Stephanie Slater who was held captive in a cramped wooden coffin for eight days before eventually being freed after a £175,000 (US$227,000) ransom was paid. Now it has been announced she has died from cancer at her home on the Isle of Wight, England, on September 1, 2017.
Following her abduction in 1992, Stephanie Slater devoted the remainder of her life helping UK police forces assist other kidnap victims overcome their ordeals before her death from cancer was confirmed on September 1, 2017.
Incredibly, it was the third wife of her kidnapper Michael Sams who eventually solved the case after watching it on a crime show being shown on British television.
Tributes paid as Stephanie Slater, the Brum estate agent kidnapped by Michael Sams in 1992, dies from cancer at 50 https://t.co/egyccKtImt pic.twitter.com/DtF1wZAbge
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) September 1, 2017
She recognized his voice after a clip was played, having jokingly suggested to her husband that the police would be turning up on their doorstep soon.
Sams, from Nottinghamshire, England, was jailed for life in 1993 for kidnapping Ms. Slater and for the kidnap and murder of another teenage girl.
He had posed as a house buyer to kidnap his 25-year-old victim before gagging and driving her to his workshop. She was put in a wooden box inside a wheelie bin where she was handcuffed and had electrodes attached to her leg.
1992 Michael Sams rapist & murderer kidnapped estate agent Stephanie Slater @CI @ProfDavidWilson @BritainsTaboos @DiscoveryIDUK pic.twitter.com/SRlowXpnVV
— Crime On This Day (@Iain_McDougall) January 22, 2017
It was only when her employers handed over the six-figure ransom money that Ms. Slater was freed.
She wrote a book, Beyond Fear: My Will to Survive, telling of her time in captivity which she hoped would help others better understand the point of view of female victims of violence.
Her best friend, Stacey Kettner, said, after learning of her death: "I know that she never truly got over the events that changed her life so dramatically in January 1992.
"It's been an honor and a privilege to be Stephanie's best friend," she added.
Similar Cases
There have been many dark, grisly kidnappings down the years. Many are so horrifying, they are almost hard to believe. Many of the victims eventually return home, but others have been killed by their captors.
Some of the more famous cases involved young people being abducted because their families were rich.
Among them was Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was just 11 years old when she was abducted in 1991, having been held in captivity by Phillip Garrido for more than 18 years.
District Attorney Isidro R. Alaniz with kidnapping survivor and author Jaycee Lee Dugard at the Children's Advocacy Center fundraiser. pic.twitter.com/0uLlSjJOSU
— Isidro R. Alaniz (@WebbZapataDA) April 26, 2017
During her time in captivity, Dugard was forced to shower with Garrido and was repeatedly raped. She first became pregnant at the age of 13, and her second daughter was born three years later.
He was arrested in 2009 after Garrido raised suspicions after fellow workers noticed his daughters looked pale at a meeting and alerted police.
Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint in 2002 by Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda, before being held for nine months.
Another high profile case involved Patty Hearst, an heiress to a mass media fortune. She was kidnapped from her apartment by a left-wing guerilla group.
She announced her allegiance to the group in April 1974, and on 15 April 1974 took part in a bank robbery.
Captured by the FBI in September 1975, Hearst was sentenced to 35 years in prison for bank robbery and served 22 months.
On being released from prison on 1 February 1979. President Bill Clinton granted her a full pardon on 20 January 2001.
