The ‘CSI: Miami’ star described her stalker’s threats as “the most heinous, most deplorable, most sickening, most terrifying,” and opens up about the traumatic ordeal in a new Paramount+ docuseries.
For more than a decade, former All My Children star Eva LaRue and her daughter, Kaya Callahan, lived under a paralyzing threat from an anonymous stalker who signed his horrific letters with the moniker of “Freddie Krueger,” a misspelling of the nefarious killer from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Now, both mother and daughter are opening up about the 12-year ordeal of graphically violent threats in the two-part My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story, a Paramount+ docuseries premiering on November 13.
The nightmare began in 2007, shortly after LaRue joined the cast of the hit show CSI: Miami. Then a single mother of 5-year-old Kaya, LaRue began receiving mail addressed to her via her manager and publicist. The letters quickly escalated from disturbing fan mail to graphically violent threats of rape, torture, and murder. LaRue recalled the threats as “the most heinous, most deplorable, most sickening, most terrifying,” according to an article from People.
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Initially, LaRue thought it was all a crazy prank, but as a few more threatening letters trickled in, it was clear she was being stalked, especially after one of them came with an ominous warning: “I am going to instill fear into every part of your life.”
The traumatic situation became infinitely more terrifying when the unknown antagonist began targeting young Kaya. To protect her daughter, LaRue installed security cameras and attempted to shield Kaya from the truth, avoiding reading most of the dozens of letters that arrived over the years.
“Because my mom kept so much hidden, I didn’t know much about it,” revealed Kaya, now 23 years old, during the docuseries. “It was like reliving it and yet experiencing it for the very first time.”
Yet, the stalker proved relentless. Despite the mother and daughter moving three separate times in an attempt to escape, the obsessive fan was able to track them to each new residence.
The stalking ordeal reached a terrifying peak in 2019. By then, Kaya was 17, and her mother had revealed some details of the threats. One afternoon, Kaya was called out of her high school classroom to the main office, where a receptionist informed her that her father had called and was coming to pick her up. Kaya instinctively texted her mother to verify the pickup, and LaRue immediately called her ex-husband, actor John Callahan, who was not even in Los Angeles.
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It was a chilling moment of realization: the stalker had found Kaya’s school and was attempting to impersonate her father to abduct her. LaRue rushed to the school to retrieve her daughter, describing the experience as feeling like a “jump scare.”
Later that year, authorities finally achieved a breakthrough. DNA collected from one of the menacing letters was matched to 61-year-old James David Rogers of Ohio. Rogers was arrested in 2019, finally bringing the 12-year campaign of terror to a close. In 2022, Rogers pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges and was sentenced to 40 months in prison.
For Kaya, the arrest brought immense relief. “It was very freeing,” she said, adding that she finally felt like she could “live a normal life again.” LaRue has since dedicated herself to advocacy, choosing to recount their story in a docuseries to help highlight the need for stronger laws to protect victims of stalking, stressing that the threat now extends to anyone targeted through social media, not just celebrities.
“We want to help everybody who’s being stalked and instill some hope,” she said.
My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story drops November 13 on Paramount+.
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