Kidnapping, Torture of Carol Smith - the Girl in the Box

During the 1970s, hitchhiking was a common and normal part of social subculture. It was especially popular among teenagers and young adults, who viewed it as a way of expressing their freedom. For these reasons, Carol Smith (a pseudonym), age 20, saw no danger in hitchhiking from her home in Oregon to California to visit a friend. Unbeknownst to her, she would not be returning home for several years. This is the true story of the case dubbed by the media as "The Girl in the Box."

By midday on May 19, 1977, Carol had already traveled 350 miles of her journey. With less than 100 miles to go, she accepted a ride from Cameron and Janice Hooker, a seemingly normal couple. The fact that they had a baby with them added to their innocent appearance. As she stepped into the blue Dodge Colt, Carol had no idea that she had just met the man who would, in the near future, brainwash her and keep her captive in his home as his sex slave for the next seven years.

Cameron drove to an old abandoned road. Aware of her husband's intentions, Janice took the baby and stepped out of the car. Cameron then held a knife to Carol's throat and told her to do as he said. He instructed her to put her hands above her head. She fearfully complied and he handcuffed, blindfolded and gagged her. He then enclosed her head with a carpet-lined plywood box that he had built himself, specifically for the purpose of restraining and controlling his new slave. Janice got back in the car with the baby and Cameron continued driving. The couple stopped to pick up dinner as Carol remained in the car wondering if she would ever see her loved ones again.

Later, in his house, Cameron removed the box from Carol's head and led her to the cellar. He then made her stand on a chest. Still blindfolded, she trembled with fear as he tied her bound hands to an overhead pipe. As if this was not uncomfortable enough, he then removed the chest, leaving her dangling. Beneath the blindfold she was able to see a violent pornographic magazine on the floor beneath her. The magazine pictured a woman bound and strung up the same way that she was at that moment. Cameron whipped her several times and then left the room, returning moments later with his wife, Janice. The couple then had sex right there on the floor in front of the terrified woman. After they finished, Cameron took Carol down and placed her in a full-body locking box with almost no room to move around in. As awful as her first night was, the horror had only just begun.

The next day, Cameron alternated hanging Carol and enclosing her in the box he had built. For part of the day, he stretched her on a rack, leaving her immobile for hours. He starved her all day before finally allowing her a small meal later at night. This pattern of torture and starvation became the daily routine for the next few years.

Carol's parents filed a missing person's report with their local police department, but there was no sign of their daughter.

As time went on, Carol gave up hope that she would ever be free again. She was kept in the box most of the time and was forced to give up any last shred of dignity. Her captor did not let her shower for extended periods of time and she was given a bedpan as she was not even permitted to use the bathroom. He eventually built a small cell under the stairs and occasionally let her spend a couple of hours there. As cramped as it was, it was still better than the box that she had been spending so much of her time in.

To make sure that he maintained full control over her, Cameron told Carol that he had registered her with a fictitious organization called "The Slave Company."He made her sign a contract and led her to believe that the organization knew where her family lived and would hurt or kill them if she misbehaved or tried to escape. He even made her wear a collar and gave her a fake "slave registration" card.

Carol soon learned that the less trouble she gave Cameron, the better he treated her. Eventually she was permitted to leave the basement/box and do household chores. She was also allowed to write three letters to her family and make several short phone calls to them. Around this time, he raped her for the first time and had sex with her regularly from then on.

Her "freedom" only lasted a short while. When the Hookers moved to a trailer in a more deserted area, Carol was forced to remain in the box, which was kept under the bed. She heard everything that went on in their bedroom, including sex and Janice giving birth to the couple's second daughter. Carol and Janice had no privacy whatsoever, and Cameron maintained complete control over both of them.

Carol was eventually allowed one hour a day to clean her bedpan and shower. Soon after, Cameron permitted her to leave the house for short periods of time. She was so brainwashed at that point that even when she was out of the house alone to go jogging, she made no attempt to escape or get help. The few neighbors that saw her were under the impression that she was a live-in babysitter. She always returned to the Hooker residence when she was allowed out and she rarely gave Cameron trouble. The few times that she did, he shocked her with electrical wires.

Three and a half years into her captivity, Cameron agreed to let Carol visit her family. He told her that members of "The Slave Company" had her family's house under surveillance and would be watching the whole time. Cameron pretended to be Carol's fiancé during their brief visit with her family. Her parents and sister noticed that she looked unhappy and had lost a lot of weight since they had last seen her, but said nothing. They had felt that maybe they had said or done something to drive her away, and they did not want to chance upsetting her. "She gave us no information on where she'd been or on where she'd be going," recalled her sister, Jenise. "We were all afraid to sit her down and get it out of her. We were afraid we would lose her again."

Carol's so called freedom had come to an end. She was kept in the box under the bed for the better part of the next three years. Around this time, Janice became very religious and wanted to help Carol escape. One day when she told Carol that "The Slave Company" was not real and Cameron had lied to her. The following day, Carol had her father wire her money for a bus ticket. She left when Cameron was at work and went back home to her parents.

Even though she was now a free woman, Carol said nothing to her family or to the police about what she had been through. She kept in contact with Janice Hooker and, typical of Stockholm Syndrome, seemed to have an attachment to her former captors. After Carol had left, Cameron and Janice burned all evidence of her ever having been in their home.

After a long talk with her pastor, Janice, overwhelmed with guilt, went to the police and told them everything that had happened. Cameron was arrested on November 18, 1984, approximately seven years after abducting Carol.

Many complications arose for the prosecution during the trial. Cameron pleaded not guilty to the sodomy, rape and other charges filed against him. The kidnapping charge did not hold because the statute of limitations for kidnapping was three years and seven years had passed since Carol was abducted by the Hookers. The defense argued that Carol and Cameron were having a consensual affair and that Janice lied about her husband kidnapping and torturing Carol because she was envious of their relationship. In an attempt to spare herself from some of Cameron's abuse, Carol frequently told him that she loved him. This became a problem during the trial when the defense presented a tape on which Carol announced her love for Cameron. The defense used the tape to support their claim that Cameron and Carol were in a relationship.

The prosecution had its work cut out. The fact that a great deal of evidence had been destroyed by the Hookers did not help the prosecution's case, either. Many experts were called to provide testimony on the mental state of captives and Stockholm Syndrome. In the end, despite the difficult task they faced, the prosecution was successful. Janice Hooker was given full immunity from prosecution for her confession and her testimony against her husband. Cameron was found guilty of 10 felonies, including rape and kidnapping. He was sentenced to a total of 104 years in prison for all of his crimes. His lawyer appealed but was unsuccessful. He remains in prison.