James David Rogers, 58, of Heath, Ohio, was sentenced Thursday to 40 months in federal prison, according to a Justice Department news release. From March 2007 to June 2015, Rogers sent approximately 37 handwritten and typed letters to LaRue’s home in California, where he threatened both LaRue and her daughter, it was revealed. LaRue, 55, an actress also known for her long-running role on “All My Children,” was in the middle of her second full season on “CSI: Miami” when the first letter appeared at her house in 2007. Many more followed. the next 12 years. “I’m going to haunt you until the day you die,” one said, according to a 2019 federal indictment of Rogers. “There will be no place on this earth where I… (can’t) find you. I will rape you,” another letter read, as the stalker also threatened to rape and impregnate LaRue’s daughter. Each letter was signed with the name ‘Freddie Krueger’, the fictional serial killer from the ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ horror film series. Over the years, the FBI collected DNA from the files, but was unable to identify the culprit until 2019 with the help of genetic genealogy – the same method used to catch the Golden State Killer the previous year. Eva LaRue and her daughter, Kaya McKenna Callahan, pictured in June 2022, were stalked for more than 12 years by James David Rogers, 58. He was sentenced to prison on Thursday LaRue and her family received more than three dozen letters over more than 12 years, a terrifying nightmare that forced them to move to Italy. But when she returned to California and bought a house under an LLC to shield her identity, her stalker had found her and the letters continued. While some of the letters mentioned her daughter – aged five when it all started – it escalated in 2015 when the letters were addressed directly to her daughter and she started calling her at school, pretending to be her father. She was only 13. “I am the man he has been stalking for the past 7 years. Now I have my eye on you too,” the first wrote, according to the indictment. Another wrote: ‘You look so beautiful in your google photos. You are ready to be the mother of my child.’ In October and November 2019, Rogers called the school where LaRue’s daughter attended, spoke with a school employee, claimed to be her father and asked if she was present, according to the indictment. From March 2007 to June 2015, Rogers sent approximately 37 handwritten and typed letters to LaRue’s home in California, where he threatened both LaRue and her daughter, it was revealed. Eva LaRue attends 15th Annual George Lopez Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament May 2022 Says Stalker’s Threats Have Affected Their Family Kaya McKenna Callahan, pictured attending Opening Night of the LA Art Show in January 2022, was also stalked by the same person as her mother In November 2019, he called the girl’s school again and left a voicemail in which he identified himself as “Freddie Krueger” and threatened to “rape her, abuse her and kill her.” Court records revealed that LaRue and her daughter “drove circuitous routes around the house, slept with guns nearby and had discussions about how to get help quickly if [Rogers] he found them and tried to harm them. “They tried to anonymize their addresses as much as possible by avoiding receiving mail and packages at their real address,” prosecutors said. ‘In vain. Every time he moved, [the] letters — and the terror of the victims — would always follow.’ But in 2019, with the help of genetic genealogy, the FBI was able to take DNA from the files and run it through a database, which matched the suspect’s relatives who were driving in a small town in Ohio. The FBI began tracking Rogers when there was evidence pointing to him, and even traveled to Ohio where he worked as a nurse’s aide at an assisted living facility. Former FBI Special Agent Stephen Busch and former FBI attorney Steve Kramer told CNN that in the fall of 2019, they followed him to an Arby’s on his way home from work, watched him eat his lunch and throw the bag at a waste bin. Agents located Roger’s soda straw in the bag and tested it for DNA. It was a match to DNA in the files sent to LaRue and her daughter, they said. It’s the science first used in California to catch the Golden State Killer. Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, a former California police officer who led a double life as the “Golden State Killer” was sentenced to life in prison in 2020 for a series of murders and rapes in the 1970s and 1980s that were solved using public websites genealogy. Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, – aka the Golden State Killer – rose from his wheelchair and removed his mask before apologizing to his victims and their families in court in 2020 DeAngelo is pictured in the early 70s when he was working with the Exeter Police Department. She married Huddle in 1973 It was the first time police tested DNA samples found at some of the crime scenes against DNA stored by GEDMatch. One of DeAngelo’s relatives had willingly submitted his sample to learn more about his ancestry. Since DeAngelo’s case, it has been used as a crime-solving technique hundreds of times—like in the case of LaRue’s stalker, Rogers, who was finally caught through his DNA on a soda straw. Rogers was sentenced Thursday to 40 months in federal prison. He pleaded guilty in April to two counts of sending threatening communications, one count of making threats by interstate communications and two counts of stalking. Rogers told the judge Thursday via video link from Ohio that he grew up in an abusive home and was bullied at school, adding that he is receiving mental health treatment. “I sincerely apologize for what I’ve done for the past 12 years, putting you and your family through hell,” he told LaRue. “I accept full responsibility. I hope you can put it behind you and at some point you won’t think about me again.” “I forgive you, but I can’t forget,” LaRue told him during the sentencing hearing in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday. “Fear is with me forever.” LaRue told the court how the threats affected her and her family. “We’ve been through years of this,” he said. “This is beyond deviant behavior.” LaRue, seen here with her daughter Kaya in 2022, told her stalker in court at his sentencing Thursday: “I forgive you, but I can’t forget. Fear is with me forever” LaRue’s daughter Kaya Callahan, now 20, shown here with her mother, told the court how she was traumatized by Rogers’ threats LaRue’s daughter Kaya Callahan, who is 20, told the court how she was traumatized by Rogers’ threats. “I was afraid for my life,” he said. Callahan said her fear still lingers. “I want to feel good again,” she said. ‘Safe.’ LaRue played a doctor for many years on the soap opera “All My Children” and is probably best known for her seven seasons on the crime drama “CSI: Miami,” where she played a DNA analyst for the Miami-Dade Police Department.
