As the world struggled to imagine the torment endured by Elisabeth Fritzl, imprisoned in a cellar for 24 years, Colleen Stan describes her own terrifying ordeal with disturbing, sick similarities. In May 1977, 20-year-old Colleen was hitch-hiking through northern California when she was offered a lift by Cameron Hooker.
Despite the fact that four years earlier, Edmund Kemper had stalked and killed female hitchhikers in San Jose, California most young women did not give the potential dangers of the practice much thought. Hitchhiking in the '70s was a way of life, part of a statement of freedom that the youth subculture had adopted in recent years. Eschewing material things or simply having no money, they got around based on their belief in the kindness of strangers.
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