James David Rogers stalked actress, Eva La Rue…torturing her for 12 years – during which he sent countless letters and made threatening phone calls. He was finally identified, and caught after he stopped at Arby’s, and the FBI was able to procure his straw for DNA testing.
The actress is best known for her character on the soap opera “All My Children” and for her role on “CSI: Miami”, as a DNA analyst which ended in 2012.
La Rue would start to receive vulgar, threatening letters in the midway point of her time spent working on CSI: Miami. They would always be signed: Freddy Krueger.
Throughout the years she had to adapt the life of herself and her family’s in order to feel safe while being under constant anxiety from the harassment.
She even moved to Italy to escape the torment, but eventually returned back to California where she bought a house under an LLC to maintain her privacy.
However, the stalker would always find her and the letters would keep on coming. Even when she would have her mail diverted to a PO Box, the letters would still persist.
The ‘Hallmark Card’-like sentiments consisted of such lines as (courtesy of: cnn.com):
“I am the man who has been stalking for (the) last 7 years. Now I have set my eye on you too,” the first one read, according to the indictment.
Another one read, “You look so beautiful in your pictures on google. Are you ready to be the mother of my child.”
“I am going to f**king stalk you until the day you die.”
La Rue would sleep with weapons by her side and drive in circles before going home, on the not so off chance that someone was watching every move.
Things came to a new head in 2015 when the letters started to be addressed to her daughter, Kaya Callahan. And the stalker slunk to a new low, making phone calls to her daughters school.
The FBI became involved, and they set to work on collecting any DNA they could from the “Freddy Krueger” letters. The only issue with that was they would need to make a match with DNA collected from a suspect.
The FBI wracked up evidence and dialed in on one man. They proceeded to surveil him, traveling to Ohio where James David Rogers worked at an assisted living facility.
It was when they followed Rogers from his job enroute to an Arby’s that they made their break in the case.
They watched from afar as Rogers ate at Arby’s. Once he was done, the bag of spent Arby’s was thrown away and into a dumpster.
In a move taken straight out of “Law and Order” – they fished the the bag out and collected the straw from his soda.
The FBI agents were able to submit this sample of his DNA for testing and they hit the match that they were looking for.
The arrest of Rogers was finally made on, November in 2019.
During sentencing he said to the judge, “I sincerely apologize for what I did for the last 12 years, putting you and your family through hellish behavior,” and “I accept full responsibility. I hope you can put this behind you and at some point never think about me again.“
The statement did nothing to quell the fears of Eva La Rue and her daughter as they are afraid of the day that Roger’s is released. She told the judge, “I am so worried what will happen when he gets out out.”
Thanks to the FBI agents and the hankering for Arby’s – James David Rogers is enjoying a sentence where there won’t be any Beef ‘n Cheddars for a long while.
