The Girl in the Box: The Harrowing Kidnapping of Colleen Stan
On a warm May afternoon in 1977, Colleen Stan felt confident in her ability to hitchhike safely. At 20 years old, she had already turned down two rides on her journey from Eugene, Oregon, to a friend’s birthday party in Westwood, California. But when a blue van pulled over near Red Bluff, California, she saw a man with his wife and baby in the vehicle. That, she thought, was a good sign. A family. Safe.
It was a tragic miscalculation. Within hours, Colleen Stan was locked in a coffin-like wooden box, her captors Janice and Cameron Hooker beginning a reign of psychological and physical terror that would last over seven years.
The Kidnapping
Colleen was no amateur hitchhiker. She had travelled before and knew how to assess a situation. But the presence of Janice Hooker and her baby put her at ease. She had no way of knowing that Cameron Hooker, a 23-year-old lumber mill worker, had been searching for a hitchhiker to enslave. Janice, 19, was complicit in this search—her role shaped by years of submission to Cameron’s violent and perverse fantasies.
Shortly after picking up Colleen, Cameron pulled off the road, pretending to want to explore some caves. It was a ruse. Janice took the baby and left the vehicle while Cameron, armed with a knife, overpowered Colleen. He restrained her, forced a specially made 20-pound wooden “headbox” over her head—blocking out sound, light, and fresh air—and drove her back to their home in Red Bluff.
That night, Colleen was suspended from the basement ceiling, blindfolded, beaten, and forced to listen to Cameron and Janice engage in sex beneath her. It was only the beginning of the calculated torment she would endure.
The Imprisonment
Cameron had long practiced bondage and sadomasochism, first inflicting his cruelty upon Janice. They had an arrangement—he could kidnap and keep a “slave,” so long as he refrained from having penetrative sex with her. That agreement, like any rule Cameron set, was soon disregarded.
Colleen was subjected to an unimaginable routine of psychological manipulation and physical torture. She was confined to a wooden box—only let out for an hour a day to cook, clean, or babysit the Hookers’ children. She was forced to call Cameron “Master” and referred to only as “K.” She signed a contract in 1978, pledging herself to Cameron as his property for life.
But Cameron’s most insidious tool of control was The Company—an entirely fictional, sinister organisation he convinced Colleen was watching her every move. He told her The Company would kill her and harm her family if she tried to escape. The fear was so deeply ingrained that even when Colleen was allowed outside, to jog or do yard work, she never ran. She believed her only choice was obedience.
Even more shocking was a family visit in 1981. Cameron allowed Colleen to visit her parents. They were concerned—her clothes were homemade, and she had little money—but they believed she had joined a cult. They took a picture of her and Cameron, who posed as her boyfriend. The next day, she voluntarily returned to the Hooker home.
But Cameron began to fear he had given her too much freedom. For the next three years, she was once again confined to the box under the couple’s waterbed, spending 23 hours a day in suffocating darkness.
The Breaking Point
By 1984, Janice had begun questioning her own years of abuse at Cameron’s hands. When Cameron declared he wanted Colleen to be his second wife, it was the final straw. In a moment of clarity, Janice told Colleen the truth—The Company was a lie. No shadowy organisation was watching. No one was coming for her if she left.
Colleen walked out. She even called Cameron later, telling him she was leaving. He broke down in tears. Despite her years of torment, she had been conditioned to believe he was human, perhaps even redeemable. She did not go to the police immediately.
But Janice did. Three months later, she reported Cameron to the authorities. She also made a shocking admission—Cameron had previously kidnapped and murdered a young woman named Marie Elizabeth Spannhake in 1976. Spannhake’s body was never found, and with no physical evidence, Cameron was never charged with her murder.
The Trial and Aftermath
Cameron Hooker’s trial in 1985 was historic. FBI investigators described Colleen’s case as “unparalleled” in American criminal history. Janice testified against Cameron in exchange for full immunity.
The court heard how Colleen had been brainwashed to believe in The Company, how she had been kept in a box for years, and how Cameron had systematically broken her down psychologically.
Cameron Hooker was found guilty of sexual assault, kidnapping, and other charges. He was sentenced to 104 years in prison. Originally ineligible for parole until 2023, his first parole hearing was moved up to 2015 under California’s Elderly Parole Program. It was denied. Another hearing was scheduled for 2030, but in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was transferred to a state hospital for evaluation as a sexually violent predator.
Survival and Moving Forward
After her escape, Colleen Stan rebuilt her life. She pursued a degree in accounting and worked with women’s support organisations, using her experience to help others. She suffered from chronic pain due to her confinement and struggled with relationships. However, she married and had a daughter.
Janice Hooker, who had helped facilitate Colleen’s abduction and imprisonment, changed her name and became a mental health professional. Though both women remained in California, they had no contact.
Looking back on her ordeal, Colleen described how she endured years of captivity: “I learned I could go anywhere in my mind.” Like Janice, she had been forced to compartmentalise. When survival depends on detachment, the mind creates its own escape route.