MADILL -- It's a crime many think only happens to celebrities, or high profile figures. But millions of Americans are victims of stalking every year. January has been named "National Stalking Awareness” month and one local crisis center is doing its part to spotlight the problem. Shelby Levins reports.

The Marshall County Family Support Services Center is pushing to educate people about the dangers of stalking, and raising awareness of the problem with public displays. Victim advocates tell us they're seeing an increase in stalking cases, and victims tell us it's a crime that should be taken very seriously.

"I guess it started slowly for about four months and then it kind of escalated in the last month. He would just break in to the house and go into my room. I would have underwear missing. I would have bras missing,” explained a stalking victim who chose not to share her name.

She spoke with us at the Marshall County Family Support Services Center, and says the stalking, physical break-ins, and threats got so bad she had to move.

"You really don't want to think about it, but if it had gotten to that point where he started burning things, burning beds, making threats, you can only think he would have fulfilled those threats,” the victim explained.

Dawn Hoedebeck is the Executive Director of the crisis center, and says many time stalking goes unreported, or simply gets brushed off.

"People dismiss it as it's just an annoyance, don't pay any attention and they'll go away. But it could turn violent. It could turn violent on you or on somebody you love,” Hoedebeck said.

Hoedebeck and her staff have put displays out at the public library in Madill to help raise awareness about the crime. According to national numbers, 3.4 million people are stalked each year. And Hoedebeck say stalking has evolved along with technology.

"Everybody is on MySpace, twitter, and facebook, and you're usually updating it - what are you doing right then, so now there’s cyber stalkers,” Hoedebeck explained.

Hoedebeck says regardless of the method of stalking, the crime needs to be reported to local law enforcement or documented through a stalking kits, that can be picked up from most family shelters or crisis centers.

According to the national figures, 76% of women killed by intimate partners were stalked before they were killed.

To learn more about Stalking Awareness Month, click here - http://www.stalkingawarenessmonth.org/

Or to learn more about the Marshall County Family Support Services Center, click here - www.mcfss.com