Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings

Beauty Queen Killer: Christopher Wilder

Christopher Bernard Wilder (March 13, 1945 – April 13, 1984), also known as the Beauty Queen Killer, was a serial killer from Australia who abducted and raped at least twelve women, killing at least eight of them, during a six-week cross-country crime spree in the United States of America in early 1984. His series of murders began in Florida on February 26, 1984, and continued across the country through Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nevada, and California, and attempted abductions in Washington State and New York before he was killed during a struggle with police in New Hampshire on April 13, 1984.

He is also believed to have raped two girls, aged 10 and 12, in Florida in 1983. Since his death, Wilder has also been considered a suspect in the unsolved 1965 murder of two teenage girls in Sydney, Australia, where he had lived from his birth until 1965.

Early life

Wilder was born on March 13, 1945, in Sydney, Australia, the son of an American naval officer and an Australian national. He nearly died at birth, but recovered, and almost drowned in a swimming pool at the age of two. On January 4, 1963, he raped a 13-year old girl in company with two other young men, both of whom denied being involved in the actual assault. Wilder was sentenced to probation, and claimed later in life that he also received electroshock therapy. There is evidence that this treatment aggravated his violent sexual tendencies; however, journalist Duncan McNab claims there is no evidence that Wilder underwent electroshock therapy. He also suggests that the story of Wilder's near-drowning event was an invention of Wilder himself.

Wilder married in 1968, but his wife left him after one week. He emigrated to the United States in 1969 and lived in Boynton Beach, Florida, in an upscale home, and was successful in real estate, while developing an interest in photography. From about 1971 through 1975, he faced various charges related to sexual misconduct. He eventually raped a young woman he had lured into his truck on the pretense of photographing her for a modeling contract. This was to become part of his modus operandi during his later rape and murder spree. Despite several convictions, Wilder was never jailed for any of these crimes.

Crime spree

On April 13, 1980, Wilder attacked and attempted to abduct 17-year-old Carla Hendry in Beverly, Massachusetts, but she managed to escape.

While visiting his parents in Australia in 1982, Wilder was charged with sexual offenses against two 15-year-old girls whom he had forced to pose nude. His parents posted bail and he was allowed to return to Florida to await trial, but court delays prevented his case from ever being heard, as the eventual initial hearing date of April 1984 came after his death.

In early 1984, he began a bloody, six-week, cross-country crime spree in the United States. He would leave in his wake a total of 8-9 female murder victims.

Florida and Georgia murders

The first murder attributed to Wilder was that of Rosario Gonzalez, who was last seen on February 26, 1984, at the Miami Grand Prix, where she was employed as a spokesmodel. Wilder was also at the race, where he raced in the IMSA GTU class in a Porsche 911. On March 5, Wilder's former girlfriend, Miss Florida finalist Elizabeth Kenyon, went missing. Neither woman has ever been found. Police linked Wilder to both women after consulting a private investigator that had been hired by Kenyon's parents to discover information related to her disappearance.

On March 18, Wilder led 21-year-old Theresa Wait Ferguson away from the Merritt Square Mall in Merritt Island, Florida, and murdered her, dumping her body at Canaveral Groves, where it was discovered on March 23.