The Missing: Christi Jo Nichols

 

When something happens to a partner in a relationship, it’s only natural to assume that the other partner is at fault. That’s Occam’s Razor, which holds that the simplest explanation is usually the best one. However, what happens when the simplest answer doesn’t seem to be the one that you can prove? That’s one of the many questions surrounding the case of 22 year-old Christi Jo Nichols.

Gothenburg, Nebraska is a small town in the middle of nowhere. How deep in the middle of nowhere? It’s about a four hour drive in either direction to a big city. So it would stand to reason that not much ever happens here…until it does.

On December 11th 1987, Mark Nichols reported his wife missing. He said she had last been seen the day before. The alleged history of the marriage suggested there was more to the story. The couple was known to be having marital problems and it was alleged that Mark was physically abusing Christi. Not long before she went missing, Christi met with a divorce attorney. While she was advised by the attorney not to return home, she did so anyway.

Her husband took a polygraph test later that month, but the results were inconclusive. Trace amounts of Christi’s blood were found on the floor of her bedroom and in her husband’s car, but it wasn’t enough to successfully conclude that she was deceased. In 1989, her case aired on Unsolved Mysteries, and Mark was interviewed. During that interview, he said that the only instance of domestic violence was one that she inflicted on him.

Christi Jo Nichols has not been seen or heard from since December 10th, 1987 and her case remains open and unsolved. If anyone out there has any credible information, please contact the Nebraska State Patrol at: (402) 479-4049.

More importantly, if you or someone you know are in a domestic violence situation, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by phone at: 1-800-799-7233; or Text “START” to 88788.

The Missing: Rhonda Hinson

 

One thing that I always find saddening is when there is a tragedy around the holidays. It’s bad any day of the year, but there’s something extra cruel about experiencing tremendous heartbreak during the time of the year known for goodwill and generosity.

The parents of 19-year-old Rhonda Hinson are very familiar with this. Rhonda grew up in Valdese, a small town in the Appalachian foothills of North Carolina. In the spring of 1981, she graduated as a standout athlete from East Burke High School in Icard, NC. On the night of December 22nd, 1981, Rhonda attended the company Christmas party for her work place, Hickory Steel, which was not far from her home. After the party, she returned to the home of a friend who went with her, called her boyfriend, and then started the drive to her own house.

Only a half mile from home on the winding Mineral Springs Mountain Road, she was shot inside her car by a high-powered rifle. The car came to rest in a ditch on the opposite side of the road. Rhonda’s body was found in the early morning hours on the 23rd outside of the car.

This case garnered nationwide attention, and was even covered on Unsolved Mysteries back during the Robert Stack era. Growing up near where this took place, I’ve heard about this case since I was a child. Many people running for county sheriff campaigned on solving this crime. Many agencies have poured a lot of resources into unraveling the mystery. Yet it remains unsolved.

On December 23rd, 2024, the 43rd anniversary of her murder, the Burke County Sheriff’s Office announced that the combined award for information leading to an arrest was increased to $94,700.00. The sheriff’s office has a dedicated tip line solely for the Rhonda Hinson case. If anyone out there has any credible information, they can call (828) 764-9549.

New Series: The Missing

 

Two years and 18 days ago, Pattie Wu Murad vanished without a trace from the Kumano Kodo Trail in Japan. Mrs. Murad, age 60, is from Connecticut and was visiting Japan to make this trek. I have a rather unique connection to this story, which I have blogged about for the last couple of years…if you would like to read about it, please see the link in my bio. However, I will do my best to make sure that people in my small corner of the interwebs remember her.

 This week, I decided to dedicate my timeline to the mysteries that surround us every day. We drive past roadside memorials and we walk past graffiti tagging that memorializes the missing and the dead. However, we don’t always know their stories. As I learned during my expedition at Montpelier, there are secrets in the soil. There are secrets in seemingly ordinary objects. There are secrets in the water.

 Seven years of living in the Midwest taught me something about this time of the year: Spring is when secrets are uncovered. You have an unthawing. You have a change of seasons. You have a change in perspectives. So this week, I ask you to join me as we get comfortable with the uncomfortable.