Christopher Enoch Abeyta

Case background and investigation

Christopher Enoch Abeyta was a seven-month-old infant living with his family in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Born November 28, 1985, he was the youngest child of Gil and Bernice Abeyta. On the night of July 14 into July 15, 1986, his parents put him to bed around midnight. When the household woke the next morning, Christopher's crib was empty. Police were called and arrived around 6:30 a.m. to find the baby gone, with no clear sign of what had happened to him.

The scene offered puzzling clues but few answers. The family's garage-door opener was missing, a basement window stood open, and the front door was unlocked, yet arriving officers could find no obvious signs of forced entry. The timing was notable: Christopher's parents had recently separated but were reconciling, and the night he vanished was the first his father had spent back in the family home since the separation. Investigators questioned both parents, and Christopher's mother failed two polygraph examinations, which she attributed to withdrawal from tranquilizers. Neither parent was ever charged, and police have said they never fully cleared anyone in the case.

One theory long pursued by the family centers on a woman who had been involved with Gil Abeyta. Christopher's sister has publicly accused Emma Bradshaw, who had been involved with Gil Abeyta during the couple's separation, of taking the baby; the family alleges she repeatedly telephoned the home, including on the night of the disappearance. Bradshaw has never been charged or named a suspect by police. Bradshaw has consistently denied any involvement and even won a $150,000 civil judgment against Christopher's sister over the accusations. Colorado Springs police have questioned people of interest over the years but have never made an arrest.

The case has been marked by both persistence and frustration. The family estimated it spent more than $1 million searching for Christopher over the decades. His mother, Bernice, died in 2017, and his father, Gil, who never stopped looking for his son, died in 2020. At least three people have come forward claiming to be Christopher, but DNA testing ruled each out, and the family has bitterly criticized the police department for destroying much of the case's physical evidence, calling it negligence. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has periodically released updated age-progression images; Christopher would be about 40 years old today. Nearly four decades after a baby was lifted from his crib in the middle of the night, his disappearance remains one of Colorado's most enduring unsolved mysteries, and the family still hopes he is alive somewhere, unaware of who he really is.