House of Dolls

Mia

Two and a half months had gone by since Nathan collected Kayla and two weeks for Katherine. Kayla, for the most part, did as she had been told as Katherine was more combative. Kayla knew that if she behaved, she would get more free time in the shared living room area, whereas Katherine was only interested in escaping and spent most of her time suspended from her restraints, insistent on her freedom.

Both girls' disappearances had been widely reported and splashed across the news in their respective hometowns, as their families frantically searched for them. Fortunately for Nathan, they lived more than three hours apart, so their kidnappings seemed to be unrelated. There was no evidence linking Nathan to Kayla; he had only communicated with her through a burner phone, which he quickly destroyed after claiming her as his. She'd come to regret not telling anyone about him, as he had requested. Katherine's car was discovered by two joggers a week and a half after she vanished. Because of the large amount of bleach found inside her car, police suspected foul play. There were no foreign fingerprints or DNA left at her vehicle or home, causing them to ground to a standstill. They began to lose hope in finding Katherine as time passed and no new leads came in.

The police concluded that she had been kidnapped and taken to a location far from Bloomsburg, which made Nathan feel more confident about his next kidnapping. He was well aware that they would continue to search for a dead end. Nonetheless, Nathan had grown restless, wanting to finish his collection faster than he had before. He wanted all five girls in their new home by the end of the month, deciding not to wait for more than a week between captures for the last three girls. He yearned for his fifth and final doll, Anna.

Nathan had decided to space out where he took his girls in the hopes that their disappearances would not be linked. He discovered Mia as his third doll. She had bleach blonde hair, hazel eyes, a petite frame, and stood only five feet two inches tall. She was from Sunbury, Pennsylvania, which was about 23 miles from Bloomsburg.

He discovered her at a shopping center in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, just three miles from her home. He'd been to that plaza before, knowing that with all of the outside shopping there, he could stalk his victims from afar. Nathan saw Mia there a week before she was captured. He noticed her lovely long blonde hair swaying behind her as she walked into one of the stores to get a few things. He stayed a few steps behind her as she entered, never losing sight of her. It had never occurred to her that she would be in imminent danger just a few days later.

Nathan chose not to approach Mia that day to make contact. With surveillance cameras visible, he had decided to follow from a distance, wearing a baseball cap that he positioned downward, shielding him from the view of any onlookers. As Mia paid for her items, Nathan paid for his in the next aisle over, never making eye contact with her and only glancing from his peripheral vision. He went to his car first, and as he waited, he noticed Mia joyfully walking to her car. When she arrived, she stuffed her bagged belongings into her trunk, slid into the driver's seat, and drove away without a care in the world.

Nathan left his flashy new car at home once more and followed Mia to her house in his older model four-door sedan. He stayed back a little to avoid being seen by her, watching which house she turned left into and noting her location, noticing she didn't have many neighbors. Nathan had no intention of taking Mia right away; he would wait a few days and observe her as he memorized her daily routines.

Nathan's abductions became more brazen as he took his victims directly from their homes rather than luring them to his. Nathan stood by as Mia went to the gym on the morning of her disappearance, impatiently waiting to make his move. The plan was to sit tight in Katherine's house and attack her shortly after she got home.

To protect his hiding spot, he parked on the other side of the woods adjacent to Mia's house. He hid behind a few large trees and overgrown brush to conceal himself and watch as she walked away. Nathan then approached Mia's house, methodically placed his latex gloves on his hands, and looked for a way in. He discovered what appeared to be a cellar door behind her house, which seemed to lead to her basement. Nathan then pried open the door with the crowbar and used that as his entry point, knowing it was the least likely spot she would notice had been breached.