12 Years of Terror: How CSI's Eva LaRue Fought a Stalker

As viewers watched captivated as Eva LaRue investigated crimes on "CSI: Miami," they couldn't imagine the actress herself experiencing a true nightmare. For 12 years, the Emmy winner and her daughter, Kaia, lived under constant threat. They were stalked by an anonymous source, who made such sophisticated threats in letters and phone calls that LaRue called it "psychological terrorism."

In her new documentary miniseries, My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story, the actress finally reveals the whole truth: how it all started, why it took so long to catch the maniac, and how they managed to survive.

The 58-year-old actress and her 23-year-old daughter broke their silence for the greater good. The star emphasizes that she is sharing her story to shed light on what she calls an "epidemic" of stalking. This threat is far more widespread than is commonly believed.

According to the Sexually Harassed Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC), approximately 13.5 million people in the United States experience stalking each year. One in three women and one in six men have experienced it at least once in their lives.

Eva received her first threatening letter from the maniac obsessed with her in 2007. The author filled it with detailed descriptions of rape, horrific torture, and murder. He liberally adorned the letter with drawings and signed it "Freddy Krueger," the hero of the popular horror film "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

Letters from the psychopath began arriving regularly. At first, he sent them to the actress's manager's work address. But one day, a note with the text "I finally found you" arrived at Eva LaRue's home address. LaRue was 40 years old at the time, living with her five-year-old daughter in Los Angeles. Two years earlier, in 2005, she had divorced her husband, actor John Callahan.

Naturally, the actress immediately contacted the police. The stalker sent letters from different post offices, making it difficult to trace their origin. The criminal left DNA traces on some of the messages. But at the time, the files were still incomplete, and the evidence was of no use. Eva said with bitter irony:

There was nothing to compare the criminal's samples with. Nowadays, it's enough to fall under suspicion for DNA to be entered into the database. But in the 2000s, only the data of people who had committed serious crimes was recorded. The stalker hadn't been convicted of murder, rape, or child molestation, so no information about him was found in the database.

During her years of persecution, LaRue had her share of bright moments. In 2010, she married businessman Joe Cappuccio. She and her daughter moved into the businessman's heavily guarded mansion. Eva also acquired a gun and learned how to use it—for real, not like on TV.

The actress recalls that it was a time of relative calm. The maniac seemed to be lying low, and there were no letters from him for six months. Eva hoped he had been arrested or even died. She also thought that after his work on "CSI: Miami" ended, the stalker lost interest in her.

But then the letters started coming again—and in even greater quantities. Eva received them at her new home address, and then the psychopath began sending them to the actress's husband's office. In 2014, her marriage to Joe Cappuccio broke up. Eva and her daughter, Kaia, felt helpless once again.

They moved frequently, changing cars, clothing styles, and hairstyles. Sometimes, mother and daughter had to sleep with a gun under their pillows. In 2019, a stalker called Kaiya Callahan's school, claiming to be her father. Prosecutors said he also left a voicemail threatening to "rape, torture, and kill her." He called the school 18 times.

The stalker sent letters from different states, and although the FBI was investigating the case, they were unable to track the maniac. Experts scrutinized each letter under a microscope. In 2019, luck finally smiled on the detectives. A strong DNA sample was isolated from one of the envelopes.

No, the analysis didn't directly point to the stalker. But it did lead to his relatives, who lived in Ohio. The rest was a matter of technique. 58-year-old James David Rogers was arrested, identified by saliva on a discarded drinking straw.

The District Attorney's Office reported that between March 2007 and June 2015 alone, Rogers sent 37 letters. In one 2015 letter to Kaya Callahan, he wrote, "I'm the man who's been stalking you for the last seven years. Now I'm looking at you too."

In 2022, Rogers pleaded guilty to two counts of sending threatening messages, one count of making threats by interstate communications, and two counts of stalking. He was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison and is scheduled for release in 2024.

Rogers was also forbidden from approaching LaRue and her daughter or from reminding them of himself in any way. If he broke the rules, he would end up behind bars again—but this time for many years. The victims of persecution finally breathed a sigh of relief. But Eva and Kaya didn't want to forget it all as a bad dream. On the contrary, they made sure as many people as possible knew their story.

Do you think it's possible to truly protect ourselves from such threats in the modern world, or do cases like Eva LaRue's show that the system remains powerless against stalkers?