Every Town - The Beauty Queen Killer - Christopher Wilder - Colebrook, NH

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

Australian-American Christopher Wilder enjoyed the finer things in life and had no trouble attracting beautiful young women with his luxurious cars, speedboat and a love for fine dining. But behind all the flashiness he portrayed, there was of course a much darker side to this guy which is why he’s featured on our podcast today. 💥 Watch On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries🎧 Our Other Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579💀 Follow Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 💀 Follow Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg👁 Follow Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald💥 Follow Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial🗣 Business Inquiries: [e-mail] Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Every town has a dark stuff. side. Australian American, Christopher Wilder, enjoyed the finer things in life and had no trouble attracting beautiful young women with his luxurious cars, speedboat, and a love for fine dining. But behind all the flashiness he portrayed, it was, of course, a much darker side of this guy, which is why he's featured on our podcast today. See, Chris had a compulsion, and it was the worst kind possible, as he couldn't stop killing beautiful women. And he had painted himself as super successful in order to lure them in so he could quench his perverted sexual desires and fantasies.

Hence Mr. Wilder became known as the Beauty Queen killer. From February to April of 1984, he figured in a frenzy killing spree of ladies, criss-crossing, Australian America, with a cliched promise of fame and fortune to these wannabe models. Some took his bait, but others were taken by force. So welcome to this week's episode of Everytown Guys. I'm Ada Fitzgerald, and today we put the spotlight on Christopher, a serial killer originally from Down Under,

whose exploits landed him on the FBI's most wanted list. Christopher Wilder was the oldest child, born to an American naval officer and an Australian mother in Sydney, New South Wales. As a child, there had been instances when his life was in danger, like when he nearly died at birth for being sickly. He once almost drowned in a swimming pool, and he also fainted after a fit of convulsions. During his teens, Christopher burdened his family with a different set of problems, though. In 17, he and a group of friends were charged with gang raping a 13-year-old girl on a Sydney beach. While his two companions denied involvement in the assault,

Christopher pleaded guilty for the offense and received a year of probation with counseling and electroshock therapy. There were claims that being subjected to electroshock therapy aggravated Christopher's violent sexual tendencies and apparently fueled his fantasies of having sex with women and electrocuting them during the process. When he was 23 years old in 1968, Christopher then married Christine Palooch, whom he had met the year before on City. St.N.' But she quickly left him after discovering his dark sexual tendencies and finding panties and nude photos of a naked woman in a briefcase in his car. Christine claimed that she was sexually abused by Christopher and that he also threatened a killer. Then in November of 1969, he used nude photographs to extort sex from an Australian student nurse. She complained to police,

but charges were ultimately dropped when she refused to testify in court. Australia was becoming a hotspot for Christopher, so much so that in 1969 in order to avoid more charges, he decided to emigrate to Boynton Beach, Florida, where he found luck in construction work and a real estate business. He amassed some money, and that enabled him to acquire an upscale house, some fancy cars, even a race car, as well as a luxurious speedboat. He also developed an interest in photography and invested in high-end cameras, which soon became his prop and his modus operandi,

posing as a professional photographer while enticing young beautiful women to pose for him. But Christopher had his ultimate sickening motive, of course. Mr. Wilder spent his time prowling South Florida beaches to solicit women, but he was unlucky in 1971 when he was arrested on Pompano Beach for demanding that two young women pose nude for him. He entered a guilty plea and escaped with a small fine. A few years later, the Australian immigrant was again arrested when he coerced a high school student into giving him oral sex while she was on drugs in a house that was under renovations.

In court, Christopher revealed his fantasy of masturbating to the image of a girl being raped in answer to the judge's question of whether he was sane enough to stand trial or not. During the resulting trial, a doctor and a psychiatrist evaluated him and recommended supervised treatment. Other than that, Christopher was acquitted. But his sexual offenses continued. In January of 1980, he pretended to be a photographer named David Pierce. And he lured, a teenage girl outside a Florida mall with the promise of a modeling job. He drugged her, and then Christopher drove her into a rural area where he raped her in his truck.

The girl reported him to the police, but because of a plea bargain, the charges were brought down to probation with therapy. Christopher saw a sex therapist, who believed that over time he would make progress during their sessions, but what happened was the opposite, and even much worse. In December of 82, Christopher visited his parents in Australia and his actions became sorted. He abducted two 15-year-old girls on a beach tied them up and forced them to post them to post. was nude for his pleasure. He was traced, though, through the license-blade number of his rented car, arrested later that month in charge for kidnapping and indecent assault. But his family posted a $350,000 bail, so he was let out. Due to the court being backed up, his trials suffered from delays, so his case was never heard. And then he was allowed to return to the U.S.

When he got back to Florida, Christopher embarked on a seven-week-long, cross-country trip, during which he murdered at least eight women, starting on February 26, 1984. The first fatality attributed to Mr. Wilder was Rosario Gonzalez, who was employed as a spokesmodel at the Miami Grand Prix in which Christopher was a participant. She was last seen leaving the track with Christopher. On March 5th, Christopher's former girlfriend and Miss Florida finalist, as well as current high school teacher Elizabeth Kenyon was officially reported missing.

The day before, she met up with her parents hours before she vanished, and they noticed the bruises on the arms and legs of Elizabeth, who said she had stopped a fight at school. Christopher became one of the three suspects, but he was let go after claiming they hadn't seen each other for over a month. But two gas station attendants forwarded descriptions to authorities that sounded exactly like Christopher Wilder. Those attendants also explained that Miss Kenyon and the man were planning a photo shoot in which she would be the model.

Authorities later classified Christopher as a main suspect in Miss Kenyon's disappearance due to his lengthy rap sheet of sexual offenses. Later, they made a link between her disappearance and that of 20-year-old Rosario Gonzalez, who shared similar physical and professional traits with Elizabeth. Sadly, though, neither of the two women. remains have ever been found. Not satisfied with the efforts of the police, Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon hired a detective to interview Christopher, who turned it down and kept denying that he had seen Elizabeth on his 39th birthday on March 13th. Christopher read in the papers that he was suspected

in the disappearance of Elizabeth and Rosario, and so he fled to Merritt Island, two hours north of Boynton. But still, that didn't stop him from committing more heinous acts against women. On March 19th, 21-year-old Terry Ferguson became Mr. Wilder's next victim when he snatched her from a Merritt Square shopping mall

in Satellite Beach, Florida. She'd been strangled and beaten so badly but she had to be identified through her dental records. Her body was discovered after five days and a snake-infested canal called Canaveral Groves. The fourth casualty in Christopher's roster

of female victims was 19-year-old Linda Grover, whom he saw and took from Governor's Square Mall near Florida State University in Tallahassee, just two days after killing Terry. When Linda refused to be photographed for a modeling agency, he assaulted her in the mall parking lot. As a consequence, the young girl got hand-tied,

wrapped in a blanket, kept in the car's trunk, then brought to the Glen Oaks Motel in Bainbridge, Georgia, where she was raped and violently abused. Her eyes were blinded by super glue and a blow dryer. And to her feet, he applied copper wires for electric currents to pass through them. And she was beaten when she attempted to run away. After that, Linda locked herself in the bathroom, shouted at the top of her lungs,

so Christopher fled away in his car. The next day, Mr. Killing Spree, Lord, 23-year-old wife, mother, and Lamar University nursing student in Beaumont, Texas to try out as a model. Terry Walden turned down Christopher's offer, but they met again two days later, and that was when he kidnapped her. She was stabbed 43 times to death,

in her chest, and then dumped in a canal. On March 26, Mrs. Walden's remains were found while Mr. Wilder had run off, taking her 1981 Mercury Cougar. Authorities in Texas found Wilder's abandoned car during the search for Terry, they discovered hair samples there, belonging to Teresa Ferguson, which confirmed that Christopher was responsible for her death as well.

Like a vampire lusting for blood from its prey, Christopher continued to attack more women to satisfy his carnal desires. He preyed on 21-year-old Suzanne Logan, and with precise timing, abducted her at the Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City. They ended up in Newton, Kansas, where they rented a room at an inn. And he executed his plane. of raping and torturing Suzanne. He then shaved her head and pubic hair. The next morning, the beastly sicko then drove 90 miles northeast to Junction City, Kansas, where he stabbed Ms. Logan to death and dumped her body in the nearby Milford Reservoir. She was discovered on the same day Terry Walden was also found on March 26th. As if those deaths weren't enough, Christopher

kept adding to the number as if he had a deadline to beat. On March 29th, 18-year-old Cheryl Bonaventura became Christopher's captive, the Grand Junction Shopping Mall in Colorado. People had seen them together several times, once on March 30th at the Four Corners Monument, and another while dining in at Silverton, where they told the staff they were married and on their way to Las Vegas. They checked into a motel in Page, Arizona, where Christopher ended Cheryl's life by stabbing and shooting her on March 31st near the Canab River in Utah.

Charles' body was found three days later on April 3rd, but even before police could identify Mr. Wilder's most recent victim, he had already set his sights on another young aspiring model he met in Las Vegas while attending a fashion show for 17 Magazine at Meadows Mall. The girl's mother took a picture. Captured in the background was Christopher leering at the girls clad in miniskirts. He didn't let the opportunity pass, and at the end of the show, the Beauty Queen Killer approached 17-year-old Michelle Corffman, and they left together. That was the last time Ms. Corffman was seen, and it wasn't until May 11th that her body was discovered at a southern California roadside rest stop and identified through dental x-rays in June.

Now linked with three murders, one kidnapping, and four disappearances. Christopher Wilder was described by FBI spokesman as a significant danger. His name was then added to the Bureau's 10 Most Wanted list on April 3rd, 1984. On April 4, the 16-year-old girl named Tina Raseko from Torrance, California was also abducted by Christopher, raped, and assaulted in El Centro. Strangely, though, he decided not to take the girl's life believing that she could become his accomplice. sure enough a fearful Tina helped Christopher abducted teenage girls and women who all fell into his prototype gorgeous and modelesque and then worked their way eastward through Prescott, Arizona, Joplin, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. Six days later, Tina helped in kidnapping 16-year-old Donette Wilt in a shopping mall in Merrillville, Indiana.

Christopher raped and tortured her through the course of the day and into the next. Worst of all, he tried to stab her to death on April 12th. He left her for dead outside Rochester, New York, but Donette managed to survive and dragged herself to the nearest highway where her passing motorists discovered her and brought her to a hospital in Penhian. Wanted to make sure that Donette was dead, Christopher went back to the spot where he left her, but was astonished to find that she had fled.

Christopher's final victim was a woman named Beth Dodge, who he abducted near Victor New York on April 12th. He shot her to death and left her in a gravel pit. Following that murder, he drove his teenage captive, come accomplice, to Boston's Logan Airport, purchasing a one-way ticket to Los Angeles and seeing her off at the gate. The sudden attack of compassion remains unexplained,

but he wasted no time in searching out another victim. The next day on April 13th, He pointed his gun at a woman in Beverly, Massachusetts, whose car had broken down, but she managed to escape. Continuing his aimless hunt, Christopher stopped for gas that afternoon in Colbrook, New Hampshire, unaware that he had reached the end of his run. He attracted the attention of two state troopers who pulled him over, then approached him, to which he dove into his car perhaps for his revolver. The troopers tackled him, and Christopher was able to get his revolver, though,

time and fired two shots. The first one, wounded trooper Leo Jesselson, who had jumped under Christopher's back while he reached for the gun. It lodged in his liver, but luckily he survived. And the other bullet, mistakenly, fatally hit Mr. Wilder's heart, which ended his 26-day-long killing spree in manhunt. After his death, Christopher had been suspected in numerous murders and disappearances of other women, including those whose remains were found in the Florida area where he stalked women while posing as a photographer. Alas, he didn't live to have his day in court and bring justice to the women he unceremoniously murdered or abducted.

He had a long history of sex crimes, and had he not been caught in a crossfire with authorities, chances are. Christopher would still be crossing state lines and leaving behind his notorious mark as the beauty queen killer. So that's going to do it, guys, for this week's episode of Everytown.

Thank you so much for tuning in. And remember, come back next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because who knows? Maybe your town will be next. Convierte your passion in a business

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