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- [00:00]
Alec Murdoch
This is Alec Murdoch.
- [00:02]
Narrator
I need police and an ambulance immediately.
- [00:04]
Podcast Host
Murdoch Death in the Family Official podcast is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch family first. To unravel the story piece by piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it. Murdoch Death in the Family Official podcast Wednesdays and stream Murdoch Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
- [00:30]
Alec Murdoch
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- [01:32]
Narrator
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Randy Griffith
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- [01:43]
Narrator
A portion of each bottle goes to.
- [01:45]
Randy Griffith
Support backcountry hunters and anglers.
- [01:47]
Narrator
Limited supply available at Velvet Buck Vineyards. Enjoy responsibly. This episode contains discussion of crimes involving sexual violence and murder. Listener discretion is advised. In a mystery that's haunted Wisconsin for nearly 50 years. A young hunter left home for an opening day archery hunt and was never seen again. His car was found abandoned in the woods, stripped of its wheels and tires. But that wasn't even the strangest part of this baffling and disturbing investigation. That's next on Blood Trails. The year was 1977. Opening day of Wisconsin's archery deer season was set for September 17th, and Robert Christian was ready. The 18 year old Badger State native had hunted most falls since he was a kid, but this year was going to be different. He and his childhood friend, Randy Griffith had both grown up hunting, but they'd never gone out together. So that year they planned to team up and hunt some family property north of Baraboo, Wisconsin, which is just outside of Madison. Randy was expecting his friend to arrive at his house at 6pm on Friday, September 16, the night before opening day. Robert, who went by Bob was, would sleep over at the Griffith house and then the two would head out with their beaus early the next morning. Across Wisconsin, hundreds, probably thousands of friends made the same simple plan. Most woke up to crisp air and hopefully the rustle of a deer walking through the forest. But Bob and Randy never got that chance. What started out as a plan for a hunting trip became one of the most disconcerting cold cases in Wisconsin history.
- [03:43]
Randy Griffith
Bob is always, always on time or a little early. And so it was like 6:30 and you know, we were there to have supper at 6 and mom and I were talking and my sister and I said, you know, this ain't like him to be late. So my mom called his mom said, you know, Bob was going to be up here at 6 and he's not here.
- [04:08]
Narrator
Randy waited. The hours ticked by. The sun dipped lower and still no Bob.
- [04:16]
Randy Griffith
You know, he still didn't show up. And we called back down at around 9 o' clock to his mom's and said he's still not here. And then at that time she contacted Dane county to report him. As you know, not alive.
- [04:35]
Narrator
Amy, Bob's younger sister, was only 11 years old at the time, but she still remembers getting that call.
- [04:41]
Amy Christian
Valeria, Randy's mom, called again and said, carolyn, you know Bob isn't here yet. And we all knew then and there something was wrong.
- [04:51]
Narrator
Something was wrong, very wrong. But to this day no one knows exactly what. That's because nearly five decades later, Bob is still missing. His body has never been found, his bow and hunting clothes have never been recovered and his whereabouts remain, at least publicly unknown. All Bob's family and friends have is a baffling set of coincidences, contradictions and strange interactions. Bob's case intersects with a nun, the Ringling Brothers, circus clowns, the American Motors Corporation, and one of the world's most famous serial killers. But the thing that makes the most sense of at least part of Bob's story can really only be understood by hunters. And that is the desire to give himself the best shot at success on opening day. I'm Jordan Sillers and this is Blood Trails An Opening Day Disappearance Part one the Drive. The Christian family lived in a small two story home on the east side of Madison. Randy lived with his family in the town of Baraboo, which is about an hour's drive northwest from Bob's house. The property they planned to hunt was located about 10 minutes north of Baraboo. So it made sense for Bob to spend the night at the Griffiths. It would have saved him about an hour of sleep and allowed the pair to set up well before shooting light. Bob could have taken a few different routes, but there are two main ones. The primary one, according to Amy, that the family took and that she believes Bob probably took, was to go up Highway 12 straight up to Baraboo, around the west side of Lake Wisconsin. But Bob also could have hopped on Interstate 90 going north, which goes around the east side of the lake, and then exited onto Highway 33 going west. We don't know which way Bob took, but we do know that he made two stops along the way, both of which were in Madison. The first is he stopped at a bank. And we know this because he bumped into his mother on the way. The circumstances of this meeting are a little unclear. The reports say she saw him as she was taking Amy and Bob's brother to a local football game, but Amy thinks otherwise.
- [07:24]
Amy Christian
My mom was on a walk or probably coming home from work, and they probably crossed each other. It was an anchor bank out on, you know, off where we lived.
- [07:35]
Narrator
Detectives at the time confirmed that Bob withdrew $25 from the bank around 5:15pm and then he made another stop to pick up a few things at a convenience store just down the street.
- [07:46]
Amy Christian
Some Swisher Sweets, I think it was, or something like that. He used to smoke cigars with his friends and have beer and play cards. So that was their big thing, you know.
- [07:56]
Narrator
Whether he planned to smoke those cigars that night with Randy or was saving them as a celebration after a successful hunt, we'll never know. But we do know. Is this Somewhere between the convenience store in Madison and Randy's home in Baraboo, Bob vanished. And it's haunted Bob's family and friends ever since.
- [08:18]
Randy Griffith
You know, it's. You just got an empty feeling. What do you say? He's not here with us and all that, you know. It was Bob.
- [08:30]
Narrator
Part two, the search. If Bob had gone missing in 2025 instead of 1977, his case may have ended much differently. It's hard to fault detectives back then for doing what they did, but in retrospect, they made several pretty serious errors. Because Bob was technically an adult, 18 years old, law enforcement didn't consider him a missing person for the first 24 hours. This is why, according to Detective Tyler Pointon of the Sauk County Sheriff's Office, the search took several days to begin in earnest.
- [09:06]
Detective Tyler Pointon
Back then, it was more like, well, he's an adult, you Hear it kind of cliche all the time, but there's the 24 hour rule. You hear all the time about people being missing and waiting a certain amount of time, I. E. 24 hours before, you know, you really start looking into things. I'm just speculating, but I can only assume that was kind of the operating procedure back then.
- [09:27]
Narrator
Detective Pointon assured me that that policy is long gone. But without much help from law enforcement, the Christians were kind of on their own. They started by calling everyone they knew who may have seen their son and brother.
- [09:39]
Amy Christian
My mom called all the hospitals that night and called everywhere that she could think of to see if there was any accidents, if there was any reports of anything that went on between Madison and Baraboo and nothing was showing up.
- [09:54]
Narrator
Randy knew something was wrong right away. It was unlike his friend to disappear without telling anyone. Even in an era before cell phones and Google Maps. Do you remember sort of what your thoughts and feelings were that night and into the next day? Were you extremely worried or were you kind of like, well, you know, I'm sure he's okay. We'll find him.
- [10:14]
Randy Griffith
No, it's not. He's okay. I've known him, you know, since we were little kids. And he's straight, you know, he's never in trouble. You know, if he says he's going to do something, he's going to do it.
- [10:30]
Narrator
Now, you might assume that the Christians and the Griffiths hopped in the car that Friday night and drove the various routes Bob may have taken. But according to Amy, they didn't do that until Sunday. I asked Randy about this, and he explained that both routes Bob may have taken were along major highways. And so they figured somebody would have surely seen him if he'd been in an accident.
- [10:50]
Randy Griffith
There's three counties he went through, and he went by maybe like five or six towns on them off ramps, you know, but he went through, like, Dane, Columbia and Sauk County. And basically, if you total that up, that's like 2750 square miles. I was like, okay, you know, where would you start looking?
- [11:16]
Narrator
But when Bob still hadn't turned up by Sunday, the family started the search. They were looking for a 1977AMC Hornet. Bob had a motorcycle, which he usually drove, but it had broken down. So Bob's mom let him use her brand new car to drive up to Randy's. It didn't take the family long to find something. Here's Amy.
- [11:38]
Amy Christian
My brother was with my dad in the van, and my cousin Jim and my brother had. They had gone up Tower Road and at that time, it was a dirt road then. And he looked over to the right where there was a radio, a police radio tower. And he saw my mom's car. And he's like, dad, that's mom's car.
- [11:57]
Narrator
Tower Road is between Madison and Baraboo as the crow flies. But it's not along either of the main roads. That's because Lake Wisconsin is also in between Madison and Baraboo. And you have to go around the lake on either side to get to either town. In other words, there's almost no reason Bob would have driven down Tower Road under normal circumstances. But what they found wasn't just strange. It quite literally defied explanation.
- [12:28]
Amy Christian
My dad and the boys went to go walk up to the car, and they saw that it was on the ground. No tires, no nothing. And my dad said, stop. You know, he said, stop. We gotta turn around. He had the boys go back into the van, and he walked down to the closest farm to try to call, you know, the police. And by that time, we had pulled up behind them, and, you know, my Uncle Glenn was like, oh, man, there's. You know, it was like, what is going on here?
- [12:58]
Narrator
Mrs. Christian's brand new AMC Hornet wasn't parked. It was discarded flat on the dirt. No wheels, no tires, and it wasn't on blocks. It was just lying on the ground. Detective Point told me that the car's battery was also missing. And the front license plate, but not the back, had been taken off and thrown into the grass. Here's Randy.
- [13:22]
Randy Griffith
And when we were there that day, they said, well, they didn't use a jack because there was no jack. Impressions in the sand and the dirt. So flabbergasting how you get wheel and a tire, four of them off that vehicle and don't have any marks on the ground.
- [13:41]
Narrator
I'm sure Bob's father looked through those car windows with some trepidation. But Bob was nowhere to be seen. His bear, compound, bow and hunting gear were missing and have never been recovered. His letterman jacket was still in the front seat, along with his mom's nursing kit, but not much else. Now, the Wisconsin State Crime Lab found Bob's mom's fingerprint along with a print from someone they couldn't identify. But Bob had never had his fingerprints taken. And the print they found wasn't matched to anyone else in any law enforcement databases. So we don't know whether that print belonged to Bob, which would make sense, or to someone else. This was the first real indication that Bob was actually missing and probably in trouble. Law enforcement got involved, and they did an extensive search of the area around where the car was found. Bob's family and friends and other local volunteers scoured surrounding woods. They brought in bloodhounds, and the National Guard conducted an aerial search with a helicopter. But that area is what Detective Pointon called bluff country, cut through with gullies and covered with trees and brush. It's the kind of place you might say is good for keeping secrets. Still, the detective is confident that Bob wasn't in those woods.
- [15:03]
Detective Tyler Pointon
Confident. They did a. They did a thorough search. Again, they. They did just about everything they could, I think, at the time. You know, nowadays we have drones, but they brought an actual helicopter. They put bloodhounds. So they did try to do some tracking that way. People who were firefighters at the time on the local volunteer fire department who were out. And they did. They did a pretty extensive search of the area. I know the family did that, plus a lot more.
- [15:35]
Narrator
The search may well have been thorough, but it didn't start until Monday, a full two days after Bob had gone missing. By the time they figured out Bob wasn't in those woods, he could have been halfway across the globe. Part 3 Sister Genevieve. What investigators didn't know until later is that just down the road from where Bob's car was found, another crime had been committed. If you keep driving east down Tower Road about a mile and a half, you'll find what today is called Durward's Glen Retreat Center. But back in 1977, it was a convent for Roman Catholic nuns. And in a cabin on that property, a lived a nun named Sister Genevieve. Sister Genevieve had been away for about a week. But when she returned home that Friday, which, remember, is the same day Bob disappeared, she found that someone had been living in her cabin. It hadn't been ransacked, but someone had slept in her bed, prepared food in her kitchen, and left cigarette ashes in the ashtray. Sister Genevieve was pretty, understandably upset. She was afraid the person would return, and so she called her friend, a woman named Mary. Mary drove over to the sister's cabin, but when she arrived around 8:30 that evening, she saw something no one in that situation would ever want to see.
- [17:00]
Detective Tyler Pointon
She pulls in, and about halfway up the driveway, there's a car parked in the driveway, running with the headlights pointed up the driveway towards the house. She has the wherewithal to jot down the license plate number and then approaches the car, and there's a male driver in the driver's seat. She describes him as a white male, brown hair. Light facial hair, thicker rimmed glasses, and asks him what he's doing. He says something to the effect of, I'm looking for my friend Bob, or I'm just looking for my friend. It's quoted a couple different ways in the reports back then.
- [17:41]
Narrator
He's looking for his friend Bob. This has baffled investigators both then and now. If it was Bob driving the car, why would Bob be asking about himself? And if it wasn't Bob in the car, how does that person know Bob's name? And why would he pretend to be looking for him? Mary's description of the driver matches Bob to a table, but when she was shown a picture of him, she said she couldn't be sure it was him. Mary has unfortunately passed away, and so Detective Pointon is unable to ask her anything further about what she saw. All we have are the notes in the report, but we do know that the car parked in the driveway belonged to Bob's mother. That's because Mary recorded the license plate number, and so we can place the Christian car in the area around 8:30pm Friday evening, two and a half hours after he was supposed to have been at Randy's. But whoever was driving that car, whether it was Bob or someone else, didn't immediately go back to where it was eventually found. According to Mary's account, the car took a left and headed even further east. This, Randy told me, makes sense. Makes zero sense.
- [18:57]
Randy Griffith
And then they said when he pulled out of there, he went towards Durward Splend. So he keeps driving further and further away from my house, you know, to where I live.
- [19:10]
Narrator
Right, right.
- [19:12]
Randy Griffith
Which doesn't make sense.
- [19:16]
Narrator
As far as Randy knows, Bob would have no reason to go up the nun's driveway and definitely no reason to drive towards the convent. While he admits it may have been Bob in the driver's seat, he doesn't think his friend was alone.
- [19:28]
Randy Griffith
I'm thinking somebody was in that car with him. At that point, there's no sense for him to be there.
- [19:35]
Narrator
Mary said it was too dark to see whether anyone else was in the car. So Randy might be right. Amy also agrees that Bob's strange comment about looking for himself may have been his attempt to signal for help or let investigators know that it was him.
- [19:51]
Amy Christian
If he was being apprehended, that would be a smart thing to do. Send a clue to somebody, hey, I'm Bob, you know, or something, you know, that's the only thing I can think of.
- [20:01]
Narrator
When Amy and her family heard about this, they went to Sister Genevieve's cabin themselves. To take a look around. If Bob was signaling for help, maybe he left a clue as to his whereabouts. They didn't find anything like that. But they did find something that today they have blown this case wide open.
- [20:19]
Amy Christian
And I remember my uncle Jack finding a paper grocery bag. The old grocery bags, the paper bags stuffed into a log. And that had a receipt. It had cigarettes, it had raw bacon. It had different things. And evidence that we thought pertained to that for sure for the robbery, because who was going to be sticking that into a log there?
- [20:46]
Narrator
Amy says they gave this evidence to law enforcement. And Detective Pointon confirmed to me that it was in the case file. He also confirmed that the receipt was for a local butcher shop in town. But investigators at the time were unable to confirm who the bag belonged to. And while there's a record of these items in the case file, none of the actual items were retained as evidence. We also don't have any evidence from inside Sister Genevieve's cabin. This is due in part to the fact that forensic DNA testing hadn't really been invented yet. Back then, a cigarette butt couldn't tell you much besides the fact that the person smoked. But it's also due to yet another unfortunate, infuriating coincidence about this case. Bob's car was found in Sauk County, But Sister Genevieve's cabin, only a mile and a half down the road, was in Columbia County. And Columbia county deputies investigated the break in as unrelated to Bob's disappearance.
- [21:47]
Amy Christian
At that time, they said, this has nothing to do with your brother's case. So the two police departments didn't work well together there. So all of that evidence is gone. We have no idea where it went to. And at the time, it could have been really relevant for that case to find out and connect. I don't know why they couldn't see the connection. To me, it's as obvious as a sore thumb. You know, how can you not see the connection there?
- [22:19]
Narrator
Part 4 Car parts there is a quarry south of Baraboo that Bob would have passed on one of the routes up to Randy's. This quarry became a popular target shooting spot. So there were people in and out. And about a week after Bob went missing, someone reported that they'd found a set of old wheels and tires along with hubcaps. These hubcaps came from an AMC Hornet, which is the same kind of car that Bob was driving.
- [22:49]
Detective Tyler Pointon
So the presumption was that whether it was the person involved with Robert's disappearance or an opportunist took the new wheels off the Hornet and Then swapped them with their old wheels, and then left the old wheels with the hubcaps at the quarry.
- [23:06]
Narrator
Much like finding the bag of groceries in the tree stump. This could have been a big break in the case. If detectives could have matched those old wheels and tires with a specific vehicle, they could have at least had a make and model to look for. The problem was those wheels and tires were incredibly common. Detective Point told me that the list of potential vehicles was so long that it would have been useless to go down that road. But tires weren't the only car parts detectives looked into as part of their investigation. While canvassing the area around where Bob's car was found, investigators spoke to a local farmer who had driven down Tower Road Saturday morning right after Bob disappeared. He reported looking up a side road and seeing Bob's car parked in the same location where it was found the next day. But Bob's car wasn't alone. A second vehicle, light colored with stacked headlights, sat beside it in the shadowy morning light.
- [24:03]
Detective Tyler Pointon
He estimated it was around like 6, 6:30 in the morning. It was still kind of dawn, darker out, but just be getting light. This car is backed up next to the Christian car and the dome light is on. And he specifically remembers it having stacked headlights. So one headlight on top of the other headlight. And he thought it was kind of like a lighter cream colored, but he didn't, he didn't think a lot too much of it because it wasn't all that uncommon for people to park up in there, whether it be people servicing the tower or hunters or kids parking, you know, doing kid things.
- [24:45]
Narrator
The farmer didn't recall seeing anyone in either car. But it was dark, just beginning to be light. So that's not unusual. Those stacked headlights are more unique than the tires and could have belonged to a number of Plymouth models. But they weren't unique enough for investigators to find the owner of that mysterious vehicle. Was it the abductor, a curious resident, the tire thief, or just someone drawn to a still warm crime scene? No one knows.
- [25:16]
Detective Tyler Pointon
We don't know if that's somebody who was involved in the disappearance or if that was somebody who was just capitalizing on the fact that there was this random car parked in kind of a obscured area somewhat and you know, I could really use those tires type thing.
- [25:37]
Narrator
After the break, we investigate the ways some have tried to explain Bob Christian's disappearance. Did you?
- [25:44]
Alec Murdoch
This is Alec Murdoch.
- [25:45]
Narrator
I need police and an ambulance immediately.
- [25:47]
Podcast Host
Murdoch, Death in the Family official podcast is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch Family first to unravel the story piece by piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it. Murdoch Death in the Family Official podcast Wednesdays and stream Murdoch Death in the Family Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers terms apply.
- [26:14]
Alec Murdoch
Hey, I'm not ashamed to tell you I'm a big Dude Wipes fan. I keep Dude Wipes in my backpack. I keep Dude Wipes at our fish shack. I keep Dude Whites in my truck, garage, wherever the hell. I just keep them around. And also, you know, one of the reasons I got kids. Man, when you got kids, you learn that you keep them around because little butts make big messes. When nature calls for your kid, answer with the pristine clean of Little Dude Wipes. They're gentle enough for little cheeks and strong enough for toddler streaks so they can be the first generation that never has to suffer the agony of dry toilet paper. The next time your kid goes number two, show them their number one with Little Dude Wipes. Little Dude Wipes are wet, extra large flushable wipes, alcohol and chemical free. They're the same size as Extra Large Dude Wipes. Perfect for the big messes the little kids make. Kids are known to get a little stinky. Wipe away the funk with Little Dude Wipes Bubblegum, the bubble gum scented flushable wipe free Little Stinker. Also available in fragrance free, Little Dude Wipes are made with 100% plant based natural fibers so you can keep the planet healthy for your Little Dude. Available exclusively at Walmart nationwide. And remember, check out the bubble gum. You'll get a kick out of it. We're thinking about connection to the land, to the history, to a legacy we can build. That yearning for your own piece of wild country. That yearning runs deep. And in 2025, making that a reality is more important than ever. Whether you're a lifelong hunter or just starting out, if you dream of owning land to explore, to build memories, to leave something real for those who come after, then there's one place to start. Land.com it is the leading online network connecting buyers and sellers of rural properties. I can tell you, in my life I've bought a couple small, little weird little spots and dude, the smartest moves I ever made. Find the right agent who understands your needs. Explore diverse listings from timber tracks to ranches and access the tools to make smart decisions. Don't let that vision of your own land stay a dream. Take action now. Head to land.com find your connection to the Wild Your piece of history, your legacy. Land.com the Place to Find your open space.
- [28:31]
Narrator
Run away. Was he the victim of a drug deal gone wrong? Or was it something much, much worse? That's next. Part five.
- [28:49]
Detective Tyler Pointon
Bob.
- [28:53]
Narrator
Whenever someone disappears without a trace, there are a few theories that investigators almost always consider. The first is that the person simply ran away. Maybe Bob had a tough home life. Maybe he was an unhappy kid who wanted his freedom or decided to pursue a career his parents wouldn't approve of. But that didn't really jive with Bob's character. Everyone I spoke with about the 18 year old described him as a straight laced kid who was excited to start his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin Madison as a computer science major.
- [29:24]
Detective Tyler Pointon
He was never a runaway as a youth. Never talked about running away, had a bright future, just enrolled as a college student at a pretty good college at that time. Would have been a pretty fast growing career.
- [29:40]
Narrator
Amy agrees that her brother would never have run away. She admits that her father was strict as the oldest of 14 children. But she doesn't think her brother was unhappy living in the Christian household.
- [29:52]
Amy Christian
I thought we had a great family. I felt blessed to have my parents. So I can't imagine Bob would have wanted to dis, you know, why would he want to take off after he just started, you know, at the university?
- [30:05]
Narrator
After Bob disappeared, investigators learned that he'd talked about going fishing in Canada. Maybe they guessed he decided to do just that on the spur of the moment. But when Randy heard about this theory, he went to one of the detectives to set him straight a month or.
- [30:19]
Randy Griffith
Two later, you know, and there was rumors going around that Bob took off for Canada. And when I came home, you know, that was getting to people that went to school from Verable Reesbury that was going to school in Eau Claire. And they'd say, oh yeah, they're saying he ran off to Canada and you know about it. And so I came one of the next weekends when I was coming home, I called Detective Borsky and I said, I'd like to talk to you about it. I said, there's no way he would have ran off to Canada. He got along great with his parents, siblings, he's just started school. He was excited about that. And you know, he went to the bank and he only took out $25 out of his account. And you know, he wasn't just going to run away and not tell anybody, you know, he, he would have ran away, period.
- [31:21]
Narrator
Detective Pointon told me that years later someone claimed to have spotted Bob in Canada. But investigators ran that down, and it turned out not to be him. If Bob didn't run away, maybe he had a secret life that got him killed. Maybe investigators thought he went up to Tower Road because he was a drug user and had planned to meet someone to purchase drugs. That also may have explained his strange behavior when talking with Mary Sister Genevieve's friend. But according to Detective Pointon, this was also quickly ruled out. Bob was, both literally and figuratively, a Boy Scout. Amy says he enjoyed a cigar and a beer with his friends. Who doesn't? But he never tried anything more adventurous.
- [32:05]
Amy Christian
I know people said, oh, was he. You think he was going up there to get drugs?
- [32:09]
Narrator
No.
- [32:10]
Amy Christian
I mean, even back then, 25 bucks isn't gonna. Why would you. He wouldn't have done that. It just wasn't him.
- [32:15]
Narrator
And he.
- [32:16]
Amy Christian
If he was gonna get drugs, why wouldn't he got him in the city and taken him to the small. You know what I mean? I don't. Who would he know in the rural area to get drugs? He didn't know anybody up there.
- [32:27]
Narrator
Bob also didn't have any enemies or vengeful girlfriends. And he wasn't the kind of guy to pick a fight.
- [32:33]
Detective Tyler Pointon
You know, no issues, relationship issues. He didn't have any beefs with anyone. He was a real likable guy.
- [32:41]
Amy Christian
He played a couple years of football growing up, but he just didn't have the tenacity. My dad was kind of disappointed, but he just. He just didn't have the tenacity. He didn't want to hurt somebody else, and that's how he always was.
- [32:53]
Narrator
Detective Pointn is convinced that he would not have disappeared of his own volition. But much like the rest of this case, there's a wrinkle in that theory, too.
- [33:03]
Amy Christian
My dad hunted with the boys from the day they were able to go hunting. He took them deer hunting, and they did some squirrel hunting and small game and a lot of fishing. We all went fishing. And the Griffith farm was right there by that hunting land that was pretty much open to anybody. So my dad and his brothers and their kids all hunted up there.
- [33:31]
Narrator
The Griffiths, remember, are Randy's family. And the up there, Amy mentions, is the same area where Bob's car was found. She says the car was parked just around the corner from where they usually parked to go hunting. And Bob had been up there many times. That's part of the reason they were driving those roads in the first place on their search, even though it wasn't on the way to Randy's house. That's too much of a coincidence for Detective Pointon.
- [33:56]
Detective Tyler Pointon
I mean, it would be a low probability that he would have ended up in that area just randomly without knowing it. It's very off the beaten path, very rural. How he ended up in the same, you know, within a half mile or so of his child at hunting grounds, just by coincidence, I just. I don't. I don't think there's. That's a coincidence. I think that that happened for a reason.
- [34:21]
Narrator
In other words, while Bob didn't disappear by choice, he almost certainly drove up to that area of his own volition. The question is, why? Part six, John Wayne Gacy. You may have your own theories about what Bob was doing near the convent that evening. I know I do. But before we get to that, we have one more piece to add to this puzzle. Bob disappeared in 1977. One year later, in 1978, Chicagoland police arrested one of the most vicious and notorious serial killers in American history, John Wayne Gacy. Gacy raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978. He would often lure young men back to his Chicago home, where he would violate them, kill them, and bury them in the crawl space of his house or dump them in the Des Plaines River. He confessed to these murders, and after a lengthy trial and appeal process, was executed in May of 1994. Baraboo and Madison are only about two and a half hours from Chicago, which was close enough to stir dread in Bob's mother, close enough to warrant sending his dental records to Chicago.
- [35:49]
Amy Christian
I know when that whole case broke, I know my mom asked for my brother's dental records to be sent down there. So, I mean, as far as I know, they did send his dental records, but they didn't have DNA back then, you know, and so I don't know if there was any more they could have done as far as that. But that's how we found out about all this, is they reopened the case again.
- [36:15]
Narrator
Detective Pointon told me that Gacy's name does appear in the case file, but it doesn't sound like he was ever considered very seriously. That's because most of Gacy's known victims were from the Windy City, and law enforcement had no real reason to think that Gacy had traveled up to Baraboo. But then, not too long ago, Detective Pointn got a tip. Turns out Gacy was in the Baraboo area, and at nearly the exact same time that Bob disappeared.
- [36:45]
Detective Tyler Pointon
John Wayne Gacy, at the time, in 1977 was a contractor for a company that kind of specialized in updating or upgrading older pharmacies to more modern look or, you know, design. And he had been in Reedsburg in July of 77 for a pharmacy job. And I, I was able to confirm that with one of the owners of the pharmacy at the time.
- [37:10]
Narrator
Reedsburg is a 30 minute drive from where Bob's car was found, about 20 miles as the crow flies. And that wasn't Gacy's only trip to the area. Detective Point received another tip that Gacy had also done some work in the town of Moston, which is about half an hour northwest of Reedsburg. And work wasn't the only reason Gacy may have been attracted to the Reedsburg Baraboo area. Gacy was famously a clown. Not like a class clown, but an actual clown. One of his nicknames was the killer Clown because he joined a clown Club in 1975 and performed as Pogo the Clown and Patches the Clown. Gacy, for you younger listeners, is likely the inspiration for subsequent depictions of clowns as villains, especially Stephen King's horror novel and the film it. Another weird coincidence is that in that novel, the clown claims that his name is Bob. Gacy's interest in clowns may have drawn him to Baraboo because it turns out that Baraboo is a clown nut's dream vacation. It's the site of the Ringling Brothers First Circus and home to the Al Ringling Mansion. Today, Baraboo has a Ringling Brewing Company, a Ringling Theater, and a Ringling Bed and breakfast. It's so well known for circuses and clowns that the International Clown hall of Fame chose Baraboo as its headquarters in 1986. All of that was enough to convince Detective Pointon to take a closer look at Gacy as a potential suspect. Now, being in another town in July isn't the same thing as abducting Bob in September. It's also worth pointing out that even though Gacy targeted young men much like Bob, many of them were homeless. He would often pretend to befriend his victims and then lure them into his home, not violently kidnap them on the street. Still, if Bob and Gacy had somehow met, it's possible the 18 year old was another of Gacy's victims. To this day, investigators aren't sure whether they've accounted for everyone Gacy killed. While he admitted to some of the killings, he was vague and evasive about everything he did. He was convicted of killing 33 people. 29 bodies were found in the crawl space of his home, and another four were pulled from the Des Plaines river. But five of those bodies still haven't been identified, and Detective Pointon wonders whether one of them might be Bob. We don't have any samples of Bob's DNA, much like we don't have any of his fingerprints. But back in 2013, Amy and her father submitted DNA samples to CODIS, which is a DNA database used by law enforcement. They did this so that if an unidentified body was found anywhere in the country, investigators might be able to match that body to to Amy or her father. So far, they haven't had any hits, but Detective Pointon isn't taking any chances. He requested the Cook County Sheriff's office, which includes Chicago, to run a direct comparison between the unidentified Gacy victims and Amy and her father.
- [40:21]
Detective Tyler Pointon
My understanding is that a blood sibling and father should have a close enough profile to, you know, if one of these victims is Robert, that it would match close enough that they'd be able to say that.
- [40:36]
Narrator
Cook county officials agreed to conduct the testing, and Detective Pointon is waiting for results. There is no timeline for when those might be available, but he submitted the request months ago, so it could be any day. I asked Amy how she would feel if the DNA results came back positive.
- [40:55]
Amy Christian
It's not always great to know what happened. If it ends up being this John Wayne Gacy, he probably didn't have a very good ending, but at least it would be some resolution. You know, there would be some finality to it. If the DNA came back positive, then we would know for sure what happened to him.
- [41:16]
Narrator
Part 7 Questions and coincidences. The questions that surround Bob Christian's disappearance are hard to wrap your head around. Was the person squatting at Sister Genevieve's house responsible for Bob's disappearance, or was that a coincidence? If a county line didn't separate the sister's house from where Bob's car was found, would investigators have more quickly put two and two together? Did a murderer steal the tires from Bob's car, or was it just an opportunistic tire thief? Why did the tire thief take the tires with him and not swap them out right there? Did the car the farmer saw, the one with the stacked headlights belong to a kidnapper or just a curious local? Was Bob's car found near his childhood hunting ground because he drove it there? Or did the perpetrator just happen to park in that exact area? There are no clear answers to any of these questions. But if you're a hunter, you may have already had some insight into that last one, remember, Bob and Randy had planned to hunt some family property north of Baraboo. But what if Bob was worried about their prospects? What if as he was driving to Randy's, he figured he'd swing by his old hunting spots and just see what there was to see. The area was heavily wooded, so a scouting trip wasn't the most practical. But the sun didn't set until around 7pm that night and he would have had plenty of time to take a quick look around. Here's detective Point.
- [42:49]
Detective Tyler Pointon
I'm a hunter as well and that thought crossed my mind like, well, if this place we don't go to doesn't pan out, you know, maybe in the afternoon we'll go try this other spot that I've been to before and maybe I'll just go check it out and see where we could park and go in or whatever, maybe see if I can see something. A scouting mission, basically.
- [43:11]
Narrator
Amy also thinks this could explain why Bob ended up so far off the route to Randy's.
- [43:16]
Amy Christian
He might have been just checking it out for gun season. You know, they hunted up there so long that it wouldn't surprise me that he was just going to drive by and he would have just parked where they normally parked. I just wouldn't be surprised at all if Bob just went up there to see his spots.
- [43:35]
Narrator
Unfortunately, as with most things in this case, there's a convincing counter argument. Here's Randy.
- [43:42]
Randy Griffith
So it's, it's possible he went up there to the scout, but he's still sit there and going like, well then why didn't he call me and say that before he left Madison or Because then he would bend late, you know, he's going to be late, he's going to be later. You know, he keeps going, you know, that direction.
- [44:01]
Narrator
Bob was a responsible kid. Dinner started at 6pm sharp and he wasn't raised to keep Mrs. Griffith or his friend waiting. If he left Madison at 5:15, he would have been to Randy's house at least 18 minutes late if he'd taken a detour to the bluffs. And that's not even factoring in any time to do actual scouting. Of course, Bob could have misunderstood the time and assumed he had more of a window than he did. But the fact is that wasn't much like Bob either. Whatever happened, whether Bob met the wrong person on the road or was kidnapped or whether he was targeted by John Wayne Gacy or he had some kind of accident that left his body hidden in the woods, Amy, their family and Bob's Friends are still struggling. This isn't the only tragedy to have struck the Christian family. In the spring of 1983, one of Bob's other sisters, Kathy, was found dead inside a burned out Wisconsin bar. Further investigation revealed that Kathy had been murdered by three members of a biker gang who then set the bar on fire to try to cover up their crimes. Detective Point is convinced that Kathie's death has nothing to do with Bob's disappearance. She was only 15 years old when Bob died and didn't start hanging around bikers until later. But to lose two children in six years was devastating to the Christian family. Amy remembers being there when they visited her father at his work to break the news about Kathy.
- [45:35]
Amy Christian
I mean, there was a few years I told my husband I thought my parents were going to end up splitting up. I mean that was pretty rough to have. My one memory of when the police came to our house with my sister is going with my mom to Oscar Meyers and my dad coming down to the security and he was so happy, he thought they finally found something out about my brother only to find that his, you know, oldest daughter was killed. And I'll never forget that, you know, look on his face. And it's like I remember myself thinking, why? What did we do?
- [46:14]
Narrator
As Amy has looked back on these experiences, she's realized that it's helped her to be more understanding and compassionate towards others. Her faith has kept her tragedies in perspective and she believes now that her parents have passed, they know what happened to Bob and that God has taken care of them. Still, she would like to be able to put her brother's remains to rest beside her sister.
- [46:40]
Amy Christian
It would be awesome if we could find any remains and put him to rest. That I know would mean a lot to my parents. I, I know God took care of him.
- [46:50]
Narrator
She might get a chance. Detective Pointon told me that the Gacy lead isn't the only one he's been tracking down. Thanks to a few recent media articles, there's been a renewed interest in Bob's case.
- [47:03]
Detective Tyler Pointon
I've gotten a lot of good tips that have kept me moving forward. There's a lot of people out there. I'm finding that for one reason or another didn't say anything back then. But given the passage of time and stewing on it for a while, they've changed their mind. You know, the hope is that there's somebody out there who maybe wasn't in a position to say something back then or knew a family member who they suspected were involved or told them they were involved, and now that person's gone or they're in a different position now where they feel comfortable talking to law enforcement.
- [47:37]
Narrator
If that's you, Detective Pointon wants to speak with you, give the Sauk County Sheriff's Office a call at 608-355-3205. You can also reach out anonymously to the Sauk County Crime Stoppers at 1-888-847-7285. To those who might know something and are wondering whether they should pick up the phone and dial one of those numbers, Amy has this to say.
- [48:03]
Amy Christian
It's been very difficult all these years not knowing what happened to our brother. And. And, you know, my parents never did have any resolution for that for themselves. And it would be an awesome thing for them to come forward if they know, you know, even if there's that kind of resolution, at least to know something about what happened to him. I mean, just to have him go on a Friday night to meet somebody and then never show up. And it's just. It's sad. It's sad not to know. And I know there's a lot of our family members that would like some kind of closure with it.
- [48:41]
Narrator
Thanks for listening to this episode of Blood Trails. If you'd like to see images related to this case, including images of Bob and crime scene photos of his abandoned car, head over to themateater.com bloodtrails and click on the case file for this episode. And be on the lookout for a special bonus drop when the DNA results come back from the unidentified Gacy victims. We'll be sure to keep you in the loop as soon as we know more. If you have a tip about this case or another case you think we should cover, send us an email at blood trails themeater.com that's B L-O-O-D T R A I L S@theme eater.com See you next time.
- [49:32]
Podcast Host
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