Eva LaRue Opens Up About Her 12-Year Stalking Nightmare in New Documentary

Landing a major role on CSI: Miami should have been the highlight of Eva LaRue’s career. However, what followed was a terrifying 12-year ordeal that reshaped her life forever. In the new Paramount+ documentary My Nightmare Stalker: The Eva LaRue Story, the actress shares the emotional and psychological impact of living under constant threat — and how forensic genealogy ultimately helped bring her stalker to justice.

A Dream Job Turns Into Daily Fear

LaRue, now 58, reveals that the stalking began in March 2007, two years after she joined CSI: Miami as DNA specialist Natalia Boa Vista. Although the harassment escalated during that time, her stalker had first become fixated on her years earlier, back when she starred as Dr. Maria Santos Grey on All My Children.

Over more than a decade, she received dozens of disturbing letters filled with graphic threats of torture, rape and murder. The stalker signed them “Freddy Krueger,” a chilling reference to the killer from A Nightmare on Elm Street. While the messages alone were horrifying, the nightmare grew even darker when her daughter Kaya Callahan became a target at only 5 years old.

A Mother’s Worst Fear

The stalker tracked down Kaya’s school, called pretending to be her father — actor John Callahan — and claimed he needed to pick her up. These threats forced LaRue and Kaya to move three times. Each time they relocated, he found their new address.

“You don’t know where the threat is coming from,” LaRue explains. “You don’t know if he’s in the back seat, under the car or waiting outside the studio.”

The constant fear wore down her body. She developed rashes, lost eyelashes and lived with a near-constant sense of dread. Even when the letters stopped for months at a time, she never felt safe. She describes this period as a relentless cycle of terror.

FBI Technology Finally Catches Up

Ironically, LaRue spent her days playing a forensic expert on television, solving cases in under an hour. Meanwhile, in real life, the FBI lacked the advanced tools portrayed on CSI: Miami. That changed in 2018 when Steve Kramer and Steve Busch — the same agents who solved the Golden State Killer case — took over her file.

They used forensic genealogy, a revolutionary method combining detective work with DNA databases like 23andMe, GEDmatch and Ancestry. Agents extracted DNA from one of the stalker’s letters, which ultimately led them to James David Rogers of Ohio. He was arrested in late 2019, pleaded guilty in 2022 and received a 40-month prison sentence.

LaRue, however, felt the punishment did not match the crime. After more than a decade of torment, she and her daughter live with lifelong fear, while Rogers served only a short sentence — and was even released early.

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Healing Through Storytelling

LaRue initially hesitated to participate in the documentary. She feared it might attract copycats or reignite her stalker’s obsession. Even during filming, she struggled emotionally, especially when hearing his voice for the first time as actors read his real threats aloud.

Throughout production, both she and Kaya kept their therapist on standby. Despite the difficulty, creating the documentary gave them a sense of closure they had not experienced before. LaRue explains that surviving the ordeal together strengthened their mother-daughter bond in ways they couldn’t have imagined.

A Season of Loss and Survival

Their healing journey took an unexpected turn when John Callahan — LaRue’s ex-husband and Kaya’s father — died suddenly in March 2020. The loss came only months after the stalker was arrested and during the start of the COVID-19 shutdown. Unable to hold a traditional funeral, the family mourned over Zoom while still grappling with years of trauma.

LaRue describes that period as a blur of fear, grief and survival. She admits that she struggled to hold on to her own sanity while supporting her daughter through unimaginable stress.

Cherishing Brighter Memories

Despite everything, LaRue still holds deep affection for her years on All My Children. She remembers that era as a “college experience,” surrounded by close friends like Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Josh Duhamel and others. Many of them transitioned from daytime TV to primetime hits, and they remain a tight-knit group today.

Looking Toward a New Creative Chapter

Now that the documentary is streaming, LaRue is returning to storytelling — this time behind the camera. She is developing a scripted drama based on how Kramer and Busch pioneered forensic genealogy, intertwining their work on the Golden State Killer case with her own.

“I want to tell all the stories as they crisscross,” she says. “I already have a treatment.”

Through her new projects, LaRue hopes to highlight the power of emerging investigative technology — and to give strength to stalking survivors who feel unseen.

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