Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror

The documentary largely relies on the victim's narration with recreated visuals, giving it a lighter tone than expected. The victim, officers, and others speak very casually, often smiling and joking, which undercuts the sense of dread. With a title like "13 years of terror," it never builds the intensity or eerie atmosphere the story demands. Instead, it portrays the obsession of one individual in a way that feels easy to watch rather than unsettling. An okay watch, but far from haunting. What puzzled me most was how everyone interviewed seemed rather at ease when the film called for greater seriousness.

The only reason I'm commenting is because I'm seeing so many reviews saying that this never happened. I know Christopher personally. He talked to me over a decade ago about her. I still have all the messages. He even asked me to attend the Red Wings game with him because she didn't want to go.

He told me the whole story about how he kidnapped her. Watching this documentary to me was like watching a rerun of a story I already knew. At any rate, I assure you, it happened.

Sam is strong, and naive at the same time, until her friends point out what he was doing. It is sad the police questioned her truth, and the DA, laughed it off in the beginning, then finally.

I would like to thank Sam, for opening herself up to the world, she will save many women from men like him.

Most of these negative reviews are from men, who are either stalkers, and women who for some reason dismiss this sort of behavior by men, because, "but he is so nice." I have spoken to my manager, she dismiss my complaint. I have spoken to HR, he listened.

I tell everyone if anything happens to me, they all have his name.

Someone complained about the cussing in the show. All I have to say is, I hope you are never stalked, track, or kidnapped, because cussing will be the last think you care about.

This is a horrific case that is emblematic of the toll stalking takes on victims, and I couldn't imagine having to deal with this for over a decade. It details some of the struggles victims go through to be taken seriously, and it isn't until something truly horrific happens that action is taken. Restraining orders, even when granted, are just a piece of paper, and it wouldn't have stopped this guy from what he was determined to do

As a man I don't think I can ever really put myself in the shoes of someone like Samantha. Yes, men can be and are stalked, in fact I've known it to happen to someone personally. However, almost every woman I know personally has a story of someone showing up randomly, following them, calling constantly, etc, and there is no way to tell when someone is going to cross the line into something devastating

I think the story was told well by Samantha, and the documentary did a good job going through the timeline and highlighting the repetitive nature of what Samantha was dealing with to the point it just became part of her routine. It's sad to hear her doubt her own intuition and question whether she was reading too much into things when the red lights were glaring. It's even more infuriating to know that there wasn't much she could do about it, and when she tried she was denied

However, the tone just seemed off the whole time. Everything was told in a light way as if they were just retelling what they had for dinner yesterday. The way events were explained just didn't match the serious nature of what happened. In fact, I questioned myself a couple times if this was an actual real story or a fictional dramatization because it all seemed so disconnected

I don't know if this was a deliberate choice of the producers or just their natural demeanors regarding serious events, but it was everyone from Samantha's friends, law enforcement, judges, and Samantha herself that just seemed so unemotional through it all. This makes me believe it was a production choice to try and keep things as light as possible which, if true, was a bad choice because this is a horrifying story that is more common than anyone would like to admit

Overall, I'm glad Samantha has the strength to tell her story, and I'm glad she no longer has to live with that fear literally following her around every day. We need much tougher laws surrounding stalking.

One reviewer that said they found nothing about this story on the internet until a few days around the date of the release of the documentary. They need to learn how to search the internet better. On 12 Oct 2022 there was a local news story published online on a Chicago news channel and there was also at that time (2022) a GoFundMe created to support the victim in this story. Over $32,000 has been raised.

I feel like I understand the victim Samantha in this story because I've had to 'pretend' to save my own life several times. The best way in my opinion to cope with the aftermath is to put it behind you and this could appear to some people as detached. Well I challenge anyone to go through a similar circumstance, survive through your own wits, and then not distance yourself from the act. You need to do it to keep your sanity. The worst thing you can do is let an unfortunate situation traumatize you forever and ruin the rest of your life. My motto is 'Never let them win'. Don't let them take more from you than they already have.