Imagine going about your day normal routine when suddenly you notice a stranger watching you just staring, and if that's not unsettling, imagine finding out they know everything about you.

They've been following you for months. Maybe it's an X or maybe it's a total stranger. Either way, the scenario is way too easy to imagine. You could be the victim of a stalker right now and you wouldn't even know it would freak them out within the first 30 seconds.

I know. I'm sorry, guys. It's true, though. It's why they show you is a Netflix smash it and why some people either love that show or they absolutely hate that show. You never know if you have a Joe Goldberg in your life.

Today, we have the top ten obsessed stalkers, 10 Real-Life Joe Goldberg's. Luckily, these guys weren't so adept at hiding behind baseball caps.

Hey, all you.

Welcome to the podcast, Original Crime Countdown. I'm Ash and Emelina.

Every week will highlight 10 fascinating stories of history's most engaging and unsettling crimes, all picked by the podcast Research Gods.

This episode, we are counting down the top ten obsessed stalkers. I've actually never had a stalker.

Luckily, that's I'm one of those people that always thinks they're being followed. Oh, yeah. A little bit paranoid, if you will, head on a swivel. What about you?

My ex kind of stuck to me a little bit while we were breaking up. It's very true. It was like a little bit of an invisible man situation without the fancy suit. Yes, it's scary when someone doesn't take the hint. Yeah, I feel like that's a good movie, but I can't imagine living it. No, no, no. That's why we always encourage people to change up their routines. You don't want to be too predictable.

You got to throw them off a little bit. It's harder to stock what you cannot anticipate. Well, I bet none of the people on this list anticipated that they would be the ones preyed upon. I have five creepers and so does Ilina, but we'll be surprising each other along the way.

Let's start the countdown. This podcast is not affiliated with Parkis Network. Crime is so commonplace that it takes something particularly shocking to be labeled the crime of the century. Even so, there are a lot of cases that have earned the distinction crimes of the Centuries. A new historical crime podcast from award winning reporter Amber Hunt and the Obsessed Network takes a deep dive investigation into little known but significant crimes committed across multiple centuries from America's first homicide trial and the defense team of Hamilton and Burr to the Leopold and Loeb thrill killings.

The cases explored in crimes of the centuries each left an indelible mark. Some made history by changing laws. Others were so shocking they changed society. Crimes of the Centuries examines cases that are lesser known today but were huge when they happened. Find crimes of the centuries and all obsessed network podcasts wherever you get your podcasts.

Starting off our list of obsessed stalkers at number 10, the boy Jones, his real name was Edward, and at 14 years old, he might be history's first, quote, unquote, celebrity stalker as he was infatuated with Queen Victoria, who ruled the UK from eighteen thirty seven to nineteen. We've got an odd stalker on our hands, an O.G. Royal Stalker. Hey, yo, this one's like a real ride. I feel like I'm really nervous. It's a real ride off a cliff.

Sort of think you for the war. Edward Jones didn't seem dangerous. He was just kind of odd. But he never tried to harm Queen Victoria. But he did frighten her really. Well, yeah. Stalkers typically frighten.

Well, you know how he frightened her. He successfully broke into Buckingham Palace. He was caught three times and he claimed he was there a fourth time. But historians say there's probably more. Wow. That's honestly impressive. That's terrifying. You just let him stay. Well, this is even weirder. The first time he was caught, he was discovered with the queen's underwear hidden down his pants. Oh, yeah. Listen, Boy Jones, your Uber is here.

We're ready for you to go. Yeah, boy Jones. That's your cue. Did I say Boy George or did I say Boy Jones?

Either way, it's fine. He was arrested, but he couldn't be kept in prison for too long because he really wasn't committing a felony. Just being a creep, just shoving underwear down his pants. No big deal. This is where it gets like, OK, Boo Boo Boo. He was kidnapped and put on chips once to Brazil, but he returned and then the second time he was put on board a prison ship for six years because it's like, go home, Roger.

Well, it's also just like, whoa. Yeah. That's a law that escalated very quickly. He was deported to Australia and he returned yet again, then settled in Australia for good, where he died in his 70s after ready drunkenly falling off a bridge. Oh, now, what a tale he really is. Like Roger from sister. Sister, you just can't get rid of him. You can't. Boy Jones.

Nine. At number nine is Gary de la Penta, the first person ever charged under California's cyberstalking law in 1999. Fifty year old Lapenta had spent months retaliating against a woman at his church who had turned him down. Gross. Like what, really? So he began posing as her online and posting crazy things that put her in like really dangerous situations.

What is wrong with people? Della began posting online as his victim, claiming she had dangerous sexual fantasies and he was encouraging men to show up at her door after offering up personal information like obviously her address and such. That's horrifying. Like terrified. Stop it. Right now you want to know what's even more terrifying? No. Six different men showed up to her apartment on various occasions during just a five month period.

As I told you, I didn't want to know I you like. That's a memorable Amane a month plus one. No, thank you. Like, go home again. That's a terrible subscription box. I don't want a Bannerman's plus one. Cancel it. No, thank you.

Well, they said that they were just responding to an online ad and steamy emails that were sent in her name. And these emails described fantasies of being raped. Oh, I know. This guy was like out for blood. Yeah, awful.

So the female victim didn't even own a computer, so she had no idea what was going on. No idea. And she's like, yeah, I didn't write that because I don't have a PC. Do not have a desktop. Yeah, no.

On January 1st, nineteen ninety nine, California became the first state to ban cyber stalking and this was the first case ever under that law, Gary received a six year prison sentence. Good. But it should have been more way longer. Yeah.

Eight. Number eight on our top ten countdown of obsessed stalkers is the woman who shot Andy Warhol on June 3rd.

Nineteen sixty eight, Valerie Solanas.

Solanas was a radical feminist who seemed to have many obsessions mixed with mental illness. She soon stalked and badgered the artists to produce her play.

And then things took a very dangerous turn. Oh, no. Yeah, no good.

Solanas was a writer and women's rights activist and she founded the Society for Cutting Up Men Excuse Me Come Again, of which she was the only member.

But I think Lorena Bobbitt would dispute that that was good for the society, for cutting up the society, for cutting out men.

While after meeting Warhol, she gave him a place she'd written and then she just bugged him about it. And she was like, please produce it, please produce it. And he was like, No, IPASS, he's like, your play sucks. No, thank you. Warhol found her play obscene and he suspected Miss Solanas was working for the police on some kind of entrapment.

OK, so he was like, something's up here. He just thought it was real weird. I was like, something's gone. It's sketch. Basically, I think he was like, this play is not good and I don't want to do it. But maybe you're working with the police. I don't know. I'm going to go.

It could be any apparently outraged by his rejection and the fact that he had lost his copy of her play, because I don't think he was really taking care of that.

He actually just, like, threw it in the trash. No, thank you. Well, she shot him, but she got the attention she craved. Wow. Yeah. She was like, well, that worked. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and she pled guilty to assault and was sentenced to three years in prison after she was found competent to stand trial. Oh, wow. I'm surprised that happened. Yeah. And it left Warhol completely afraid of hospitals.

So much so that he refused surgery after being diagnosed with a gallstone. And when he finally underwent surgery, he died the next day of a heart attack.

Wow. So she left an imprint on his life, set off a chain of events.

That's crazy. Seven. At number seven this week is the astronaut love triangle and the meltdown of former Navy commander and NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak. Nowak was arrested in February 2007 after she went full on revenge stalker on her love rival by driving 900 miles from Houston to the Orlando airport just to attack her, all while wearing a diaper so she wouldn't have to stop. That's so much commitment to the highest level. If you reach your destination nine hundred miles away and you got a full diaper, as someone who has an infant, that's going to slow you down, it's going to slow you down and it's going to be real stinky.

But maybe that's her plan. She's going to knock them out and then she. But you're not going to move real fast. And you think that Bill is going to love you after you like what you. Yeah, I wore a diaper for you. Well, let's find out what happens. Nowak was apparently going through a breakup with astronaut Bill Oefelein, who was also dating Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, which she was going through a breakup, going through a breakup.

She was going through something. She was going through a lot. So Novak drove to the airport and waited for hours until Colleen Shipman's flight landed. She wore a classic soccer garb and a little bit more. She wore a trench coat, a wig. She carried pepper spray and a BB gun and like I said, was wearing a diaper, the diaper, you know, classic garb, the diaper.

And actually the airport security footage is on YouTube. If you want to see a diaper and diaper and all. Nowak trilled Shipman to her car and attempted to get in the car with her.

But luckily, Shipman got away and called the police. Can you imagine the lady in a diaper, in a wig and a trench coat is like, excuse me, miss, I'm just going to get in your car with you. No, you are not.

I believe you can have the car by. Well, no. XRX baffled her NASCAR coworkers, like, I would imagine anybody arrested. And now you're an astronaut. You were simply supposed to NASA at all times. You're just supposed to float around in the Milky Way galaxy, right? Well, she had logged more than fifteen hundred flight hours and 30 different aircrafts. You got to have some brains in your cranium to do that. But it's like maybe she lacked common sense, maybe don't stalk.

I think she definitely did. Well, she pled guilty to a misdemeanor battery and burglary of an automobile.

And Shipman and Oefelein later married. Well, that's nice. She loves a happy ending. She was found guilty of buying out all the diapers on aisle five and making a lot of mom's really mad. She was just found guilty of Yuk.

Six. Also on our list at number six is the multiple stalkers of Selena Gomez. Like many celebrities, Gomez has had more than her fair share of stalkers beginning before the star even turned 20 years old. And it wasn't that awful. That's awful. She even had to move out of her Calabasas home in twenty fifteen because of her stalkers trespassing onto her property. That is the creepiest thing. I had no idea that she had so many. Yeah, it's crazy.

Horrific.

I know all about this. Selena in 2011. Forty six.

I'm already horrified. Yeah. Forty six years gross. In 2011. Forty six year old Thomas Broadneck had prior stalking and cyberstalking convictions when he began to stalk Gomez, who was 19 years old at the time. She's 19. Dude, you are forty six.

And he seems to be making like a hobby out of this. And he was like, well, look at this one. I'll start over here. Here we go. Broadneck claimed he had spoken with God about killing Selena Gomez and had visited her at least three times. Terrifying. And by visit we mean creeped and stalked uninvited. Gomez luckily got a restraining order against him, which he agreed was necessary to prevent him from harming her.

My God, I don't like I wouldn't feel safe. Ever know, like, that's really hard.

I would need him to be in jail to feel safe. Yeah, for sure.

In 2014, Che Cruz was arrested twice in the same week after trespassing and breaking into Gomez's guest home like she needs to go into the witness protection program. This is like really scary. I'm genuinely concerned for Selena Gomez right now. I know we're going to end this recording and I'm going to be like, Selena, how can I help? Are you OK? Are you OK? Selena Cruz was arrested the second time, only hours after being released from jail because of a first break in.

And he pleaded no contest to stalking Gomez. So it was just hours after you really learned your lesson in 2014 as well. Juan Garcia was also arrested and was later sentenced to one hundred and twenty days in jail and probation for trespassing on Gomez's property. So 2014 was a year, a year.

She must have to move constantly. I feel really bad for her. I would live in like the woods.

I would live on Mars. Yeah. While this has been a countdown so far, I am most shocked about Selena Gomez.

I'm like reeling from.

Yeah, I knew that she had been stalked a lot, but I didn't know, like, all the fine details, I guess. Yeah.

And then, of course, I was of the astronaut. The diaper. Yeah.

And also it if Selena has that many stalkers and then that lady wore a diaper, she's like super crazy.

Where are we going. Let's hold hands for the rest. Let's do it. We're.

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Wow. A disturbing campaign of harassment. That's certainly what it was. Not something you want under your name. No, I don't want that. Next to my name.

May twenty seventeen was when Klowden met her first male victim through the app grinder. She used a pseudonym. No reason why she started to do this. I guess she was just like, you know what?

I'm going to do it for fun. Yeah, why not? They exchanged phone numbers, email addresses and eventually intimate and personal pictures and videos. So they had like a connection.

It seemed like a phone relationship. Right. Well, then in December, twenty seventeen, the victim was like, yeah, I'm starting to wonder if you're like, really who you say you are stealing catfish in here, feeling a little creepy and I'm going to end all contact with you.

Good call. This triggered months of stalking and harassment with gluten, sending the victim's sexual images to his stepfather and his friends. Why? Because bananas. That's bonkers and an. S precisely. Then a year later, almost in February 2013, things escalated even more when she found out that her victim got a boyfriend and she felt slighted.

She contacted him using pseudonyms, made up false allegations. The police were contacted with false claims like assault and pedophilia against the boyfriend. And his friends were warned that he had a bounty on his head. Yeah, you accuse someone of pedophilia. He's like, what's going on? Like what? After pleading guilty in fled to France and a European arrest warrant was later issued, how did she get to France? She's popped on over just like you to go back over.

Well, finally, finally, finally, she was sentenced to close to two years and a lifetime restraining order. No contacting her victims or any other individuals connected to the case. I feel like she needs more. I feel like she should just go to jail for eskies.

For. Landing at number four this week is Robert O'Ryan in 2009. Thirty four year old Ryan was arrested for attempting to break onto the set of Dancing with the Stars, where contestant and Olympic gold medalist gymnast Shawn Johnson was filming. I love Shawn Johnson. I remember from when I was little, I used to watch her.

Ryan was obsessed with the idea of marrying her like needed to marry her.

And it's like, but what if you guys don't hit it off? You might not like each other, right? He drove to Los Angeles from Jacksonville, Florida. So legit across the country. Yeah, this is serious. He was stopped for a routine traffic violation along the way.

And he told the Alabama officer at least three times that he had plans to marry her. What do you think would be cause for alarm? You would think a police officer would be like, excuse me, what he would like, check for the diaper.

I don't know what's going on here. Can we talk about this a little more? He told the officer, quote, I know it sounds a little bit crazy, but my intuition tells me that we're going to have a beautiful relationship together.

His intuition, his information. Spoiler alert. That's not a good gut to listen to. Ryan also wrote poetry to Johnson with such lines as No matter what happens, I will always love you.

That's really cliche, really. That's not even good poetry. Like what if something really bad happens? I be like, where'd you get that? That didn't even come from your heart. That's OK.

That came from like Google, right. That's, you know, real dumb. And when Orion's car was searched, he was found in possession of a club, duct tape and two loaded guns.

So this just got real bad, real dark, real fast. He's just not planning to marry her? No, he's got a club and two guns. He's going to force her to marry him. He's going to club her. He claimed that he spoke with Johnson and other celebrities telepathically, as one does. Yeah, I mean, I do all the time right now. I'm talking to Richard Matt and in my head, I'm talking to Selena Gomez to make sure she's OK.

Selena, are you OK? Going twice. She's going OK. He said the voices had told him to go to Johnson, whom he called Sturdee girl you because she was in danger, in need to help you that nickname.

So much so she's never going to stop saying you never going to stop thinking about that. He was convicted of felony stalking, among other charges, and he was sentenced to five years in a mental health facility because obviously he was somehow. Yeah, yeah. That's good.

Number three on our countdown of obsessed talkers is Dana Martin. In 2013, Martin and his two accomplices were charged with first degree conspiracy to commit a murder to his intended victim, Justin Bieber, the Beeb's.

So we had Selena and now we got the Bieber, right. Wow. Not a match made in heaven. No.

Well, Martin was already incarcerated for the rape and murder of a 15 year old girl. Oh, no.

He'd been sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole when he became obsessed with Justin Bieber. Hate this. You heard the baby song. I said, yeah, I hate this so much.

I know Martin straight up got a tattoo of Bieber in prison on his right leg. I repeat, while in prison, Justin Bieber on his right leg, a prison tattoo of the Beeb's. Who did that tattoo?

I want to know. I'd love to know. I also want to see a picture of it. Martin wrote fan mail to Bieber, but grew increasingly infuriated as his letters went unanswered. Wow. A stand situation, if you will.

This is a very uncomfortable. I know Martin also claimed in an interview that he'd grown angry when Bieber adopted an edgier persona as he grew older. I'm sorry, when did Justin Bieber grow an edgy persona? Can you tell me the year that I guess when you got rid of bull cut?

OK, cool. I don't know. Just like you started to get into, like, a lot of trouble at one point. Did he? Yeah. He got arrested.

I think that's the first thing I think of when I think of the edge edge.

Well, he concocted a plan with two accomplices to actually carry out a terrifying plot. Martin's plans included kidnapping Bieber, castrating him. Oh, and killing him. Oh, he was like, you got too edgy.

Luckily, Martin is still incarcerated for the foreseeable future, but he has made it clear that he still plans to harm Justin Bieber if he's ever released. Now, I'm concerned for Justin Bieber, too. Just to be clear, that was not me actually laughing. I'm like actually nervous. I'm actually nervous for Justin Bieber. Bieber, watch out.

Wow. So far, the fact that Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber are on this list is stressing me out. Which celebrities next? Next, do you think? I don't know, because Shawn Johnson is like a celebrity, too.

Yeah, but you think Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were in a relationship at one point? That is true. Now, they were both, like, violently stalked.

I know. I wonder if it was at the same time that they were dating. Yeah. Maybe they bonded over that.

It would bring you closer. I think it's a bonding experience. Where are we going? I don't want to know.

To. We're down to the final two spots on our countdown of obsessed stalkers at number two is convicted killer Robert John Bardo. Bado grew obsessed with actress Rebecca Schaeffer when she was on a TV show called My Sister Sam in July nineteen eighty nine, he showed up at her Los Angeles home and shot the twenty one year old. She later died from her wounds.

We did this on morbid. We did miss my many morbid and it was one of the saddest that we've ever done.

So scary. To the day of her murder, Rebecca Schaffer was at her L.A. home preparing to audition for a role in The Godfather Part three. And this role was like super, super sought after on a big names were going for. She was probably so excited about it. And they say she was probably going to get it. Yeah, of course. And so when her doorbell rang that day, she thought it was the movie script that she was expecting, because normally you're like, why don't you answer your door to someone you didn't know?

But you probably thought it was somebody delivering the script. Exactly. But it was Bado claiming to be her biggest fan and carrying an autographed photo of her. He had previously sent her a ton of fan letters and gifts and tried to meet her at a studio where she worked. I think he was carrying a gun, too, when he tried to meet her at the studio. When he came to her house, she had a brief conversation with him.

She was very pleasant to him. I think she gave him another autograph. He actually signed something. Yeah, she was really nice. He left, but then he came back and shot her, like, in her doorway. Crazy. So that's what she gets for being nice. That's insane. And then he just ran away. Yeah. Bano was prosecuted by Marcia Clark, who later became famous while prosecuting O.J. Simpson. And for that hair girl, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Bato was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Thank goodness. Good.

But it raised the issue of celebrity privacy and safety even in their own homes. So scary.

One. And that brings us to number one on our countdown of the top ten obsessed stalkers, minks and shoe. Ming Shoe was a ninth grade student when he first met his math teacher, Mary Stofer, and became obsessed 15 years later.

In nineteen eighty, he stalked and kidnapped Mary and her daughter from outside a Minnesota beauty salon and held them captive in his home. I do remember this one. You know, I've actually never heard of this one is actually really terrifying. Yeah, it is.

Well, while transporting his victims in the trunk of his car, she killed a six year old boy playing in a park because the boy had seen them and witnessed terrifying, terrifying shoe, then took Mary and her daughter to his home and locked them up for seven weeks.

Seven weeks, you imagine he repeatedly raped Mary during the weeks he held her captive, even videotaping some of his assaults. Literal, evil, disgusting, horrible person. Mary luckily eventually managed to escape. While she was at work, she removed the closet door hinges, called for help and hid with her daughter until the deputies arrived. The fact that she was with her daughter this whole time stresses me out. Right. And they probably just had like a cute little day at the salon and we're trying to go about their day.

So during his nineteen eighty one murder trial, she jumped up and slashed Mary's face with a knife that he had smuggled into the courtroom that I didn't know. And it's like, how do you smuggle a knife into a courtroom while you're on trial for like a horrific crime? Very carefully. What that serrefine very carefully. He was sentenced to 30 years to life on federal kidnapping charges. It should be three hundred years to life maybe. Right.

And of course, Lifetime made a movie about the entire event.

I saw an ad for it and I was like, well, I'll never be watching that. No, I used to love Lifetime when I was not that the not that I don't want to watch a little girl be held captive.

No other. Wow. No one just stressed me out, this whole thing has stressed me out. It's all been very stressful. I don't like I don't like it. I need to find a way to get in touch with Celina, see if she's OK. Call the Beeb's. Make sure he's still all right. You all right? Are you stressed out? Everything's still intact. Are you edgy? I don't know. I love it. That's what you're worried about.

You're like, I don't think you ever got edgy, have you? Can you tell me when I want to know? Did you think of anything that they missed? I know there are things that I'm not thinking of and there's so many cases of this.

Well, that's the thing. I don't want to say that the gods missed anything, but I can think of two that weren't on the list that I think we've covered one of them. Yes, I know exactly what you're talking, Dorothy, Gene, Scott.

She was getting like phone calls for like the months and months leading up to her death. And it's still unsolved. Yeah, that one's a terrifying one. And then another unsolved one is Cindy James. And she was stalked and actually, like, assaulted by the guy or girl that was stalking her. And then eventually she was killed and again, not solved.

Yes, those are two terrifying cases. So scary. I hate that. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week with another great episode. Remember to follow Crime Countdown on Spotify to get a brand new episode delivered. Every week you can find all episodes of Crime Countdown and all other precast originals for free on Spotify. Spotify has all your favorite music and podcasts all in one place. They're making it easier to listen to whatever you want to hear for free on your phone, your computer or smart speaker.

And if you can't get enough of these creepy crimes, check out our After Crime Countdown podcast playlist on Spotify, where we've handpicked even more episodes about this week's stories that we think you'll enjoy. And if you like the show, which we hope you do follow app podcast on Facebook and Instagram and app podcast network on Twitter.

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