Cameron and Janice Hooker were, to the eyes of twenty-year-old Colleen Stan, a “nice couple” that was offering her a ride on that fateful May 19 of 1977.

Cameron invited her to hop in their car as Janice smiled at her from the co-pilot’s seat while holding her infant son, and Colleen, who had let go another two rides before theirs, felt “safe” as she stepped into the vehicle.

It would be the beginning of a real hell for her, as she would be kidnapped and repeatedly raped, abused, and tortured by Cameron with Janice’s assistance for the next seven years.

Before her, they had abducted and killed Marie Elizabeth Spannhake in January of 1976. But who were these pair of criminals?

Little is known of their early lives (especially from Janice’s) and how their murderous and sadistic appetites (especially Cameron’s) developed.

Keep reading and find out more about who was (and where are) Cameron and Janice Hooker, a couple straight from a Stephen King novel.

YouTube

10 /10 Unremarkable Evilness

Like so many other criminals, Cameron and Janice’s beginnings had the advantage of placing them in relative obscurity, with not many people around to sense that something was profoundly wrong.

Born in Alturas, California, on November 5, 1953, Cameron Hooker moved alongside his family to Red Bluff (where he and Janice would kidnap Colleen) in 1969.

After graduating from high school in 1972, he began working at a local lumber mill. Janice was fourteen then, later fifteen when they met in 1973, while still living with her family.

9 /10 A Background Of Abuse

In many ways, Janice’s family turned her into Cameron’s first prey: thoroughly abused by her parents, already submissive and very much inexperienced as to how interpersonal relationships should work, Janice’s background of abuse made her into Hooker’s ideal partner.

At first, she allowed Hooker to abuse her and perform his sadistic fantasies, even though he nearly drowned her during one of their sadomasochistic sessions.

He would also hang her from her wrists and whip her; all of these were things that he would later do to Colleen after her kidnapping.



Lifetime Movies

8 /10 A Match Made In Hell

Despite all this abuse, Cameron and Janice married on January 15, 1975. By then, Cameron had already made clear to Janice that she wouldn’t be the only woman in her life: he intended not only to procure a third person for a threesome but to kidnap that person.

By then, brainwashed (though this is enough to absolve her from responsibility is another question), Janice agreed.

7 /10 The Agreement

However, at some point in time, Janice had managed to draw out two conditions for Cameron: he would stop performing his sadistic fantasies on her, transferring them to the victim, and he would only have penetrative sex with Janice.

After Cameron somehow agreed, the couple set out to do her first kidnapping: Mary Elizabeth Spannhake, whom Cameron killed after only a day.

A year later, they repeated the attempt, and Colleen was caught for Cameron’s use of her as a sex slave. Janice didn’t complain at the time.

6 /10 Michael And Janice Powers

And so, the living hell that was those seven years began for Colleen Stan, under the careful watch of the Hookers. Michael drafted a “contract of slavery” for her, which a fearful Colleen signed.

Janice signed and a witness, under the name “Janice Powers,” the wife of “Michael Powers,” Cameron’s assumed name for the contract. So they were once again bound by a link as a couple, this time as torturers and criminals.

YouTube

5 /10 Jealousy And Cheating

However, after some time, Janice began to feel uneasy about her and Cameron’s “arrangement.”

This was the beginning of a different period for Colleen, as she would take her to bars and complain over drinks of how Cameron preferred Colleen (who, let’s remember this again, was kidnapped and maintained in constant fear for her life and that of her relatives).

She would then go and equally cheat on Cameron with strangers in these bars, later returning Colleen to Cameron’s hands when they arrived home.

ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

4 /10 Janice's Fears

Janice’s dissatisfaction quickly turned to fear towards the end of Colleen’s days in captivity. Cameron told Janice about his desire to procure more slaves for him to keep alongside Colleen or instead of her.

Immediately Janice suspected that he planned to dispose of them both and replace them, so she took Colleen and released her, informed her pastor (for she still went to church all those years) of Cameron’s crimes, and even went home again to keep on playing the role of a faithful wife. Colleen was now free, at twenty-seven years of age, in 1984.

3 /10 Three Months, And Then A Call

Janice Hooker was, above all, a permissive person. So, before she released Colleen, she asked her not to give her husband away in hopes that he would “reform.”

Three months passed, in which the Hookers continue to live their everyday lives, and Colleen tried to rejoin society and deal with the years of abuse and manipulation that had been inflicted on her. After those three months, Janice herself denounced Cameron to the police.

ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

2 /10 Still Free?

Janice Hooker lives free today, still in California and under a different name. She was considered not to have been a direct participant in her husband’s worse crimes, murder and rape.

After their arrest, she was granted a full pardon in return for her testimony against her husband, as probably the only witness that could send Cameron to jail.

Her release caused a major uproar among the wider public, who wished to see her equally indicted as a guilty enabler of Cameron’s crimes: they were, to this day, disappointed in this desire for justice.

1 /10 Thank The Judge For Me

Meanwhile, Cameron was found guilty and sentenced to 104 years in prison, after which he didn’t express any regret or repentance for his actions.

After his conviction, this serial rapist, killer, and kidnapper would tell his attorney: “I want you to thank the judge for me. I have a library, a gym, and the time to enjoy them, and it’s better than living with those two women.”

He could be eligible to apply for parole in March of the current year.

Continue Reading
Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

0 Comments

Send this to a friend