Actor Eva LaRue and her daughter, Kaya Callahan, endured more than a decade of stalking by an anonymous tormentor who sent them graphic threats signed "Freddy Krueger," referencing the villain from the Nightmare on Elm Street films. The ordeal began in 2007, when LaRue, then a single mother and star on CSI: Miami, started receiving violence-themed letters via her manager and publicist, per People. As the threats escalated, the stalker began targeting Kaya as well. To protect her family, LaRue installed security cameras and changed homes three times, but the stalker managed to find their new address each time.
The harassment intensified in 2019 when the stalker impersonated Kaya's father in a failed attempt to pick her up from school. It wasn't until later that year that a suspect, James David Rogers of Ohio, was arrested after DNA evidence tied him to the letters. Rogers pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in 2022 and was sentenced to 40 months behind bars. LaRue and Kaya are now revisiting their experiences in a new Paramount+ docuseries, My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story, which aims to shed light on the impact of stalking and push for stronger protections for victims.
LaRue emphasizes that stalking isn't limited to the more famous among us and hopes their story will offer support and hope to others facing similar threats. Still, the 58-year-old actor told CBS Mornings on Tuesday that she doesn't know if she and Kaya will ever truly feel safe, per CBS News. "It really is an absolute rewiring of how you move through your life," she told the program, adding, per E! News, that it was a "full-body takeover." She added: "There's no way to ever go back to innocence."
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