What Happened to Stephanie Slater? Woman Kidnapped and Buried Alive – Where She Is Now and Updates On Abductor

In January 1992, a 25-year-old estate agent named Stephanie Slater left her office in Birmingham to show a man a property. She never returned.

What followed was one of Britain's most harrowing kidnappings — an ordeal that would leave her buried alive, terrified, yet astonishingly resilient.

On 22 January 1992, Slater, an employee at Shipways Estate Agents, arrived at a property in Great Barr, Birmingham, to meet a supposed buyer. The man, later revealed to be Michael Sams, ambushed her at knifepoint.

According to case records and trial evidence, Sams bound and gagged Slater before forcing her into his car. She was driven more than 100 miles to his workshop in Newark, Nottinghamshire, where he had constructed a wooden 'coffin' inside a wheelie bin — a crude underground cell where she would spend the next eight days.

Buried Alive

There, Slater was handcuffed, her legs restrained, and she was told she would be electrocuted if she moved. The environment was claustrophobic and airless — a sensory nightmare designed to break her spirit.

But Stephanie fought back in the only way she could: through words.

In interviews years later, Slater explained that she realized early on that her best chance of survival was to humanize herself to her captor.

Blindfolded and trapped, she began to talk about her family, her childhood, her hopes. She sensed that if Sams saw her as a real person, not an object, he might not kill her.

Her empathy worked. Over eight long days, she endured psychological terror while finding small ways to stay alive. Sams demanded a £175,000 ransom from her employer, and on 31 January 1992, after the money was delivered, he released her near her home in Birmingham.

Freedom After Eight Days

Her reappearance made national headlines. The image of a pale, fragile young woman returning home after being buried alive seared itself into Britain's collective memory.

Police soon traced the kidnapper. A voice recording played on Crimewatch UK led several viewers to recognize Sam's distinctive accent, helping investigators identify him.

When he was arrested, Sams — then 51 — confessed to the abduction. He was later convicted not only of kidnapping Slater but also of murdering 18-year-old Julie Dart, another victim he had kidnapped and killed the previous year.

In July 1993, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nottingham Crown Court. He remains incarcerated to this day.

For Slater, freedom came with a lifelong shadow. She later revealed that she had been raped during her captivity, an allegation Sams denied. When he tried to sue her for libel, his claim was dismissed.

Influencing Police Dealings With Victims

Unable to return to estate agency work, Slater chose instead to use her trauma to help others. She moved to the Isle of Wight in 1993 and began collaborating with police forces and victim support groups to improve how authorities handle kidnapping cases.

Her insights became instrumental in shaping police training on victim psychology. Former detectives havecredited her with influencing the way negotiators and counsellors now engage with traumatized victims.

In 2017, Slater died at the age of 50, following a short battle with cancer.

Colleagues and friends described her as 'brave, kind, and endlessly compassionate'. Though her life was cut short, her influence on victim advocacy and criminal justice remains indelible.

Today, her name is often mentioned alongside those of other women who survived unthinkable violence and used their stories to demand systemic change.

Michael Sams, now in his eighties, continues to serve his life sentence — a reminder of the monstrous cruelty she faced. However, Stephanie Slater's legacy endures not as a tale of fear, but as one of extraordinary human strength.