LAST STOP OF THE BEAUTY QUEEN KILLER

A special Behind the Badge feature of APB Cold Case

Jul 10, 2024

What could have possibly happened to the handsome young man born to a naval officer father and a native Australian mother[1] that turned him into a prolific serial killer who wound up on the FBI’s Most Wanted list?

Early Years: Evolution of a Serial Killer

Christopher Bernard Wilder was born in 1945. He was sickly as an infant and was not expected to survive. His teenage years were spent near Sydney, Australia where, at the age of 17, he was charged with the gang rape of a 13-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty and received a year of probation.[1] When he was 23, Wilder got married in Australia. But when he was accused of another sex crime, his marriage ended. According to one report, Wilder’s ex-wife approached authorities over concerns that he could be the suspect in the infamous Wanda Beach murders in which two teenagers had been murdered in 1965 when Wilder, who allegedly lived near the victims, would have been about 20 years old.[2]

Wanda Beach Killings, Australia

The girls, Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock had taken Marianne’s younger siblings to Wanda beach on the morning of January 11, 1965, according to Marianne’s brother in comments to the Sydney Morning Herald. The report says that Marianne and Christine went to pick up their belongings from the beach but never came back for the younger kids, who eventually went home on their own. The girls were reported missing that evening. The next morning, a man discovered the girls’ bodies, at first thinking they were mannequins. The article goes onto say that the girls had been raped, slashed and stabbed. Marianne’s brother told the newspaper, “She’d been stabbed 25-30 times. She’d almost been decapitated because her throat had been cut so viciously.”[1]

Wilder’s Journey and a Trail of Victims

It was in the 1970’s, according to Robert Khan in an A&E TV article, when Wilder immigrated to Florida where he “reinvented himself as a playboy real estate investor”[2] and began a home contracting business. It was during this time in the 70’s when Wilder was charged and convicted of various sex crimes, though he never served any jail time.[3]

Wilder was suspected of committing several brutal and horrific sex crimes throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s. Check these links for details:

· Elusive ‘Beauty Queen Killer’ Led Double Life as a Florida Playboy (A&E TV): https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/beauty-queen-killer-christopher-wilder-florida-playboy

· Beauty Queen Killer Takes Boody Ride (New York Daily News): https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/beauty-queen-killer-takes-bloody-ride-1984-article-1.2366878

· Kidnap Victim Accompanied a Serial Killer in Final Days of His Rampage. Now She's Speaking Out (People magazine) https://people.com/she-accompanied-a-serial-killer-in-final-days-of-his-rampage-now-she-s-speaking-out-8648050

· The Day a Spree Killer Reached the End of the Road., Leaving Dead and Missing Models Behind (Miami Herald) https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article228348854.html

Wilder was a race car enthusiast, reportedly racing his own car in the Miami Gran Prix in February 1984 and who frequented shopping malls looking for victims under the guise of being a fashion photographer[4]. He was on the lookout for his next fashion model or beauty queen.

He travelled back to Australia on at least one occasion before returning to Florida. Reports say that on February 26, 1984 aspiring model[5] Rosario Gonzalez went missing – she’d been doing promotional work for the Miami Gran Prix, the same race in which Wilder had just competed.[6] About one week later, a Miss Florida finalist and former Orange Bowl princess[7] also went missing. Police would later connect these crimes to Wilder.

His savage spree continued, abducting women, torturing, and killing them, although at least one escaped in Tallahassee when she broke free after having been shocked and having her eyes glued shut. Murders continued in Texas, Kansas, Utah, and Nevada. Then in Torrance, CA, he abducted and raped 16-year-old Tammy (not her real name)[8] but he didn’t kill her – he decided to use her to help him get other victims. Wilder began a trip back across the United States through Arizona, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Using his captive Tammy, Wilder abducted a 15-year-old in Indiana, stabbing her and leaving her body in the woods. But she survived and was rescued by a passerby. Wilder and Tammy headed to New York State where Wilder abducted a 33-year-old woman, then shot and killed her. He directed Tammy to drive the victim’s gold Firebird as he followed. Wilder ultimately released Tammy at the airport in Boston, allowing her to return home to California where she reported her harrowing ordeal to police. The FBI had been tracking many of Wilder’s crimes, and now, this surviving witness would help them put some of the pieces together.

Former Police Chief, Peter Carnes told APB Behind The Badge about Wilder, “When he came across the country from the west coast to the east coast – he had picked up women at different locations. He was a fairly attractive male. I think he was probably early 30’s, and he’d wind up taking them to motels; and in the motel, he engaged in some activities there and wound up murdering these females. Usually, they were woman from 20-35 years of age. He was just a very sadistic killer.”

Compared to Ted Bundy

In the realm of notorious serial killers, Christopher Wilder’s name may not be as well-known as Ted Bundy, but Wilder was every bit as much a lethal killer. He used his good looks and charm to lure women, making them believe he could get them lucrative modeling jobs and their photos on the covers of magazines. “No question he was smooth,” said Carnes. “he had a lot of finesse… was able to charm his victims, he was able to accomplish his devious acts and designs to entice these women into coming with him.”

Last Victim

Wilder’s last murder victim was Elizabeth “Beth” Dodge from upstate New York. She had been abducted and killed on Thursday, April 12, 1984. Her vehicle, the gold 1982 Pontiac Firebird, was reportedly stolen[9] after her murder and police were on the lookout for that car suspecting that the killer may be behind the wheel.[10]

Good Samaritan Turns Bad

According to a former police official from the area, the following day, Friday, April 13, Wilder was driving the Firebird on Route 128 in Wenham, Massachusetts when he spotted a young woman in a disabled vehicle on the side of the highway. Wilder pulled over and asked if he could help. She warily took him up on the offer, needing only to get a ride to the nearest exit where she knew she could find a mechanic. She directed Wilder to the Grapevine Road offramp. But when she told him to turn right, he instead turned left. The woman panicked, now aware that she was in danger. As Wilder was making the turn, the woman opened the passenger door. At that moment, Wilder drew a .357 magnum pistol and aimed it at her head. But she leapt from the moving car which apparently caused Wilder to become frightened and he drove away. The woman ran toward a nearby college campus and called police. As a Wenham police officer arrived in the area, he noticed women’s shoes in the roadway of the exit ramp. The officer soon located the victim who described her terrifying encounter with a man who was yet to be identified as a serial killer.

Police Investigate Attempted Abduction

Peter Carnes was the Chief of Police in Wenham, Massachusetts at the time. He told APB Behind The Badge that they believed they were dealing with an isolated incident of an attempted kidnapping and assault with a firearm. Carnes said they broadcast APBs and teletype messages to police throughout the region. But one of his primary concerns was that the suspect was last seen in the area of Gordon College, and he needed to search the grounds to see if the suspect was there and to make sure that students were safe. But at this time, neither the victim nor Chief Carnes were familiar with the name ‘Christopher Wilder’.

Do You Think this is Christopher Wilder?

Because of all of the police activity and radio chatter about the attempted kidnapping, a Boston TV news reporter called Chief Carnes for a quick interview – they were sending a news crew for the breaking story. Carnes recalled that the reporter asked him, “Do you think this is Christopher Wilder?” Carnes said he had not heard about Wilder, but the reporter told him that media outlets had been talking about the serial killer being added to the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

Victim Description Matches Wilder

While Carnes and his officers were working on the investigation and securing the nearby college, detectives were interviewing the victim who assisted police in developing a composite sketch of the perpetrator. Simultaneously, Wenham police were getting a bulletin from the FBI with a picture of Christopher Wilder. Said Chief Carnes about the picture of Wilder and the composite sketch provided by their victim, “Lo and behold, it was an identical resemblance to Christopher Wilder!” With that, another radio alert went out to law enforcement agencies throughout New England – ‘be on the lookout for Christopher Wilder and a gold Pontiac Firebird’.

Photo:FBI.gov

All Points Bulletin Leads to Wilder’s Last Stop

The dragnet was out for Wilder, and police were desperate to find him before he struck again. Carnes told APB Behind The Badge, “About 2 hours later in northern New Hampshire, 2 state troopers in plainclothes went by a gas station and saw a Firebird. The 2 troopers exited their car and approached the vehicle.” Wilder drew his .357 magnum, and was cornered by the troopers, said Carnes. Various news reports from the time suggest that Wilder either shot himself or was shot by the troopers. However, one of the troopers did receive a gunshot wound, suspected to have been the first bullet that Wilder had fired into himself. Wilder’s second wound was fatal, ending the sadistic and murderous crime wave of the 39-year-old.

The Humanity of the Ice Cream ‘Scam’

The national and local news media had descended on the small town of Wenham police station. Chief Carnes said that the parking lot was filled with news crews and satellite trucks covering the breaking story of a serial killer and an attempted abduction. Inside the station at the time was the victim who was telling police in meticulous detail every memory she had about the man and the car. With her was Officer Dave Doyle, who had quickly established a rapport with the victim. She had been at the police station for hours already, and police were not close to being done with their interview. “We asked her at noon time about getting her lunch. ‘What can we get for you’?” asked Carnes who was simultaneously managing a myriad of questions from other police agencies and the news media. Her only request was a Dairy Queen ice cream, said Carnes. After the trauma that this young woman had been through, nothing was unreasonable, said Carnes. Not wanting to disappoint, Carnes’ next question to himself was, “how can we get this woman a Dairy Queen ice cream?” Carnes told the uniformed Officer Doyle to take the witness and just walk out of the building, chatting as if they were old friends. And they did just that, walking past the dozens of news media in plain sight. “And nobody picked up on it. Nobody said, ‘oh, that’s the victim let’s get a picture.’ She got into a cruiser and rode away with a couple of officers.”

Looking back at the way they got the victim out of the police station for an hour, Carnes told APB Behind The Badge, “it was one of those things that was either going to be a huge success, or an instant failure. It was a little scam we pulled. It was successful.” Chief Carnes said when the witness returned to the station after lunch, they reunited her with her husband and her family. “We heard from her for several years thereafter.” But now as many years have passed, Carnes said he has not spoken with her, but he hopes she is successful and doing well.

Never Forgotten

Whenever now-retired Chief Carnes travels along Route 128 near Grapevine Road he remembers the victim who bravely jumped out of Wilder’s car back in 1984. “These stories don’t go away. That’s where she was that day. The gears start turning, they never stop.” He credits the young woman for setting in motion the events that ultimately lead to his apprehension at the gas station in New Hampshire. “To have the foresight to jump out of that car when she did, we were proud and honored to work with her.” said Carnes.

Listen now - to the interview with former Police Chief Peter Carnes in Last Stop of the Beauty Queen Killer a special Behind The Badge episode of the APB Cold Case podcast series.

[1] Sydney Morning Herald,7/3/2014; Anne-Louise Brown)

[2] Elusive ‘Beauty Queen Killer’ Led Double Life as a Florida Playboy; Robert Khan; A&E TV; https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/beauty-queen-killer-christopher-wilder-florida-playboy

[3] Elusive ‘Beauty Queen Killer’ Led Double Life as a Florida Playboy; Robert Khan; A&E TV; https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/beauty-queen-killer-christopher-wilder-florida-playboy

[4] The Boston Globe; Accused Slayer Kills Self; Apr. 14, 1984

[5] The Daily News; dailynews.com; Beauty Queen Killer Takes Bloody Ride; 1984

[6] The Boston Globe; Accused Slayer Kills Self; Apr. 14, 1984

[7] Ibid

[8] Tammy – not her real name; fictitious name used to protect victim’s identity

[9] The Boston Globe; Accused Slayer Kills Self; Apr. 14, 1984

[10] North Adams Transcript; N.Y. Woman May be Killer’s Latest Victim; Apr. 13, 1984, p.2

[1] https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/predators/wilder/3.html

[2] Elusive ‘Beauty Queen Killer’ Led Double Life as a Florida Playboy; Robert Khan; A&E TV; https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/beauty-queen-killer-christopher-wilder-florida-playboy

¹https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/predators/wilder/3.html

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