Cameron and Janice Hooker

"I want you to thank the judge for me. I have a library, a gym, and the time to enjoy them, and it's better than living with those two women." -Cameron Hooker, to his lawyer, after his conviction

Cameron and Janice Hooker are a married couple who abducted two women in the late 70s, murdering one and keeping another as their slave for seven years.

Background
Little is known of Cameron Hooker's early life and even less of Janice's. Cameron was born in Alturas, California, on November 5, 1953. His family moved often during his childhood and they didn't settle in Red Bluff until 1969, when he was already sixteen. In 1972, Cameron graduated from High School and began to work at a local lumber mill. He met Janice the next year. Janice was only fifteen at the time, was abused by her family and had no sentimental relationships before Cameron. As a result, Janice was submissive and she offered no resistance when Cameron called her a whore and introduced her to bondage and sadomasochism, even after he almost drowned her once during one of their sessions. Cameron's favorite game was to hang Janice by her wrists, completely nude, and hit her several times with a bullwhip. The Hookers married on January 18, 1975, at which time Cameron had already informed Janice that he intended to abduct a stranger and force her into sexual slavery so he could have a ménage à trois. At some unspecified moment, Janice managed to extract two conditions from Cameron: He would only whip the slave, but not Janice anymore, so she could get pregnant and have children without danger; and he would only have penetrative sex with Janice.

Murder of Marliz Spannhake
The Hookers picked up nineteen-year-old hitchhiker Marliz Spannhake in Chico, California, on January 31, 1976. They drove her to her intended destination, but when she was getting out, Cameron grabbed her and forced her back into the car. Spannhake was brought to the Hooker home where she was hung from her wrists in the basement, undressed and unspecifically tortured for a day. She was then shot in the stomach with a pellet gun and subsequently strangled by Cameron for unknown reasons. The body was later buried in a swallow grave near Lassen Volcanic National Park and never recovered. At the time, the police suspected that Spannhake's boyfriend was responsible for her disappearance because they had had an argument just before she disappeared.

Abduction of Colleen Stan
Twenty-year-old Colleen Stan was abducted near Red Bluff on May 19, 1977, when she was hitchhiing from Eugene, Oregon to a friend's birthday party in northern California. Stan, who had turned down an offer by two men just before, accepted to go with the Hookers because Janice was in the passenger's seat holding their infant son. Along the ride, Cameron stopped at a gas station and Stan went to the restroom. When she came back, she found a makeshift BDSM head box in the backseat that wasn't there before. Stan didn't know what it was, but she didn't have the courage to ask the Hookers, and they made no mention of it. Some time later, Cameron stopped again in an isolated area and Janice got out with the child. Cameron then threatened Stan with a knife, and subsequently handcuffed, gagged, blindfolded and forced her into the box. The Hookers drove back to their home and hanged Stan from her wrists before removing the box and cutting her clothes. Once nude, Cameron whipped her repeatedly while Janice watched. After he finished, the Hookers had sex in front of Stan, unaware that she could see them through the blindfold. Stan was then forced inside a wooden box, only sligthly larger than a coffin. Over the following months, Cameron Hooker would take Stan out for a daily session of torture including whippings, electric shocks, starvation, and the use of a homemade rack. She lost 22 pounds (10 kilos) after the first month. In August, Stan was allowed her first bath since her capture, and in November she started doing small chores around the house, working nude. Inspired by the BDSM novel Story of O, Hooker took Stan aside on January 25, 1978, and told her that he was a member of an all-powerful secret organization, known simply as The Company. According to Hooker, The Company had members in all echelons of government, industry, law enforcement and courts; they enslaved women for fun and profit, and they used high-tech surveillance to track them at all times and ensure that they didn't escape and inform the public. If they tried to, The Company would retaliate immediately against them and their relatives. After finishing, Hooker presented Stan with a full-fledged "slave contract" granting "Michael Powers" absolute control over Stan's body, soul, and any posessions she might acquire. The contract was signed by Stan and "Michael Powers" as parts, and also by "Janice Powers" as their witness. Per the same document, Stan was imposed a slave collar and the slave name "K". From this point, Hooker raped Stan during the torture sessions and whenever he pleased. He fashioned a new wooden box to keep Stan in and placed it into the frame of his waterbed. Sometimes, he slept with Stan and his wife in the bed at the same time, and forced Stan to perform cunnilingus on Janice. Stan was let out of the house for the first time in 1980. Initially, Janice would drive Stan to bars in Red Bluff, where Janice would drink with her and vent her jealousy by picking up strangers and sleeping with them. Later, Cameron made Stan beg for money in Reno, Red Bluff and Redding. Stan made no attempt to escape as she believed that The Company was watching her. In the summer, Stan was allowed out of the box altogether and made to sleep in the bathroom floor while being chained to the toilet. By the end of the year, she was allowed to phone her family and told them that she was working as a nanny for a "nice couple" that she found on the road. In March 1981, Hooker drove Stan to visit her grandmother and parents. She introduced him as her boyfriend, "Mike", and stayed overnight at her mother's home before he picked her in the morning.

Back at the Hooker home, Hooker revoked all improvements given to Stan in the past year and subjected her again to the conditions of her early captitvity. In 1983 he finished building a pit under a shed in the property and moved Stan's box there. In May 1984, however, he allowed Stan to take a part-time job as a motel maid under the alias "Kay Powers", and also to attend church services with Janice. This situation lasted until August, when Cameron told his wife about his intention to acquires new slaves and keep them in the pit with Stan. Janice then visited Stan at her job place and told her that The Company was nothing but a lie from Cameron. She also told her pastor, who adviced Stan to flee. Subsequently, Stan phoned Cameron from a bus station to tell him that he was leaving, and he broke down into tears. Even then, Stan agreed with Janice to not go to the police in order to give Cameron a chance to "reform". After three months, Janice reported him to the police for Stan's abduction and also for Spannhake's murder. Since the police was unable to locate Spannhake's body, he was only charged with the crimes committed against Stan. On October 31, 1985, Hooker was found guilty of 10 felony counts and sentenced to 95 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Janice was not charged in return for her testimony, and she continues to live in California under a different name.

Modus Operandi
The Hookers drove their two-door Dodge Colt around Northern California, looking for young women suitable to be turned into sex slaves. Janice sat in the passenger seat to give the victims a false sense of security, but did not take part in the initial abduction otherwise. After offering a female hitchhiker a ride, Cameron would grab, immobilize and blindfold her, and then drive back to the Hooker family home. The victims were subsequently brought to the basement, hanged by their wrists, undressed and whipped while still blindfolded, with Cameron and Janice having sex near them afterward. After a day, Spannahke was shot in the abdomen with a pellet gun and strangled by Cameron, and subsequently buried by the couple near Lassen Park. Stan, on the other hand, was kept alive in a wooden box under the Hookers' bed and allowed out only to get a single meal, wash, do house work and be whipped and eventually raped by Cameron.

Profile
Cameron Hooker is a diagnosed sexual sadist.

Known Victims

 * January 31, 1976, Chico, California: Marie Elizabeth "Marliz" Spannhake, 19
 * May 19, 1977, Red Bluff, California: Colleen J. Stan, 20

On Criminal Minds
Stan's abduction served as a major inspiration for the abduction of Cindi Burns in The Company. Similarities include the use of a sensory deprivation box; a slavery contract signed by both "master" and "slave", burned after the crime is discovered, but still serving as the main evidence of it afterward; the requirement of permision to speak; and using the threat of a fictional, all-powerful "Company" against the victim's relatives to keep her from fleeing. The Hookers are also similar to the Reimanns from Cradle to Grave, and Robert Burke and Juliet Monroe from ...A Thousand Words. In all three cases, the abducting couple was formed by a sexual sadist husband and a submissive wife with a previous history of abuse, who tolerated or helped her partner in his crimes as a way to spare herself from his abuse and have children (born to the victims rather than herself, in Linda Reimann's case).