Don’t Pick Up the Phone: Did they ever catch the hoax caller?

Netflix’s riveting new true crime series Don’t Pick Up the Phone chronicles a truly bizarre case of a man impersonating a police officer in a series of hoax calls spanning a decade that coerced managers and other fast food employees to strip search employees.

One of the case detectives, Buddy Stump, learned that these calls had occurred in at least 32 states at various Mcdonalds’, Taco Bells, Hardees, Applebees, Burger Kings, and more. Over 70 cases went all the way back to 1994. But the case that got Buddy involved in the investigation and led to it becoming national news was the Mount Washington incident that took place on April 9, 2004.

The hoax call led to manager Donna Summers enlisting her then-fiancé Walter Nix to listen to the caller and do what he said, which involved traumatizing and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old employee Louise Ogborn who the caller claimed was accused of stealing a customer’s wallet.

Did the police catch the hoax caller?

According to detectives Buddy Stump and Victor Flaherty, the primary suspect in the hoax callings case was a man named David Stewart. They tracked the calling cards used to make the calls to him in Panama City, Florida.

Did David Stewart go to jail?

No, despite presenting all the evidence they had, it wasn’t enough to convince a jury that David Stewart was guilty. During his trial in 2006, Stewart was found not guilty of all charges, and no further action was brought against him in connection to any other hoax calls.

Where is David Stewart now?

Interestingly, even though Stewart did not go to jail, the hoax calls did stop following his 2004 arrest. It’s unclear where he is nowadays because he has been keeping a low profile and declined to participate in the Netflix docuseries Don’t Pick Up the Phone.

Don’t Pick Up the Phone is now streaming on Netflix.