I'm taking a stalker: His obsession pursued her until the moment another stalker appeared
We have seen it countless times in movies. The mysterious admirer, who initially appears to be a kind and attentive man, gradually turns into a relentless stalker. He follows every step of his chosen one, writes her messages, waits for her in front of her house, calls her at night and claims that he loves her more than anyone else. While in romantic scenes this may look like proof of devotion, in real life it is a dangerous line between love and obsession. And here begins a story that could easily be a movie script - but this time it takes place in reality.
Imagine a scene straight out of a romantic movie. Every morning the same person is waiting for you in front of your house, a smile on their face and a bouquet of flowers in their hand. They send you messages full of compliments, call you several times a day, leave you small gifts, invite you to dinner, and claim to care about you more than you can imagine. At first glance, they may seem like a tireless romantic who simply won't give up. But where is the line between sincere interest and dangerous obsession? When do tender gestures turn into terrifying pursuits - a phenomenon known as stalking?
The woman who finally agreed to speak with us did not want to reveal her name. In this article, we will therefore call her Lenka. Her story is like a tense thriller, where the boundary between love and obsession blurs into dangerous silence.
A Beginning Like in a Movie
Lenka was an ordinary woman from a small town. She worked in a library and dreamed of someone who would sincerely love her. Everything changed the day Marek appeared in her life. At first glance, he was a charismatic, attentive, and gallant man. He helped her with a broken car, invited her for coffee, and seemed to be the ideal partner. He was charming, educated, and knew how to speak so that you believed everything he said. He seemed like a man who would never hurt her. But sometimes there was a strange gleam in his eyes - a brief flash of insecurity that turned into control. After a few months, he asked her to marry him. There was no reason to refuse. He was kind, caring, a bit jealous, but she explained it as an expression of love.
Lenka had no idea that Marek knew much more about her than any stranger could know. He knew where she lived, when she left work, what she read, and what perfumes she used. Although he later claimed that "it was just a coincidence", the truth was different. He had been watching her for months.
Their relationship developed rapidly. Marek seemed to read her thoughts. He always knew what to say, what would please her and what to avoid. Lenka thought she had found a kindred spirit who understood her. He behaved like a perfect partner: gifts, love messages, constant presence. Only later did she realize that his presence was not a manifestation of love, but control. Before their wedding, Marek convinced her to cut off contact with some of her friends. He argued that they were making her insecure and destroying their harmony. Gradually he isolated her from the world, but Lenka saw it as an act of care.
When he proposed to her, she was moved. The wedding took place in a small guesthouse on the outskirts of the city. White decorations, gentle music, smiling guests. No one suspected that a dark scenario, which would soon unfold, lurked beneath the surface. He looked like a man who had finally found the woman of his dreams. But in his mind, it was not love. It was possessiveness, a pathological need to control her, to know her every move.
Wedding Night
Something broke on their wedding night. Smiles turned into reproaches, touches into commands, love into obligation. Laura was no longer allowed to go out without telling him where she was going. He claimed he was protecting her, that the world was full of dangers, but she felt like he had made her a prison in which she lived. Marek refused to allow Lence to call her mother. He said she now belonged to him. He was gentle and frighteningly direct. His eyes, once warm, had a coldness she had not noticed before.
The following days were full of strange moments. Each morning he woke her up with questions about who she was writing to. Every evening he tested her - set traps for her and asked her about small things she could only know if she "had someone". When she cried, he said he was testing her to prove her devotion.
At night he stood by the window and watched to see if the neighbors' lights would turn on. He claimed they were watching him. He started suffering from paranoia, but he refused to admit it. And when she told him she needed peace and silence, he responded with cold laughter:
"You'll have to share a room with me."
When she went to the store, he suddenly appeared. When she was texting her friend, he knew about it. Sometimes he said he saw her by the window or at work - even when he was clearly elsewhere.
Lenka began to notice that someone was browsing her mobile phone, the computer was responding slowly and the doors were sometimes ajar. She thought she was just imagining it. Over time, love turned into surveillance. Marek watched every move she made. He asked who she was with, why she smiled at the seller, why she stayed five minutes longer. He looked for evidence of infidelity, which he had invented himself. When she resisted, he locked her in the house. He claimed he was protecting her. He took her phone, changed her passwords, and left her without any connection to the world. Love turned into prison. Marek had every day meticulously planned. The time he gets up, what he puts on, who he meets. If she deviated, punishment followed - silence, ignoring, mental pressure. Sometimes he didn't talk to her for several days, even though she deliberately deleted contacts from his phone.
The more she feared him, the stronger he became. In his world, love was measured by obedience. He wanted to break her, so that she was no longer independent. So she would be afraid to leave.
His house was full of rules. Without his knowledge, nothing could be moved. Everything had its order, everything had its place - and Lenka was supposed to be one of them. Lenka realized that the man she married knew her before she knew him. Someone who had been watching her for months and gathering information to become the man of her dreams.
One day, when Marek went to work, Lenka noticed a car parked in front of the house. The driver was sitting inside for an entire hour. At first, she thought it was a coincidence. But later she realized that Marek was also nervous. He kept checking windows and looking outside. And then it happened - in the middle of the night someone knocked on the door. The police. It turned out that Marek had been followed - by a private detective hired by his ex-partner. She also disappeared after their wedding, and her family was trying to find her.
Lenka found out that Marek had similar cases in the past - women he loved, watched, and eventually broke up with. Some of them completely disappeared from his life.
A conclusion that is not happy
Lenka survived, but not without consequences. After Marek's arrest, she moved, changed her name, job, and appearance. She suffers from anxiety and paranoia that someone is watching her again.
"Sometimes I feel like when I close my eyes, he's still there. Watching me," she said quietly.
And even though it may seem like the story ended with his arrest, the truth is different. A few months ago, an anonymous letter without a signature was received. On the white paper it was written: "Nobody will love you the way I do."
A few days later, his body was found. The police stated that it was a suicide. According to some witnesses, however, he was not alone in the last weeks. It was as if someone was following him. Maybe another stalker. Maybe a reflection of his own dark side. Since then, however, Laura never falls asleep without locking all the doors.
Stalking - a silent crime that is kept quiet
According to experts, only a small percentage of people resort to harassing their former partner after a breakup. Statistics show two to eight percent, but psychologist Anka Petranová points out that these figures do not reflect reality. Many victims never speak about their suffering - they are ashamed to admit that they are terrorized by someone they once loved. In expert terminology, this phenomenon is called stalking, which is derived from the English term for following game.
Most often these are people who can't cope with the end of a relationship. They then shower their ex-partner with attention that gradually changes from romantic to obsessive. It starts with innocent messages, phone calls, apologies, or sudden "random" encounters. However, when these attempts at contact become unbearable and last for months, they turn into psychological terror.
If the person does not cut off contact in time, the situation worsens – from constant phone calls to physical stalking. The stalker usually doesn't give up and turns the victim's life into an invisible prison. Interestingly, however, according to him, female stalkers are even more systematic - they plan every step, follow their target with cold precision, and can remain inconspicuous for months.
In Lenka's case, however, the problem was the opposite - her stalker was her own husband. And from a victim of lonely stalking, she became a woman imprisoned in her own home with a person she feared.
When love turns to control
The longer the stalking lasts, the greater the risk that it will turn into physical violence. Escalation often occurs when a woman tries to leave the relationship, get divorced, or find a new partner. The stalker then perceives this change as a betrayal and a threat to his power. This is stated by the website of the Alej counseling center.
Some start using even more intense tactics - they follow a woman on her way to work, send anonymous messages, and contact her family or colleagues. Obsessive control turns into a war for dominance. The stalker tries to gain the upper hand to prove that they have the final word. Particularly dangerous are those who have previously shown pathological jealousy and the desire to own another person. A loss of control, social status or feelings of rejection can lead them to actions that they would never have dared to even imagine before. These people see stalking as the only way to gain power, avenge themselves, and humiliate..
Warning signs that should not be ignored
The escalation of behavior is also manifested in the form of direct threats - threats of murder, harm, property damage, or an attack on a pet. Experts say that perpetrators who harm animals are very dangerous and often escalate to greater violence. The more specific and thoughtful the threats are, the greater the risk that they will eventually be carried out.
Therefore, if a woman starts to feel fear, feels she is being watched, or has a bad feeling about her partner's behavior, it is sufficient reason for her to take steps. In these cases, silence may not necessarily pay off.
Eva LaRue - 12 years of stalking
Despite being at the zenith of her acting career, CSI: Miami star Eva LaRue experienced a dramatic turn in her life when in 2007 she received a disturbing message. A diary signed by "Freddie Krueger" progressively changed over the years to dozens more messages, repeatedly menacing LaRue and her daughter Kaya Callahan with rape and murder. The situation intensified in 2019 when an as yet unknown stalker called Kaya's middle school pretending to be her father, communicating with school staff. LaRue's twelve years of traumatic experiences are the subject of the new documentary series My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story.
The Ministry of Justice stated that Rogers sent a total of 37 handwritten and typed threat letters between 2007 and 2015. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison and released in 2024.
Rihanna – online and physical stalking
Singer Rihanna has been the victim of stalking, at least by two different stalkers. In 2015, Twitter accounts under the names Alex Mercer and Ralph Alexander were created, which were used by the same person to send direct threats to the singer. The users of these accounts posted a photo in front of Rihanna's house and wrote: “If I had killed @rihanna a while ago, everything would be fine now” and “Witchcraft is a weapon, I use weapons”. These accounts also posted a tweet threatening Rihanna's ex-boyfriend Chris Brown: "@chrisbrown don't run" along with a photo of a shotgun and bullets. According to reports, this person also sent the singer at least one "masturbatory video."
However, Rihanna has a professional security team that immediately collaborated with the police. No further reports about the case have emerged. In a much more serious case of celebrity stalking, Kevin McGlynn was arrested in July 2013 for personally delivering letters to Rihanna's apartment in Manhattan. However, on his third visit to Rihanna's apartment, he made a mistake and lost his social security card. Thanks to the evidence from security cameras, the police easily identified and tracked down McGlynn.
Björk - dangerous fan
"I couldn't sleep with Björk because I love her."
From 1993 to 1996, Ricardo López was obsessed with Icelandic musician Björk (Björk Guðmundsdóttir). He recorded his obsessive thoughts in a diary, which eventually had hundreds of pages. López, originally from Uruguay, lived in Hollywood, Florida. Björk was not his first obsession: before, he had a similar relationship with actress Geena Davis, and whenever his idol started a new relationship, he felt betrayed and angered.
He mainly communicated with Björk through fan letters, to which he received no replies. In 1996, when Björk started a relationship with British musician Goldie, López felt a deep frustration. His diary already contained hundreds of pages full of idealization, recriminations, and internal monologues about his own insecurity - a total of 803 pages. Gradually, he stopped writing and began recording a video diary. He recorded eleven tapes, each with approximately two hours of footage. At the end of his recordings, he decided to kill Björk. He planned to send her a bomb - at first, he was considering a fake bullet contaminated with blood, but later he decided on a bomb hidden in a hollowed-out book, which would explode upon opening. He then intended to commit suicide, as he imagined that he and Björk would be thus "united in heaven".
On September 12, 1996, López recorded his last video diary titled "Last Day - Ricardo López", in which he was planning to go to the post office to send a package. He did indeed send a bomb to Björk's London address, but the package was intercepted by the police after López's body was found on September 16. The discovery of his plan shocked Björk and led to changes in her security measures. The case shows how much influence an obsessed fan can have on the safety of an internationally known personality - and that not even the most stringent security measures can reveal all threats. Today, many stars don't openly handle their mail, but have it first checked by assistants or a security team, making it more likely that such plans will be discovered before they turn into a tragedy.
Sandra Bullock - the residence is not impregnable
The case of Sandra Bullock is not too dissimilar from the above-mentioned cases. On the morning of June 8, 2014, the actress was unaware that Joshua Corbett had been lingering around her home in Hollywood Hills for several days. Eventually, he jumped over the fence and entered the house through a glass veranda, which he forcibly opened. As in previous cases, Bullock had no prior contact with Corbett nor had she communicated with him. Fortunately, Bullock spotted Corbett as he passed by her bedroom. She discreetly hid in the closet and called the emergency line 911.
At the time of his arrest, Corbett had a notebook with a "love letter" that read:
"According to God's law, you are my wife and you belong to me."
During the interrogation, he told the police, "I believe people cannot protect her enough." In his written statement, he said that he "wanted to show the security team that the residence was not impregnable and that she was in danger". It was found that his notebook also contained plans for a sexual assault on the actress. Since the original court in 2014, after a five-year suspended sentence, Bullock's legal team obtained another court banning Corbett from approaching.
Source : author's text, intelligent-protection.co.uk , People.com, Vykroctedobezpecia.sk, Pluska.sk
