex partners and spouses. How many times has your local or national news ran a story about a domestic violence situation where the ex has been harassing the victim for weeks and nothing was done–or could have been done–to prevent it? Restraining orders aren’t quite as easy to get as television makes it seems–again, the level of intent and victim fear has to be analyze, and it varies from state to state.

What would you do if you had a stalker and the police wouldn’t–or couldn’t–help? What if your stalker stayed one step ahead of them, like the Taker in my debut novel, Into The Dark? He knows the city, knows how to navigate the Vegas storm drains, knows how to lead a double life. He’s smart, streetwise, and heavy on charm. His victim, Emilie, is back on her heels from the very beginning of the book. He’s a faceless, nameless entity, and she’s terrified.

But what if you knew your stalker? What if he (or she–women stalk too) was an ex who refused to give up and their threats had become so severe you felt you had no choice but to disappear?

Could you do it?

In Frank Ahearn’s excellent book, How To Disappear, he uses his experience as a skip tracer–an expert used by media and any other interested source–to find people. He’s located jailbird, deadbeats, witnesses, celebrities…the list goes on. He didn’t locate people by name, address, and phone number. We’re talking bank accounts, social security numbers, DMV records, passwords, identity theft.

When they wanted to talk to some kids who had spent the night with Michael Jackson at Neverland, they called me. When they wanted to monitor O. J. Simpson’s bank accounts, they called me. I once was hired to find Ozzy Osbourne’s private telephone numbers for a paparazzo. —Frank Ahearn, How To Disappear

With the crackdowns in security over the years, Ahearn decided to use flip the switch–he started teaching people how to disappear.

He’s had a lot of clients since he turned legit, and a fair amount of them are victims running from stalkers. So how do you do it? It’s a complicated process, but I’ll try to give you the basics.

Misinformation

First up, find every bit of information about yourself and do your best to change it or destroy it. This means calling utilities companies and leaving bogus information, whether it’s a false address or deleting an account all together. It involves some serious lying, but it’s crucial to wipe out as much information as possible. It means removing your name from Google, from Yahoo, from phonebooks, warranties off electronics and accounts at stores, including the grocery, library cards. You get the picture.

They’ll start searching for you in obvious places: search engines, Internet databases, phone companies, utility companies. If they’re comfortable breaking the law, they’ll hit banks. Maybe they’ll get a cop buddy to run a criminal background check and a motor vehicle report. From there they’ll go to a laundry list of local businesses and service providers, hoping to find a valid account with your name on it. They’ll use their imaginations to figure out where you might be hiding. —Frank Ahearn, How to Disappear

Disinformation

Create a bogus trail for anyone searching for you. Just like a great story, disinformation starts off with a hook–a juicy bit of info that will send the stalker on a wild goose chase. Applying for an apartment, home loan, credit card, taking calls from an accessible phone line–anything to make a stalker believe they’ve found you.

Next is the line–even more information leading to your hook. Applying for utilities and phone services, giving fake employee information, preferably from a large local business.

Then, the sinker. If you’re faking a residence, open up a small checking account at a local bank. Then get a debit card and give it to someone you trust, someone who’s going to be traveling and can use it at random. This will send the stalker all over the place.

Frank Ahearn used this plan for a desperate client trying to escape a jailbird ex, and they managed to keep her safe. The client’s trail was all over the country while she was hiding in her new location.

Reformation

Time for a new life. This is when you always use cash or prepaid credit cards. No smartphones. Always a prepaid phone or calling cards. Mail drops–this means a UPS or FedEx store, not the post office. Frank recommends establishing a corporation and putting any kind of must-have loan or lease into that corporation’s name. New computer if possible. Never use the Internet at home–go to a local wifi hotspot. No social media. Everything has to be new and as vague as possible. In order to keep in touch with family and friends, have a designated call time and change phones frequently.

Disappearing is complicated, and this is just a VERY SMALL synopsis of how to do it. If you’re interested in learning more, I’d highly recommend Frank’s book. He writes in a fun style and is honest about the life he’s led.

What do you think? Could you disappear if you had to? Cut off contact with all friends and family? What would it take to make you that desperate?

Obsessive October is flying by, and today we’re talking about the superstars of the stalking world: celebrity stalkers. Being in the public makes celebrities ripe for obsessed fans, and the power of the Internet makes it that much easier for the savvy stalker.

The list of celebrities who have been stalked over the years is long: Madonna, Mila Kunis, Janet Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Halle Berry, Uma Thurman, Shawn Johnson, Britney Spears–the list goes on. There are a few, however, that stand out as the creepiest of all.

John Hinckley Jr.

Hinckley Jr. pulled double stalking duty, going after both Jodie Foster and Ronald Reagan. In 1980, when Jodie Foster enrolled at Yale University, John Hinckley followed. He left love notes and poems, including a poem that detailed his plans to assassinate President Ronald Reagan.

Over the past seven months I’ve left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself. […] the reason I’m going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you. –John Hinckley, JR.

On the same day he left Jodie the cryptic note, Hinckley went to Washington, D.C. and shot President Reagan, who survived. His press secretary, James Brady, was paralyzed by the bullet that struck him.

Hinckley was charged with 13 accounts of attempted murder but found not guilty by reason of insanity–a rare feat despite what popular television shows depict. He was diagnosed with narcissistic and schizoid personality disorders, dysthymia and borderline passive-aggressive features. He remains hospitalized.

Anthony Gary Silvestri

Anthony Gary Silvestri spent months stalking television reporter Kathryn Dettman in Waco, Texas. In January 1998, he broke into Dettman’s home and attacked her with a knife, stabbing her more than a dozen times.

Dettman had been living her last days in the small Texas town and was preparing to move to a much larger station in Dallas.

“It was an extremely violent attack. She had 15-16 stab wounds.” –Temple Police Sgt. Keith Reed.

Dettman’s friends admitted she knew the 21-year-old had been stalking her. She’d said he was sweet and flattering, and he’d been spotted outside her apartment more than once. Kathryn didn’t consider him a threat.

“Most station managers don’t even give the news anchors all their mail or their email,” says Dietz. “Very few stations have adequate screening of who gets on the premises or do the things for their talent that can help protect them.”
–Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz

Anthony Silvestri received 40 years in prison.

Robert John Bardo

Robert John Bardo cut his stalking teeth on child peace activist Samantha Smith. When she died in a plane crash in 1985, Bardo found Rebecca Schaeffer.

In the late 80s, Rebecca Schaeffer was on her way to making it big in Hollywood, staring in My Sister Sam and several movies. With virtually no stalking laws in place at the time, Bardo got Shaeffer’s home address from a detective agency, who’d obtained the information from the California DMV. He tracked her down at home and confronted her for the sex scene in Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, accusing her of losing her innocence. He told her he was a big fan, and she asked him to leave. Shortly after, he returned and shot her. Rebecca died on the scene.

As a result of the shady way Bardo found Rebecca’s address and her ultimate murder, the US government passed the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act which prohibits state Departments of Motor Vehicles from releasing the home addresses of state residents.

Social media is an awesome tool. It’s not only a key for an authors brand, but a new way to make true friends. The world has changed with the advent of programs like Twitter and Facebook, but for all their wonderful benefits, the social networking sites have a negative side. They are wonderful tools for stalkers.

Ashleigh Hall and Peter Chapman

In October of 2009, the body of seventeen-year-old Ashleigh Hall was found in a ditch in close to a restaurant on the outskirts of Durham County, England.

A loving older sister, well-liked by her peers and looking forward to a career as a child care professional, Ashleigh was active online. Like most teenagers (and plenty of adults), her smart phone and Internet relationships were an important part of her life.

According to prosecutors, Ashleigh suffered from low self-esteem and was an easy victim for someone like Chapman.

According to her mother, on the night of her murder, Ashleigh had spent the evening chatting via MSN.

She asked if she could sleep at a friend’s house. It was a bit last-minute but I said ‘Yes, okay, as long as you are home by 10.30 the next morning. She threw some clothes in a bag and went downstairs. I was upstairs putting the young ones to bed. Ashleigh opened the door and shouted: ‘See you tomorrow mum’. I shouted to her to make sure she was home by 10.30. She said ‘I will’ and that was it. I never saw her again.
–Andrea Hall (source)

Chapman sent Ashleigh a text message saying his father would pick her up, and then again when he’d arrived.

Once he got her in the car, he attacked. He bound her and taped her mouth shut, and then raped her. Ashleigh suffocated to death.

When she didn’t come home the next day, Ashleigh’s mother began questioning friends and found out a boy she’d been talking to on Facebook.

Andrea Hall said her daughter was brought up never to talk to strangers and that included the Internet. Ashleigh had about 400 friends on Facebook, but her mother insisted she knew every one and couldn’t understand how she got to be friends with someone she didn’t know. Over 30 phone calls to her daughter went unanswered until Ashleigh’s phone was answered by a police officer around 8p.m. Her daughter’s body had been found.

Chapman was a registered sex offender and arrested by chance when an alert for his car was issued after he’d failed to comply with requirements of his sex registration. He eventually confessed to the murder.

I killed someone last night. I need to tell somebody from CID where the body is. It hasn’t been reported yet. –Peter Chapman

A history of sexual abuse

Peter Chapman was brought up by his grandparents. His history of sex offenses started when he was fifteen. Four years later, in 1996, Chapman was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping two prostitues at knifepoint. He was released in 2001.

In 2002, he was questioned over the rape and kidnapping of another prostitute, but the case was eventually dropped.

Chapman’s meek and mild manner were a mask for an extremely cunning individual.

The truth is he is anything but meek and mild. He is a devious and dangerous individual and could well be responsible for other, similar offenses.
–Detective Inspector Mick Callan, Durham Major Crime Squad

In the fall of 2009, Chapman used a picture of a bare-chested teenaged boy to create the Facebook identity of Peter Cartwright. He soon had nearly 3,000 friends, and most were females between the ages of 13 and 31. According to investigators, Chapman then attempted to redirect the female friends to private chatrooms. He also created a questionnaire to eek the more intimate details from his new friends. Sixteen girls replied and some even sent him provocative photographs.

When he was arrested for Ashleigh’s murder, Chapman had profiles on at least nine different sites and two other identities: a fifteen-year-old student from Liverpool and a nineteen-year-old. He trolled for sex on all the sites and had many girls expressing interest and sending pictures and suggestive messages. He described himself as tall, slim, and physically fit.

In reality, Peter Chapman was skinny, had a shaved head, and was missing several teeth.

He was sentenced to life for the rape and murder of Ashleigh Hall and must serve a minimum of 35 years before he’s considered for early release.

Andrea Hall implored for stronger regulations on social networking sites like Facebook.

After Chapman’s sentencing, Facebook issued a statement urging users not to meet anyone they’d been communicating with online unless they knew who they were, “as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas”. (source)

Shortly after her daughter’s murder in 2009, Andrea Hall issued the following statement:

Pictures and Source
Source

A two-hundred-mile labyrinth of dark storm drains serves as a refuge for the delusional stalker who will go to any lengths to possess fragile, emotionally isolated Emilie Davis. To survive, Emilie will have to confront the secrets of her past she has kept locked away from everyone, including herself.

That’s the query hook for my novel, INTO THE DARK. Protagonist Emilie Davis has a stalker who seems to know her deepest secrets, and he’ll stop at nothing to make her his. The inciting incident is a staged bank robbery where her stalker–nicknamed the Taker–attempts to kidnap Emilie and hide her away in the treacherous Las Vegas storm drains.

For me, the scariest part about stalking is the subterfuge–the idea that some creep could be watching from the shadows, chronicling our lives and biding his time. And it happens a lot more than most people realize. In 2009, the Department of Justice reported that 14 out of every 1000 people aged eighteen or older reported being victims of stalking. Source: MSI Detective Services.

Stalking as defined by the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center:

A repetitive pattern of unwanted, harassing or threatening behavior committed by one person against another. Acts include: telephone harassment, being followed, receiving unwanted gifts, and other similar forms of intrusive behavior. All states and the Federal Government have passed anti-stalking legislation. Definitions of stalking found in state anti-stalking statutes vary in their language, although most define stalking as “the willful, malicious, and repeated following and harassing of another person that threatens his or her safety.

Men have stalkers too–more than you might think. The same D.O.J report stated males were as likely to report being stalked as females, and that 43% of offenders were female.

Despite the statistics, stalking wasn’t always defined as a crime.

The tragic 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer changed everything.

At just twenty-one, Rebecca Schaeffer was the co-star of the sitcom My Sister Sam, a show that was quickly growing in popularity. She’d been receiving fan letters from nineteen-year-old Robert Bardo for months, and as she responded personally to each of her fans, Schaeffer answered Bardo. She wrote that his letter was “the most beautiful” she’d received, and drew a peace sign, a heart, and then signed the letter: “with love from Rebecca.”

On the day he received her response, Bardo wrote in his diary that he would like to become famous to impress Schaeffer.

In June 1987, Bardo went to the Burbank Studio gates with a teddy bear and a bouquet of roses for Schaeffer. He was denied entrance. A month later, he returned with a knife, but was denied again. He then wrote in his diary: “I don’t lose. Period.”

At home in Tucson, Bardo watched the actresses’s new film Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, where she had a bed scene with a male actor. Bardo was furious. His innocent flower had become “one more of the bitches of Hollywood.” As he contemplated Schaeffer’s punishment, Bardo drew a diagram of her body, marking the spots where he planned to shoot her. He asked his older brother to buy him a gun.

For the next two years, Bardo swarmed Schaeffer with love letters, built a shrine for her in his room, and collected videos of her tv shows and appearances. He sent a letter to his sister in Tennessee and said that if he couldn’t have Rebecca, no one would. In the summer of 1989, he took a bus from Tucson to Hollywood, determined to track Schaeffer down.

Once he arrived, he called her agent’s office to find out where she lived. After they denied him the information, he took to the streets, flashing her picture and asking people if they knew her address. Eventually, he paid a private detective $250 to find her, although at the time, anyone could go into a California DMV and fill out a form stating who they were, what person they want information on and why, and how they plan to use the info. For a $1, the information was given on the spot.

On July 18, 1989, carrying a copy of The Catcher In The Rye, Bardo rang Schaffer’s doorbell. The intercom was broken, so she went to the building’s front door. When she saw Bardo, she ignored his attention, and he left. An hour later, he returned. Schaeffer came to the door and opened it.

Bardo would later give the following account of the incident: “She had this kid voice… sounded like a little brat or something… said I was wasting her time! … Wasting her time! No matter what, I thought that was a very callous thing to say to a fan, you know… I grabbed the door… guns still in the bag… I grab it by the trigger… I come around, and kapow, and she’s like screaming… aaahhh… screaming… why, aaahhh … and it’s like, oh God…”

A neighbor heard the shots and screams. He found Schaeffer’s body, wearing a black robe, lying in the building’s foyer. She had no pulse. Witnesses saw a young man in a yellow shirt jog away and disappear into an alley.

Rebecca Schaeffer was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Bardo was arrested in Tucson a day later. He was running around in traffic on Interstate 10, and motorists said it looked like he was trying to get hit. He confessed immediately and was convicted by prosecutor Marcia Clark. Bardo was sentenced to life without parole.

Rebecca Schaeffer’s murder was instrumental in Governor George Deukmejian signing a law prohibiting the DMV from releasing addresses. It was the first of its kind and would help convict Jonathan Norman to twenty-five years in prison for threats against Steven Spielberg.

Within five years of Schaeffer’s death, all fifty states and Canada had adopted anti-stalking laws.

Celebrities aren’t the only victims of stalking, but Schaeffer’s death catapulted the experience into the national spotlight and gave victims the ability to fight back in court.

Robert Bardo remains in prison.

Have you or a family member/friend ever been the victim of stalking, whether in person or via the Internet?