# 3 Disturbing Cold Case Mysteries | 180

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 18 Feb 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO4384548346.mp3

Join me for 3 chilling crime mysteries, and don't forget to follow and hit the notification bell. Episode 180 of the true crime podcast btw. 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill True Crime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dVJtzeHcJgd_Z0bHrJTHQ Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡History Video Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/7km5pLWpYWEj1mrPpEfRUr?si=0FHYnZf-Qs2FY1GyLevfig ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 unsolved mysteries, true crime, cold cases, unsolved mysteries, missing persons, murder investigation, forensic evidence, serial killers, crime scene analysis, dark history, criminal psychology, real life horror, police investigations, DNA breakthroughs, forensic genealogy, crime documentaries, criminal profiling, mysterious disappearances, solved cases, justice system, law enforcement stories, cold case files, creepy mysteries, true crime storytelling, crime reconstruction, chilling cases, investigative reporting, modern forensics, victim advocacy, unidentified remains, crime scene forensics, disturbing cases, true crime analysis, hidden clues, infamous crimes, real crime stories, los angeles true crime, hollywood true crime

## Transcript

[0:00] Vladimir Savage came into the world on January 10th, 1945 in
[0:05] Sacramento, CA Born prematurely to a family of Croatian descent,
[0:11] his father, a California Highway Patrol officer and former bomber
[0:15] pilot, took one look at the infant's spindly arms and legs
[0:19] and gave him a nickname that would stick for life.
[0:23] Spider. It was the kind of name that
[0:26] seemed almost prophetic, because Spider Savage would grow up to
[0:29] move across snow with an agility and grace that few could match.
[0:35] What no one knew at the time is that his death would go on to be
[0:38] one of the most disturbing unsolved mysteries in American
[0:42] sports history. The Savage family lived in Key
[0:46] Birds, a remote mountain town near Lake Tahoe, where Spider
[0:51] attended A1 Room schoolhouse and learned to ski almost before he
[0:54] could walk. Their local hill was Edelweiss,
[0:58] a modest ski area along Hwy. 50, where a German emigre coach
[1:03] named Lutz Einater taught Spider European style racing technique.
[1:09] Spider and his brother Steve became junior standouts, part of
[1:13] a scrappy group of local racers. After Sunday Mass at the Little
[1:18] Catholic Church across the highway from the ski area,
[1:21] Spider and Steve would strap on their skis and head straight for
[1:24] the slopes. It was an idyllic, almost
[1:28] storybook upbringing, and it laid the foundation for
[1:31] everything that followed. Spider's talent earned him a ski
[1:35] scholarship to the University of Colorado, where he came under
[1:39] the mentorship of legendary coach Bob Beatty.
[1:43] By the mid 1960s, he joined the US Ski Team, and in 1968, at
[1:49] just 22 years old, he competed at the Winter Olympics in
[1:53] Grenoble, France. He finished fifth in the slalom,
[1:57] matching fellow American Billy Kidd's giant slalom result as
[2:01] the best US performance at those games.
[2:04] Two months later, he won a World Cup slalom at Heavenly Valley,
[2:09] just 30 miles from his hometown. He went on to rack up multiple
[2:13] podium finishes and 18 top 10 results across his World Cup
[2:17] career, establishing himself as one of America's premier ski
[2:21] racers. Spider wasn't content with the
[2:26] constraints of amateur competition.
[2:28] In 1971, he left the World Cup circuit to join the fledgling
[2:33] World Pro Ski Tour. Founded by his mentor Bob
[2:36] Beatty. The tour featured A thrilling
[2:39] head to Spider thrived in this new arena, winning the overall
[2:52] professional championship in both 1971 and 1972.
[2:57] His good looks and magnetic personality made him the perfect
[3:00] face for the sports expansion into mainstream culture.
[3:06] The prize money was modest. Spider earned just over $21,000
[3:11] as champion in 1971, but endorsements pushed his annual
[3:15] income well over $100,000, serious money for a professional
[3:20] athlete at the time. He moved to Aspen, building a
[3:24] chalet in the exclusive gated community of Starwood near the
[3:28] home of singer John Denver. He even earned his pilot's
[3:32] license and flew his own twin engine plane to racing events,
[3:35] further enhancing his public profile and his celebrity
[3:38] status. An injury in 1973 limited his
[3:44] performance on the slopes, but at the same time, his public
[3:47] profile just continued to rise. In 1974, he appeared on the
[3:52] cover of GQ magazine. Spider Savage wasn't just a ski
[3:57] racer anymore. He was a celebrity living a life
[4:00] that seemed impossibly glamorous.
[4:04] At a celebrity ski race in Bear Valley, CA in 1972, Spider met
[4:10] Claudine Longe, a French born singer and actress who was the
[4:14] estranged wife of entertainer Andy Williams.
[4:17] The attraction between them was immediate and intense.
[4:21] Before long, Spider had moved Long, Gay and her three children
[4:24] into his home and they became one of Aspen's most visible
[4:28] couples. But the relationship was far
[4:31] from smooth. Friends later said the couple
[4:34] argued frequently and that Long Jay could be intensely jealous.
[4:39] There were reports she'd thrown a wine glass at Spider's head
[4:42] during one argument and tried to prevent him from attending
[4:46] social events. By 1975, Long Jay was reportedly
[4:52] looking into building a separate house so the couple could live
[4:55] apart. People close to Spider said he'd
[4:58] been talking about ending the relationship.
[5:01] He was accustomed to a freewheeling bachelor lifestyle,
[5:05] and living with Long Jay and her children had begun to feel like
[5:09] a constraint. On the afternoon of Sunday,
[5:13] March 21st, 1976, Spider returned to his home after a
[5:18] training session at Aspen Highlands and a subsequent
[5:21] dinner visit with Bob Beatty, his mentor.
[5:24] He stripped down to his thermal underwear and headed into the
[5:27] bathroom to shower. What happened next has been
[5:30] debated for nearly five decades. For reasons that remain unclear
[5:35] and disputed. Claudine Longe entered the
[5:37] bathroom carrying an imitation Luger.
[5:42] A single shot struck Spider in the abdomen, piercing his
[5:45] pancreas and stomach and severing a major artery.
[5:49] He lost a catastrophic amount of blood before an ambulance
[5:52] arrived. Spider died on route to Aspen
[5:55] Valley Hospital with Longe at his side.
[5:59] He was 31 years old. Long Jay told police the
[6:03] shooting was an accident, claiming she'd picked up the
[6:06] weapon and asked Spider to show her how it worked.
[6:09] Police had immediate doubts. An autopsy indicated that when
[6:13] the Luger was fired, Spider had been bent over and facing away
[6:17] from Claudine and had been at least 6 feet from her.
[6:22] That positioning didn't align with someone demonstrating a
[6:25] weapon to the person holding it. Additionally, Ballistics testing
[6:30] showed that the trigger had likely been pulled more than
[6:32] once, indicating that something went wrong on the first pull.
[6:37] Detectives were also highly skeptical that this so-called
[6:40] demonstration was done inside the house rather than outside.
[6:46] Long J was charged with reckless manslaughter on April 8th, 1976.
[6:52] The trial, held in January 1977, became a media spectacle that
[6:57] transformed sleepy Aspen into a circus.
[7:00] Andy Williams flew in to support his ex-wife, sat beside her
[7:04] throughout proceedings and paid for her legal defense.
[7:09] More than 300 prospective jurors were placed on standby before a
[7:13] final panel was seated. This reflected the fact that
[7:18] both Claudine and Spider were so well known both in the community
[7:22] and nationally. The prosecution's case was
[7:26] severely Hanford by procedural errors.
[7:29] Officers had taken a blood sample from Long J without a
[7:32] warrant. That sample reportedly showed
[7:36] significant amounts of Colombian confetti flowing through her
[7:39] bloodstream. They'd also seized her personal
[7:42] diary without proper authorization or any sort of
[7:46] warrant. Prosecutors said the diary
[7:49] contradicted her claim that the relationship was stable, a fact
[7:53] which could have significantly undermined her defense.
[7:57] Both the blood results in the diary were ruled inadmissible,
[8:01] stripping the prosecution of potentially devastating
[8:04] evidence. With this evidence put aside,
[8:08] the District Attorney built his remaining case around the
[8:11] autopsy report, arguing that the physical evidence made an
[8:15] accidental shooting nearly impossible.
[8:18] The defense countered that the weapon was faulty and unreliable
[8:22] and had been a cheap imitation of a real Luger.
[8:25] After four days of testimony, the jury deliberated roughly 4
[8:29] hours before returning a verdict.
[8:32] They convicted Longue not of the sought after felony, but of
[8:36] misdemeanor criminal negligence. She was sentenced to 30 days in
[8:40] jail. And to top it all off, she was
[8:43] hit with a $25 fine. And no, you don't have to rewind
[8:47] there, You heard me correctly. The fine was 25 bucks.
[8:53] The sentence outraged the Savage family and much of the American
[8:57] public. And the manner in which it was
[8:59] carried out bothered people even more.
[9:02] Claudine was allowed to choose when to serve her 30 days and
[9:06] opted to do most of it on weekends while her kids were
[9:09] away with their famous dad. Public anger intensified when
[9:14] she was spotted vacationing with her defense attorney, Ron
[9:17] Austin, shortly afterward. She married Austin in 1985, and
[9:24] the couple lived in Aspen for decades before eventually
[9:27] relocating to Hawaii. The Savage family filed A
[9:32] wrongful death lawsuit, ultimately settling out of court
[9:35] with a confidentiality agreement that barred Longet from publicly
[9:39] discussing the case. Spider's brother Steve later
[9:42] offered a blunt assessment, saying that Claudine had
[9:45] accomplished only two things in her life, marrying Andy Williams
[9:50] and getting away with it. For an event that has been
[9:54] virtually forgotten in the present day, the cultural
[9:57] fallout was considerable. Saturday Night Live aired a
[10:01] sketch in its first season featuring a mock ski shooting
[10:04] competition named after Long J, in which skiers were picked off
[10:09] mid run. The Rolling Stones recorded a
[10:11] song called Claudine for a 1978 album, which very strongly
[10:16] implies that Claudine got away with slaying Spider.
[10:20] And in case you tuned in to watch for music recommendations.
[10:23] I listen to the song and I have to say I can see why it's not
[10:27] well known. But your mileage may vary, of
[10:30] course. Spider Savage was inducted
[10:34] posthumously into the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 202246
[10:40] years after his death, Claudine Longe is still married to her
[10:44] former defense lawyer, and at this point, even if she admitted
[10:49] that she slew Spider intentionally, she couldn't be
[10:52] prosecuted again due to double jeopardy.
[10:58] On the evening of February 11th, 1976, a man calling himself
[11:03] Joseph Donati stepped out of a friend's apartment in San
[11:07] Francisco's quiet Outer Sunset neighborhood.
[11:10] He walked toward his parked car near the corner of 25th Ave. and
[11:14] Moraga St. fishing for his keys. It was an ordinary scene on an
[11:19] ordinary block of squat pastel row houses.
[11:23] Then a white van screeched around the corner and blasts
[11:27] shattered the stillness. 4 rounds struck the man at nearly
[11:31] point blank range. He was dead before he hit the
[11:35] pavement. Though he carried a loaded
[11:37] revolver in his jacket, he never had a chance to reach for it.
[11:41] When police arrived, they quickly discovered that while
[11:44] Joseph Donati officially existed, this was a well
[11:47] established alias. The dead man was Joseph Barboza,
[11:52] one of the most feared hit men in American organized crime and
[11:56] the first person to die after entering the federal witness
[11:59] protection program. To understand how Barbosa ended
[12:04] up bleeding out on a San Francisco sidewalk, we've got to
[12:07] go back to the beginning. He was born on September 20th,
[12:11] 1932 in New Bedford, MA to Portuguese immigrant parents.
[12:18] His father was a middle weight boxer who eventually abandoned
[12:21] the family, leaving Barboza's mother, a seamstress, to raise
[12:26] four children alone. That departure, when Joe was
[12:30] around 12, seemed to light a fuse that never went out.
[12:35] Joe was getting arrested before he'd finished his teenage years
[12:39] and was shipped off to the Lyman School for Boys, a so-called
[12:42] reform institution that served as a finishing school for
[12:46] criminals. By 18.
[12:48] He'd been sentenced to five years at the Massachusetts
[12:51] Correctional Institution in Concord.
[12:54] While there, he led a wild prison break in 1953.
[12:58] He and six other inmates overpowered 4 guards and fled in
[13:01] stolen cars, only to be recaptured within 24 hours.
[13:07] Like his father, Barboza tried boxing.
[13:11] Fighting as a light heavyweight under the name the Baron, he won
[13:15] 8 of roughly 11 professional bouts, 5 by knockout.
[13:19] But legitimate athletics couldn't contain his appetite
[13:22] for violence. He drifted between jobs as a
[13:26] longshoreman and a fruit store clerk, always circling back to
[13:29] crime. After his parole in 1958, he
[13:33] became a fixture in East Boston's underworld, holding
[13:37] court at a bar on Bennington St. that locals called Barboza's
[13:41] Corner. The nickname that would follow
[13:45] Barboza to his grave originated during an incident at a
[13:48] nightclub frequented by Patriarcha crime family members.
[13:53] When an older patron complained about Barboza's behavior,
[13:56] Barboza slapped the man across the face.
[14:00] Patriarcha Underboss Henry Timileo, seated nearby, angrily
[14:05] ordered Barboza never to touch anyone with his hands again.
[14:09] Without missing a beat, Barboza leaned over and bit the man's
[14:13] ear. Some accounts say he chewed off
[14:16] a piece of the man's cheek. Either way, he was now known as
[14:20] the animal. Despite his Portuguese heritage,
[14:25] Barboza rose to become one of the most prolific hit men for
[14:29] Raymond Patriarcha's New England crime family during the 1960s.
[14:34] He's believed to have slain as many as 26 people, though that
[14:39] number has never been verified. However, he needed a way to
[14:44] generate income between big hits, and given his close ties
[14:48] with the Patriarcha crime family, he had free reign to
[14:51] conduct his business. His crew operated across Boston,
[14:55] generating substantial income through loan sharking and
[14:58] generalized intimidation. However, by 1966, Barbosa's
[15:04] position had become dangerously unstable.
[15:07] He'd been shot at outside his Chelsea home and wasn't
[15:11] following the traditional rules of the mob.
[15:14] He tried shaking down a nightclub already paying
[15:16] protection to the patriarchal underboss in Boston.
[15:20] That recklessness made him a target from all sides.
[15:24] While it was never confirmed with certainty that a contract
[15:27] was put out on him by his own people, he certainly believed
[15:31] this was the case. Everything changed in 1967 when
[15:36] Barboza was jailed on federal weapons charges.
[15:39] Federal agents reinforced the idea that he had a contract on
[15:43] his head and that his former friends had turned foe.
[15:47] Given that he wasn't safe on the streets or in prison, the agents
[15:51] convinced him that it was time to turn on everyone he worked
[15:54] for and in exchange he could enter witness protection.
[15:59] And just to be clear here, by turn on the other mob guys, I
[16:04] mean testify against them. In case anyone was wondering
[16:07] about my phrasing there he testified against Raymond
[16:12] Patriarcha himself, helping secure an indictment for
[16:15] conspiracy to eliminate bookies in New England.
[16:19] But the most consequential and ultimately most damaging chapter
[16:22] of Barboza's cooperation involved the 1965 slaying of
[16:27] small time criminal Teddy Deegan.
[16:30] Barboza took the stand and named six men as participants in
[16:33] Deegan's hit. After 50 days of testimony, the
[16:37] jury convicted all 64 received death sentences and two others
[16:42] got life in prison. The problem was that at least
[16:46] four of those men were completely innocent.
[16:49] Barboza had lied underoath, implicating them based on
[16:53] personal grudges and at the encouragement of his handlers.
[16:58] The actual perpetrators included Barbosa himself and Vincent
[17:01] Flemmi, who happened to be a valuable informant the FBI
[17:05] wanted to protect. Interestingly, the wrongly
[17:08] accused men spent a combined total of over 100 years in
[17:12] prison, with the state government eventually paying out
[17:15] over $100 million to their families.
[17:19] But that wouldn't come out until long after Barbosa's death, and
[17:22] for the time being, he had fulfilled his end of the
[17:25] bargain. After his testimony, Barbosa was
[17:30] relocated to Santa Rosa, CA under a new identity.
[17:35] The government enrolled him in culinary school, leveraging his
[17:39] genuine talent as a cook who specialized in Portuguese
[17:42] delicacies. But Barbosa couldn't stay out of
[17:46] trouble. In the summer of 1970, he
[17:49] eliminated a small time criminal named Clay Wilson during a
[17:53] dispute over stolen goods. He shot Wilson while the two
[17:57] were out walking with two women, then hid the body under a tree
[18:01] stump. When arrested, Barbosa
[18:04] essentially blackmailed the government by threatening to
[18:06] recant his Boston testimony. He told the local detectives
[18:11] that he was actually in witness protection and that he had
[18:14] made-up large parts of the story that took a bite out of the New
[18:18] England mob. But then he also told them that
[18:22] he had implicated people based on who the FBI told him to
[18:25] target, prompting FBI agents to rush to California and serve as
[18:30] character witnesses at his trial.
[18:33] With numerous federal agents willing to stake their careers
[18:36] on what a great guy Barboza really was, and with potential
[18:40] federal pressure, he was offered a sweetheart deal.
[18:45] Ultimately, Barboza was sentenced to five years at
[18:48] Folsom Prison, where he wrote poetry about the mob and about
[18:51] his crimes. He was paroled in October 1975
[18:56] and given yet another identity, this time as Joseph Donati.
[19:01] He moved into a cheap apartment near Ocean Beach in San
[19:04] Francisco and got a job as a cook at a restaurant near City
[19:07] Hall. The FBI maintained loose
[19:10] surveillance, but Barbosa had essentially stopped hiding, and
[19:14] he just couldn't stay away from illicit activities.
[19:18] He harbored ambitions of filling what he perceived as a
[19:20] leadership void in San Francisco's organized crime
[19:24] scene. That ambition led him to
[19:27] reconnect with James Chalmus, a small time South Boston hoodlum.
[19:32] The two met regularly to discuss criminal schemes.
[19:36] What Barbosa didn't know was that Chalmus was working a
[19:38] criminal scheme already, and Barbosa wasn't to be a partner,
[19:43] but the target. He was actively betraying him,
[19:47] confirming all details before tipping off members of the New
[19:50] England Mafia about his location.
[19:54] While it's never been confirmed with any absolute certainty,
[19:58] federal agents later caught members of the mafia talk about
[20:01] what happened to Barboza. According to these recordings,
[20:05] they dispatched 2 top level enforcers to San Francisco to
[20:09] handle the matter personally, if the recordings are to be
[20:13] believed. The mafia thought this was so
[20:15] important that they had two made men complete the hit themselves.
[20:20] According to the recordings. They watched and waited since
[20:24] everything had to be perfect as they knew that they would only
[20:27] get one shot. On that February evening, as
[20:32] Barbosa left Chalmas apartment and approached his car, a white
[20:37] van rolled up fast and shots fired, cutting him down.
[20:42] Barbosa was 43 years old. Interestingly, in a statement
[20:47] given by Barbosa's attorney about the slaying, he said that
[20:51] society had suffered no great loss.
[20:54] A remarkably candid statement. Despite the recordings, no one
[20:59] was ever charged in relation to his death, and some conspiracy
[21:03] minded individuals have speculated that the FBI
[21:07] essentially let it happen. Some have speculated that no one
[21:11] was ever prosecuted for the crime despite the evidence,
[21:15] because it would have exposed the unethical activities of the
[21:18] agents assigned to his case. Not only that, the prosecution
[21:23] may have caused all the convictions against members of
[21:26] the New England Mafia to fall apart, leading to numerous
[21:29] organized crime figures being released.
[21:33] Though there's no direct proof of this.
[21:35] He was a man that held tremendous ability to personally
[21:38] blackmail numerous agents who had worked on his case.
[21:43] Joseph Barboza left behind a deeply troubling legacy.
[21:47] He was a vicious predator who terrorized New England's
[21:50] underworld for the better part of a decade.
[21:53] He was also a cooperating witness whose perjured testimony
[21:56] destroyed the lives of innocent men and their families for over
[22:00] 3 decades. And he was, in many ways, a pawn
[22:05] of an FBI willing to sacrifice justice in its conflict against
[22:10] organized crime. Christine Lindsay Walters was 23
[22:17] years old in the fall of 2008, and by all accounts, she
[22:22] embraced life with open arms. Born on August 8th, 1985 and
[22:28] raised in Deerfield, WI, she'd grown into a warm, curious, and
[22:34] independent young woman. She was a junior at the
[22:37] University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, studying botany
[22:41] and ethnobotany. Outside coursework, she worked
[22:45] on an organic farm near campus, taught yoga and Pilates classes,
[22:51] and radiated the kind of energy that drew people to her.
[22:55] In July 2008, Christine traveled to Portland, OR to visit friends
[23:00] during summer break. She'd planned to stay three
[23:03] weeks in return for the fall semester, but the West Coast
[23:07] captivated her. She fell in love with the
[23:10] closeness to nature, the freedom, and the alternative
[23:15] communities that seem to share her values.
[23:18] She extended her stay, eventually connecting with
[23:21] self-described spiritual environmentalists, and before
[23:25] long she'd made her way South to Humboldt County in California.
[23:30] This was a decision that would change everything as she became
[23:33] fully entangled in this region that has a rather sinister
[23:37] reputation. Humboldt County sits along the
[23:41] Northern California coast, roughly 300 miles north of San
[23:45] Francisco. It's a region of towering
[23:48] Redwood forests, rugged coastline and small towns like
[23:53] Eureka and Arcata that have long attracted artists, students and
[23:58] people seeking A simpler life. But Humboldt also forms part of
[24:02] the Emerald Triangle, a three county area encompassing
[24:06] Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino. This has historically been by
[24:11] far the largest weed producing region in the country.
[24:15] And beneath the natural beauty and counterculture charm,
[24:19] there's a darker reality. The region has an unusually high
[24:23] rate of missing persons, and law enforcement resources are
[24:27] stretched thin across vast, densely forested terrain that
[24:32] can swallow people whole. Some locals and online sleuths
[24:36] have taken to calling the area the Black Hole for exactly that
[24:40] reason. Christine arrived in late
[24:44] September 2008, gravitating toward Arcada and becoming
[24:48] interested in spirituality, environmental activism, and off
[24:52] the grid living. Her mother, Anita Walters, would
[24:55] later tell the Eureka Times Standard that she believed
[24:59] Christine was too trusting of the people she met in
[25:01] California. Christine had been keeping
[25:05] regular phone contact with her family during her travels, but
[25:09] after settling in Humboldt, her calls became less frequent.
[25:14] When she did call, she asked her parents for money on several
[25:17] different occasions, with her father obliging these requests.
[25:23] Around November 7th, 2008, Christine participated in what's
[25:27] commonly called a tea ceremony in the Arcada area.
[25:32] A private investigator later hired by her family uncovered
[25:35] that the ceremony involved ayahuasca, a powerful
[25:39] hallucinogenic brew made from South American plants.
[25:43] Ayahuasca's effects can include vomiting, diarrhea, and intense
[25:47] hallucinations lasting up to 10 hours.
[25:51] It's also known to trigger severe psychological reactions
[25:54] in predisposed individuals, including mania and depression.
[25:59] Around 20 people reportedly gathered for the ceremony, led
[26:03] by someone claiming to be a shaman.
[26:06] What happened to Christine during or after that ceremony
[26:09] remains a central mystery. She apparently stayed with other
[26:13] participants for several days before leaving on her own the
[26:16] evening of November 11th. The next morning, a couple on
[26:22] Tompkins Hill Rd. roughly 20 miles away, found her on their
[26:26] doorstep. She was barely clothed, cold,
[26:30] hungry, and thirsty, her body covered in briar scratches and
[26:34] lacerations. Her feet were nearly raw, as
[26:38] though she'd been running barefoot through the woods for
[26:40] hours. She was confused and visibly
[26:43] terrified. The home owners called police,
[26:47] and Humboldt County deputies transported Christine to a local
[26:51] hospital. She appeared deeply frightened
[26:54] and said someone was after her, but wouldn't provide specifics
[26:57] about what had happened. She was evasive about her
[27:01] injuries, claiming at one point that she'd simply walked a long
[27:05] way and spoke of demons who could hear what she was saying
[27:09] and were trying to get. Her drug test came back
[27:12] negative, and because she was a legal adult who didn't wish to
[27:16] be detained, authorities released her.
[27:20] Notably, the hospital has taken serious criticism for not
[27:24] placing her on a psychiatric hold in response to her
[27:27] behavior, though she apparently wasn't deemed a hazard to
[27:31] herself or others. From there, she was taken to the
[27:35] Red Lion Hotel located in Eureka, where she would spend
[27:39] her final known days. From the hotel, Christine called
[27:44] her mother multiple times. She was paranoid and afraid,
[27:49] insisting that people would find her wherever she went.
[27:52] She told her mother she'd been to hell and back and had seen
[27:55] demons while running through the woods.
[27:57] In the days after the ceremony, Anita Walters wanted to fly to
[28:01] California and bring her daughter home personally, but
[28:05] Christine insisted she was a grown up and could manage on her
[28:08] own. The plan was for her to obtain
[28:11] replacement identification so she could fly home, as she had
[28:16] lost all her documents in the aftermath of the ceremony on
[28:20] November 14th. Around 1:00 in the afternoon,
[28:23] Christine dropped her hotel keys at the front desk and walked out
[28:27] wearing pyjamas and slippers. She went to a print shop in
[28:32] Eureka where her mother had faxed copies of identification
[28:36] documents that she would need to be replaced.
[28:39] The owner later told investigators Christine appeared
[28:42] nervous and paranoid, looking over her shoulder and trying to
[28:45] hide her papers. She asked directions to the DMV
[28:49] about a mile away, then walked out.
[28:53] Christine Walters has never been seen or heard from again.
[28:56] She was reported missing on November 17th, 2008.
[29:02] After her disappearance, Christine's belongings,
[29:05] including money and a large backpack borrowed from a college
[29:09] friend, were found at a spiritual center in Arcata.
[29:13] The center's owner knew Christine and said it wasn't
[29:16] unusual for her to leave things there while walking in the
[29:18] nearby Arcata Community Forest. However, this potential break in
[29:23] the case went nowhere, and it was never confirmed exactly when
[29:27] she left the backpack at the center.
[29:30] According to some versions of the timeline, this may indicate
[29:33] that she was last seen by someone in one of the
[29:35] communities she drifted in and out of.
[29:40] One of the most widely discussed explanations is that Christine
[29:43] may have experienced a severe psychological episode shortly
[29:47] before her disappearance. She had participated in that tea
[29:51] ceremony days before she was found injured and visibly
[29:54] frightened on a rural doorstep outside Arcada.
[29:57] Ayahuasca contains a powerful hallucinogen, and even though a
[30:02] drug test came back negative at the hospital, her behavior has
[30:06] led many to believe it triggered an acute psychotic break.
[30:10] Proponents of this theory suggest that Christine may have
[30:13] wandered away from civilization, possibly into the dense forests
[30:17] of the region, and succumbed to the elements.
[30:21] Given the rugged, heavily wooded terrain of Humboldt County, a
[30:25] disoriented person could easily become lost or suffer fatal
[30:29] injuries with little chance of being found.
[30:34] Another theory is that Christine may have chose to leave society
[30:38] and adopt A more reclusive off grid lifestyle.
[30:42] Before her disappearance, she had shown a growing interest in
[30:46] alternative living, spirituality and environmental causes.
[30:51] However, this theory has weakened over time, given that
[30:54] there has been absolutely no communication between Christine
[30:58] and her family in almost 20 years.
[31:02] The final theory is that she may have been abducted or otherwise
[31:05] fallen victim to foul play. Notably, individuals undergoing
[31:10] mental health crises are at extremely high risk of meeting
[31:14] with violence under the best circumstances.
[31:18] However, Christine was far away from home, isolated from friends
[31:22] and family, and in a region of the country known for
[31:26] criminality. Because Humboldt County is part
[31:30] of the Emerald Triangle, some theorists argue that Christine
[31:33] could have fallen victim to violence or exploitation after
[31:37] she left the copy center. The area's reputation for high
[31:41] rates of missing persons has fueled speculation that locals
[31:45] are too afraid of the criminal elements in their midsts to
[31:48] cooperate with the cops. Some theorists have also noted
[31:53] that the area may be a hotspot for serial predators looking to
[31:56] take advantage of the trusting nature of the free spirited
[32:00] types who flock there. In the end, Christine's case has
[32:05] gone cold and ultimately, there's no solid evidence in any
[32:09] direction to indicate what actually happened to her.
[32:16] Hey everyone, it's Jimmy here with a quick reminder to like
[32:18] and share this video if you're enjoying it and to hit the
[32:21] notification bell. Also, don't forget to check out
[32:24] the Patreon or the YouTube membership to take your support
[32:27] for my channel to the next level.

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