Foggy Melson | Local and Federal Authorities Continue Search for Serial Killer Christopher Wilder (March 28, 1984) @foggymelson | Uploaded September 2023 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
AZCUY...MISSING..SHOT OF CHRISTOPHER WILDER'S CAR...DEPARTMENT GEORGE MORIN/ROSARIO GONZALEZ AND KATHY KENYON.
Christopher Bernard Wilder (March 13, 1945 – April 13, 1984), also known as the Beauty Queen Killer and the Snapshot Killer, was an Australian-American serial killer[1] who abducted and raped at least twelve young women and girls, torturing and killing at least eight of them during a six-week, cross-country crime spree in the United States in early 1984. Wilder's series of murders began in Florida on February 26, 1984, and continued across the country through Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nevada and California, with attempted abductions in Washington and New York. Wilder was killed during a struggle with police in New Hampshire on April 13, 1984. Since his death, he has also been considered a suspect in many unsolved murders, including the unsolved 1965 murder of two teenaged girls in his native Sydney.
Early life and criminal history
Christopher Wilder was born on March 13, 1945, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia,[2] the oldest of four sons to an American father, Coley Chapman Wilder (August 27, 1919 – January 29, 1992), a naval officer, and an Australian mother, June Wilder (née Decker; June 18, 1925 – April 26, 1986). Wilder nearly died at birth, and reportedly almost drowned in a swimming pool at the age of two.[3][4]
On January 4, 1963, at age 17, Wilder raped a 13-year-old girl in the company with two other young men, both of whom denied being involved in the actual assault. Wilder was sentenced to probation, and claimed later in life that he also received electroshock therapy.[4][5] It has been suggested that this therapy aggravated Wilder's violent sexual tendencies.[6] However, journalist Duncan McNab claims that there is no evidence that Wilder underwent electroshock therapy, and that the story of his near-drowning was an invention of Wilder himself.[7]
Wilder married in 1968, but his wife left him after one week, both because of sexual abuse and of lingerie and naked photos of women she had found in a briefcase inside his car. In November 1969, Wilder 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. Wilder emigrated to the United States in 1969 and lived in Boynton Beach, Florida, in an upscale waterfront home twenty-five miles south of affluent Palm Beach, and was successful in the real estate business. He frequently travelled to Hawaii and the Bahamas. He also developed an interest in photography and had converted a bedroom of his home into a darkroom. Attached to it was another secret room he used to develop photographs he had taken as part of his sex crimes.
Between 1971 and 1975, Wilder faced various charges related to sexual misconduct.[8] He raped a young woman he had lured into his truck on the pretense of photographing her for a modelling contract.[5] This was to become part of his modus operandi during his later crime spree. Despite several convictions, Wilder was never jailed for any of these offenses.[9]
In 1977, a psychologist deemed Wilder unsafe except in a structured environment and noted his need to dominate women and turn them into slaves for his pleasure. He had expressed interest in white slavery and spoke of his sexual fantasies which involved twisting a woman's nipples during sex and slapping and kicking sexual partners. While visiting his parents in Australia in 1982, Wilder was charged with sexual offenses against two 15-year-old girls whom he had forced to pose nude. His parents posted bail and he was allowed to return to Florida to await trial, but court delays prevented his case from ever being heard, as the eventual initial hearing date of April 1984 came after his death.[10][11] Two other young girls, aged 10 and 12, later identified Wilder from mugshots as the man who had abducted them in Boynton Beach in 1983 and forced them to perform oral sex on him.
Crime spree
Florida and Georgia murders
The first murder attributed to Wilder was that of 20-year-old Rosario Teresa Gonzalez, a spokesmodel distributing samples of aspirin at the Miami Grand Prix.[12] On February 26, 1984, Gonzalez was last seen leaving the racetrack between noon and 1:00 p.m. with a Caucasian man in his thirties. Her blue 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass was later found parked near Dupont Plaza. Wilder frequented the Grand Prix as a driver and competed in the IMSA GTU series, which was held at the racetrack, on the day of Gonzalez' disappearance.[13]
On March 5, Wilder's former girlfriend, Miss Florida finalist Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Kenyon, went missing. She dated Wilder for a period of time, and was proposed to by him, but she declined due to their age difference; she is believed to have been last seen with him at a gas station near Miami.
AZCUY...MISSING..SHOT OF CHRISTOPHER WILDER'S CAR...DEPARTMENT GEORGE MORIN/ROSARIO GONZALEZ AND KATHY KENYON.
Christopher Bernard Wilder (March 13, 1945 – April 13, 1984), also known as the Beauty Queen Killer and the Snapshot Killer, was an Australian-American serial killer[1] who abducted and raped at least twelve young women and girls, torturing and killing at least eight of them during a six-week, cross-country crime spree in the United States in early 1984. Wilder's series of murders began in Florida on February 26, 1984, and continued across the country through Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nevada and California, with attempted abductions in Washington and New York. Wilder was killed during a struggle with police in New Hampshire on April 13, 1984. Since his death, he has also been considered a suspect in many unsolved murders, including the unsolved 1965 murder of two teenaged girls in his native Sydney.
Early life and criminal history
Christopher Wilder was born on March 13, 1945, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia,[2] the oldest of four sons to an American father, Coley Chapman Wilder (August 27, 1919 – January 29, 1992), a naval officer, and an Australian mother, June Wilder (née Decker; June 18, 1925 – April 26, 1986). Wilder nearly died at birth, and reportedly almost drowned in a swimming pool at the age of two.[3][4]
On January 4, 1963, at age 17, Wilder raped a 13-year-old girl in the company with two other young men, both of whom denied being involved in the actual assault. Wilder was sentenced to probation, and claimed later in life that he also received electroshock therapy.[4][5] It has been suggested that this therapy aggravated Wilder's violent sexual tendencies.[6] However, journalist Duncan McNab claims that there is no evidence that Wilder underwent electroshock therapy, and that the story of his near-drowning was an invention of Wilder himself.[7]
Wilder married in 1968, but his wife left him after one week, both because of sexual abuse and of lingerie and naked photos of women she had found in a briefcase inside his car. In November 1969, Wilder 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. Wilder emigrated to the United States in 1969 and lived in Boynton Beach, Florida, in an upscale waterfront home twenty-five miles south of affluent Palm Beach, and was successful in the real estate business. He frequently travelled to Hawaii and the Bahamas. He also developed an interest in photography and had converted a bedroom of his home into a darkroom. Attached to it was another secret room he used to develop photographs he had taken as part of his sex crimes.
Between 1971 and 1975, Wilder faced various charges related to sexual misconduct.[8] He raped a young woman he had lured into his truck on the pretense of photographing her for a modelling contract.[5] This was to become part of his modus operandi during his later crime spree. Despite several convictions, Wilder was never jailed for any of these offenses.[9]
In 1977, a psychologist deemed Wilder unsafe except in a structured environment and noted his need to dominate women and turn them into slaves for his pleasure. He had expressed interest in white slavery and spoke of his sexual fantasies which involved twisting a woman's nipples during sex and slapping and kicking sexual partners. While visiting his parents in Australia in 1982, Wilder was charged with sexual offenses against two 15-year-old girls whom he had forced to pose nude. His parents posted bail and he was allowed to return to Florida to await trial, but court delays prevented his case from ever being heard, as the eventual initial hearing date of April 1984 came after his death.[10][11] Two other young girls, aged 10 and 12, later identified Wilder from mugshots as the man who had abducted them in Boynton Beach in 1983 and forced them to perform oral sex on him.
Crime spree
Florida and Georgia murders
The first murder attributed to Wilder was that of 20-year-old Rosario Teresa Gonzalez, a spokesmodel distributing samples of aspirin at the Miami Grand Prix.[12] On February 26, 1984, Gonzalez was last seen leaving the racetrack between noon and 1:00 p.m. with a Caucasian man in his thirties. Her blue 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass was later found parked near Dupont Plaza. Wilder frequented the Grand Prix as a driver and competed in the IMSA GTU series, which was held at the racetrack, on the day of Gonzalez' disappearance.[13]
On March 5, Wilder's former girlfriend, Miss Florida finalist Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Kenyon, went missing. She dated Wilder for a period of time, and was proposed to by him, but she declined due to their age difference; she is believed to have been last seen with him at a gas station near Miami.
