Man’s Trial in Sex Slave Case Begins Tuesday

The trial of lumber mill worker Cameron Hooker, accused of holding a woman as his sex slave for seven years, begins here Tuesday.

Hooker, 31, is charged with kidnaping, rape and false imprisonment, and conviction on the multiple counts could result in a sentence of 110 years behind bars.

The trial was moved to Redwood City from sparsely populated Tehama County, in the northern Sacramento Valley because of wide publicity there about the case.

The 27-year-old victim was allegedly kidnaped in May, 1977, while hitchhiking near Red Bluff. Hooker was arrested last November after the woman ran away to her family in Riverside County. She told investigators that she did not flee sooner because she feared for her life.

The victim testified in a preliminary hearing that she was repeatedly raped and tortured and Hooker confined her for long periods in a coffin-like box. Her testimony was supported by Hooker’s estranged wife, Janice, 26, who said the woman spent the first nine months of her confinement blindfolded in the basement but was allowed out after she complied with Hooker’s order to sign a “slave contract.”