Unsolved Mysteries’ Marie Elizabeth Spannhake case: Have there been any updates?

The last time anyone saw Marie Elizabeth Spannhake was in January 1976. The 19-year-old had just relocated to Chico, California with her fiancé a couple of months before she went missing. Her disappearance is central to Unsolved Mysteries volume 3, episode 8, “The Ghost in Apartment 14.”

In 1984, approximately eight years after Spannhake disappeared, a woman named Janice Hooker went to the police and claimed she and her husband, Cameron Hooker, had kidnapped Spannhake. Janice claimed that her husband murdered her, and they buried Spannhake somewhere between their home in Red Bluff and Lassen Volcanic National Park. Despite Janice’s intel, the police could never find Spannhake’s body.

Where are Janice and Cameron Hooker now?

Despite receiving a 104-year prison sentence, Cameron Hooker became eligible for parole in 2015 due to California’s Elderly Parole Program. His initial request for parole was denied, and he wasn’t supposed to be eligible again until 2030, but COVID-19 significantly changed the timeline. Colleen Stan received a phone call in 2020 alerting her that Hooker could get parole as soon as March 2021.

Hooker was scheduled to return to court on September 14, 2022, to determine whether he would be labeled as a “sexually violent predator” or not. If convicted, he will return to jail and receive mental health treatment. But if not, then he will be released on parole.

According to The US Sun, no information on the court proceedings has yet been released to the public, so it’s unclear whether or not Hooker was granted parole. He is now in his late 60s and has spent more than 30 years behind bars.

Janice Hooker reportedly still lives in California, albeit under an assumed name. Janice and Cameron were contacted about participating in Unsolved Mysteries, and both declined.

Where is Colleen Stan now?

Colleen Stan appeared in “The Ghost in Apartment 14” episode of Unsolved Mysteries. She is now 65 and, like Janice, lives under an assumed name. She recently appeared in the Paramount+ (in the United Kingdom only) documentary The Girl in the Box: The True Story to recount her experience. Her experience was also made into a Lifetime Original Movie called The Girl in the Box and she has appeared in other documentary series like Oxygen’s Snapped.

Have there been any updates on Marie Elizabeth Spannhake’s case?

There haven’t been any recent case updates beyond what occurred in the episode and Cameron Hooker’s pending parole.

The entirety of Unsolved Mysteries volume 3 is now streaming on Netflix.