Christopher Enoch Abeyta was 7 months old when he was abducted from his crib in Colorado Springs, Colorado on July 15, 1986. We have just passed the 39th anniversary of his disappearance.
Christopher was the youngest of seven children, born to Gil and Bernice Abeyta on November 28, 1985.
The family run a website to this day called FindChristopher.com and they have posted about their life on there:
Christopher had 2 older brothers, and 4 older sisters. His youngest sibling was 15 at the time he was taken and the oldest was 23.
Christopher was a surprise baby as Bernice did not think she could have any more children. She was 42 when he was born.
This info is also from the site:
Since Christopher was the “baby” of the family, he was spoiled by all of us. We played with him constantly. We took him for walks to the park, read to him, and bought him toys and cute little outfits. We were all much older than Christopher and we adored him.
The family lived in a house on Ashwood Circle in Cheyenne Hills, Colorado.
Bernice described Christopher as a smart, happy baby who enjoyed making his family laugh.
“He really was a doll,” she said. “He was very entertaining. He would do funny things and if we laughed, he would do it again because he knew he was getting some attention.”
When Christopher was around 4 months old, Bernice found lipstick on one of Gil’s shirts. She confronted him about it and the two decided to trial a separation. Gil owned another house in Pueblo, Colorado. One of their older sons was living there at the time, and Gil went to stay there during the separation.
During the separation, at the same time each day, Bernice would receive a hang up phone call. The Vanished podcast interviewed Denise, one of the adult children, who said Bernice thought the calls were annoying but did not think much else of them.
By July 1986, Gil and Bernice decided to reconcile. On the night of July 14, Gil spent his first night back at the family home since their separation.
The family hung out together. They recalled a memory where one of the Abeyta teens pretended to sneeze after sniffing a bunch of flowers and Christopher laughed and laughed.
Bernice had been breastfeeding Christopher and recently decided to start to wean him. Denise said that she was excited to give him his bottle. Christopher fell asleep in his sister’s arms. Both she and Bernice walked upstairs to put Christopher to bed in his crib. The crib was located in Bernice and Gil’s bedroom – three feet from their bed.
The rest of the family went to bed around 12.30am. They had a habit of leaving the front door of their house unlocked because they had teenagers always coming and going. One of the Abeyta teenage girls was staying at a friend’s home that night and Bernice thought she may want to come home at some point, so the door was left unlocked.
At 6am, Bernice woke up and discovered that Christopher was not in his crib. She ran from room to room of the house, looking for him. Bernice was alarmed to find that the front door of the house was wide open. She also called the daughter who had stayed at a friend’s house to see if she had returned home early and taken Christopher out for a walk. Nobody had seen the baby.
The police were called and arrived at around 6.45am. They carried out a search of the property and discovered that a basement window was open, and that the garage door opener was missing.
In her rush to dress before police arrived, Bernice had pulled out an underwear drawer and it had fallen to the floor. Police initially questioned if this indicated that there had been a struggle.
None of Christopher’s family, nor any neighbors, said that they heard or saw anything unusual during the night.
The search for Christopher began. A lake that was three blocks from the family home was drained and nothing was found.
As is the case in most child disappearances, the family were treated initially as suspects. There was some suspicious circumstances that made the family seem suspect at first –
- Christopher disappeared on the first night that Gil had spent in the family home for months.
- It was questioned how the crib could have been feet away from both Gil and Bernice and neither of them heard or saw anything when Christopher was abducted.
- Gil admitted that he had been having an affair with a woman named Emma Bradshaw.
- He admitted that he had not been excited about the idea of an unplanned pregnancy when Christopher was conceived.
- Police suggested that the parents wanted to have sex the night and that Christopher had interrupted them, so they wanted him gone.
Gil undertook a polygraph and he passed.
Understandably, Bernice was distraught about the disappearance of Christopher and had to be medicated.
Bernice also agreed to take a polygraph. She failed the first one which she believes is due to the medication that she was on. The second was inconclusive. Bernice has said that after she failed the first test, she was grilled by police for over six hours. She said they accused her of smothering Christopher and dumping his body in the lake near their home.
Denise spoke about the search for Christopher that Bernice undertook. She would travel to different towns and cities to follow up leads. At one point, she even moved temporarily to New Mexico to follow up a tip.
“When I look at everything she did, it is absolutely amazing,” Denise said. “One time, a sighting came in from another state and she got in the car and drove to the state. By the time the police had started to investigate, she had already checked it out and confirmed it was not Christopher. I am a mom now, and I can’t even imagine not knowing. She awoke to an empty crib and her baby was gone, then suspicion swirled around her. Through it all she continued to search for her son, even when it appeared local law enforcement had given up. She never once passed up an interview about my brother.”
Gil quit his job to focus on the search for his son. Two of the older siblings took a semester off from school to help search. They also set up a toll-free hotline and the family would man the phone 24 hours a day, waiting for tips.
Bernice would send packets of flyers to schools, once Christopher was of that age.
The family hired private investigators, they sold their house and cashed in their retirement funds to aid the search. They have estimated that over the years, they have spent over $1m searching for Christopher.
Bernice would read obituaries and look for families that had lost a child around Christopher’s age. She would then discreetly investigate those families to see if they had another child.
Christopher’s family are adamant that the abductor was someone who knew the family and their habits. They believe the abductor knew that the front door would be unlocked and where Christopher slept in the house.
To this day, they have publicly named Emma Bradshaw as their suspected abductor. Emma was the woman who Gil Abeyta had been having the affair with.
Emma had a history of mental illness. She spent time in mental health facilities in the 1970s and 1980s. On the night of Christopher’s abduction, Emma tried to call Gil multiple times, up until midnight. Emma had previously been charged with stalking and harassing another married man who had tried to end his affair with her. She entered that man’s home and took his family photos off the wall. She also sat outside his children’s school.
They believe that Emma was behind the repeated hang up calls to the family home. Denise has said that on the day following Christopher’s abduction, the hang up calls stopped for a period of time. A few weeks later they would resume.
The family tried to trace the calls, but the caller had to stay on the line for a long enough period of time to be tracked. In an attempt to trick the caller, the family asked the son of a friend to answer the phone. This trick worked and the calls were able to be traced to Emma Bradshaw’s workplace.
This info about why the Abeyta’s believe Emma is the main suspect is from the FindChristopher.com website
Abeyta family suspect Emma Manzanares Bradshaw
Non-family abduction.
Emma Bradshaw attempted to make contact with Christopher’s father the night of the disappearance, calling numerous times up until midnight.
The front door was open when the family discovered Christopher missing.
Family had been receiving hang up calls for over 6 months before Christopher’s disappearance. They stopped the day he disappeared and then resumed again several months after his disappearance. The CSPD traced the calls to Emma Bradshaw.
Christopher’s family was being stalked.
Phone records indicate the victim’s Grandparents were also being stalked one month before his disappearance.
Emma Bradshaw has prior police incident reports of breaking and entering.
Emma Bradshaw was “close personal friends” with Larry Buckallew, former sheriff of Pueblo Colorado.
In 2013, Emma filed a lawsuit against the Abeyta family. She said that Denise defamed her by sending emails to her boss and making Facebook posts about her alleged involvement in the case. She said that this interfered with her employment.
In November 2015, the jury sided with Emma for her claims about loss of employment. They did say that the Facebook posts were not defamatory. Emma was awarded $150,000 in damages.
Per public court documents Colorado Springs Police Department Det. Montez testified in 2015 Emma Bradshaw is a person of interest.
Denise would later speak of the impact that Christopher’s disappearance had on her mother.
“It changed her forever,” Denise said. “It makes me sad to remember seeing her the days after Christopher went missing when she was curled up crying saying, ‘I need my baby.’ After the days turned into weeks and we still didn’t have Christopher back, I saw her get up every single day and follow up on leads searching for answers. She was so desperate, and even with the seemingly limited results of her hard work I never heard her say she would quit searching.”
In 2016, Bernice was diagnosed with terminal gallbladder cancer. Before she passed in February 2017, Bernice made a final media push to find Christopher.
“Of course, I would like to have him back,” Bernice, who was then 73 told ABC News. “I’ve always felt very positive that even though it’s been 30 years, it would happen. I think that’s what kept me going in trying to find him. There’s no way we were going to forget him.”
She continued, “I’m trying to put vibes his way and say, ‘OK Christopher, maybe it’s time for you to find us.’ “Maybe it’s more convenient for him to find us than us find him. I believe that all of us parents need justice. There’s a lot of forgiveness going around, but ask a parent if they’d forgive.”
Bernice said her last wish was for someone with information to come forward.
“What these people did to us was beyond cruel,” she said. “At this point [with my cancer] usually you’d be like, ‘Oh my goodness, cancer, I’m dying,’ but Christopher was the number priority,” she added. “I would reassure him that we love him no matter what, no matter who he is. We are still going to be looking. I was always positive that we were going to find him.”
Denise said in May 2016 that her mother had been given four to eight months to live.
“She is dying, she knows it, we know it,” Denise said. “She’s in the room as I’m talking and it’s sad, but this is the reality. Maybe the answer isn’t what we hoped for, that he’s alive, but she’ll leave knowing and we can be at peace and finally put him to rest.”
Before she died, Bernice left a message for Christopher, in case he was ever found.
“You couldn’t even imagine how much your whole family has loved you and missed you. It was the most devastating and horrific that would have ever happened to us,” said Bernice on the recording.
Bernice died on February 12, 2017. This is an excerpt from her obituary:
Bernice was a beautiful, adventurous, fun-loving mother and hers was the home all the neighborhood kids wanted to visit. In July 1986, her seven-month old son, Christopher, was kidnapped from their home. Over the past 31 years, Bernice never gave up hope for the return of Christopher and through her tireless efforts made a huge impact on families whose children had disappeared or been murdered. Those families talk of Bernice’s kindness, warmth and encouragement to not give up hope in the search for their children and justice.
While devoting much of her time to her search for Christopher, she selflessly raised her six other children continuing to bring joy into their lives and the lives of her grandchildren. Bernice’s caring spirit and love of others infused everyone around her. Her children have continued Bernice’s commitment to others; advancing the search for missing children, leading fundraising activities and actively supporting the families of our troops.
Bernice’s spirit of giving continued by donating her body to science so others may benefit in life through her death. On behalf of Bernice, the Abeyta family would like to thank Mothers Of Murdered Youth, National Center for Missing Children, Families of Homicide and Missing Persons, and Detective Montez of the CSPD for their continued efforts in the search for her missing son.
Over the years, multiple men have come forward to authorities and said they believed they may have been Christopher. All were ruled on via DNA. This is a statement from police:
During 2018, investigative tips were received identifying three separate individuals as potentially being Christopher Abeyta. DNA samples were collected voluntarily from these three individuals. The first tip was received from the NCMEC on August 9, 2018. DNA was collected on August 22, 2018 from the donor and sent to the UNT Laboratory on August 23, 2018. The second tip was received by a family member of Christopher Abeyta on August 29, 2018 and on that same date, a DNA sample was obtained by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI) and sent to the UNT laboratory on August 30, 2018. The third tip was received on October 5, 2018 from a police department in Florida after this male subject contacted the Colorado Springs Police Department via telephone. A DNA sample was collected from this individual in Florida and was received by CSPD on October 27, 2018. CSPD forwarded the DNA sample to the UNT laboratory on October 28, 2018. On February 1, 2019, CSPD received the results for all three DNA samples that were sent to the UNT lab in 2018. As a result of the testing, it was determined that none of these three individuals are Christopher Abeyta.
Gil passed away in 2020 after he suffered a heart attack.
The family released a statement after the death to the media.
“The Abeyta family is deeply saddened at the sudden loss of their father Gil and he will be missed,” Denise said in an email to FOX21. “Gil was active in the community and a staunch advocate of missing children after the abduction of his child, Christopher, in 1986. Despite their tragic loss, the Abeytas will tirelessly continue the search for answers and justice for Christopher, whose case remains unsolved. The outpouring of community support is appreciated.”
Some time after Christopher’s disappearance, the Colorado Springs Police Department destroyed most of the case evidence; his family accused them of negligence and incompetence in their investigation.
Obviously, Christopher would now be almost 40 years old.
At the time of his disappearance he was described as a Caucasian male. Blond hair, blue eyes. Christopher is of Swedish, German and Spanish descent. His hair may darken to brown or brownish-blond as he grows older. His father and brothers are all of average to above average height and Christopher may be also.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to please contact the Colorado Springs Police Department.
The family have written a public letter to Christopher, which you can read here.
SOURCE LIST
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Christopher_Abeyta
http://findchristopher.com/information.html
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/dying-mom-makes-final-plea-information-son-crib/story?id=42585005
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/dr-phil-christopher-abeyta-kidnapping
https://www.kktv.com/content/news/11-Call-for-Action-Investigation–497995811.html
https://www.facebook.com/findchristopher