On 04-19-18, I got a request for a consult by a newspaper reporter who had been following the trial of a stalker who had stalked a female off and on for over thirty years. The stalker was currently on trial for multiple counts of aggravated stalking. The reporter described the elements of the case in depth advising that she had never heard of a stalker doing any of the things that this individual had done. After she was done, I explained that one of the reasons I have always enjoyed investigating and consulting on stalking cases was because these individuals were just so weird, and I learn something new on every case I take on.
The reporter said that the stalker advised law enforcement when he was contacted and finally arrested that they needed to get a hold of the victim so that he could send her some of his sperm to produce a viable off-spring; even though she was married and had three healthy and reportedly happy children. The stalker was concerned that the victim was getting too old to produce a child. The reporter was amazed, when I explained this type of request in some form or another does transpire in other stalking consults I have conducted, more often than she would imagine.
Another thing she brought up that about a year or so before the stalker had been arrested he had once again found the victim and her family, and knocked on her front door demanding to talk to her. He was successfully turned away; reportedly not seen at the residence again. The victim and her family then decided to move to another location. As they were packing their property for the move, the victim found a receipt with the stalker’s name and signature on same placed in the bottom of one of her clothing drawers. Obviously, this caused the victim extreme fear and emotional distress. After she reported this information and turned over the item to the agency handling her case, a charge of burglary was added to the suspect’s stalking charges.
Why, one might ask, the stalker didn’t take anything that they were aware of. However, he did enter the victim’s residence without her permission, and in this case without her knowledge. In most states, burglary is defined in general as entering any four-walled structure with the intent to commit grand or petty theft or any other felony. The stalker entered the victim’s residence for the purposes of stalking, in this situation, a felony; therefore burglary applies.
Stalkers oftentimes will enter into a victim’s residence for a variety of reasons, primarily, to find out as much about the victim as possible. They may take items as trophies, to both generate their fantasy about the victim and in many cases cause her fear and emotional distress. Many will leave messages or other items that let’s the victim know they had violated their space. In this victim’s case a signed receipt. Others will damage property; especially items that mean something to the victim. This is why we file burglary charges on the stalker. Remember, the more felony charges we can attach to the stalker, the longer they stay incarcerated.
Just so you know, the stalker was convicted of three counts of aggravated stalking and is looking at a possible sentence of fifteen years.
I will also advise you about another stalking investigation that was actually handed off to me by another police department in my county. Due to the fact, that all surrounding agencies not only in our county but ones that adjoined us knew that we had a Family Protection Unit that handled a variety of types of case like; sexual assault, domestic violence, assaults involving children, domestic violence, and yes stalking, they would at times reach out to us for our expertise and assistance. In this particular case, the detective from the other city had seemingly tried to get a conviction on this stalker, but couldn’t. Unfortunately, the detective had not been well trained in stalking, but felt his victim in her mid-thirties was at risk; therefore he gave me the case to see what I could do. Here is what my investigation revealed:
- The stalker probably had a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. You can Google this disorder, but in general they feel the need for self-importance, have grandiose ideas, and are starved for attention, and usually need to exploit others. We have found that they like to be in control of any relationship they become involved with.
- This stalker had placed a recording device in the victims bedroom behind some books on a shelf. Over a period of weeks, he would enter her home when she was in work to replace batteries in the recorder as well as recover the tape, and replace it with another. When we were able to find out the exact dates when he did this, we had the District Attorney file the crime of residential burglary for each time he entered. [This obviously greatly added to his sentence along with the aggravated stalking charge we also filed on him.]
- We also found several other things about this stalker which added to the lengthy list of charges that were able to file.
Stalking Detective’s First Aide for Victims 