Christopher Wilder promised modelling jobs before brutally raping and murdering the girls.

Christopher Wilder relished living in the fast lane, literally. A racecar driver who valued the better things in life, Wilder had no problem attracting enticing young women with a great automobile, an expensive camera, and, of course, lies.

Indeed, these women had no idea that being deceived by this handsome gentleman would cost them their lives.

Who Was Christopher Wilder?

Christopher Bernard Wilder was born on March 13, 1945 in Sydney, Australia, to an American navy officer and an Australian mother.

When Wilder was 17, he took part in a group rape of a female on a Sydney beach. He pleaded guilty but received only one year of probation and required counselling.

During his counselling sessions, Wilder said he was exposed to electroshock therapy. However, they had little, if any, effect on reducing his desire for violence.

Wilder married in 1968, when he was 23 years old. Almost immediately his new wife discovered another woman's pants and sexual photographs in his car. She also accused him of sexual assault and that he attempted to murder her. As a result, the marriage lasted just a week.

Christopher Wilder's Life in Fast Lane

Wilder relocated to Boynton Beach, Florida, in 1969 at the age of 24, where he built a fortune in construction and real estate. He bought a Porsche 911 that he raced, a speedboat, and a lavish bachelor home.

Wilder developed a passion in photography and purchased a number of high-end cameras. This "hobby" will quickly become important in bringing attractive ladies back to his house.

Wilder spent his time combing South Florida beaches, looking for ladies to solicit. In 1971, he was detained on Pompano Beach after asking that two young women pose naked for him.

In 1974, he persuaded a girl to return to his residence with the promise of a modelling contract. Instead, he sedated and assaulted her. However, Christopher Wilder never served any prison time for either of these crimes.

Without penalties, Wilder's deeds grew even more heinous. In 1982, while visiting his parents in Sydney, Wilder kidnapped two 15-year-old females, forced them to strip naked, and photographed them pornographically. Wilder was arrested and accused with both kidnapping and sexual assault.

However, due to ongoing legal delays, the matter was never heard. The next year, he kidnapped two girls, ages ten and twelve, at gunpoint in Florida. He pushed them to shoot him in a neighbouring woodland.

Christopher Wilder's aggressive tendencies persisted unabated.

The Beauty Queen Killer

On February 26, 1984, Wilder began a seven-week cross-country excursion during which he killed at least eight women, all of whom were aspiring models. This earned him the foreboding nickname "The Beauty Queen Killer."

Wilder's first victim was 20-year-old Rosario Gonzales, who worked at the Miami Grand Prix, where Wilder was a participant. Gonzales was last spotted exiting the track with him.

Elizabeth Kenyon, 23, a former Miss Florida and high school teacher, went missing on March 5. Wilder and Kenyon had dated before, and he even asked her to get married, but she rejected.

Kenyon was last seen by a petrol station attendant filling up her car. The attendant provided authorities a description that sounded identical to Christopher Wilder. The attendant further indicated that Kenyon and the man were preparing for a photoshoot in which Kenyon would model.

Kenyon's parents, dissatisfied with the investigation's pace, engaged a private investigator. When the PI showed up at Wilder's door to interview him, the killer became alarmed. He escaped to Meritt Island, about two hours north of Boynton Beach.

Gonzales and Kenyon have never been discovered.

On March 19, Theresa Ferguson vanished from a Meritt Island mall where witnesses reported seeing Wilder. Her dead body was discovered four days later in a Polk County canal. She had been strangled and battered to the point that her dental records had to be used to identify her.

The next day, Christopher Wilder persuaded 19-year-old Florida State University student Linda Grover into his vehicle, promising modelling job once more. He knocked her out and drove to Bainbridge, GA. When she regained consciousness in the back seat of his car, he choked her and threw her in the trunk.

Wilder led Grover to a hotel, where he molested and tormented her. Wilder shaved her private parts while holding a knife to them. He sealed her eyelids shut and shocked her for two hours. Despite all obstacles, Grover managed to lock herself in the toilet as Wilder slept, screaming so loudly that Wilder left.

Grover was saved and recognised her perpetrator through images presented to her by authorities. Meanwhile, Christopher Wilder has departed the state.

The Sordid Murder Spree Goes On

On March 21, Wilder landed in Beaumont, Texas, and attempted to persuade Terry Walden, a 24-year-old mother and nursing student, to participate in a photoshoot for him, but she rejected.

Walden told her spouse that a bearded Australian had approached her and asked for a picture. On March 23, Walden bumped into Wilder again. She denied his offer again, and Wilder stalked her to her car, hitting her and shoving her into the trunk of his own vehicle.

Walden's body was discovered three days later in a nearby canal. She had been wounded 43 times in the breast.

Then, in Walden's rust-colored Mercury Cougar, Wilder made his escape. During their hunt for Walden, Texas authorities came into Wilder's abandoned automobile. Inside, they recovered Theresa Ferguson's hair samples, which proved that Wilder was the one who killed her.

After kidnapping Suzanne Logan, age 21, from a Reno mall, he travelled 180 miles north to Newton, Kansas. He took her to a motel room and proceeded to torment and violate her. He bit her breasts and shaved her head and pubic hair.

After that, he travelled 90 miles to Junction City, Kansas, where he killed Logan with a knife and disposed of her corpse in the Milford Reservoir. She was found on March 26, the same day as Walden.

Sheryl Bonaventura, 18, was taken by Wilder from a Grand Junction, Colorado, mall on March 29. Following their appearance at the Four Corners Monument, they checked into a hotel in Page, Arizona, where Christopher Wilder pretended to be her spouse. They were spotted together many times.

After that, Bonaventura vanished from view until her body was discovered in Utah on May 3. She had been shot and repeatedly stabbed.

The Photoshoot

Attending a fashion show in Las Vegas on April 1st, Christopher Wilder saw wannabe models trying to be featured on the cover of Seventeen magazine.

During a photo shoot, the mother of one of the girls happened to notice Wilder leering at the girls in their miniskirts in the background.

The Beauty Queen Killer contacted Michele Korfman, then 17 years old, at the end of the event, and the two left together. Korfman was last observed alive at this location. It wasn't until May 11 that her body was discovered in Southern California, discarded by a roadside.

After taking 16-year-old Tina Marie Risico hostage in Torrance, California, on April 4, Wilder started heading east. Strangely enough, though, he didn't kill her; instead, he kept her alive and made her assist him in luring more victims. Sickened, Risico consented to assist.

On April 10, Risico assisted Wilder in capturing Dawnette Wilt from Gary, Indiana. After drugging and torturing Wilt for two days, Wilder attacked her and left her in an upstate New York woodland area.

Wilt surprisingly made it through and pulled herself across to the motorway. She was picked up and brought to the Penn Yan, New York, hospital. Wilt recognised Christopher Wilder from the mugshots that the police had shown her.

The last person killed by Wilder was Beth Dodge, 33. In Victor, New York, Wilder kidnapped Dodge, shot her to death, and disposed of her body in a gravel pit. After that, he took her car and headed to Logan Airport in Boston. He purchased Risico a ticket to Los Angeles there.

It still eludes me why he chose to spare her.

The Last Chapter Of The Beauty Queen Killer

Two state troopers identified Christopher Wilder at a Colebrook, New Hampshire, petrol station on April 13. Wilder jumped into his car and grabbed a.357 magnum as they got closer to him.

Two bullets were fired during the battle, but one officer managed to subdue him. A single bullet entered Wilder's body and went through to the cop holding him. The other killed Wilder by passing right through his chest.

Despite suffering severe injuries, the officer recovered well. It's unknown if Wilder intentionally killed himself or if his gunshot wound was an accident.

Due to his death, Christopher Wilder's offences were never tried.

He is thought to be the culprit in a number of other killings, such as the horrifying and unsolved Wanda Beach murders in Australia in 1965 and the Daytona Beach murder of Coleen Osborn in March 1984. However, Wilder carried any information regarding these further offences to his grave.

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