Heroes & Zeros- A True Crime Podcast · Annie Weaver

Episode 74 The Girl in the Box Part 2

·1 hr 15 min·4 clips

Colleen kicks open the box after two years, then freezes because she still believes the 'company' is watching.

Annie keeps the story moving in order, starting with the threat Hooker has already made against Colleen's vocal cords. Days later, Colleen climbs out of the double walls of her box and finds a purse, personal belongings, and a small photo placed where she cannot miss them. The woman in the photo is Marie Elizabeth Spanaki. Colleen understands that the image is meant to warn her. She does not know whether the woman is dead. She does not know what happened to her. She does not know whether Hooker really killed her. That uncertainty is part of the control. Time seems to stop for Colleen, but the Hooker household keeps changing around her. In December 1977, Janice announces that she is pregnant with their second child. Money is already tight, and now it gets tighter. For the next five months, Hooker keeps Colleen naked, bound, and blindfolded. The episode then moves into the wider pattern of abuse. Annie says a detective estimated Hooker raped Colleen at least once or twice a week from March 1980 to 1981. That comes out to somewhere between 52 and 104 assaults in a year. The episode does not soften that math. Colleen is also given very little food, and when she is fed, the food is often moldy and disgusting. She is whipped, electrocuted, and burned. At times she is left chained and dangling from a rack for hours, and sometimes for a day or two. The Hookers' two young daughters do not realize that the babysitter they adore is being held against her will. They also do not know she is living inside their own house. Later, Janice turns to the Bible for comfort. Hooker twists those same words into a justification for his own fantasies. He calls Colleen his slave wife. He compares her to Hagar. Annie reacts hard to that kind of religious abuse, and the episode makes plain how grotesque it is when sacred language gets turned into a cover for cruelty.

As heard by us

A grim captivity story told clearly, with no patience for the abuse or the excuses.

Colleen Stan’s captivity story remains centered on fear and control: the hidden purse, the wallet-sized photo, the threat to cut out Colleen’s vocal cords, and the Hooker household’s scramble for more money.

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Why you'd press play

You want a grim, chronological walk through the Colleen Stan captivity case that does not soften the cruelty.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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