Christopher Wilder Victims

Between late February and mid-April 1984, Christopher Bernard Wilder, a 39-year-old Australian-born businessman and race car driver living in Boynton Beach, Florida, embarked on a terrifying cross-country killing spree that would claim at least eight lives and span multiple states. Wilder used his good looks, charm, and profession as a photographer to lure young women and aspiring models.

Wilder's known victims began with Rosario Gonzalez, a 20-year-old aspiring model who disappeared from the Miami Grand Prix on February 26, and Beth Kenyon, a former Orange Bowl princess who vanished on March 5. As the FBI connected the cases and identified Wilder as the suspect, he fled Florida and continued killing: Terry Walden in Texas, Suzanne Logan in Oklahoma, Sheryl Bonaventura and Michelle Korfman in Colorado, and others across the country.

Wilder was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list on April 4, 1984, as one of the most dangerous fugitives in the country. He continued his spree, kidnapping and torturing victims, sometimes releasing them alive. His methods included electric shock torture with a device he carried.

The spree ended on April 13, 1984, when two New Hampshire State Troopers confronted Wilder at a gas station in Colebrook, New Hampshire. In the ensuing struggle, Wilder was shot twice with his own .357 Magnum and died. The bodies of Rosario Gonzalez and Beth Kenyon have never been found, and Wilder is suspected in additional unsolved murders in Australia and Florida.