Christie Wilson, 27 years old, lives with her boyfriend 31 year old Danny Burlando. On the evening of October 4, 2005 she went to a local casino to gamble and never returned. When he can’t reach her, he drives to the casino and finds it closed with her car in the parking lot. There is no sign of Christie. So he calls her mom and tells them. She tells Danny to call police.
Police find Christie’s car in the casino parking lot exactly where Danny said it was. There’s nothing in the trunk. Police quickly discover that seven months ago, both Christie and Danny were arrested for domestic violence after a particularly violent fight.
After two days of no texts or phone calls, police finally consider Christie Wilson missing. They visit her home with Danny and find her cat, her toiletries, her clothes all still in the house. So she didn’t just run away.
Casino CCTV shows Christie go in, but not come out. And it shows Danny finding her car in the parking lot two days later and being very distressed.
The inside CCTV footage shows Christie arriving at 6:48 pm. She uses the ATM, exchanges cash for chips, and plays for two hours. AT 8:55 pm she sits at a black jack table and plays for 40 minutes. At 9:36 am there is suddenly a large Hispanic man in his 50s talking and walking with her. He keeps putting his arm around her. She keeps pushing it off. Casino workers identify the man as 53 year old Mario Garcia, a players club member who is there frequently.
CCTV shows her making a phone call at 10:30 pm. She calls Danny and tells him she’s on a winning streak but leaving now. That’s a lie. She stays another 90 minutes, gambling. At 1:12 am she leaves the casino with Garcia. The camera does not show her reaching her car.
Police go to Garcia’s home and are alarmed when they find him covered in bruises and scratches, the same injuries Danny had in that domestic violence 7 months ago. He says he left Christie at the casino. That’s a lie. They walked out together, caught on CCTV.
At 1:35 am CCTV shows Garcia’s vehicle leaving in a hurry. It’s possible Christie was on the seat.
Police search the casino grounds and don’t find Christie. They also discover that Garcia was arrested for kidnapping and raping his former girlfriend, Wendy Ward. He pled down to a lesser charge.
Police obtain a search warrant for Garcia’s car. He’s already cleaned it. But they find the passenger vanity mirror smashed, the back seat floor mats missing, blood stains on the rear seats, and hair on the front passenger door handle. The blood and hair proves to be Christie’s and she put up a fight evidenced by the broken mirror and injuries to Garcia.
Police bring in Garcia for a formal interview. He lies through it, but they have DNA and other evidence proving it. He’s arrested and police photograph his body and all the injuries.
Mario Garcia is sentenced to 59 years to life. Christie’s body is never found. It appears to police that Garcia has other victims.
August 17, 2020. Police conducted a search of Garcia’s former resident in Auburn, California, 4.5 acres with ground-penetrating radar and recovered Christie’s remains. Details here.
Commentary: Seven months before Christie disappeared, she was assaulted by her boyfriend and defended herself. Police claimed they were unable to determine who started the fight so arrested BOTH of them. The Sacramento Police Department wanted to send a message that women are not allowed to defend themselves. Instead, they’re arrested along with the person who assaults them. One of the police in this case sort of mentions this in the See No Evil episode. Shameful behavior of Sacramento PD.
Bibliography
See No Evil, S3E9: Eye in the Sky, air date: Apr 11, 2017.
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