Deerfield, Wisconsin. Back in 2008, Christine Lindsey Walters was a 23-year-old young woman studying botany at the University of Wisconsin while living in Deerfield with her family.
Christine was down-to-earth and independent. She was friendly and self-assured. She loved nature pilates and yoga. She had strawberry-blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
She held several different jobs; working at an organic farm as well as teaching yoga and pilates.
In the summer of 2008 while on break, Christine went to visit Portland, Oregon, and she had every intention of returning home to start school again in the fall, but her plans changed.
She ended up loving that part of the country so much and the lifestyle that came with it, that she wanted to stay out west a little longer.
Following her decision, she ended up in Eureka, California with some friends of hers, which is not that far away from Oregon. Eureka sits right along the coast, and it’s also located within Humboldt County.
While this area is something of a dream for nature lovers, being that it’s right by the water, the Redwoods, and the mountains, it’s also something of a sinister place.
There are quite a few missing person cases in the area that are very strange, and to add to that, Humboldt County has the second-highest murder rate within the entire state.
Christine’s family back in Deerfield had no reason to worry about her at first. She frequently reached out to check in, but then that started to change.
As the weeks went by, her contact became more sporadic, which certainly wasn’t typical of her behavior. She also started asking her parents to send her money.
And then in November, her parents learned of something terrifying that happened to her.
On November 12th, 2008, Christine appeared in Arcata, on a stranger’s doorstep in the hours of the morning.
She was standing there completely stark naked. Her feet had blood on them. Her body was covered in cuts that appeared to have been made by briar bushes.
Christine was confused, disoriented, and scared. The person whose house she ended up at immediately called the police, who came to get Christine and take her to St. Joseph’s Hospital back in Eureka.
She later said that someone was out to get her and chasing her, but that’s all she could say. She didn’t give any further details, except that this person was running through the woods after her.
A drug test was performed and came back negative.
The police really didn’t have a reason to keep her, given her mental health appeared to be fine and she wasn’t under the influence of anything.
Following her discharge from the hospital, the police took Christine to the Red Lion Hotel at 1929 4th Street.
Christine got in touch with her parents, but she didn’t share with them exactly what had happened to her. She just spoke with them to figure out a way to get home to Deerfield.
She did say that she had somehow lost all of her documents and identification. So, she had to fix that before she could get on a flight back since you can’t board a flight without a driver’s license or a passport.
On November 14th, Christine visited a local copy center wearing pajamas around 3:30 in the afternoon. Her mom had faxed some documents there, such as her social security card and license, that she could then use to get new identification for a flight home.
Her dad also wired her $1,000 to her bank account so she could cover the cost of her flight, but it was never taken out.
She walked out of there after asking about how she could get to the DMV, which was only about a mile away from the copy center.
She was never seen again. She disappeared.
Employees who were working at the copy center recalled seeing Christine there that day, and she seemed to be very anxious and fearful. She was also bedraggled looking and wasn’t wearing shoes on her feet; only slippers.
She was even trying to conceal the papers her mom had sent her.
Christine was officially reported missing on November 17th by her parents when she didn’t board a flight or call them.
Christine’s personal effects were later found, placed inside of a backpack, at a local business called the Green Life Evolution Center.
While that might seem suspicious, the business owner explained it was pretty standard. Christine would frequently leave her backpack there and go for long walks into the Arcata Community Forest.
Inside of her backpack, there was money, and there was also the identification that she had claimed to be missing.
Why would Christine have said she lost her identification if it was right there in the backpack she had left behind?
That’s certainly one of the many questions that remain unanswered.
Looking to get more information, Christine’s family hired some private investigators to look into her disappearance.
One of the investigators has said that right before she ended up in the hospital, she had been involved in something called a tea ceremony.
At these ceremonies, people drink a plant-derived psychedelic brew called ayahuasca, which is used for religious rituals. The active chemical in this brew is dimethyltryptamine (which is a controlled substance in the US).
Some of the side effects a person can experience from drinking ayahuasca include paranoia, confusion, and hallucinations.
At this time, the tea ceremony has not been directly connected to Christine’s disappearance, but it certainly makes you wonder if she had ended up in the hospital over it.
It’s now been 16 years since Christine has been seen or heard from.
“I shall never see her beautiful face again, never here contagious sweet laughter, hold her In my arms or feel her love. I can’t fathom what has happened to my daughter, I only know the most excruciating pain of loss a parent can possibly feel and I’m totally at a loss,” Christine’s mom Anita posted on a Facebook page dedicated to finding her.
“I’m so very sorry for Christine, she should be here with us!!! I can only hope she isn’t suffering, be at peace my darling daughter and forgive me for not protecting you from the evil in this world.”
It is possible Christine is still out there somewhere. She might be going by the names “Airy Meadow,” “Star,” Meadow,” or “Airystar.”
She might not even be in the Eureka area anymore. She could be anywhere.
The easiest identifying feature is a large Iris tattoo that sits on the back of her neck in green and purple ink. She also has a little butterfly tattooed on her left hip in black.
She wouldn’t wear makeup. She would have a nose ring in her left nostril and several different piercings in both ears.
If you have any information on what happened to Christine, please contact the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251, or reach out to her family on Facebook.
