Christine Walters, 23 missing 11/14/08 Eureka, CA

[Nut44x4]

2008/11/26 05:07
The Eureka Police Department is requesting the aid of the public in locating 23 year old Christine Walters. Christine has blondish-red hair and blue eyes. She is 5’4” and approximately 100 pounds. She was last seen on 11-14-08 in Eureka. Her family has reported her missing as they have not heard from her in 10 days which they claim is unusual.

Any information regarding Christine should be given to Police Services Officer Mary Anderson of the Criminal Investigation unit at 441-4300 or call the 24-hour dispatch number, 441-4044.

A photo is posted in an article in News/Local News
http://kmud.org/site001/local-news/missing-person-christine-walters.html
 

[Nut44x4]

The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
 
January 13, 2009 Tuesday
 
DEERFIELD FAMILY FEARS FOR MISSING DAUGHTER;
CHRISTINE WALTERS, 23, WAS LAST SEEN IN CALIFORNIA IN NOVEMBER
 
At 23, Christine Walters was figuring out who she wanted to be.

Friends and family hope she's still out there, embracing nature and taking a break from traditional society.

But two months after the Deerfield High School graduate was last seen in northern California, they're increasingly frightened.

Both a private investigator hired this month by Walters' family and a detective with the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department, a rural area 300 miles north of San Francisco known for its redwood forests and Pacific coastline, say they have not ruled out foul play but also think she may return.

"I'm still looking at everything," said Chris Cook, a private investigator based in Eureka, Calif., a city of about 25,000 residents on U.S. 101 in Humboldt County.

For Walter's parents and sister in Deerfield, and former high school teachers, classmates and friends at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, that's something to cling to.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Department investigator Dan Paris, whose office took over the case Dec. 4 after Walters was reported missing Nov. 17 in Eureka, said he is "particularly hopeful" and gives Walters a "better than 50-50 chance" of returning.

"I really feel there is a chance that she is out there," agreed Cook.

But Paris also warned that "bad things happen."

Walters' trek to the West Coast began innocently.

In July, she bought a round-trip ticket to Portland, Ore., to visit a friend for about three weeks.

She was set to return to UW-Stevens Point in the fall. Before leaving Wisconsin, she and her mother decorated a bedroom in the house she was to share with friends in September.

But toward the end of the Portland trip, she called her parents and said she wanted to stay on the West Coast a little longer to travel to Northern California.

Friends and family who were regularly in touch with her in late summer and early fall said Walters fell in love with the area's natural beauty and a lifestyle that embraced it.

It fit with recent changes she had made: embracing natural foods and thrift store clothing, eschewing makeup and working on an organic farm in Stevens Point.

While still in Wisconsin, she taught Pilates and yoga in Deerfield and at Madison's Princeton Club, and had been offered a similar job in Stevens Point.

And it appears that in California, in addition to reveling in the landscape and summertime music festivals, she had connected with a spiritual group. She told a Stevens Point friend via a MySpace message that she had attended a shamanic gathering.

"She was getting back in touch with herself," said UW-Stevens Point student Toni Osiecki, whose final MySpace message from Walters came in early October. Osiecki said Walters apologized then for a lapse in messages, saying she had "been off the grid for a while."

"I can totally imagine her being completely content living day-to-day," Osiecki said.

But investigators say other evidence points to something more sinister.

Walters' belongings -- including identification, money and a large backpack borrowed from Osiecki -- were found after her disappearance at a coffee shop in Arcata, Calif., a small town near Eureka. Investigators say the shop owner knew Walters and told them it was not uncommon for her to leave her belongings there while taking long walks in an adjacent redwood forest.

Cook and Paris said a deeply disturbing incident on Nov. 12 adds urgency to the case.

That morning, Walters was found on the doorstep of an isolated rural home outside Arcata, confused and wearing no clothes, her skin cut by briars, Cook said. "She was not herself."

Walters was treated at a local hospital but would not say what happened, Cook said. Police didn't feel her mental health warranted detaining her. No drugs were found in her system.

She was later taken to a nearby hotel and was last seen in the area two days later. Her family reported her missing on Nov. 17.

Anita Walters said because of privacy laws, she and her husband, Dean, did not know the extent of the Nov. 12 incident until after their daughter went missing.

Looking back, Anita Walters said she now she sees other, earlier red flags. "I should have gotten on a plane and brought her back," she said Monday from the family's home outside of Deerfield, a close-knit village of 2,000 in eastern Dane County.

As autumn wore on, Walters said the normally close relationship she had with her daughter waned. Telephone calls became less frequent.

Dreams that Christine had expressed when she first got to California, about opening her own yoga studio and perhaps building eco-villages, no longer came up. She wasn't working consistently and asked her parents for money, which they sent and almost all of which remains today untouched in her bank account.

Family, friends and former Deerfield teachers say the 5-foot-4, 100-pound, strawberry-blond Walters was a good student with a good head on her shoulders. She made friends easily and exuded an energy that drew people to her. Investigators have found that during her brief stay in Humboldt County, she made many friends, and it hasn't been hard to find people who remember her.

"She has a really bright spirit," Osiecki said.

"There was a kind of energy she gave out," Anita Walters agreed. "You would remember her."

Michelle Jensen, current superintendent of the Deerfield schools who was principal at Deerfield Middle School when Walters was a student, remembers her as "very friendly" and said she "had a way of making people feel comfortable around her."

"She was very easy to get along with," Jensen said.

But both Jensen and Anita Walters also said Christine Walters tended to be too trusting, and that may have gotten her into trouble in California. Her mother acknowledges that she was "trusting to a fault" and still learning to be a good judge of character.

Yet while Jensen concurs with that assessment, she also remembers Walters as being "really sure of herself" and not the type to be lured into a bad situation without thinking about how to get out.

"She would be thinking about her options, what is my next step ... the Christine I know would do that, anyway," Jensen said.

Both Cook and Paris said they continue to get fresh leads, and Cook called Walters' disappearance a "priority case."

"We are making progress," Cook said Monday. "We have some new leads, some as recently as today."

But Anita Walters said the wait is torturous.

"It drives you crazy after a while. It just drives you insane," she said. "Why didn't I ask more questions? I just accepted everything as it happened. Now, I wish I hadn't."

Help find Christine Walters Donations: A fund has been set up at the Bank of Deerfield to help the family of Christine Walters pay for a private investigator to find her. Donations can be sent to the bank's Christine Walters Fund at 15 S. Main St., Deerfield WI, 53531.

If you have information: Any tips about Walters can be given to Humboldt County Sheriff's Department investigator Dan Paris at (707) 445-7251, or dparis@co.humboldt.ca.us 
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:910468898&start=3

[Nut44x4]

Christine Lindsey Walters
 
Classification:  Endangered Missing Adult 
Alias / Nickname:  Star, Meadow, Airystar 
Date of Birth:  1985-08-08 
Date Missing:  2008-11-14 
From City/State:  Eureka, CA 
Missing From (Country):  USA 
Age at Time of Disappearance:  23 
Gender:  Female 
Race:  White 
Height:  62 inches 
Weight:  100 to 115 pounds 
Hair Color:  Red 
Eye Color:  Blue 
Complexion:  Light 
Identifying Characteristics:  Ears multiple pierced, left nostril pierced, large tattoo on nape of neck of a purple and green Iris flower, small black butterfly on lower front hip. 
Clothing:  Possibly wearing hospital issued pink pajama bottoms, sweatshirt, Crocks 
Circumstances of Disappearance:  Prior to her disappearance, Christine was seen in Arcata attending a Shamatic gathering. She was later found on the doorstep of a rural home nude with numerous scratches, then taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Eureka. Upon discharge she went to the Red Lion Hotel located at 1929 4th St. Christine's identification, money and large backpack were found after her disappearance in Arcata. 
Investigative Agency:  Humbolt Co. (CA) Sheriff's Office 
Phone:  (707) 445-7251 
Investigative Case #:  2008-08062 
NCIC #:  M-307789579 
http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200905707S

[Edward]

quote:
Cook and Paris said a deeply disturbing incident on Nov. 12 adds urgency to the case.

That morning, Walters was found on the doorstep of an isolated rural home outside Arcata, confused and wearing no clothes, her skin cut by briars, Cook said. "She was not herself."

Walters was treated at a local hospital but would not say what happened, Cook said. Police didn't feel her mental health warranted detaining her. No drugs were found in her system.
end.

 

[MunkeyMunk]

Edward, I agree   what's up with that??? No drugs in her system??

[Edward]

The way the news reports are these days makes no sense..

Why was she put up in a motel ? where was her family ? where was her friends ?
No drugs ?
Was she raped ?

Was she selling herself and the male left her in the wilderness nude ?
wtf is this ?

I know Eureka and Acata.. It is not warm there..It is on the coast and cold and rains a lot.
There is a college there and lots of younger adults..

None of that makes sense..

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myspace.com/findchristine5558188

[Edward]

quote:
Cook and Paris said a deeply disturbing incident on Nov. 12 adds urgency to the case.

That morning, Walters was found on the doorstep of an isolated rural home outside Arcata, confused and wearing no clothes, her skin cut by briars, Cook said. "She was not herself."

Walters was treated at a local hospital but would not say what happened, Cook said. Police didn't feel her mental health warranted detaining her. No drugs were found in her system.
end.

 

her disappearance at a spiritual center in Arcata, Calif., a small town near Eureka. Investigators say the center’s owner knew Walters and told them it was not uncommon for her to leave her belongings there while taking long walks in an adjacent redwood forest.


If you have information: Any tips about Walters can be given to Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department investigator Dan Paris at (707) 445-7251, or dparis@co.humboldt.ca.us.

Private investigator Chris Cook can be reached at (707) 616-4507.

The Walters family can be reached at (608) 764-5850.


http://highboldtage.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/christine-walters-missing-in-humboldt/

[Edward]

1. I think the spiritual center males should be checked out.

2. When found nude, She could have been attacked in the forest by Mexican nationals who are known to be growing POT in this area..
WHY Would she not say what had happened to her ? Was she attacked by somebody she knew at the spiritual center ?

LE and the private investigators have lost the edge in this case..
What a waste of money on the private investigator.

[Edward]

An incident that occurred on Nov. 12, leaves many wondering whether something disturbing may have been going on. A call from a rural citizen of Humboldt County said that they found Walters on their doorstep. She showed up without any clothing and seemed to be traumatized. The citizens contacted the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department who attempted to help Walters. Despite questioning, they were unable to attain any information as to what might have happened to her. After contacting her mother, she seemed to recover and was ready to return home.

“We didn’t think there was any evidence of drug use or mental illness,” said Cook. “She was just really frightened.”

[klaasend]

Bumping back up

[klaasend]

There was a class at Humbolt on Shamanic healing.  This woman teaches it now, I wonder if she was teaching back in November 2008.  I also wonder if police questioned any of the others that were on the retreat.

http://www.thankful-heart.com/ThankfulHeart/Home.html

[Nut44x4]

Mom Seeks Answers in Daughter's Disappearance

(March 13) -- Nearly a year and a half after Christine Lindsey Walters vanished, police have no idea what happened to her. But her mother is determined to find the truth and says she won't stop until she does.

"She is just a very happy and caring person," Anita Walters told AOL News. "She is always positive and looking for the best in all people and situations. She is just full of life. There were so many things she wanted to do."

In 2008, Christine lived in Deerfield, Wis., and was a junior at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, where she studied botany and ethnobotany. During summer vacation, she went to Portland, Ore., to spend time with some of her friends. While there, Christine changed her plans and traveled to Eureka, Calif.

"Before she left we would have conversations on the phone at least three times a week and sometimes a couple times a day, but then when she got out there all of a sudden I wasn't hearing from her as frequently," her mother said. "Her ideas were changing -- she was distancing herself from the Internet and other materialistic things and she was just kind of bumming around more or less, with not too many cares in the world."

By fall, the 23-year-old had decided to forgo returning to college for a while. She had made new friends in California and was becoming involved in spirituality and alternate lifestyles.

"I believe in emitting love, peace and positive energy," Christine wrote in the "About Me" section of her MySpace profile. "I'm loving life, wonderful experiences, enlightenment and beautiful people! Starting ... yoga [training] which is going to be a great journey. Playing in the dirt at an organic farm, which is one of the most beautiful communities I've been a part of."

On Nov. 12, 2008, Christine showed up on the doorstep of a rural home outside of Arcata, Calif. She was naked and had briar scratches on her body. The homeowner called police and she was taken to a hospital.

"She called from a hospital in Eureka and she was very scared," Anita Walters said. "She wasn't making any sense to me and was acting paranoid. She said that she was at some type of ceremony where they blew smoke in her face. She said someone was after her, and then she just stopped talking."

After she was released from the hospital, Christine was taken to a nearby hotel where her parents had arranged accommodations for her until she could return home. She had lost her identification, so her mother was working on getting her documentation so that she could travel.

"I spoke with her at about 3:30 in the afternoon on Nov. 14," Anita said. "It was the last communication I had with her. She wanted me to send her some stuff so she could get a driver's license or some way to get back home, so I faxed her some stuff to a local copy center. The employees there later told us she was acting very paranoid and tried to hide the papers.

"She left after that and they said she was standing on the street outside looking like she was wondering, 'Where should I go and what to do?' and then all of a sudden she was gone. That was the last time anyone saw her."

Christine was officially reported missing on Nov. 17, 2008. Authorities launched an extensive investigation but were unable to find any leads. The Walters family hired a private investigator.

"Christine's case is somewhat unusual," private investigator Thomas Lauth told AOL News. "She seemed to be a person that was experimenting in life and looking into different sorts of cultures, trying to learn as much about her inner self as possible. I think that sometimes when a person is exploring like that, they perhaps meet bad people. In Christine's case, I think that the people she met probably allowed her to explore but didn't realize some of her naivety."

According to Lauth, Christine was involved in a "tea ceremony" prior to the events that led to her admittance to the hospital.

"Tea ceremonies are actually illegal in the Unites States," Lauth said. "The people who hold these gatherings pose them as cleansing ceremonies. They are potentially dangerous because some people can have such adverse reactions to them that if they have an illness or disorder like bipolarity or depression, it can surface."

Lauth said the drug used at the tea ceremonies is called ayahuasca.

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, founder of Weil Lifestyle LLC and author of the book "From Chocolate to Morphine," ayahuasca is a psychedelic drink made from a vine found in the Amazon forest and leaves from another plant, usually Psychotria viridis. The components are generally pounded with a stone and mixed with water.

"They use the drink in traditional all-night vision-seeking rituals with shamans or in large tribal ceremonies, such as coming-of-age rites for adolescent boys," Weil writes on his Web site. "The vine's active component is a drug called harmine, which is not a controlled substance in the U.S., but the leaves provide another drug, DMT (dimethyltryptamine), which is illegal. DMT is responsible for the visual hallucinations that characterize the ayahuasca experience."

The tea, Weil writes, first causes "intense vomiting" and "diarrhea" and then a hallucinogenic state that can last for up to 10 hours. It is considered a powerful psychoactive drug but few studies have been conducted on it. Weil writes that it "can be psychologically risky" if taken under the wrong circumstances.

Lauth believes that "wrong circumstances" can easily be used to describe what happened in Christine's case.

"I don't think she was properly warned about the potential side effects and I don't think she could handle it," he said. "As a result, she experienced paranoia and for the next two or three days, ended up walking aimlessly and that is what brought her to the gentleman's doorstep the day she was admitted to the hospital. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise or that some person had attempted to abduct or rape her."

Humboldt County Sheriff's Department investigator Dan Paris said there is no evidence suggesting Christine had been harmed before or after her admittance to the hospital, but acknowledges there's no way for investigators to be sure the petite strawberry blonde disappeared of her own accord.

"We are as baffled as anyone else by what happened," Paris told AOL News. "Is this a young lady who decided to go off and cut all ties with society? Is this a young lady who had a mental breakdown of some sort, or is she the victim of foul play? We really don't know. I wish we did, but we have no idea."

Paris said the case remains active but until new leads come up, there is little his department can do other than post fliers and attempt to raise awareness.

"We keep it alive, but we just haven't gotten anything," he said. "Sometimes they show up alive, but in most cases, unfortunately, they show up dead. However, until we know different, we're still going to hold out hope."

Anita Walters also wants to hold on to hope, but with each passing day, that task becomes more and more difficult.

"I don't believe she would purposely take off and never call us again," she said. "I know my daughter. At the very least she would have let us know that she was OK. This haunts me. I have nightmares about it all the time.

"She is just a little peanut of a girl, so I fear for her, being out there all alone and disoriented. If someone saw her like that she could have met her demise. I don't know what to do. I don't want to just sit and wait. I don't know what I am waiting for. I love her. I want to help her and I want to find her."
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/police-baffled-by-disappearance-of-christine-lindsey-walters/19397492

[Edward]

maybe she is involved in a cult ??

I am so surprized she has not been found by now. I had forgotten about it with so many cases.
I have been through Eureka many times and it is a college town with a bunch of hippie culture people.. it also has commercial fishing and logging as well as agricultural.
Illegals also grow pot on public and private land.
 

[klaasend]

Here is her myspace.  Very interesting and it says last online 2/22/09 but that may have been a family member or something. 

http://www.myspace.com/christinelwalters

[Edward]

Thanks Klaasend ..when I get time I will contact all the friends listed to see if any of them has herd from her.
I would think that the private eye already did this but who knows..

My gut feeling is she ran into a bad guy and she is in the forrest someplace..
Hope not.

[doubledecker]

I am always interested in the Eureka area cases.  Eureka has always had some strange goings-on.  They use to have the "JETTY CITY" out there, they have sinse bulldozed the whole city off the jetty.  it was a huge "hippie" community complete with free clinic, etc.  It also attacted a lot of criminal types. 

I also followed the Karen Mitchell case from there.  There are some other old cold cases from there or had connections to there, which I have looked at. 

there are any of a number of strange groups she could have got tangled up in over there or any number of weirdos who pass through there she could have come into contact with.  The environment over there is one that could attract serial killers also. 
College town, lots of young people, the jetty, the culture, the drug culture, hippie environment; lots of people to prey upon. 

I need to see when they bulldozed the jetty down and moved everyone out in comparison to the time frame she was there.

[doubledecker]

 I had noticed this case when she first went missing and did a little looking at it, not much at all though, will see if I can find anything I had looked at.  I was also interested in it because she came from michigan/wisconsin area.... all those cases interest me too. 

[Edward]

You are so right about that Eureka area Doubledecker. My sister did own a realty office there. I have family north of Eureka..
 Lots of good honest hard working people too. So it is a mixed bag of people.
Along with the Indian culture now come gambling and drinking.. and that brings all kinds of personalities into the mix...
There are many Indian reservations in this area as well .. Various tribes and Severn lands "independent nations within the united states that have there own laws and rules and for the most part local law does not apply to the people who live on the Indian reservations."
 here is a list of all the associated casinos... It is all about money.. greed..envy.. everything that makes human human..lol
Humboldt County Bear River Casino ..location  Loleta
  Blue Lake Casino .. location Blue Lake
  Cher-Ae Heights Bingo Casino .. location Trinidad
  Lucky Bear Casino .. location Hoopa

  That adds to the story of the area because of the past of the Indian cultrue that has always lived there.. Trouble exists and always has.. over river rights over land over education over drinking and drugs.. over just about everything..
http://redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=2528




The redwood forests are beautiful but also deep and dense..
So for a victim of crime you can understand how difficult it would be to find a body hidden..
There is a mass difference in education and social and anti social people in the area..
IF you work as a logger you may even live in a logging camp or trailer in the woods.. there are thousands of miles of dirt logging roads through the forests and no street markers.. 

Then there is the fisherman group and for the most part a very hard working and honest group of people .. But you always have a bad guy/low life group too.
So for a victim, IF You take a victim out on a fishing boat, the men on-board have everything necessary to make sure nothing is ever found. 

Here is a map of the area..

http://www.run.com/showroute.asp?map=23534

Here is the demographics and history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka,_California

Here is the demographics
http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ca/eureka.htm

http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=10140

Here is the sex offenders..
http://www.city-data.com/so/so-Eureka-California.html



January of 2010 they had an earthquake..
http://www.eqclearinghouse.org/20100110-eureka/uncategorized/very-quick-observations-on-damage-due-to-january-9-earthquak

I have never felt in threat in this area at all..
Fun place to visit but the weather is not all that nice near the coast ..cold foggy and miserable.. Lots of good fishing and camping and quiet places to read.. quite beautiful.

[Edward]

A youtube video on the earthquake..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drqC6l4uUAQ

A list of violence professionals in the area that may have seen her ..
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/injviosaf/Documents/Humboldt.pdf

Police department..
http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov/depts/police/default.asp