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The Collector, a Serial Killer, and Beauty Queens
Hollywood’s Broken Dreams
Hollywood has long been the destination of aspiring young actors and actresses from throughout the country and world. Those chasing their “Hollywood dream.” A place where on the surface, A-list stars, glitz, and glamorous gowns, fuel dreams of the young.
As bright as the lights are in Hollywood, there is an equally dark underbelly lurking. During the 1970’s, Hollywood became known for sleazy producers and directors, the “casting couch,” and with time, has continued to lose its shine.
With recent headline’s and revelations between Corey Feldman and the fall of Harvey Weinstein, one can’t ignore things have not improved in the Land of the Dolls 2.0.
For decades, there has been a predatory and complacent culture in the hills of Hollywood, a place where stalkers and even serial killers can blend in. It has become a place where dreams have disappeared, along with some actresses and Beauty Queens.
The Disappearance of a Beauty Queen
Tammy “Tami” Lynn Leppert was an 18-year old, employed model and actress, who mysteriously vanished July 1983. Remarkably beautiful, Tammy entered her first beauty contest at 4-years-old, and by the age of 16-years-old, had participated in over 300 beauty contests, taking home 280 crowns.
Residents of Rockledge, Fla., Tammy lived with her mother, Linda Curtis, a theatrical and modeling agent who guided Tammy in pursuit of her childhood dreams. By the age of 18-years-old, Tammy had minor roles in several well-known movies. She was sweet and bright, with equally optimistic dreams.
Spring Break, The Movie
In 1983, Tammy had a part in the widely popular teen movie “Spring Break,” directed by Sean S. Cunningham and filmed in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Cunningham is known for his 1973 film Case of the Full Moon Murders, that included a mix sexploitation and comedy, the 1972 horror flick Last House on the Left, Friday the 13th,A Stranger is Watching, and The New Kids, starring James Spader.
Tammy had been cast as the female boxer in for the “Spring Break” film. Her torso, hips, and legs featured in the main poster for the movie.
In July 1982, Tammy had gone alone to a weekend party after filming. Her best friend Wing Flannagan said Tammy returned from the party a changed person. “Sometimes I’d ask her, what was on her mind, what was bothering her. And she’d usually change the subject, or she’d say, oh nothing, you know and then try to laugh it off,” said Flannigan. He describes Tammy’s behavior as fearful and paranoid.
During that same time, Tammy’s mother said her daughter thought someone was going to kill her and had also become very careful when consuming food or drinks.
Tammy told her mother she had seen something awful at the party, something really horrible, telling her mother they were trying to kill her. “I kept trying to figure out who “they” were”, said Curtis.
Tammy began to isolate from others, staying in her room, having others test her food before she ate. It became increasingly difficult for others to ascertain whether her fears were real, or possibly delusions.
Filming Scarface
Despite Tammy’s state of mind, shortly before her disappearance, she accepted a minor role in the Hollywood film Scarface, starring Al Pacino, written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian DePalma. Known for his films, such as Carrie, Femme Fatale, Dressed to Kill, and Carlito’s Way. DePalma’s films commonly promote suspense, gore, crime, and eroticism.
Scarface was being filmed in Miami Fla., about a two-hour drive south of Tammy’s home. Tammy was selected to be the “bathing suit beauty” to distract Manny at the lookout car, during the gruesome chainsaw bathroom scene. It is said she was the youngest person on the set and she was being noticed.
During the March 1983 filming, she stayed with family friend Walter Liebowitz, a Calif., attorney who resided in the Miami area.
All seemed to be going well until the fourth day of filming according to Leibowitz. “I received a call from the casting director to tell me that Tammy had a breakdown on the set. They said it was a scene where someone was supposed to be shot and had artificial blood spurt out. And they said Tammy was watching the scene, she started crying hysterically and it got so bad that they had to take her to a trailer.
Tammy was in a tremendous state of fear and anxiety. What was it that caused this great fear in her? I don’t know. When I spoke with Tammy’s mother, I told her she should take Tammy to a doctor and to the police to find out if the problem was psychological or if there was some basis of fact that someone was trying to kill her and get to the bottom of it,” said Leibowitz. He also recalled Tammy had referred to money laundering and thought maybe there was something to Tammy’s claims.
Returning Home Broken
With everyone concerned, Tammy returned home. Afraid Tammy’s fears were real, her mother took her to Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, but Tammy refused to tell them she felt her life was in danger.
July 1, 1983, Tammy accidentally locked herself out of her house and used a baseball bat to break the windows to get back in. She had finally cracked, scared and emotional. Her mother checked her into a psychiatric hospital in Brevard County where she underwent 72 hours of observation and drug testing. The results were negative, and it was determined Tammy did not suffer from any significant mental illness and released.
On July 5th, Tammy went out for the evening with her friend Rick Adams and told him that she might be going away for a while, not going into detail. Adams later recalled he thought Tammy may have been referring to her planned trip to Calif., to film a movie.
Vanished into Thin Air
July 6th, Tammy, and friend Keith Roberts decided to drive to Cocoa Beach at approximately 11:00 am. Roberts would later tell authorities that he and Tammy had an argument and Tammy had requested he drop her off. Roberts told authorities he left in the parking lot at Glass Bank, near an Exxon gas station on State Road A1A, in Cocoa Beach. No one saw Tammy again.
Tammy’s mother made missing person report to police on July 11, 1983.
Some have erroneously reported Tammy had no shoes or purse when she vanished but according to the police report, she was wearing a blue shirt with floral appliques, a blue denim skirt, carrying a gray purse and wearing flip-flops.
A Florida Today article, “Have You Seen Tami-Lynn”, Roberts says Tammy called him in Lakeland where he worked at a bank and asked him to pick her up. She asked him to borrow $300 and they fought because he would not drive her to a friend’s home in Fort Lauderdale approximately a 2-hour drive south. “At that point, she said, ‘Let me out! Let me out!’ So, I just said OK, whatever you want and that’s the last time I saw her” says Roberts.
Tammy did make 3 frantic phone calls, presumably from the Exxon station, to her aunt Ginger Kolsch’s business Balloonatics the day she disappeared. Kolsch was out of town but she recalled Tammy sounded like she was really afraid of somebody.
A Mother’s Recollections
Curtis recalled her daughter had not combed her hair that fateful day, which was highly unusual since Tammy always took pride in her appearance. In addition, she didn’t believe her daughter left on her own, as Tammy had made plans to go to Hollywood, Calif., for three months to shoot films.
Tammy’s last words to her mother on her way out the door was, “Bye Mommy. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?” At 54-years-old, Linda Curtis passed away on October 4, 1995, never knowing what had happened to her daughter.
Prior to her death, Curtis had been writing a screenplay that accused local elites of having something to do with Tammy’s disappearance. She believed Tammy was kidnapped because she had knowledge of violence, drugs, and a money laundering operation. Curtis also criticized authorities for mishandling the investigation into her daughter’s disappearance.
What Did She See?
The question remains, what had happened at the Spring Break party causing Tammy to say she saw something awful, something really horrible?
Many have speculated Tammy had been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia but her behavior prior to her disappearance translates more toward someone suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and extreme paranoia triggered by the bloody scene during filming of Scarface. The facts lead more to the conclusion Tammy had witnessed something horrific during the weekend after-party of the filming of Spring Break.
Who was threatening Tammy’s life? Is it possible she called her own killer that day to pick her up? Did police ever obtain the call records from the payphone where she frantically called her aunt? Who had been at the Spring Break after-party that Tammy feared?
Enter the Serial Killer
In the missing person report made by Curtis on July 11, 1983, it states, THE COMPLAINANT (LINDA CURTIS) ADVISED THAT TAMMY, WHO WORKS AS A PART-TIME MODEL AND ACTRESS, HAD RECENTLY BEEN INTRODUCED TO __________ W/M, LATE 30’s. __________ TOLD TAMMY THAT HE PRODUCES MOVIES. THE COMPLAINANT ADDRESSED THAT ___________ HAS AN UNSAVORY REPUTATION REGARDING HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH YOUNG TEENAGE GIRLS.
The name in the report is blacked out but some speculate the individual referenced in the police report was the Australian born serial killer Christopher Wilder, also known as the “Beauty Queen Killer.”
Wilder is known to have abducted and raped at least twelve young women and murdered at least eight, spanning Florida, Colorado, California, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Oklahoma during 1984, before he was killed by police in New Hampshire.
Prior to Tammy Leppert’s mother’s death, Curtis had also gone as far as filing a $1M lawsuit against Wilder’s estate for pain, anguish and funeral expenses for her daughter, even though Tammy had not been found. Police were never able to directly connect Wilder to the disappearance of Tammy and the lawsuit was eventually dropped. Curtis believed police never treated Tammy’s disappearance as an abduction but instead, a voluntary disappearance.
The Beauty Queen Killer
Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on March 13, 1945, Christopher Bernard Wilder had faced numerous sexual misconduct charges during his early life, including a gang rape in 1962. He pleaded guilty at the age of 17-years old, receiving a one-year sentence of probation with counseling and electro-shock therapy.
Married in 1968 at the age of 23, Wilder left his wife and became an American citizen in 1969, settling in south Florida while traveling back and forth to Australia to visit his family.
In March 1971, Wilder was arrested for soliciting women to pose for nude photographs in Pompano Beach. Pleading guilty to disturbing the peace, only a small fine was imposed.
The first documented sexual assault in the U.S. happened in 1976. A family had hired him to work on their home in Boca Raton. Their 16-year old daughter quickly became the target of Wilder.
Wilder told the young girl she could interview for a job with his company and lured her into his truck. As reported in an archived People Magazine article “Journey of Terror”, the young girl told Wilder that she had venereal disease hoping her lie would protect her but Wilder raped her anyway.
Wilder was eventually acquitted of the sexual assault charges.
The second incident occurred in 1979 in Palm Beach, when Wilder was charged with the attempted rape of a 17-year old. He had introduced himself to her as “David Pierce,” an agent for the Barbizon modeling school offering to photograph her for a pizza ad.
Palm Beach Detective Arthur Newcombe would later testify, “She kept asking why she had to do this?” Wilder responded, “You want to be a Barbizon model, don’t you?”
Wilder would plead to lesser charges of attempted sexual battery and received 5-years probation.
In 1983, he would return to Australia to visit his parents, but his predatory behavior didn’t stop. Wilder was charged by an Australian court for abducting two 15-year-olds, sexually assaulting them, bounding and blindfolding them, forcing them to pose nude for photographs while ejaculating on them.
Wilder posted a $350,000 bail and was permitted to return to the United States. Wilder would never return to Australia to face charges of abducting and raping the two 15-year old girls.
He was also suspected in a 1965 murder of two teenage girls in Sydney. Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock were best friends and neighbors who were found brutally murdered and partially buried in the sand at Wanda Beach, January 11, 1965. The case remains unsolved.
In hindsight, clearly, Wilder was a predator and his thirst for torture, rape and killing increasing.
The Many Others
Wilder had an eye for models and was known to lure his victims with promises of modeling contracts. A successful Boynton Beach real estate developer, his wealth, fast cars, speed-boat and opulent home, made Wilder appear to be a successful gentleman who many young women would tend to trust. In fact, friends would later recall they thought Wilder was a consummate gentleman.
Rosario Gonzalez
February 26, 1984, a 20-year old model and Miss Florida contestant vanished in Miami, Fla. Rosario Gonzalez had been employed at the Miami Grand Prix, where Wilder raced his 911 Porsche.
According to witnesses, Rosario had left the Grand Prix track between noon and 1 pm with a man in his mid-thirties. She lived with her parents in Homestead, Fla., about a 23-mile drive from Miami but never arrived home that evening. Her parents said she always called home if she was going to be late and would never intentionally worry them.
Her vehicle was later found parked at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in downtown Miami and her paycheck never picked up.
Rosario’s fiancé would later tell police that Wilder had known Rosario and had taken her picture for a cover picture for a romance book in October 1982. Rosario had never heard from him again. That is, until the day of her disappearance when witnesses saw her leaving with a man fitting Wilder’s physical description. Rosario remains missing.
Elizabeth Kenyon
Eight days later, another Miss Florida pageant participant would vanish.
Elizabeth Kenyon was a University of Miami graduate and coach for the cheerleading squad at Coral Gables High School where she also taught special needs children.
A former fashion model, Elizabeth won the 1982 Orange Bowl Princess competition. She was also a finalist in the Miss Florida pageant where she had competed with Rosario.
Elizabeth and Wilder had dated. He had even proposed marriage to the 23-year old, but she had declined his offer because of a 16-year age difference.
On Monday, March 5, 1984, a security guard at Coral Gables High, momentarily spoke to Elizabeth in the parking lot and watched her leave. When she did not show up at her apartment, her roommate was not immediately concerned and assumed Elizabeth had gone to visit her parents who lived 30-miles north, in Pompano Beach.
When Elizabeth did not show up for work the following day, her parents reported missing her missing. Elizabeth’s father William Kenyon had recently seen bruises on his daughter and confronted her, but she explained the injuries away, telling him she had broken up a playground fight at school.
With the reason for concern, in the days following Elizabeth’s disappearance, Kenyon hired Kenneth Whittaker, a $1k per day private investigator.
On March 8th, Whittaker interviewed a gas station attendant who was familiar with Elizabeth and told the investigator she had driven into the station in her Chrysler convertible with a man driving a Cadillac El Dorado following her.
The attendant said they overheard Elizabeth talking about going to the airport. The man, fitting Wilder’s description, paid for her fuel and they drove away. That was the last time Elizabeth was seen.
Whittaker was able to quickly link Rosario Gonzalez to Wilder and took his information and concerns to Boynton Police Dept. Detectives shared information with Whittaker, about Wilder’s long history of sexual offenses. Whittaker and the Kenyon began surveillance on Wilder’s home, then requested help from the FBI who declined to become involved because there was no information leading to interstate kidnapping. Though compelling, the FBI explained they had no jurisdiction at the time.
Elizabeth’s vehicle was found on March 11th, parked at the Miami International Airport. Her name did not show on any flights.
Later, the Whittaker spoke directly to Wilder who denied seeing Elizabeth. Wilder’s secretary then tried to assure the private investigator Wilder was being truthful about the girl whose vehicle was found at the airport. That information had not yet been released by police.
Whittaker then strategically released information to the Miami Herald who reported a “race car driver” was the suspect in the disappearance of two women.
Two days later, Wilder, took his three dogs to a local kennel, withdrew a large amount of money from his bank account, got in his 1973 New Yorker and bolted.
Elizabeth remains missing and her parents have both passed away without ever knowing what happened to their daughter.
Colleen Orsborn
On March 15,1984, 15-year-old Colleen Orsborn disappeared after leaving her home in Daytona Beach, Fla. Colleen has missed her school bus, so her mother gave her money for the public bus and left for work. Colleen never made it to school.
Later, the only thing her mother discovered gone was Colleen’s pink two-piece bathing suit and flip-flops. Had she been lured to skip school with promises of modeling prospects?
A private investigator discovered Wilder was in Daytona, stayed at a hotel in the area and checked out the day of Colleen’s disappearance.
The family spent years hoping they would find Colleen alive.
About three weeks after Colleen vanished, a fisherman found the body of a young girl buried in a shallow grave at a lake in Orange County, Fla. However, the body was not identified as Colleen until 2011, utilizing the advancements in DNA identification.
Police never directly connected Wilder to Colleen and her murder remains unsolved.
Theresa “Terry” Wait Ferguson
Terry Ferguson was a beautiful, 21-year old aspiring model and step-daughter of a local Police Chief.
On March 18, 1984, Terry left her home in Indian Harbor Beach, Fla., to go to Merritt Square Mall about 20-miles from her home in Merritt Island. Theresa never arrived home after her trip to the mall.
Her step-father found her car parked at the mall and witnesses stated they saw Terry leave the mall with a well-dressed, balding man, who fit Wilder’s description. That same day Terry disappeared, Wilder called for a tow truck to remove his vehicle from a sandy area along a remote “Lover’s Lane” in Canaveral Groves, about 20 miles northwest of the mall. He was alone.
On March 23rd, her father was notified by one of his own police dispatchers a body had been found face down in a snake-infested swamp, about 100 miles east. Terry’s abduction and death was the first confirmed murder tied to Wilder.
Jane Doe
On March 20, 1984, 19-year old college student vanished from the Governor’s Square Mall parking lot, close to her Florida State University campus in Tallahassee, Fla. She had been offered a modeling assignment but declined. The man then forced her into his vehicle, and into a sleeping bag after bounding and gagging her. He then stuffed into his trunk.
Later that evening, Wilder took Jane Doe to a motel room near Bainbridge, GA where he raped and tortured her, connecting copper wires to her feet, then used a blow-dryer to apply super glue to her eyes.
In the book “Disguise of Insanity: Serial Mass Murderers” by Michael Cartel, he describes how Wilder shaved the young woman’s pubic hair, raped her, then ejaculated while lying beside her.
The young woman was able to escape by locking herself in the bathroom, screaming and pounding on the walls alerting other visitors. Wilder fled the scene and she went to authorities.
Jane Doe would tell police she had been at the mall and a man in a pinstripe suit offered $25 for a half hour of her time to model for him at a nearby park.
At his car, he showed her fashion magazines, claiming the photographs were his work, promising her a career. Initially, she trusted him but suddenly, intuitively, she felt uncomfortable and decided she did not want to go but he beat her and forced her into his vehicle.
Abducting and transporting Jane Doe from Fla. to Ga., was the first proven incident of interstate kidnapping associated with Wilder, allowing the Federal Bureau of Investigation to get involved. Wilder would soon be added to the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
Terry Walden
Terry Walden was a 23-year old nursing student at Lamar University in Beaumont, Tex. On March 23, 1984, Terry had told her husband she planned to pick up a couple things at the local mall, go study with a friend, then pick up their 4-year old daughter at daycare. She had intended to be home by 1:30 pm that day. At 5 pm the daycare notified her husband that Terry had never picked up heir daughter. Immediately concerned he filed a missing person report.
Two days prior, Terry had told her husband that a man had approached her at the mall asking her to pose as a model. She strongly declined his offer. The incident at the mall and Terry’s disappearance was not immediately connected but it would soon become clear, two days after rebuffing Wilder’s offer, Terry was yet another victim of a serial killer.
On March 26th, Terry’s fully clothed body was found floating face down in a canal in Beaumont. She was bound, badly bruised, with knife wounds and rope burns on her wrists and ankles. Detectives found duct tape at the scene, along with foot and tire tracks nearby.
Terry’s orange 1981 Mercury Cougar was missing. The police were certain Wilder was driving it.
Suzanne Logan
March 26th, the same day Terry Walden’s body was found in Beaumont, Tex., the body of another aspiring model was found nearly in Milford Lake, Kans.
20-year old Suzanne Logan was found by a fisherman in the reservoir, over 650 miles north of Beaumont, Tex., where Terry Walden had been murdered.
Suzanne had vanished from the Penn Square Mall nearly 300 miles south in Okla., the day prior to the location of her body.
Queens Serial Killer Photos
Suzanne was found partially clothed, shaven pubic hair, sexually assaulted, stabbed and bound with nylon cord and duct tape. Police say she was dead less than an hour before her body was found. Strangely, her hair had been snipped and later found in a wastebasket by a hotel maid.
Wilder had left a trail of bodies but was nowhere near done with his cross-country serial killing spree.
Sheryl Bonaventura
March 29, 1984, nearly 800 miles away in Grand Junction, Colo., 18-year old Sheryl Bonaventura was excitedly packing for a trip to Aspen with her best friend Kristal Cesario.
Dressed in faded jeans and gold-toed cowboy boots, Sheryl told her mother she was going to the local mall before meeting up with Kristal to leave for Aspen. Her mother asked her to be careful driving and she replied, “Mom, you worry too much.”
Her car was found at the mall, locked with sunglasses inside.
After the missing person report was made, witnesses at the local mall identified Wilder who was soliciting several women offering a modeling contract.
A waitress later said she saw Sheryl the same day she disappeared having lunch with a man and telling the waitress she was headed to Vegas.
They would stay at a hotel in Page, Ariz., on March 31st. Her body was found May 3rd, 12 miles north of Kanab, Utah. She had been shot and stabbed to death.
Michelle Korfman
Two days later, on April 1st, 17-year old Michelle Korfman vanished. Michelle was a beautiful and popular beauty pageant participant whose father was a casino executive.
The day Michelle vanished she had participated in a beauty contest sponsored by Seventeen Magazine. A fashion photographer caught Wilder in a seat observing and stalking Michelle at the event.
Later witnesses would report they saw Michelle leaving the event with Michelle. Michelle was an aspiring model and probably easily lured, considering Wilder appeared to have connections within the pageantry circles.
Several young women would later come forward indicating they had also been approached by Wilder who offered them modeling contracts and asked them to meet him later that day at Caesar’s Palace. Fortunately, Wilder did not show up for the meetings leaving several young girls alive to tell their story.
It is not known what happened to Michelle following the abduction. Her badly decomposed body was found May 11th, at a southern California rest stop, near the Angeles National Forest.
Tina Marie Risico
On April 4, 1984, 16-year old high school student Tina Marie Risico headed to the Del Amo Fashion Center, in Torrance, Calif., to fill out a job application. There she met Wilder.
When she did not arrive home, a missing person report was made. The FBI was now involved and interviewed an employee at Hickory Farms at the mall, confirming Tina Marie had been there.
Witnesses would also confirm law enforcement’s greatest fear, identifying Wilder as the man Tina Marie was last seen talking to. Other witnesses around town placed Wilder in the vicinity, saying they had seen him at the Proud Parrot Motel in Torrance prior to Tina’s disappearance.
Over the course of the following week, Wilder raped and beat Tina Marie and for some reason, spared her life. After being raped and tortured, Tina had become very compliant, which may explain why she was later set free.
In a UPI report, “Tina Marie Risico, the teenager who accompanied a serial killer” Tina said, “There’s something inside of me that I knew how to play along.”
However, before Tina Marie would have her life spared, Wilder had diabolic plans for her – to use her to lure other victims.
Tina Marie would later recall the day she was abducted and how she agreed to model for Wilder, agreeing to be paid $100 for a billboard shoot. However, after shooting one roll of film, she told him she needed to go home which angered him and he pulled out a gun, placing it inside her mouth. Binding her he threw her into Terry Walden’s Cougar and drove approximately 200 miles to El Centro, Calif., where he got a motel room. There he raped and tortured her.
After the abduction in Torrance, Wilder and Tina Marie traveled east through Prescott, Ariz., Joplin, Mo., and Chicago, Ill., into Merrillville, Ind. Once in Merrillville, Wilder would force Tina Marie to help abduct another girl.
By April 8, 1984, Wilder was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted list, sending a “BOLO” (Be On the Lookout) out to law enforcement nationwide, but they were one-step behind him.
Dawnette Wilt
At Southlake Mall in Merrillville, Ind., on April 10, 1984, Wilder forced Tina Marie Risico to lure 15-year old Dawnette Wilt to their vehicle, telling her Wilder was a photographer looking for models. At gunpoint, Wilder forced Dawnette into the car where Wilder bound and gagged Dawnette with duct tape. For the next several hours, Wilder proceeded to rape the young girl while Tina Marie was ordered to drive east.
After eight hours, they stopped at Niagra Falls to take pictures, then stopped at a motel in Victor, approximately 20 miles south of Rochester, NY.
While staying in the hotel, Wilder discovered he was on the FBI “10 Most Wanted” list and decided to hit the road again, stopping one hour south, on a rural dirt road in Barrington, NY. There, Wilder would make Tina Marie stay in the vehicle, walking Dawnette into the woods. There, he strangled Dawnette, then stabbed her twice in the front and back, leaving her for dead. Wilder and Tina Marie drove away but within minutes, Wilder decided to return to the location to shoot Dawnette and finish her off. To his dismay, she was gone.
Dawnette survived the attack and managed to get to a road where Charles Laursen found her and drove her to the hospital for help. Suffering severe trauma and blood loss, during her interview with police, they would glean, Wilder was still traveling with Tina Marie, and headed to Canada.
Elizabeth Dodge
After leaving Dawnette Wilt alongside the road in Barrington, Wilder and Tina Marie then turned north again, driving approximately 30 miles north returning to Victor, stopping at Eastview Mall. There he spotted Elizabeth Dodge. He ordered Tina Marie to convince the 33-year old woman to approach their car. Taking her car keys, Wilder then forced Elizabeth into his vehicle and drove away with Tina Marie following behind in Elizabeth’s gold Pontiac Firebird TransAm.
Wilder had one motive for abducting Elizabeth. They drove a short time to a remote gravel pit where Wilder forced Elizabeth to walk behind a mound of gravel, shooting her in the back. Leaving Terry Walden’s Cougar at the gravel pit, they drove away in Elizabeth’s vehicle.
A Life Spared
After murdering Elizabeth Dodge for her car, Wilder then headed east nearly 400 miles to Logan Airport in Boston, Mass.
There he entered the airport with his firearm inside his coat and purchased a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. He then gave Tina $100 to get a taxi and whatever she needed.
Tina Marie was clearly suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, a survival strategy where a victim develops an emotional bond with their abductor. Common to those suffering from extreme trauma, Tina Marie perceived Wilder as all-powerful and feared him, explaining why she would cooperate. However, Wilder also displayed a form of sympathy for Tina Marie, sparing her life.
She would be one of the lucky ones. Though haunted by the experience for years to come, Tina Marie would go on to speak about her experiences publicly and her story featured on FBI: The Untold Stories – Kidnapping of Tina Marie Risico.
The end of the road
Friday, April 13, 1984, Wilder began driving north toward Canada, stopping at a Vic’s Getty gas station in Colebrook, N.H. He was only a dozen miles away from the Canadian border when two New Hampshire state troopers spotted him at the gas pump and approached his vehicle.
Faced with capture, Wilder tried to retrieve his Colt Python .357 from the vehicle but Trooper Jellison grabbed him from behind and they began to struggle. Two shots were fired, one hitting Jellison after passing through Wilder’s chest, the other bullet also hitting Wilder directly in the chest, killing him instantly. Jellison would recover from his injury.
Friday the 13th, the trail of terror was over, but Wilder had left a living hell to the families who continue to await answers he took to his grave, and he left a path of broken dreams.
The Collector
It would later be reported, handcuffs, rolls of duct tape, a specially designed electric cord used to torture his victims, a sleeping bag, .357 revolver with ammunition, and a copy of “The Collector” were found in Wilder’s possession.
English author Peter Fowles wrote and published The Collector in the early 1960s.
An internationally best-selling novel, it was hailed the first modern psychological thriller.
A tale of obsessive young love, Frederick Clegg is a city hall clerk who collects butterflies in his spare time and obsessed with art student Miranda Grey.
Admiring her from a distance at first, he buys an isolated house in the country and decides to add Miranda to his collection of butterflies.
Making careful preparation and using chloroform to abduct her, he locks Miranda in his cellar, convinced she will love him eventually.
He promises to respect Miranda, pledging not to rape her, vowing to shower her with gifts, if . . . she will not try to escape from the cellar.
As his true character is revealed, she begins to pity with Frederick but tries to escape several times. When he doesn’t let her go, she tries to seduce him several times, even fantasizes about killing him. Eventually, she becomes seriously ill and dies. He buries her in the garden. At the end of the book, it is announced he plans to kidnap another girl.
Serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng were said to be obsessed with The Collector. Arrested in 1985, he and his killing partner Charles Ng raped, tortured, photographed and murdered an estimated 25 victims at a remote cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothills, in Calif.
American serial killer Robert Berdella, known as the Kansas City Butcher, told authorities the film version of The Collector was his inspiration to kill. He abducted and held male victim’s captive, photographing them before killing them.
How many more?
Though the FBI estimates under 100 serial killers currently working throughout the United States, the number of missing persons is equally disturbing.
As of October 31, 2017, there were 87,643 missing persons entered into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center and 8,613 unidentified persons, most remains.
“The devastation and number of victims these monsters leave behind is immeasurable because they are able to blend in and operate undetected, maximizing the number of victims,” says Thomas Lauth, private investigator and owner of Lauth Investigations Internationalheadquartered in Indianapolis, IN. Lauth has spent over twenty-years working on missing person and unsolved homicide cases and serves as a Consultant for MissingLeads.com.
Serial Killers In Ny State
Whether Christopher Wilder is responsible for the disappearance of Tammy Lynn Leppert, may never be known and her disappearance remains unsolved along with dozens of others. Like other serial killers, Wilder was able to assimilate and operate for years, escalating with killings more frequently. This has caused some to surmise he was a “spree killer.” However, the pattern of sadistic behavior beginning in his teens says otherwise.
“It is highly unlikely the victims named in this article were the only victims of Wilder,” says Lauth. “Sadly, these “collectors” will continue to operate until we catch up to them or they make a mistake and are caught. However, those of us chasing these monsters will always outnumber them – and we never forget the victims.”
FBI Wanted poster for Wilder | |
Born | March 13, 1945 |
---|---|
Died | April 13, 1984 (aged 39) Colebrook, New Hampshire, U.S. |
Cause of death | Gunshot wounds after an apprehension struggle with police |
Other names | The Beauty Queen Killer |
Details | |
Victims | 8–9+ |
February 1984–April 1984 (confirmed) | |
Country | Australia United States |
State(s) | Florida, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Arizona, Illinois, New York, Colorado, Utah |
Date apprehended | April 13, 1984 (killed) |
Queens Pilot Serial Killer
Christopher Bernard Wilder (March 13, 1945 – April 13, 1984), also known as the Beauty Queen Killer, was a serial killer from Australia who abducted and raped at least twelve women, killing at least eight of them, during a six-week cross-country crime spree in the United States of America in early 1984. His series of murders began in Florida on February 26, 1984, and continued across the country through Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nevada, and California, and attempted abductions in Washington State and New York before he was killed during a struggle with police in New Hampshire on April 13, 1984.
He is also believed to have raped two girls, aged 10 and 12, in Florida in 1983. Since his death, Wilder has also been considered a suspect in the unsolved 1965 murder of two teenage girls in Sydney, Australia, where he had lived from his birth until 1965.
- 2Crime spree
- 6In popular culture
Early life[edit]
Wilder was born on March 13, 1945, in Sydney, Australia,[1] the son of an American naval officer and an Australian national. He nearly died at birth, but recovered, and almost drowned in a swimming pool at the age of two.[2] On January 4, 1963, he raped a 13-year old girl in company with two other young men, both of whom denied being involved in the actual assault. Wilder was sentenced to probation, and claimed later in life that he also received electroshock therapy.[3][4] There is evidence that this treatment aggravated his violent sexual tendencies [5]; however, journalist Duncan McNab claims there is no evidence that Wilder underwent electroshock therapy. He also suggests that the story of Wilder's near-drowning event was an invention of Wilder himself.[6]
Wilder married in 1968, but his wife left him after one week. He emigrated to the United States in 1969 and lived in Boynton Beach, Florida, in an upscale home, and was successful in real estate, while developing an interest in photography. From about 1971 through 1975, he faced various charges related to sexual misconduct.[7] He eventually raped a young woman he had lured into his truck on the pretense of photographing her for a modeling contract.[4] This was to become part of his modus operandi during his later rape and murder spree. Despite several convictions, Wilder was never jailed for any of these crimes.[8]
Crime spree[edit]
On April 13, 1980, Wilder attacked and attempted to abduct 17-year-old Carla Hendry in Beverly, Massachusetts, but she managed to escape.
While visiting his parents in Australia in 1982, Wilder was charged with sexual offenses against two 15-year-old girls whom he had forced to pose nude. His parents posted bail and he was allowed to return to Florida to await trial, but court delays prevented his case from ever being heard, as the eventual initial hearing date of April 1984 came after his death.[9]
In early 1984, he began a bloody, six-week, cross-country crime spree in the United States.[failed verification] He would leave in his wake a total of 8-9 female murder victims.[10]
Florida and Georgia murders[edit]
The first murder attributed to Wilder was that of Rosario Gonzalez, who was last seen on February 26, 1984, at the Miami Grand Prix, where she was employed as a spokesmodel. Wilder was also at the race, where he raced in the IMSA GTU class in a Porsche 911. On March 5, Wilder's former girlfriend, Miss Florida finalist Elizabeth Kenyon, went missing. Neither woman has ever been found. Police linked Wilder to both women after consulting a private investigator who had been hired by Kenyon's parents to discover information related to her disappearance.
On March 18, Wilder led 21-year-old Theresa Wait Ferguson away from the Merritt Square Mall in Merritt Island, Florida, and murdered her, dumping her body at Canaveral Groves, where it was discovered on March 23.
Wilder's next (attempted) victim was 19-year-old Linda Grover from Florida State University, whom he abducted from the Governor's Square Mall in Tallahassee, Florida, and transported to Bainbridge, Georgia, on March 20. She had declined his offer to photograph her for a modeling agency, after which he assaulted her in the mall parking lot. Wilder tied Grover's hands, wrapped her in a blanket, and put her in the trunk of his car. Grover was taken to Glen Oaks Motel and was raped. Wilder blinded her with a blow dryer and super glue. He applied copper wires to her feet and passed an electric current through them. When she tried to get away, he beat her, but she escaped and locked herself in the bathroom where she began pounding on the walls. Wilder fled in his car, taking all of her belongings with him.
Texas and Kansas murders[edit]
On March 21, Wilder approached Terry Walden, a 23-year-old wife, mother, and nursing student at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, about posing as a model. She turned him down, but ran across him again two days later, March 23, and he kidnapped her then. Wilder stabbed her to death and dumped her body in a canal, where it was found on March 26. After killing Walden, Wilder fled in her rust-colored 1981 Mercury Cougar. On March 25, Wilder abducted 21-year-old Suzanne Logan at the Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City. Wilder took her 180 miles north to Newton, Kansas, and checked into room 30 of the I-35 Inn. After breakfast the next morning, he drove to Milford Reservoir, 90 miles northeast of Newton near Junction City, Kansas, where he stabbed her to death and dumped her body under a cedar tree.
Utah and California murders[edit]
Wilder took 18-year-old Sheryl Bonaventura captive in Grand Junction, Colorado, on March 29. They were seen together at a diner in Silverton where they told staff they were heading for Las Vegas with a stop in Durango on the way. On March 30, they were seen at the Four Corners Monument, after which Wilder checked into the Page Boy Motel in Page, Arizona. Wilder shot and stabbed Bonaventura to death around March 31 near the Kanab River in Utah, but her body was not found until May 3.
Samuel Little Serial Killer
Wilder killed 17-year-old Michelle Korfman, an aspiring model, who disappeared from a Seventeen magazine cover model competition at the Meadows Mall in Las Vegas on April 1. A photograph was taken of Wilder stalking her at the competition. Her body remained undiscovered near a southern California roadside rest stop until May 11, and was not identified until mid-June via dental X-rays.[11]
Beth Dodge murder (New York)[edit]
Near Torrance, California, Wilder photographed 16-year-old Tina Marie Risico before abducting her and driving her to El Centro, where he assaulted her. Wilder apparently believed that Risico would be of use in helping him get other victims,[12] so he kept her alive and took her with him as he traveled back east through Prescott, Arizona, Joplin, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. Wilder had been on the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives list since the second week of April.
He and Risico went to Merrillville, Indiana, where she helped him abduct 16-year-old Dawnette Wilt at the Southlake Mall. Wilder raped Wilt several times as Risico drove to New York. Near Penn Yan, Wilder took Wilt into the woods and attempted to suffocate her before stabbing her twice and leaving her. Wilt tied a pair of jeans around herself, and was taken to Soldiers and Sailors Hospital in Penn Yan by a truck driver. Dr. John F. Flynn performed a life saving surgery on Wilt at the hospital and Wilt survived and recuperated at Soldiers and Sailors Hospital in Penn Yan; she told Penn Yan police that Wilder was heading for Canada. At the Eastview Mall in Victor, New York, Wilder forced 33-year-old Beth Dodge into his car and had Risico follow him in Dodge's Pontiac Firebird. After a short drive, Wilder shot Dodge and dumped her body in a gravel pit. He and Risico then drove the Firebird to Logan Airport in Boston, where he bought her a ticket to Los Angeles.[13]
Death[edit]
On April 13, Wilder stopped at Vic's Getty service station at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets in Colebrook, New Hampshire, and was noticed by two New Hampshire state troopers, Leo Jellison and Wayne Fortier.[8] When the troopers approached Wilder, he retreated to his car to arm himself with a Colt Python .357 Magnum.[14] Trooper Jellison was able to grab Wilder from behind and in the scuffle, two shots were fired. Wilder received the first bullet and it exited through his back and into trooper Jellison. The second bullet went into Wilder's chest. Wilder was killed due to both of the bullets. Trooper Jellison was seriously wounded, but recovered and returned to full duty.[15]
A copy of the novel The Collector by John Fowles, in which a man keeps a woman in his cellar against her will until she dies, was found among his possessions after his death.[16]
Wilder was cremated in Florida, leaving a personal estate worth more than $7 million. In June 1986, a court-appointed arbitrator ruled that the after-tax balance was to be divided among the families of his victims.[17][18][19]
Other possible victims[edit]
Along with the eight known victims he killed between February and April 1984, Wilder has been suspected in the murders and disappearances of many other women, including some whose remains were found around Florida in areas he was known to frequent.
- Wilder is the primary suspect in the disappearance of 15-year-old Colleen Orsborn, who went missing after leaving her Daytona Beach home on March 15, 1984. Wilder was staying at a motel in Daytona Beach on that same date. Though he checked out on the day Orsborn disappeared, no evidence has been found to connect them. Her body was discovered a few weeks later, partially buried near a lake in Orange County, Florida, although it was initially ruled not to be her, and was not formally identified until 2011.[20]
- Wilder is a suspect in Australia's unsolved Wanda Beach Murders – the murders of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock at Wanda Beach, near Sydney, on January 11, 1965 – because of his similarity to a suspect sketch.[21][22]
- Wilder is a suspect in the unsolved disappearance of Mary Opitz. The 17-year-old disappeared in Fort Myers, Florida, on January 16, 1981, and was last seen walking towards a parking lot.[23] Another girl who physically resembled Opitz, Mary Hare, disappeared on February 11, 1981, from the same parking lot.[23] Hare's body, which had decomposed, was found in June 1981; she had been stabbed in the back and was the victim of a homicide.[23] Authorities began to suspect foul play was involved in Opitz's case following this;[23] Opitz's case remains unsolved.[23]
- In 1982, the skeletal remains of two unidentified women were unearthed near property owned by Wilder in Loxahatchee, Florida. One victim had been dead for one to three years, and apparently had her fingers cut off; police theorize that whoever killed her could be linked to the crime if the body was ever identified; she was identified as Tina Marie Beebe in 2013.[24] The other woman had been dead for a period of months.[25]
- Shari Lynne Ball, a 20-year-old aspiring model, went missing in October 1983 from Boca Raton, Florida. Her badly decomposed body was found by a hunter in Shelby, New York, sometime later, but was not identified until 2014.[26] Her cause of death could not be determined, but foul play was suspected. Wilder is currently being looked at for possible involvement since it matches his modus operandi, but no evidence links him to the crime.
- Nancy Kay Brown, a 25-year-old native of Rantoul, Illinois, disappeared while vacationing in Cocoa Beach, Florida on June 6, 1983. Her remains were discovered in Canaveral Groves in March 1984. She was a victim of a homicide.[27]
- Tammy Lynn Leppert, 18, was last seen around 11:30 a.m. on July 6, 1983, in Cocoa Beach, Florida, while in a heated argument with a male companion. Leppert's family filed a one-million-dollar lawsuit against Wilder before his death but dropped the suit afterward. Leppert's mother, modeling agent Linda Curtis, later stated that she never believed Wilder was involved in Tammy's disappearance. Police were never able to link Wilder and Leppert, and it may be coincidence that she disappeared at the same time he was targeting area models. He had a long history of sex crimes but did not begin his killing spree until almost a year after she vanished.[28]
- An unidentified young woman, the Broward County Jane Doe, was found floating in a canal on February 18, 1984, in Davie, Florida. She had been strangled to death and was thought to have been dead two days prior to being found.[29][30]
Ruled out victims[edit]
- On May 3, 1973, a man walking his dog discovered the bodies of Mary, 16, and Marguerit 'Maggie' Jenkins 18, in a wooded area in Key Largo, about 100 miles from where they were last seen. They were seen the day before trying to hitchhike back to their home in Gloucester, New Jersey. Both girls had been sexually assaulted. They had been subjected to blunt force trauma and shot to death. Authorities looked into the possibility that Wilder was responsible for the murders. He had already been attacking women by 1973 and resided in Boynton Beach in 1973, which is 150 miles from Key Largo. However, Wilder was ruled out when DNA recovered from a bite mark on one of the girls did not match him.
- On March 7, 1984, Melody Marie Gay, 19, was abducted while working the graveyard shift at an all-night store in Collier County, Florida; her body was pulled from a rural canal three days later. Due to the similarities between her murder and Wilder's crimes, they were thought to be connected, but he has since been ruled out as a suspect.[31]
In popular culture[edit]
Wilder earned the nickname the 'Beauty Queen Killer' as a result of his crimes.[32]
Film[edit]
- The made-for-TV movie Easy Prey (1986) dramatizes a series of events based on Wilder's story.[33]
References[edit]
- ^Johns, Loujane. 'Nothing Ever Happens Here'. The Chronicle-Express. Penn Yan, NY. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^Newton, Michael (2000). The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.
- ^McNab, Duncan (2019). The Snapshot Killer. Australia: Hachette Australia. p. 8. ISBN978 0 7336 4100 8.
- ^ ab''Beauty Queen Killer' and race car driver Christopher Bernard Wilder takes a bloody ride through the states, kidnapping, raping and murdering 8 women in short 1984 span'. Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
- ^Gibney, Bruce (1984). The Beauty Queen Killer.
- ^McNab, Duncan (2019). The Snapshot Killer. Australia: Hachette Australia. p. 13. ISBN978 0 7336 4100 8.
- ^Ramsland, Kathleen (April 13, 2012). 'Christopher Wilder: Beauty queen killer'. Dinge en Goete (Things and Stuff). Retrieved September 18, 2012.
- ^ ab'A Killer's Rampage'. truTV. Archived from the original on April 21, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^Flowers, R. Barri; H. Loraine Flowers (2004). Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers and Victims of the Twentieth Century. McFarland. p. 104. ISBN9780786420759.
- ^'Christopher Wilder a real 'killer' with the ladies'. The Tuscaloosa News. April 26, 1984. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
- ^Bustos, Sergio; Yanez, Luisa (2007). Miami's Criminal Past Uncovered. The History Press. p. 91. ISBN9781596293885. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- ^Cartel, Michael (1985). Disguise of Sanity: Serial Mass Murderers.
- ^'Tina Marie Risico, the teenager who accompanied serial killer...' United Press International, Inc. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
- ^'Mystery and a Spree Killer'. Law and Ordnance. July 22, 2009. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^'Woman Slayer Described as a 'Demon,' Unhuman'. The Mohave Daily Miner. United Press International. April 15, 1984. p. A-5. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^Blanco, Juan Ignacio. 'Christopher Wilder | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers'. Murderpedia.org. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
- ^Sellers, Laurin (June 12, 1986). 'Victim's Parents Share Killer's Estate: Arbitrator Awards Portion Of Wilder's Fortune To Brevard Couple'. Orlando Sentinel.
- ^Perry, Michael (April 26, 1987). 'Massacre victim's family gets $3.5m'. The Sun-Herald.
- ^Altman, Larry (2008). 'A Teen's Terrifying Days With a Killer in 1984, an L.A.-area Girl Became One of the Targets of a Hunted Man who Took Her on a Cross-Country Nightmare'. Daily News. Los Angeles, California. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^''Dr. G' Matches DNA to Florida Teen Missing Since 1984'. The Ledger. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^Whiticker, Alan (2005). Twelve Crimes That Shocked The Nation.
- ^Brown, Anne-Louise (July 6, 2014). 'Double killing DNA sample lost'. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
- ^ abcde'Mary Opitz'. The Charley Project. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
- ^'118UFFL'. The Doe Network. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^Newton, Michael (2002). The Encyclopedia of Kidnappings. Infobase Publishing. p. 251. ISBN9781438129884. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- ^'Shari Lynne Ball: Missing Boca Raton woman identified in New York 30 years later'. WPBF. April 28, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- ^'Police Still Tackling Brevard's Toughest Cases'. WPBF. August 7, 1988. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
- ^'Tammy Lynn Leppert'. The Charley Project. December 20, 2013. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- ^'Case File 554UFFL'. The Doe Network. February 3, 2015 [December 20, 2006]. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
- ^'FL - FL - Colleen Orsborn, 15, Daytona Beach, 19 March 1984'. Websleuths. Websleuths.
- ^'Cold Case: Gay, Melody Marie'. Collier County Sheriff's Office. Archived from the original on November 26, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
- ^'Making of a Monster: Christopher Wilder (The Beauty Queen Killer)'. Health Psychology Consultancy. August 12, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
- ^Kelley, Bill (October 26, 1986). 'Victim`s Escape Easy Prey For Tv Movie'. tribunedigital-sunsentinel. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
External links[edit]
- Easy Prey (TV Movie 1986) at IMDb
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