Crime Junkie - MISSING: Christina Calayca

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

When Christina Calayca disappeared on a camping trip in Ontario, Canada, in 2007, investigators expected to find her in a few short hours. But despite numerous search efforts, no sign of her was ever found. And 16 years later, her family is still searching for answers.If you know anything about Christina’s whereabouts, please contact them at 888-310-1122 or go online to OPP.CA and click the Contact link. Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/ to view the current membership options and policies.Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/missing-christina-calayca/

Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today is about a young woman who disappeared while camping 16 years ago. This is the story of Christina Colaca. It's around 9.30 on Monday morning, August 6th, 2007. And a young woman named Faith Castullo is just waking up at her campsite at the Rainbow Falls Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.

She's there for a long weekend with two of her friends, J.B. Rez and Eddie McGay, and her cousin, Christina Colaca. But as she's rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she only sees J.B. waking up beside her. Christina and Eddie are gone. So, Faith and J.B. crawl out of the tent that they're all sharing to see if maybe the pair is making breakfast or something. But when they get outside, they only find Eddie sitting by the fire alone.

Faith asks where Christina is, and Eddie says that he's not sure. You see, he tells them that he and Christina had woken up around like 6.30. They got up early and decided to go for a run. And Christina wasn't a big runner, but they both wanted to see this beautiful park. And so about 30 minutes later, when they reached the park's entrance, they decided to split up. Like, he was going to go at a fast pace and wanted to head out to the trans-Canada highway while she wanted to kind of just take it easy, enjoy some of the trails,

sightsee a little. Specifically, there was this one trail that led to the park's waterfall that she wanted to check out. So, without discussing a time or place to meet back up, they just kind of went their separate ways. And like I said, Eddie was faster than Christina, so he expected to get back to the campsite first. Now, he figures she's probably still out on her run, or maybe the 20-year-old

who was known for being a very quiet, reflective person, stopped on one of the beaches to relax or think or meditate by the waterfall. Either way, she'll be back soon. So they all go about their morning and start making breakfast. But a half hour goes by, and then a full hour. And Christina still isn't back. It's going on 11 at this point, so the group finally starts to get worried about where she might be.

Honestly, I'd be losing my mind if you were gone that long. You should be losing your mind if I say that I'm running. Like, that's the red flag for me. I mean, same. But still, I mean, have they gone out to look for her at all yet? Well, according to an article by Kate Barker for Explore Magazine, which has the most comprehensive coverage of this case, when JB had gone to take a shower at one of the comfort stations

near their campsite after breakfast, I guess he like swung by the beach that was closest to their tent on his way back just to see if she was there. But there was no sign of her. But at this, like, 11 o'clock point, like, that's the most searching. Like, keep an eye out for her as you're passing things kind of look. But this 11 o'clock is when they really start to go out and search. And even now, I don't think any of them are thinking that something bad had happened to Christina.

They're thinking she probably got lost on one of the trails or something. And actually, this isn't their first time in a situation like this. The four of them had gotten lost on another hiking trail in a different park a few weeks before. And while the incident had left them a little shaken, they obviously all made it out in one piece. So they're all pretty optimistic as JB and Eddie head out to search the trails. Now, based on where Eddie last saw Christina, he and JB split up to cover more ground.

Eddie heading towards the waterfall and JB going in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Faith stays behind just in case Christina does come back to the campsite on her own. Now, the layout of the park is actually important here because not only is it this really large area, like more than 1,400 acres, but it's kind of spread out in like two sections. So I'm going to send you a map really quick. This is obviously going to be on our website for people to check out as well. If you're in the fan club, it'll pop up.

But for those people who are driving, doing laundry, all the things, can you try and describe this a little bit? Yeah. So the park is basically split by the Trans-Canada Highway that you mentioned earlier. Right. So you see the main grounds there, that's where they're staying. Okay. Yeah. So the main grounds are located next to a lake and there are a bunch of beaches, some trails. It looks like one of those trails actually heads south and crosses the highway

to get to like another part of the park. Right. And this other campground looks much smaller and is parallel to the edge of Lake Superior. Right. And again, there is a map of this that you guys can see on our site in the blog post. But anyways, the guys search for almost two hours with no luck. When they all meet back up, Eddie tells the group that he had actually met another hiker

while he was looking who told him what you just described, right? That there is this path that eventually goes all the way to the park's other campground. So they've basically been searching the main one this whole time. And he learns that this path like continues to a nearby town and all in all, it's like seven miles long. So now they're thinking, okay, maybe Christina went in the wrong direction and she ended up like all the way on the other end. Maybe that explains why she's not back by now.

Okay. But if they didn't know about it, she wouldn't have either. And it's even more likely that she got lost, right? Right. And again, seven miles away, like they're assuming that if she did go seven miles, she's probably tired and just basically waiting for them to come find her. Yeah. Seven miles is a long way to go, especially if she's not much of a runner.

So are they even sure she could have gone that far? Well, I mean, not that she's running the whole time, but like if I'm even trying to run and then I get lost, I'm definitely just going to start walking and figuring it out. Like either way, what they know is that it's worth checking out. So the group leaves a note for her at the campsite just in case she wonders back while they're gone. And then at 1.45pm, they all hop in the car to head to the other grounds. But before they exit their section of the park,

they actually stop at a gatehouse at the entrance to ask for directions and then to grab a trail map. And while they're there, the attendant asks them if everything is okay. I don't know if he noticed that they're like acting strange or worried or he just felt like something was wrong. But when they tell him they can't find Christina and that they're heading to the other end of the trail, he says that he doesn't think she would have walked that entire distance.

Why not? I don't know. And again, he doesn't know them. So I guess it's just because it's so long, or maybe he thought she would have realized that she was lost around or even run into somebody and gotten help at some point. Regardless of his reasoning, he does understand how serious the situation is,

which is why he's like, you know what? You guys need to call the police and file a missing persons report before you do anything else. Now here's where the story gets a little fuzzy. I couldn't find anything in the source material about whether the group does call the police. I don't know if they have cell phones or if they would have to borrow a phone, but I never see cell phones mentioned.

Well, do they at least still go to the other end of that trail to look for her? Like they had originally planned to? The source material doesn't say that either. The only thing I know for sure is that according to an article by Sarah Elizabeth Brown for the Chronicle Journal, the gate attendant immediately alerts other park officials, and then he calls the Ontario Provincial Police to file a report at 2 p.m. Park officials head out to start searching the main trails

and the beaches for Christina, but by the time officers from the OPP's Northwest Region Emergency Response Team arrive, they haven't had any luck. So OPP officials don't waste any time setting up a command post and kicking off their own search. And they begin the same way JB and Eddie did by retracing Christina's steps down the trail that they think she took to the waterfall.

Officials walk the trail, they're calling out her name every few steps, but when they fall silent to listen for a response, they only hear the woods around them. Meanwhile, other investigators want to sit down with Christina's friends to get a better understanding of what happened leading up to this point. And since he was the last one to see her, they decide to start with Eddie. Eddie basically tells them the same thing he told Faith and JB.

He says he can't remember whose idea it was to go for a jog. From what I can tell, it was kind of a mutual decision. And from their campsite, he recounts that he and Christina went all the way up to the gatehouse, which is where they split up. He took the highway, which curves around towards the other campsite and stopped about halfway to like a picnic area to rest. And while he's catching his breath there, he says he even carved the group's initials, FCJ and E, into a rock.

And then he decided to turn around and head back to camp. And he goes on to tell investigators how they got more worried as the day went on and eventually went to look for Christina before ending up back at the gatehouse. Officers take down his statement, but there isn't anything in the story that stands out to them as concerning. You keep saying that the group woke up at the campsite that morning, so we know they've been there at least overnight.

But how long have they actually been there? Could something have happened earlier in their trip that sticks out? Yeah, so actually investigators asked Eddie a similar question. He said that they got to the campsite just the day before, which was Sunday afternoon, but they actually started their trip at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. And he said that before Christina even went missing, everything was totally normal, everything was cool.

Wait, so what is this discrepancy with the time? Like Saturday, Sunday, what exactly is going on? So it was a long trip. On Saturday, they left Toronto where they all lived and started the 14-hour drive to Rainbow Falls. Now along the way, they stopped a few times to sightsee or take naps in the car. And about 10 hours in, they actually ran out of gas. And so Eddie says that they only got going again after a man stopped to help them.

And then once they were able to get gas and stuff, they got back on the road and continued their drive overnight. Now we know on Sunday that they stopped for groceries in a town called Scriber, which is about 10 minutes outside of the park. And then according to that article by Kate Barker for Explorer Magazine, they finally arrived at the gatehouse at around noon. We know that this is true because they all signed in and they went to the campsite assigned to them by the attendant.

But Eddie says that they ended up asking if they could switch sites because the original spot that they got was like right up against one of the main roads and they wanted something more like private. Like if you're going camping, like go for the experience, right? Right, like more off the beaten path, literally. Exactly. So the attendant gives them a new site and they all got to work setting up their camp, which was like perfect because they still had a ton of daylight left to explore the park.

But they didn't do that. Eddie says they were like exhausted. They decided to hang around the fire instead. And by 6.30pm, they were all like bone tired from the trip. So they decided to crawl into their tents and take like a 30 minute power nap. Oh my God, youth. If I lay down at 6.30, I am done. Not a chance in hell I'm waking up.

Same. Especially in 30 minutes. Like see you in the morning. Yeah. Well, that's not just a problem in your 30s apparently because either their alarm wasn't loud enough or they didn't have one and they were way more tired than they thought and the next thing they knew, they were waking up in like pitch black, complete darkness.

It was 10.30pm and by that time, none of them were quite up for exploring the park in the middle of the night. Right. I don't blame them. So instead, they kind of huddled around the fire again. They're like eating food, having a few drinks. Though Eddie says none of them got drunk, but they did stay up talking to like three in the morning when Faith, JB and Christina decided,

okay, like at that point we're calling it a night. And they all get back into the tent while Eddie says that he went to go take a shower. And when he came back, only Christina was still awake and they chatted for a little bit before both drifting off to sleep at around 4am. Wow. So that means Eddie and Christina only slept for like two and a half hours if they woke up at 6.30, right? At most.

Again, youth. Seriously. So do they think that she got turned around because she was tired maybe? I mean, that could be a factor, but like, I don't see anyone getting hung up on that detail. I mean, again, they're young a couple hours of sleep. That's not that weird. From what I can tell, everyone just kind of waves it off. As again, young people having like inconsistent sleep schedules, all that.

They're all 20 except for JB who's 19. And like, I remember being that age. Like, I remember when I was like 21, 22, me and my roommate planned a trip to Vegas and we were going to drive there and we were so antsy the night before. We're like, we'll leave in the middle of the night. Even though we had no place to stay, we're like, we'll drive there, stay up all night in Vegas until we can check into our hotel the next day. Oh my God.

I wouldn't dream of that today. Yeah, I mean, those are just the days of like being able to live off of zero sleep just because versus now when that has to happen when a kid is sick or something. So anyways, back to the campers. Eddie has also told them how normal Christina was acting the next morning. Like, he didn't notice any red flags with her behavior at all. And when the officials go talk to Faith and JB, they pretty much tell the exact same story. JB adds that he remembers waking up briefly that morning and hearing Christina

talk to Eddie outside the tent about going for a run. So again, like the story's being corroborated. And police even start collecting like photos. According to reporting by Josh Bielski for the National Post, Faith shows them a bunch of pictures from Sundays. Selfies of her and Christina, pictures of everyone eating food over the fire. Again, everything that they're getting hearing seeing is like everything was fine. And this whole time that they're interviewing the three of these friends,

other officials are still searching the trails and the beaches, both campsites. But by the time 4 p.m. rolls around, they still haven't found Christina. So it's been like, what, nine hours at this point? Has anyone talked to or told her family? Well, they actually do it about this time. Officials decide to call Christina's mom, Elizabeth Rutledge, at home in Toronto. And among the overwhelming shock and fear, she's also really confused. Because they're telling her your daughter went missing at Rainbow Falls.

But she's like, Christina wasn't supposed to be at Rainbow Falls. She told her mom that she was going to be in Montreal, which is like six hours from Toronto in the opposite direction. What? What's the story there? So here's the thing, none of the source material can agree on the reason why the four of them were going to Montreal in the first place. Some articles say that they were supposed to attend a conference for a Christian youth group that they all volunteered with.

Others say that they planned to go camping just outside the city. It could be both. But either way, Elizabeth was under the impression that that is where they were. So learning that they are, in fact, 17 hours away from Montreal is a surprise to say the least. Now, she says that she last saw her daughter at 3 a.m. on Saturday when Eddie J.B. and Faith arrived to load up her car. Now, originally they were going to take Eddie's car, but Elizabeth tells police that she actually lent them her car

because Eddie's wasn't the most reliable. And the last thing she wants is them to get like broken down on the road. Wait, didn't they all say that they left Toronto at 10 a.m.? If they picked up Christina in the car at 3, like Elizabeth is saying, that leaves, what, like seven hours where they were just... Yeah, where? I don't know. I have no clue. This is another discrepancy in the material that literally no one brings up.

So it could be a mistake in some of the reporting or maybe in the midst of everything someone mixed up the timing. It doesn't seem to be something that investigators get hung up on, so it must not be all that important. Or maybe they just like loaded up the car and then went to sleep and then left. I don't know. But time discrepancy aside, investigators do want to talk to the group again and figure out what the heck they're doing all the way out here

if they were supposed to be miles and miles away in Montreal. And when they talk to them, Eddie tells the officials that they couldn't stay in Montreal. Now, once again, there are some differences in the material. Some articles say that the group had waited too long to reserve a campsite. Everything in the area was booked. Others say that all the hotels in Montreal were too expensive. Again, maybe it's both like the campsites full, hotels are full, no option. But either way, Eddie says that on Saturday morning,

they decide to basically just ditch their plans and visit another city altogether. And again, in like true young people fashion, they just start like brainstorming a new trip idea right then and there. And they basically all agreed that they wanted to go camping, see some more natural sites. So they just typed in the word falls into their search engine and hit enter. Cool. So basically like the modern version of throwing a dart at a map. Exactly.

Now, Rainbow Falls was the third on that list when they Googled. And while that same article by Kate Barker for Explorer Magazine says it isn't known as a big national tourist destination, Eddie says that they thought it looked perfect. Not too big, more of like a casual pitch-a-tent kind of place. So they just went for it. Which is the most college student thing ever. Yes.

Like ditching your original plans for a totally spur of the moment decision. Like you guys' trip to Vegas. But saying that out loud makes me wonder that this could be where those missing seven hours could have gone. Like it could have taken them that long to figure out they couldn't go to Montreal. They had to find a new place, make new plans, maybe even call ahead to see if there were like spaces. I don't know. I was gonna say I don't know if they called ahead or maybe they showed up and there were no spaces

or like check-in time wasn't until like XYZ time or something. That makes total sense that they're like, okay, we were supposed to leave at 3 a.m. We actually can't go there. And then they're sitting here figuring out where they're gonna go next, maybe. Or they could have even started heading towards Montreal, realize you know halfway there or whatever that their plans weren't gonna work out after all. Yeah.

And then turn back and you know switch gears completely. Yeah. I mean from the way Eddie tells it, everything was just so last minute that they didn't even think to tell Elizabeth or any of their families. Always update your people. Like they need to know where you are. Seriously. But in their minds they're like,

we have the car, we have the bags packed. So let's just like go to a new destination. But of course now with Christina missing, I'm sure they are all regretting their spontaneous decision. As nightfall comes on Monday, the search is paused because it's too dark for investigators to safely continue. But come Tuesday, it's a whole different ballgame. When the sun rises, the OPP hits the ground running.

They utilize the full force of their emergency response team including three canine units and a helicopter. Elizabeth even managed to get an overnight flight and is at the campsite while the rest of her family is making the drive from Toronto. Everyone is full boots on the ground ready to find Christina that day. Now they put the canine units out first to hit the trails and they're hoping that the dogs can pick up Christina's scent and help them narrow down a more specific area to search. Because like I keep saying, this park is big.

Yeah. But the dogs search and search and trail after trail, they don't detect any scent. Like nothing, nothing, not even at the campsite? Well, I'm not sure that same article by Kate Barker legit just says quote, no scents were detected. End quote. So I have to assume they mean like on the trails and in the woods and that stuff, but

Okay, but that's still weird because it hasn't been that long. You'd think that her scent should be somewhere and in theory like still pretty strong. She didn't just separate from Eddie and go poof into thin air. I know it doesn't seem possible, but that's what it feels like. Right. Like she just vanished. But here's another thing to consider. The dogs are a whole day behind at this point.

And several articles that I read said that the more time that passes, the less effective dogs can be. So I mean, you could chalk it up to timing. I mean, I guess, but I don't know. It still feels weird to me. We've covered a lot of cases where trained dogs have tracked a scent, you know, even months after someone has disappeared. I know.

And this is like, again, I want to believe that the dogs can do everything. But this is something that I feel like is different in literally every case we talk about and every expert you talk to. It's like, oh, if it's raining, it's great for the dogs. Oh, if it's raining, it's terrible for the dogs. They can detect scents for months and days and no days. And all I know is these dogs, however they were certified, whatever kind of dogs they were, got nothing and don't even get too hung up on it because OPP is just getting started

with this search. As soon as they realize the canine units are coming up dry, they decide to switch gears. They get the helicopter in the air, ATVs on the ground, and marine units start combing the park's lakes, rivers, and the waterfall. Officers on foot even extend their search to include a wider perimeter on each side of the trails. And they also deploy a group of searchers called a hasty team. Basically, this group uses the information that they've learned about Christina from

her friends and family, like her physical abilities, hiking experience, stuff like that. And they combine it with their knowledge of the park's geography to calculate where she's most likely to end up. And so they send officers out to search those specific pockets. And they're not even just looking at the park. They even canvass all the nearby towns and cover them in missing persons posters. But even with all of these efforts, they still aren't finding anything. And when I say anything, I don't just mean Christina.

I mean, there's no clothing. There are no tracks. There is nothing. And those hours of them searching quickly start turning into days. Throughout the week, more members of Christina's family, including her dad, who is divorced from her mom, comes pouring into the park. Even Faith Eddy and JB are still there, but none of them are allowed to actually join in the search because officials don't want anyone else getting lost or hurt, which is

actually what they're starting to think may have happened to Christina. They're thinking that if she was just lost, she would have wondered out of the woods by now or been found somewhere by someone. But since that hasn't happened, their new theory is that maybe she actually got hurt or had some kind of medical emergency of some sort. Okay. Me hiking is like automatic injury. Can confirm.

But I'm assuming that's not the case with Christina. So why this theory? Does she have some sort of medical condition or what? No, I couldn't find anything that stood out except that she had like injured her foot a few years earlier. According to more reporting by Kate Barker, Christina's family told officials that she had stepped on a needle and didn't get it looked at right away. And so by the time she went to a doctor, it was like embedded in her foot.

So it left this like hard, painful callus after it was removed. And it was painful enough that she had trouble standing for a really long periods of time. So again, I don't think that's something that would spur her gone for a week though. Like your foot's hurting, you sit down on the trail and wait for someone to come find you, right? Yeah. But another reason that they think she could be hurt is that the terrain can get super dangerous in some parts of the park. Like if you stay on the trails, you should be fine, but one step in the wrong direction

and you could trip over a rocky ledge or get tangled up in the super dense bush or even come face to face with the edge of a cliff. And because of this inconsistent landscape, officials aren't unfamiliar with conducting search and rescue operations in this region. I mean, in fact, Christina wasn't even the first person to go missing in Rainbow Falls. Six years prior, a woman in her 70s who was quote, in poor health visited the park and got lost for nine hours before she was found. Even the park's acting superintendent had once gotten lost for several hours.

But despite being trained exactly for these types of situations, the OPP are struggling. In the first few days of the search, two of their officers get injured and sent to the hospital and a search dog has gotten lost in the bush. And before you ask, I don't know if they found the dog, trust me. I want to do a whole episode on that dog as well, but like I got nothing. Okay, I think the best plan is to just assume it was found and everything was okay. Agreed. But just to drive home how difficult this area is to search, even the helicopter is

basically useless. The park is dense with trees. I mean, so much so that the pilots and officers on the ground can't even see each other when the helicopter flies directly over their location. And to top it all off, they have to stop searching every night when it gets too dark. But even though this is hard, they're not giving up on Christina just yet. On Friday, August 10th, they swap the helicopter for a plane equipped with thermal imaging, which uses infrared waves to detect heat signatures.

But even that isn't strong enough to see through the thick bush. Okay, at this point, I feel like you have to expand your thinking and looking for her. Has anyone considered she might not be in the park anymore? That's actually the question that a lot of people start asking. And because of that, the OPP has been conducting a criminal investigation alongside their search. On the off chance that she isn't in the park, it means that Christina either ran away or there's somehow foul play involved. Now, the runaway theory gets thrown out pretty quickly because everyone agrees that Christina

wouldn't just walk away from her life or her family. And also to do it mid run with literally nothing on you in a place that you weren't even planning to be at in the first place does not add up. Way too many variables. Right. And Elizabeth tells investigators that there was nothing for Christina to run away from. I mean, she worked a full-time job at a daycare in Toronto. She loved the job.

She was also a big provider for her family. Like her paycheck allowed her mom to focus on growing her own business and it helped pay for her younger brother's music and self-defense lessons. And Elizabeth says that Christina was making plans. Like she wanted to go back to school to get her teaching degree. Okay. So what about foul play? Well, again, I think they're considering it, but at this point they're still convinced

that Christina is just lost or injured. But there are a couple of people, like I said, like exploring it just to be thorough. The problem is it's super hard for the OPP to dig up any leads. Not only is a major highway right there, but only 20 minutes up the road, more than 10,000 people had flocked to the area for this like annual car show. And of course, by now they've all gone home. So even if Christina did somehow make it to town or a stranger made it to the trail she was on, all of the potential witnesses are probably gone, like and not just gone to another place,

but like scattered across the country. Now they do try and interview residents in neighboring towns and even try and track down all the registered campers who were in the park that weekend. But neither one of those things turns up anything new. So they pretty much rule out foul play at that point. Okay, so let me make sure I'm following. They don't have any evidence that points against this theory, but they also don't have anything to support it either. So they just toss it out?

That's what it seems like. But I mean, they're also tossing out her running away with kind of the same information. So I don't know. Again, like we're crime junkies. So we're like looking for the foul play in everything. I think most of the time. So I'm kind of on the same page as you. It's like, okay, just because we can't say like exactly how it happened doesn't mean it didn't.

Right. Just because we can't say it did or didn't happen doesn't mean that we can discount it. It's so strange, but they seem to at that point, but they still aren't making any progress. So investigators at this point decide to finally reach out to the public and ask for information. So they release a description of Christina. They say she's of Filipino Canadian descent. She has black hair, brown eyes. She's last seen wearing a navy blue hoodie, black running pants and running shoes.

Even though they've already searched the town surrounding the park, they're hoping that someone's going to come forward with information that can help. Maybe they saw her and it's not long before someone does. A man staying at that smaller campground, the opposite one that the kids are staying at, the one that's across the highway from the group's campsite. This guy calls investigators with a really interesting story. He says that at 9 a.m. on Monday, that's the morning that Christina went missing. He's sitting outside of his RV, drinking his coffee,

when he noticed a young Asian woman walking down the road from the highway. He says she's walking normally, so he didn't have a reason to stare at her down. Like, so he, you know, glances at her, looks away. Right. And then she just walked out of sight and he quickly forgot about her. But as word spread about Christina and he eventually heard police's description of her clothing, it kind of like jogged his memory, the hoodie, the running pants. He says that he is sure the woman that he saw was Christina, so he immediately called police.

Oh my God, so Christina did make it all the way to that other campsite. Well, maybe, like on the one hand, if this woman really was Christina, then yes, she made it down the trail to this other location. But on the other hand, this guy says that the woman he saw came from the highway, not the trails. So either his statement wasn't accurate about which way she came, or this woman wasn't Christina, because so far there's been nothing else to indicate that Christina was ever on the highway. Or if it was her, then we've got a whole new thing in place. She was on the highway for some reason.

Right. All that aside, there's no way for police to confirm this sighting. Like the guy said, he wasn't paying much attention to her, so honestly, it could have been someone else. But still, investigators at least take this tip seriously. According to that same reporting by Kate Barker, they interview this guy three times, but they don't learn anything new. So his story just becomes a little piece of the puzzle that never quite fits. And they also don't receive any other sightings of her in that area or anywhere for that matter.

So we've got his piece, but like, again, why is she coming off the highway? Or was he wrong? Where'd she go after? Like there's no other pieces around that. Right, we have this piece, but it doesn't fit anywhere either. Anywhere. Now, about a week into the search, as investigators are trying to make sense of everything they know and everything they don't know, a team of searchers makes what they hope will be an important discovery.

As they're searching around a 35-foot deep swimming hole close to the waterfall, they come across a pair of socks sitting on the riverbank. And nearby the sock, they also find a footprint. Now, just a quick side note, all my sources use the word footprint, but they kind of describe it as more of a shoe print, so I'm not exactly sure which one it really is. But they've already searched this part of the park before, right? I think so, yeah. So why are they just now finding this print?

And more importantly, why are they thinking it has anything to do with Christina? It seems to me like it's probably from someone else. Right, so they've searched this part before by the waterfall, but not necessarily, at least from my understanding, like this close to the water. Like, I think they've been like really focusing on the trails and like right outside of the trails before. And like I said, so far they hadn't found any signs of human activity. So this is actually the first thing that they found, period. So they're hopeful that this could be connected to her.

But here's the thing, the sock actually looks too big to be her size. Now, the print, footprint shoe print, whatever it is, is the right size, but it doesn't have any visible tread marks. So there's no way to confirm if it was from Christina's shoe or not. They still go ahead and make a plaster cast of it just in case. And they also send the sock off for DNA testing. But until they get any more clues, they're just kind of back at square one. And for the next two weeks, the OPP continues to buckle down on their search efforts.

The marine units start using sonar equipment in deeper areas, and they try sending more canine units further into the bush. They even enlist the help of more than 100 civilian volunteers, including Christina's family and friends. The volunteers conduct a grid search in some of the less treacherous areas while officers focus their attention on those like harder to reach places. All in all, they cover a nearly five mile radius from the main campsite. By the end of it, they have nothing new to show for their efforts.

By Tuesday, August 21, this is 15 days since Christina was last seen, investigators come to the difficult conclusion that they probably aren't going to find Christina alive in the park. There hasn't been one solid piece of evidence that shows she's still out there, even though they've combed through all 1400 acres. So at that point, they announce that they're officially searching for a quote, unresponsive person. Basically, they're looking for a body.

Now, after they make that announcement, investigators explore the possibility that Christina was attacked by a wild animal, specifically a bear. And they know that this theory is kind of out there, but basically they're just trying to cover all their bases. Like, yeah, it's out there statistically not super probable, but the fact that it could be one in a zillion means that there's one, right? We have to explore this, right? Yeah, they fly in a bear expert from the Ministry of Natural Resources for a consultation,

but he basically immediately rules it out for lack of evidence. So once more, they're left with nothing. Sorry, I just can't help but go back to the foul play theory. I really do not understand how they're dismissing that someone did something bad to her, when they're also saying there's literally no signs of a living person in the park and like flying bear experts out. I know. And again, like, I know we probably have a bias towards this,

but like, I think there's some weight to this. She is a young woman in a remote area by herself. How many cases have we covered that start just like that? Exactly. It's practically a true crime trope at this point. And for a good reason. I mean, it wouldn't take more than a few seconds for someone to grab her out there on the trails, put her in a vehicle and drive away.

And who knows where, not to mention if she did go out on the highway after all and something happened to her out there. I mean, you said there were thousands of people in the area that weekend. So right. It's honestly even a higher likelihood to me. Yeah, I mean, they're all in town for that car show. So you're right with that many people. It's not unreasonable to think that at least one of them could have had bad intentions.

And I mean, you mentioned the highway, even if she wasn't on the highway, like it is right there. If they could get her, yeah, they would have no problem driving out of the area and taking Christina across the country in a matter of hours. Right. And that would explain why the dogs didn't catch her scent. Maybe there wasn't even a scent to catch. Maybe.

Again, I kind of write the dogs off completely. Sorry, proper. It's like, I know you're doing your best. But like, in my mind, like we know she went running. So I mean, I think like basically everyone is operating under the assumption that she went running. No one seems to question that. So if her scent wasn't even picked up from that trail, I just kind of write the dogs off altogether. Right.

But again, even though you and I are spiraling, the OPP insists, insists that abduction or foul play are not the most likely scenarios. And eventually they just stop mentioning them altogether. Now, I do want to make it clear that Eddie, JB and Faith are never considered suspects by police regarding the foul play theory. Online though, it's a different story. The internet is a dark place. Yes. So many people speculate that her friends know what happened to her.

Some think that she never even made it to the campsite in the first place. Sure, that would explain the no scent. But didn't she take photos the night they arrived? Yes, she did. She was there. Elizabeth even tells Nicole Bouty for an article in the Toronto Star that park officials showed her Christina's signature on the campsite registration form. So again, what I want everyone to hear, because you can say whatever you want on the internet, but that doesn't make it true, she was 100% there.

And I know it's not impossible for someone to forge a signature, but Elizabeth is certain that it's authentic. And both police and Christina's family have stated multiple times that her friends were not involved. So for the next two days after announcing that they're looking for a body, investigators exhaust every strategy that they have up their sleeves. They even track bird activity and look in areas with an increased presence of vultures and other scavengers. But despite everything, nothing happens and their efforts begin to slow down. Eventually the DNA results from that pair of socks or sock eventually comes back and it is not a match for Christina. And meanwhile, most of Christina's family and Faith and Eddie and JB, they have to go back to Toronto. Though Elizabeth stays for a few more days, but finally on Thursday, August 23rd, the search for Christina is officially called off.

But that's just not an option for her family. Their loved one is still out there somewhere, so over the next few years, her family and the OPP conduct several more searches. They bring in teams of cadaver dogs and high-angle climbers to search a few places that may have been missed initially. And I know I probably sound like a broken record, but they still don't find anything. And by September 2009, both the family and the OPP have superseded one of the longest searches in the region's history, all with the same negative results. Now some of the source material mentions a few possible leads that pop up over the years, but they don't really give many details. I know that one time there were some dogs that indicated they found human remains in a river, but then it says that the current in that section was too strong and the water was too deep so they couldn't actually search it properly on their own. Well, and we've said a lot about Dog's Day, but we know that a dog's shop gets harder as time goes on.

I mean, how are they supposed to have a positive hit years later and underwater? That feels like a double whammy of, hey, this isn't going to be helpful. Yeah, and there's like no other source that mentions it, and there's no follow-up to that search, so maybe it was a fluke. Again, with this case specifically, I've got to kind of write off the dogs. But it doesn't seem like they wrote off the dogs, though, because there actually is another article by Carl Clutchie for the Chronicle Journal that, I guess, they're, again, same dogs, different dogs. I don't know, but they hit on this different area. They like act strange around this kind of hole in the ground, like the sunken in area. But then forensic experts came out and determined that there wasn't any human remains in that area.

Now, in 2010, there was this brief rush of hope when Elizabeth hears that hikers found a body in Rainbow Falls. But when she arrives, she finds out that it isn't Christina. And I tried to find out more about who the person was, how they died. I literally couldn't dig up any details. And what sticks out to me most about this story is, like, there's literally no evidence. So every theory seems possible. Could she have been abducted? Maybe. Could she have run away? Not likely.

But we always say you never know anyone. It's possible. Or our investigators write, and this was just, like, a freak tragic accident. Okay, but even if they are right, who's to say they didn't just miss Christina? Kind of like in the case of Jelisa Fuentes, that woman who went missing in California back in August. Yeah, so for those of you who don't know about her case, Jelisa seemed to vanish without a trace after she left her grandmother's house to drive to the grocery store. And everyone suspected foul play after officers searched where her phone last ping, they didn't find anything. But she, to your point, was eventually found deceased in her car in October

by a single investigator who went back to the area that they had already searched. He discovered that she had been in a single car crash that sent her car down a steam embankment in this, like, very hard to reach spot. Right, and in this case, it's all happening in a huge park. It's not a stretch for me to think that the same thing could have happened in Christina's case. I guess the thing that, like, really gets me, though, is, okay, if she's out there, I'm not saying that the whole place isn't dangerous. Like, again, you make one wrong move and you're toast.

And you could be in a spot that's hard to reach or they couldn't see, covered in bush, whatever. But, like, she's going, running on a trail. She doesn't even, like, enjoy running that much. She might have gone to the beach. She was going to go to this one waterfall. I mean, I don't, obviously, I don't know her. I don't know if she would have ventured far off beyond the trails. I can only speculate based on what I would do, but I just, I don't know how you get in that scenario

when you're by yourself out for, like, a morning jog. You didn't even go out to, like, hike for the day. You're not with all your friends. There's something about it that doesn't sit right with me that she just, like, wandered off. I don't know. Because. So maybe she's there. Like, it could totally be a matter of just one more search.

But I don't know if that search will ever come. The family's website, Find Christina Kaleka, is no longer active. But we might still be able to help them find answers after 16 years of questions. All it could take is one person with information or one determined searcher to break this case wide open. According to a recorded broadcast by TB News Watch, as of 2017, the OPP was still offering a $50,000 reward for information. If you know anything about Christina's whereabouts, please contact them at 888-310-1122. Or go online to opp.ca and click the contact link. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com.

And be sure to follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast. And we'll be back next week for another episode. But stick around, we have something new to share with you guys. All right, everyone, we're going to do a little segment that we're calling the good. Great, we did our five-year episode. I'm so excited about this. Yes, and one of the things that I was surprised at, again, we've solved all the crimes and done all the things we wanted to do and donated the money. But one of the things that people responded to the most were all the letters and emails that we get from people writing in.

And so I thought it would be nice to share those with people because we get so many letters and comments and messages from all over the world. It's brought us so much joy. I think I said this in the episode, we literally have a Slack channel at work where we all share these wonderful messages. It is the best channel, yeah. Yes, it brings so much joy to our lives. So again, this is the good. We've decided to bring the good back to all of you because we know how heavy this content can be. And it is important to us that you all take care of your mental health.

And so we hope sharing these messages will show you that not only is what we're doing about these unsolved cases and bringing attention to them and raising money for nonprofits and for rewards. And all of that stuff and solving actual cases. But there is a relationship we built with our audience, which is so important to the crime junkie community. Yeah, I want to take a little bit of time at the end of every month to acknowledge that. So this month I want to share a sweet email with all of you that we got. You ready? Ready. Dear Ash and Britt, I want to take a moment to say thank you.

I'm not sure if you'll actually see this, but your podcast led to an idea that fulfilled one of my ill father's bucket list items. See, I've always known growing up that I had a half sister somewhere. He wasn't able to remember many of the details about what he signed when he allowed her stepfather to adopt her. So he lost track of her when she was six or seven. All of your season of justice episodes really pushed me into trying ancestry DNA in the hopes that it would connect me with her. Absolutely did. We connected in August and she came to Indiana to meet me for the first time and see our father this past weekend. The best part, in my opinion, was finding out how much we had in common.

One of the first things I found out about her was that she is a crime junkie too. She has been listening for a few years as well. But I'm so glad that your podcast gave me the idea that led to finding her. I've been so worried that my dad wouldn't get the chance to meet her. He's had so many heart surgeries and has been on dialysis for a couple of years now. When COVID happened, he told me that he was ready to go if he caught it, but that he would regret not seeing her again. I was able to make that happen for him and I can't thank you enough. Kelly. So I hope you all enjoyed just that little bit of heartwarmingness.

And again, I love for you guys to see the bigger picture of how this show is connecting with people. Again, this is the stuff that I could have never expected and the stuff that brings me so much joy. So keep sending your letters in. We're going to do this once a month. We love you guys and we'll see you next week.