Where Are Cameron And Janice Hooker, The Couple That Abducted 'The Girl In The Box,' Now?

It was May 1977, and 20-year-old Colleen Stan just needed to get from California to Eugene, Oregon for a friend's birthday party. She decided to hitchhike her way there.

She never made it to the party.

Stan accepted a ride from a young couple, Cameron and Janice Hooker, who had their baby in tow. It seemed safe, Stan told "Snapped Notorious: Girl In The Box," an Oxygen special about her horrifying story. However, once she was in the car, Cameron Hooker attacked her and place her in a "head box," a contraption he designed himself that weighed about 20 pounds and left Stan unable to see or move.

Over the next seven years, Stan lived through a waking nightmare. Cameron held her captive and often kept her in a wooden, coffin-like structure. She was beaten, whipped, raped, and tortured. Eventually, Cameron forced her to sign a contract agreeing to be his "slave," telling her he had the backing of a mysterious organization he called "The Company." He said "The Company" would go after Stan and her family if she tried to run. Ultimately, Stan was able to escape when Janice Hooker finally told her "The Company" was made up.

So, who were Cameron and Janice Hooker, and where are they now?

Janice was fully aware of what her husband was doing. The two met in 1973 when Janice was just 16 and got married two years later, the Chico News & Review reported in 2010. Cameron forced Janice to participate in bondage, and she wanted to stop. The couple then agreed Cameron could get a "slave" so he could fulfill his depraved fantasies, according to court documents.

Janice's concerns about Cameron and what he was doing to Stan soon became impossible to ignore. Janice confided in her minister, and he convinced her to help Stan escape. In August 1984, Janice drove Stan to the bus station where she called her family to wire her money for bus fare, and finally went home. Janice begged Stan not to go to the police, insisting she would help rehabilitate her husband.

But Janice's fear of her husband continued to grow, and eventually, with more encouragement from her minister and a friend who pointed out Cameron could turn on their two daughters, she finally went to the police in November 1984. In addition to kidnapping and torturing Stan, Janice claimed Cameron also kidnapped and murdered another girl, Maria Spannhake.

Even with Janice's help, they were unable to find Spannhake's body, and with no physical evidence tying Cameron to the crime, they decided not to charge him in connection with Spannhake's case. They did charge him with the kidnapping, rape, and torture of Stan, and in 1985, he was convicted and sentenced to 104 years in prison.

Janice, meanwhile, had agreed to testify against her husband in exchange for immunity. Since the trial, Janice has changed her last name and gone on to raise her two daughters in relative anonymity. She was working as a social worker in California as of 2010, according to the Chico News & Review. She does not keep in touch with Stan.

Cameron Hooker, meanwhile, may very well be released soon despite his original sentence. Cameron was originally eligible for parole in 2022, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a change to state law concerning prisoners over the age of 62, he could be released in 2021, the Appeal-Democrat reported in February 2021.

He is awaiting a hearing to consider whether he could be classified as a "violent sexual predator," which would affect his eligibility for parole, the Red Bluff Daily News reported in June 2021. That hearing is scheduled for some time in 2021.

"It feels like his rights are so important, but my rights and my safety is unimportant," Stan says on "Snapped Notorious: Girl In The Box," which you can stream here.