Left and Center: Christopher circa, 1990
Right: Age Progressed to age 45
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: April 22, 1990
Missing From: Bath, Clinton County, Michigan
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: May 18, 1972
Age: 17 years old
Height and Weight: 5’7″ and 130 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian Male, Brown hair, Hazel eyes, Christopher has a small scar on his nose and is known to wear contact lenses, he might go by the nickname “Chris”
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A faded denim jacket, black t-shirt with a Pink Floyd logo imprinted across the front of a rock design on it, and a pair of jeans
NCMEC Number: 739607
Details of Disappearance
Christopher was last seen in Bath, Michigan on April 22nd 1990. On that day, Christopher had a few celebrations to attend along with his friends. After they attended the annual Earth Day Festival at Riverfront Park, Christopher and his friends went to the Rose Lake Recreation Center. They planned to camp there for the night.
They arrived at the site at approximately and made a campfire. Then, at 9:00 pm, Christopher walked into the surrounding woods. He never returned to the campsite and was never seen or heard from again. His friends became concerned when he didn’t return 4 hours later. They called his parents who promptly filed a missing persons report on him.
Police arrived at the recreation shortly afterwards and began to search for Christopher with dogs to no avail. They also had a helicopter search the area at 3:00 am. In total, they search 2 square miles of land but no trace of Christopher was found in the area. Investigators originally classified Christopher as a runaway and the investigation halted.
Christopher’s parents, John and Ronnie, have stated they do not believe their son ran away and said it would’ve been out of character for him to do such a thing. They said they knew of no serious problems that Christopher had at the time of his 1990 disappearance. It should be noted that Christopher doesn’t even have a drivers license or a car and was driven to the camping area by one of his friends. He did know how to drive in 1990, however.
John also stated Christopher was aware of the fact that he could simply call him to come and pick him up. He’s picked Christopher up from places in the early morning hours on several other occasions. Investigators and his family and others believe other factors are to explain for Christopher’s disappearance. His family and a teacher, Marilyn Newman, said he was somewhat too trusting and would’ve been an “easy victim.”
Christopher was known to regularly smoke marijuana and even sold a bit on the side. He had a history of shorting his clients. Some have suggested that this is a likely reason for someone to possibly harm Christopher on the night of his disappearance. Some of his old friends are baffled about his whereabouts that night.
Apparently, there were other, bigger parties that Christopher had been personally invited to. The area he and his friends were camping at was rarely visited by anyone from his school. Investigators continued to search for Christopher after 4 days without him returning passed. A second search from the air occurred and Christopher’s friends searched the ground of the camping area. They even searched a nearby lake with no signs of him.
John and Ronnie did so much to try and find their lost son. They hired a private detective, offered a $2,500 reward, and even consulted a psychic through a suggestion a friend of his made. Their efforts turned up nothing of interest in the case. The case turned cold very quickly and little to no leads developed in the case.
However, a year and half after Christopher went missing, one of his shoes was discovered in a boggy area about 300 yards southwest from his last known location. The shoe was found by two hunters and the area was described as being full of marshland by locals. A detective even said that just stepping in the mud would sink you to your armpits in a heartbeat. He described it as life threatening.
Christopher’s other shoe was found a few weeks after the first one was discovered. However, investigators also discovered handfuls of long, strawberry, blonde colored hair just 100 yards away from the shoe. The hair did not belong to Christopher but it made investigators curious. The shoes appeared to have been exposed the elements for a long time but the first shoe was found in an area that had already been searched.
Investigators believe Christopher’s remains might still be in the area that he went missing from. The area was described as swampy along with the marshland that his shoe was found in. It’s would’ve been easy for someone to hide his body in the area without it being found in 1990.
At the time of his disappearance, Christopher was described as a bright student who was two weeks shy of graduating high school. He was student at Haslett Community Education where he was said to have a perfect attendance and made great marks in his grades. He was originally enrolled at East Lansing High School but was transferred in November of 1989 to Haslett.
John and Ronnie felt he would benefit from the smaller class sizes and greater individual attention that was present in the classroom. He was known to enjoy swimming and doing handwork in 1990. He was also described as soft spoken and generous. Christopher’s case remains unsolved and foul play is highly suspected in the case.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Bath Township Police Department 517-641-4050
Source Information
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Case Remains: Missing Persons and Unsolved Mysteries