One Step Behind: A Stalkers Grab Bag

True Crime Campfire

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Obsession can be a good thing. An obsessed athlete can spend hours practicing to be the best they can be, an obsessed collector can find joy and community in the thrill of the hunt, or obsession can drive an artist to explore the human condition in a way that moves everyone that sees their art. But obsession can veer into something darker if the object of it is a person. That’s how you get a stalker. Someone who is so consumed with the life of another almost always pushes the boundaries of appropriate behavior. If you’ve seen the show Baby Reindeer, you’ll know that being the target of a stalker’s attention can have serious consequences. Today, we have two stalker stories for you. The first is about how a stalker can project their own feelings of love and affection onto their victim, to a violent outcome. In the second, we’ll tell you a story about how one of the largest companies in the world harassed a couple for the crime of blogging. This is One Step Behind: A Stalkers Grab Bag.

Sources:

Journal of Homicide and Major Incident Investigation, V6I2 Autumn 2010, “Operation Hydration” https://library.college.police.uk/docs/J_Homicide_MII/J_Homicide_6.2.pdf
Nightmare in Suburbia, S2E5, “The Internet Stalker”
World’s Most Evil Killers, S3E15, David Heiss
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/26/technology/ebay-cockroaches-stalking-scandal.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/technology/ebay-cyberstalking-crimes.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/ex-ebay-manager-prison-harassing-natick-couple-stephanie-popp/
https://www.svvoice.com/former-cop-discussed-using-scpd-contacts-to-obstruct-cyberstalking-investigation/
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/ebay-inc-pay-3-million-connection-corporate-cyberstalking-campaign-targeting
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/couples-case-over-ebay-stalking-campaign-can-move-forward-us-judge-rules-2023-12-13/
https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/gdpzwzqykvw/12122023ebay.pdf

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, campers. Grab your marshmallows and gather around the true crime campfire.
0:05.0	We're your camp counselors. I'm Katie and I'm Whitney.
0:08.0	And we're here to tell you a true story that is way stranger than fiction.
0:12.0	We're roasting murderers and marshmallows around the
0:13.8	true crime campfire.
0:17.0	Obsession can be a good thing. An obsessed athlete can spend hours practicing to be the best they can be.
0:27.0	An obsessed collector can find joy and community in the thrill of the hunt.
0:31.0	Or obsession can drive an artist to explore the human condition in a way that moves
0:35.2	everyone that sees their art. But obsession can veer into something darker if the object of it is a person. That's how you get a stalker. Someone who is so
0:44.7	consumed with the life of another almost always pushes the boundaries of
0:48.5	appropriate behavior. If you've seen the show Baby Reindeer, you don't know that being in the target of a stocker's attention can have serious consequences.
0:57.0	Today we have two stocker stories for you.
1:00.0	The first is about how a stocker can project their own feelings of love and affection onto their victim to a violent outcome.
1:06.0	And the second will tell you the story of how one of the largest companies in the world harassed a couple for the crime of blogging. This is one step behind, the Murder of Matthew Pike.
1:33.2	So, campers, for this one were in Nottingham, England, September 9, 2008.
1:38.8	21-year-old Joanna Witton hurried home after work.
1:42.4	She was worried about her boyfriend Matthew. He hadn't
1:45.1	been responding to texts and calls all day. She ran up the stairs to their flat and her heart
1:50.6	skipped a beat. Was that blood on the wall? There was more blood inside and Matthew's
1:56.7	dead body on the floor, horrifically injured. Barely able to breathe, Joanna called the police, but Matthew was long gone.
2:05.0	He'd been a sweet guy, and he and Joanna were very much in love with a quiet happy life together.
2:11.0	Who could have done this?
	...

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