When she brought her car to the repair shop he managed, Dave Kroupa was attracted to Cari Farver right away.
So when the automotive technician ran across her profile on a dating site a few weeks later, he made his move.
Cari, a 37-year-old computer programmer, was "smart and sexy," Dave recalled in the new Netflix documentary Lover, Stalker, Killer. "Out of my league all the way around."
But "wild and free at 35" after breaking up with the mother of his two kids, he wasn't looking to get serious with anyone. And Cari's profile fit the bill, the divorced single mom of a teenage son writing, "Just looking for a fun, casual relationship."
She also happened to work just three blocks away from his Omaha, Neb., apartment, so they started spending time together.
All seemed to be going great when, two weeks into their whirlwind romance, Dave left for work early on the morning of Nov. 13, 2012, kissed Cari goodbye, and then got a text from her at 10:30 a.m. reading, "We should move in together."
As he recalled in the doc, when he balked at the suggestion, he was met with a barrage of texts from Cari: "Fine f--k you...You've ruined my life...I never want to see you again."
When Dave returned to his place at lunchtime, Cari and all of her stuff were gone.
He was admittedly sad, yet "tried to get on with my life like nothing happened."
Dave never saw Cari again. But this shocking scene was only the beginning of the years-long nightmare unpacked in Lover, Stalker, Killer. And when he finally found out the truth, Dave said, it was "such a mindf--k."