Eva LaRue’s Twelve-Year Ordeal with a Stalker
Eva LaRue and her daughter, Kaya Callahan, have endured a disturbing experience with a stalker for over a decade, which LaRue describes as “psychological terrorism.”
“It’s like you’re living in your own prison,” the former “CSI: Miami” actress shared, expressing how constant fear permeates her thoughts. She often found herself questioning if her stalker was lurking nearby — in her car, at her daughter’s school, or even among a crowd.
“You end up living in a jail of your own making,” she said, reflecting on the toll it has taken on her mental state.
The 58-year-old actress, alongside her 23-year-old daughter, recently opened up about their experiences in the new documentary series on Paramount+ titled *My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story*. She hopes sharing their ordeal helps raise awareness about stalking, a problem that is, regretfully, more common than many realize.
According to the Stalking Prevention/Awareness/Resource Center, approximately 13.5 million people in the U.S. experience stalking each year, with one in three women and one in six men affected at some point in their lives.
LaRue’s stalker first reached her in 2007, sending a menacing note through her manager. It was signed “Freddy Krueger,” invoking the infamous character from *A Nightmare on Elm Street*. Inside were gruesome threats of rape and murder.
The letters continued, escalating in menace, with one stating, “Finally found,” which caused an even greater sense of dread.
At the time, LaRue, a single mother living in Los Angeles, was trying to separate herself from her past. Her marriage to *All My Children* star John Callaghan had ended in 2005, leaving her to raise their daughter alone.
LaRue noted the frightening aspect of stalking; it’s a crime that hasn’t happened yet but carries the weight of threats that can consume one’s life. “They’re threatening violence, and yet it’s not a crime that’s happened… at least, not yet,” she shuddered.
Tracking her stalker proved difficult; the letters were sent from different post offices, complicating identification efforts, and existing forensic technology back then was limited. “It felt surreal to be on a crime show acting as a DNA expert when, in reality, the technology wasn’t as advanced as portrayed,” she recalled.
This anonymity allowed the stalker to evade police for years. “He wasn’t in any nationwide database. If you haven’t committed a serious crime, your DNA isn’t there,” LaRue explained.
For a brief time, LaRue felt a sense of security. After marrying businessman Joe Cappuccio in 2010, they lived in a gated community and even got accustomed to handling firearms as a precaution.
“It was a strange kind of comfort,” she said, reminiscing on moments when letters would go silent for months, leading them to believe perhaps he had been caught or worse.
Sadly, the peace didn’t last. In 2019, things escalated when a stalker made threatening calls to Callahan’s school, claiming to be her father. Prosecutors stated he threatened to “rape her, sexually abuse her, and kill her,” allegedly calling the school 18 times.
The FBI eventually got involved when the cross-state threats caught their attention. They analyzed the letters, searching for possible forensic evidence to track down the perpetrator.
Then in 2019, a usable DNA sample was collected from an envelope, leading them to a small town in Ohio, where they arrested James David Rogers, who had been using discarded fast-food straws to collect DNA from unsuspecting sources.
From March 2007 to June 2015, Rogers sent 37 handwritten and typed letters threatening LaRue and her daughter. In one letter, he ominously told Callahan, “I’m the guy I’ve been stalking for the past seven years. Now I’ve got my eyes on you too.”
In 2022, he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of stalking, receiving a sentence of 40 months in federal prison. LaRue expressed relief that the threat could be contained but remained cautiously wary, saying, “If we respond in any way, he’ll be sent directly back to prison.”
LaRue now hopes her story ignites discussions surrounding stalking regulations and the need for improved police training on how to support victims. “I may try to compartmentalize my life, but I never let my guard down,” she noted. “The reality is stalking victims can be in grave danger.” It’s a haunting reminder that the shadows of fear can linger, even when one’s life seems to move forward.
*My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story* debuts on November 13th.
