Connected by Evil: Who Killed Jennifer Hammond and Christina White?
Two Dead Girls... One Vicious Killer?
The majestic Adirondacks in New York State offer beautiful year-round vistas and the promise of endless outdoor recreational opportunities for visitors and residents alike. The density of the forest is a natural paradise, but it can also provide isolation for any number of illicit activities.
Jennifer Hammond’s Journey
In July 2003 Jennifer “Moonbeam” Hammond left her home in Littleton, Colorado to join a travelling magazine sales team that would be operating in upstate New York. It sounded like a great opportunity for her to see the world and to meet new people. But it seems that the illusion of her great adventure lost its luster rather quickly as she had been in touch with her family and talked about returning home. Her father had even purchased a bus ticket for Jennifer to make the trip back to Colorado – the ticket was waiting for her at the bus terminal in Albany, NY.
Jennifer Dropped Off at Trailer Park, Never Seen Again
It was on August 30, 2003 when Jennifer and her colleagues would be working a shift going door-to-door in the Town of Milton near Ballston Spa in Saratoga County. Jennifer was the first one dropped off by the company van at the Creek and Pines Trailer Park at about 6:30 PM where she would have knocked on doors for about an hour or so. She was the first one dropped off, and would have been the first one picked up. But when the driver returned at around 8:30 PM, Jennifer was not at the pickup point. The driver continued to pick up the other sales reps and then returned to Creek and Pines Trailer Park for Jennifer. But again – she was not there. The driver drove through the park honking the horn, trying to locate her. When she couldn’t be found, the driver called his manager. Because this type of travelling magazine sales involved a transient work force, it wasn’t unusual that some reps would go off on their own or just quit. There was also some thought that Jennnifer may have taken her father up on his offer to return home. After all, there was that bus ticket waiting for her in Albany. But some of her friends in the sales crew grew concerned. They would later call Jennifer’s family to make sure she came home. When it was discovered that she did not return home, the magazine sales company called police. But now, it was November 2, 2003 – more than 2 months since she got out of that van at the trailer park in Milton.
The Investigation of Jennifer’s Disappearance
Undersheriff Jeffrey Brown of the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office was an investigator at the time and remembered working the case. “We did canvass the park, we attempted to determine if she did knock on any doors.” Brown said they did not find anyone who recalled a magazine solicitor from August, or anyone matching her description. Brown said that part of the investigation was complicated by the delay in the report and the fact there is a high turnover rate of renters and residents in the trailer park. There was no information indicating that she made a single sales call to a single trailer.
Investigators thought they caught a break when Jennifer’s mother called them to say there was a prescription charge from a Wegman’s grocery and pharmacy store in Rochester, New York. But when they checked the details, the sale was on August 20, 2003 – 10 days before Jennifer went missing.
Investigators also checked the bus terminal in Albany, finding that the prepaid bus ticket had never been picked up. There was still the question as to whether Jennifer left of her own accord. But some of her co-workers did not believe that was the case. Jennifer’s personal belongings were left behind at the hotel room they were sharing during their travels. They thought that something was very wrong. But without a crime scene – or something pointing police to a specific point to focus their investigation – the case goes cold.
Another Girl Missing: Christina White
A year and a half passes when another young girl goes missing from the same Town of Milton. Christina White was 19 years old when she left home on June 30, 2005 from the Stockade Mobile Home Park on Rock City Road for one of her regular nighttime walks. Christina was very petite, 5’ 3”, with blue eyes, and dyed-black hair in the goth style. She would have been wearing a long trench coat.
Christina didn’t come home that night, but she had stayed away for periods of a time in the past, so that did not immediately cause concern for Christina’s mother. But when Christina had still not returned home by July 3rd, the day before her 20th birthday, her mother called the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office to report her daughter missing.
The Investigation of Christina’s Disappearance
As police investigated Christina’s disappearance they learned that she’d had an argument with her brother the evening that she was last seen. But the disagreement was nothing that caused investigators to believe that it was a factor in her not returning home. As police investigate Christina’s disappearance, they canvass the trailer park where she lived and they interview friends and boyfriends.
Investigators found a witness who remembered seeing Christina walking around 9:30 PM on June 30th near Rowland Street and Geyser Road in Milton which would have been a route to go to the nearby Cumberland Farms convenience store, a regional 24/7 chain in the northeast selling food, snacks and gasoline.
Police focus their efforts in that area, setting up a ‘road check’ where they passed out missing person flyers and questioned drivers passing through the area.
One lead that surfaced was from an online acquaintance of Christina’s who said that she once mentioned having a stalker. Police spoke with the source of that information but were unable to develop any details of the alleged stalker. Police check Christina’s financial records – she received regular income through a debit card, but there had been no activity on the card since the date of her disappearance.
Cases Go Cold
Just like the case of Jennifer Hammond, police are faced with a missing girl, but without a specific location of something happening – there were no personal effects of Christina’s found, no clothing, nothing - the case goes cold.
Hunter Discovers Skull in Forest: Christina is Found
A man is out walking through the woods, hunting crows in the Daketown State Forest located in the Town of Greenfield on March 10, 2006 – 8 months since Christina White was last seen, and about 8 miles from where she was last seen. (see map in show notes at www.apbcoldcase.com). The hunter’s dog heads into a thicket and begins sniffing. When the hunter investigates, he notices a human skull. Undersheriff Brown was part of the search team that worked on the excavation and retrieval of remains the following day. The autopsy identified the remains as those of Christina White; and her cause of death was stab wounds to the abdomen. Undersheriff Brown said they only recovered her socks and some jewelry, leaving unanswered the question as to whether she was sexually assaulted. Police are not saying what else they found at the scene, but it was noted that her telephone, wallet and a knife that she always carried were not found.
Hunters in Same Forest Find Skull: Jennifer is Found
Three and a half years after Christina’s remains were discovered, hunters find a human skull in a wooded area off of Lake Desolation Road in the Town of Greenfield (see map in show notes at www.apbcoldcase.com). The skull was located along a remote dirt road about 10 miles from where Christina White’s remains were previously found, but it is along the same road which becomes more isolated the farther you travel into it. A search of the area yields no other body parts – only the skull. Undersheriff Brown said that by the time the skull was found there had been several seasons of leaf fall. An autopsy determines that this is Jennifer Hammond. The cause of death is also homicide, but the manner of death is undetermined.
Now Labelled as Murders, a New Investigation
In both cases, it is unknown whether the victims were killed in the forest and their bodies dumped there, or if they may have been killed at the locations where their remains were found. Because of advanced decomposition and the passage of time, little evidence was recovered from either scene. With this new information on the identification of both girls and the determination that their deaths were homicides, police canvassed the trailers parks (Creek and Pines, and Stockade). Undersheriff Brown noted that the high turnover of residents at the trailer parks made the investigation more difficult.
A Snag in the Timeline?
Police learned that Jennifer Hammond had been corresponding with April Pickett, a friend back in Colorado. This was during a time before the modern smart phone, and their correspondence was in the form of a paper notebook where they wrote messages to each other and then mailed it back and forth. April shared the notebook with police in hopes that it might aid in the investigation. Police are not saying what the contents of the communications are between Jennifer and April, but they did note that one of the entries is odd. It’s an entry purportedly in Jennifer’s handwriting with only a date: November 29, 2003 (see photograph in our show notes at www.apbcoldcase.com) That date is 3 months after the day that Jennifer was last seen (August 30). Unfortunately, the mailing wrapper does not exist and reportedly, April did not recall when she received the notebook. “It always made us wonder, did she write the date inaccurately, by accident, or was she alive for a longer than we think?” said Undersheriff Brown, adding, “Most people would assume that she was dropped off in the park that summer, and was last seen walking into the park, and met her demise soon after that.”
Again, Cases go Cold
With no new leads, again, both cases go cold.
The Similarities
The girls are both 18-89 years old when they disappeared, and were of similar build – very petite. Jennifer Hamond was 5’ 2” and 110 pounds; Christina White was 5’ 3” and 95 pounds. Their bodies were both found in remote, wooded areas in the Town of Greenfield in Saratoga county along the same roadway, about 10 miles apart; both girls were likely alone at the times when last seen; their ‘last seen’ locations were about a mile and a half apart: Jennifer walking door-to-door at the Creek and Pines trailer park, and Christina walking around town by herself. Both teens had been in or in-the-area-of the Creek and Pines Trailer Park;
Lead: Man Attempts Kidnap of 17-year-Old in Nearby Community
Investigators scrutinized other potential leads, including one man who tried to kidnap a teen from a high school parking lot about 4 miles from where Christina was last seen. On October 31st, 2005, almost 4 months after Christina White went missing, John Regan attempted to abduct a 17-year-old high school track star from the Saratoga Springs High School parking lot. Fortunately, the girl’s coaches heard her screams and intervened, chasing Regan who drove off in a van as police were alerted. Regan was apprehended and charged with the attempted abduction. Published reports said that Regan had positioned the sliding door of his van alongside the victim’s car, ambushing her as she was preparing to get into her own car. Most disturbing was what police would find inside the van – the back seat had been removed, they found a tarp, liquor and pre-knotted ropes, one of which had been formed into a noose.[1] Regan was previously charged with the violent rape of one his friend’s wives. It was reported that Regan entered the woman’s home in 1993 while her husband was away and as her children slept in a nearby room.[2] Undersheriff Jeff Brown and Sheriff Michael Zurlo were both investigators at the time and they went to Saratoga Springs PD to learn more about Regan. Brown said that Regan was working on a home in Saratoga Springs at the time of the attempted abduction in Saratoga Springs. In recent years, Regan has been reinterviewed, and to date, they have made no connection between Regan and the murders of Hammond and White. According to New York State prison records, Regan was sentenced to up to 12 years for the attempted kidnapping at Saratoga Springs High School. Records show that he was discharged in May 2023, being released to “another agency”, “which is not specifically identified, but one news report indicated that Regan was detained for at least 4 years under New York’s civil confinement law, technically known as the Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act. That law allows the state to impose strict and intensive supervision or confinement in a secure treatment facility, depending on the danger level of the subject even after they have served their prison sentence for a crime. We were unable to determine where Regan is today or if he is even still incarcerated – he does not appear in the online records[3] of New York or Connecticut.
Lead: Man from Milton Abducts 9-Year-Old Girl
On a warm summer evening in September 2023, a 9-year-old girl who was on a camping trip with her family was riding her bicycle around a large, looped trail with her cousins at the Moreau State Park in Saratoga County. Around 6:15 PM, she wanted to make one more lap on her own, but she never returned. Hundreds of search-and-rescue personnel descended on the area in a massive search for the missing girl and an AMBER Alert was issued. During the search, a written ransom demand was found inside the family’s mailbox. The police laboratory examined the note for fingerprints and they got a match to Craig N. Ross, Jr. who lived nearby. Two days after the abduction of Charlotte Sena, police descended on Ross’ mother’s property in the Town of Milton. They found Charlotte hidden in a cabinet in a trailer behind Ross’ mother’s house. Ross was charged with kidnapping for ransom and predatory sexual assault against a child.[4] In February 2024 he pled guilty to those charges and is expected to spend upwards of 50 years in prison.[5] APB Cold Case asked Undersheriff Brown about the proximity of Moreau State Park. “The Town of Moreau is the northernmost town in the county. The town of Milton and Greenfield where a lot of the activity was on these particular cases of Hammond and White is the central part of the county.” Brown said that they have not found any proof that Ross lived in either of the trailer parks in question, but, he said, Ross lived just a few streets away. We asked if they had found any connection between Ross and the Hammond-White cases. “He is somebody who was not on our radar prior to the kidnapping locally here, and we see no connection with Craig Ross in either of our cases. He was a local man, he’s always been a local man, so he was local during that time frame,” said Undersheriff Brown.
Hammond & White Cases Likely Connected
“Obviously we have looked into a lot of different people, and we do not have a prime suspect,” said Undersheriff Brown. But Brown says the investigators who have worked on these cases agree that they are likely connected. “I think the general consensus is that we believe that they're related due to the proximity of where they both disappeared from, their age, how they look, and where the remains were found. You know, there’s a lot of similarities.”
There has also been speculation that the murders of Hammond and White might be connected in some way to the disappearance of Suzanne Lyall, a resident of the Ballston Spa and Milton area. She was last seen on March 2, 1998 after leaving the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland outside of Albany, New York. She was seen boarding a Transit Authority bus heading to the State University of New York at Albany where she was a student. It is believed that she got off the bus at Collins Circle and has never been seen again. Authorities have found no connection to the Hammond-White investigations and the Suzanne Lyall case remains unsolved.
The Red-Head Denominator?
The Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office points out that there has been speculation in social media that because both girls had red hair, that the killer had an interest in red-heads. But police say that Christina’s hair was dyed black at the time of her disappearance. The photographs used by police in their bulletins show both victims with red hair since they were among the best full-face images they had for the girls at the time. (Pictures in show notes at www.apbcoldcase.com).
Status of the Investigation
Some of the technology that might be leveraged in a contemporary investigation was not available when Jennifer and Christina disappeared. Cell phone pinging technology was different, and the prevalence of security cameras was a small fraction of what we have today. And while investigators have a general idea of the areas where Jennifer and Christina were last seen, there was never an exact spot to focus upon for forensics. Nor did the time lapse and environmental conditions in the forest help investigators in their search for trace evidence. These cases remain open at the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office, and investigators encourage anyone who might have a piece of information that can assist in the investigations to call them at 518-885-6761.
TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: LINK
Show Notes are available on our website at www.apbcoldcase.com:
Show Notes include; Photographs of Christina White and Jennifer Hammond, Photo of journal entry by Jennifer Hammond, 4 Maps of locations related to the case, Timeline and a Who’s Who?
© 2024 The Spawn Group, LLC; APB Cold Case; All rights reserved.
[1] Waterbury Observer; Busted!: 11/1/2005; New York Times, In an old family, a suspect in crimes old and new; 11/28/2005
[2] Waterbury Observer; Busted; 11/1/2005; New York Times; In an old family, a suspect in crimes old and new; 11/28/2005
[3] Inmate records or sex offender registries
[4] Accusatory instrument; People v. Craig M. Ross; New York State Police; Oct. 2, 2023
[5] CBS News; Craig-Ross-Plea-Deal; Feb., 21, 2024