An Indiana man was arrested and charged earlier this month with stalking and harassing Taylor Swift during a series of incidents that occurred between March and May 2023, including traveling to the singer’s Nashville home.
LaPorte Superior Court records confirm that 36-year-old Mitchell Taebel was arrested June 2 on charges of stalking, invasion of privacy, intimidation and harassment after making numerous attempts to contact Swift at home and through social media.
According to the affidavit obtained by CNN, Taebel first sent Swift a voice message through Instagram on March 29 saying “he would happily wear a bomb if he cannot be with his soul mate.” Subsequent messages were also sent to Swift’s father — where Taebel claimed he was Swift’s “soulmate” — and dancers on her The Eras Tour, threatening them if there was a “sexual performance of ‘Vigilant Shit.’”
On May 5, prior to Swift’s The Eras Tour weekend shows in Nashville, Taebel then travelled from Long Beach, Indiana to Swift’s Nashville penthouse, sneaking into the apartment building through an unsecured door. He was confronted by Swift’s security team, with Taebel telling them he was a “great-looking, well-dressed, popular TV host.” Swift’s security called Nashville police, but Taebel vacated the property before officers arrived.
However, Taebel’s actions put him on a “security threat” list to prevent him from purchasing tickets to her Nashville concerts, though he managed to sidestep that by buying tickets through a third-party platform. Security inside the Nissan Stadium recognized him and removed him from the venue.
Upon returning to Indiana, The Hill reports, Taebel uploaded a racist and hate-filled video message on social media where he stated, “I went to [Swift’s] apartment complex and anybody in my opinion that thinks it is illegal in any way to go to somebody’s apartment to see if they want to meet should be killed. They should die of a heart attack on a spot.”
A temporary restraining order was requested by Swift’s management and issued on May 13; however, Taebel soon violated the order by continuing to send Swift messages and post videos through social media, including one where he said his “dying wish is that anyone who had anything to do with them not meeting should be executed.”
The State of Indiana opened their case against Taebel at the end of May, leading to his arrest by the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office on June 2. He was booked on $15,000 bond; jail records show he remains behind bars. After pleading not guilty and being found competent to stand trial, Taebel’s next court hearing is set for July 27.
Swift has long been tormented by stalkers, most recently in July 2022 when a Brooklyn man was arrested for unlawfully harassing the singer. Another man broke into Swift’s Tribeca apartment twice in 2019, while another was caught near her Rhode Island mansion that same year. In 2021, yet another man was arrested for attempting to break into Swift’s apartment.
“You get enough stalkers trying to break into your house and you kind of start prepping for bad things,” Swift wrote in Elle in 2019. “Every day I try to remind myself of the good in the world, the love I’ve witnessed, and the faith I have in humanity. We have to live bravely in order to truly feel alive, and that means not being ruled by our greatest fears.”