Former CSI: Miami star Eva LaRue is confronting her 12-year nightmare with a stalker in a powerful new Paramount+ docuseries titled My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story, which premiered on Thursday, November 14, 2025.
A Living Prison of Fear
In an interview with Fox News Digital, the 58-year-old actress described the prolonged harassment as a form of psychological terrorism. She revealed that the constant threats forced her and her daughter into a state of perpetual fear, fundamentally altering their lives. You become your own prisoner, LaRue stated. Your mind is constantly in absolute terror mode, so you are thinking about every possibility. You are living in a prison of your own making.
LaRue and her 23-year-old daughter, Kaya Callahan, decided to share their harrowing experience to shed light on what she calls an epidemic of stalking. The actress told Yahoo! that being stalked rewires your life, stealing the innocence of ever feeling safe again.
The Beginning of a 12-Year Ordeal
The terrifying chapter began in 2007 when LaRue, then a 40-year-old single mother in Los Angeles, received a letter containing graphic threats of rape, torture, and murder. The letter was signed by Freddie Krueger, the fictional serial killer from A Nightmare on Elm Street. LaRue described it to PEOPLE as the most heinous, most deplorable, most sickening, most terrifying threats.
The situation escalated rapidly when the stalker began targeting her then five-year-old daughter. The letters, which increased in violent detail, were mailed from different post offices, making the sender difficult to trace with the forensic technology available at the time. A particularly chilling letter sent to her home simply read, I have finally found you.
The Investigation and a Shocking Breakthrough
After a brief respite when she remarried in 2010, the stalker resurfaced, sending threats to her new husband's office. The marriage eventually ended in 2014. The critical break in the case came in 2019 when the stalker called her daughter's school 18 times, falsely claiming to be her father.
Because the threats were sent through the mail and crossed state lines, the FBI became involved. Investigators finally got a lead when usable DNA was recovered from one of the envelopes. Using pioneering genetic genealogy technology, the FBI traced the DNA to a list of the suspect's relatives, leading them to a small town in Ohio.
In 2022, James David Rogers, 58, was arrested after his DNA was matched from a discarded Arby's straw. He later pleaded guilty to multiple counts, including mailing threatening communications and stalking. He was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison and was released in 2024.
LaRue expressed profound disappointment with the sentence, telling Yahoo!, After stealing our peace and sanity for 12 years, he gets three-and-a-half years. And we get life. We get a lifetime sentence of fear.
In a move toward healing and advocacy, LaRue is now developing a scripted drama based on the FBI's innovative use of forensic genealogy that ultimately solved her case, hoping her story will help other victims.
