Chapter 96: Searching for Justice- The Murder of Kristina Hickey and The Abernathy Exoneration

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi guys. I'm Courtney and I'm Lisa, and welcome to
the next chapter in the Book of the Dead, brought
to you by Dark Cast Network Indie Podcasts with a Twist. Hello, Hello,

(00:31):
welcome to the next chapter of the Book of the Dead. Today,
as part of a podcast on to bring traffic and
awareness to different organizations, the case I have for you
is dedicated to the Cold Case Coalition. The Cold Case
Coalition's mission is to help with unsolved homicides and disappearances,

(00:52):
either directly or by helping people make progress on their
own with no profit motive. The one that I am
specific dedicating the episode two is the one founded by
an attorney named Kara Porter, a private investigator named Jason
kay Jensen, who if you guys are familiar with my
older episodes, remember that I've mentioned Jason in my coverage

(01:16):
of Elizabeth Salgado's disappearance and murder, as well as a
retired journalist named Tom Harvey. They do amazing work and
a lot of states have their own Cold Case Coalition,
But the one that I'm specifically focusing on for this
podcast that on is Utah's so with that I am

(01:38):
going to be sharing with you a cold case from
Chicago Onet that for a very long time appeared to
be solved. This is the murder of Christina Hickey. According
to the Chicago Tribune, Christina Hickey, who was fifteen years old,
was in her home in Park Forest on a October third,

(02:00):
nineteen eighty four, a suburb of Chicago, getting ready to
perform in a choir concert. She put on a white
and pink dress, matching earrings and high heeled shoes before
putting on her coat. She grabbed her purse and said
goodbye to her mother, Patricia, and walked out the door
at around six thirty pm. Patricia had offered to drive

(02:23):
Christina home from the concert that night, but as the
school was only about a mile away, Christina said she
would walk. She then headed to Ridge East High School,
where she was a sophomore, to sing in the homecoming choir,
after which she called her boyfriend to tell him she
would be home in about fifteen minutes from the phone
right outside the athletic director's office, and started the walk

(02:46):
back home. Christina never made it home to her mother.
When Christina failed to return home, Patricia got in the
car and drove to Richieast High school looking for her daughter.
Went on to call the police at eleven thirty pm,
when Christina was nowhere to be found and no one

(03:06):
could tell Patricia where her daughter had gone. The next morning,
she called the police again, informing them her daughter had
still not been found, and called around to Christina's friends,
who told Patricia that Christina was last seen at around
nine point fifteen walking home. Patricia was at a loss

(03:26):
of what to do. For Christina. Not to come home
was just not like her, Patricia said, quote, it wasn't
like her to be away from home overnight. Once a
long time ago, she got mad at me and took
off for a couple of hours, but she'd never taken
off overnight. Everything was fine at home. We hadn't been fighting.

(03:47):
Her father lives in Florida, but she'd just seen him
about a month ago. Everything was okay. When she was late,
she would call me. She was a good kid. This year,
she was as a soloist with the choir and had
performed in the homecoming show on Tuesday night. I went
to see her in the show that night. Less than

(04:08):
forty eight hours after Christina was reported missing. On October fifth,
two young boys were plying in the bushes on the
west side of Park Forest Plaza on Western Avenue in
Lakewood Boulevard when they stumbled upon the body of a
teenage girl. The boys ran home and told their mothers
what they had seen, but the mothers assumed they were

(04:29):
just telling stories and they didn't believe them, According to
an article for The Southtown Star. An hour later, when
the boys kept telling their mothers what they had seen,
one of the boy's mothers headed over to the plaza
to see what her son was talking about, alerting the
Marshall Field security, who then called the police. Dressed in

(04:51):
the same clothes she had been wearing when she had
left home two days prior, Christina Hickey's body was found
lying in the dirt behind the bushes. She had been
stabbed multiple times and her dress was torn, exposing her
left side from shoulder to nable, and her braw had
been cut and pushed away on that side towards her neck.

(05:12):
According to defrostingcolcases dot Com, Christina's arms were behind her
back and her right arm had been tied with the
belt of her coat. Police estimated that she had been
killed sometime late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, According
to the chief of Police, they determined she had been
killed at the plaza. He said, quote, we found signs

(05:35):
of a struggle marks in the dart from a heel
during their examination of the scene. According to court records,
officer Jeffrey Henderson said that they observed that the area
where Christina was found was not visible from Marshallfield's entrance
door due to the bushes and the way that the
land was sloped. Nancy Cruz, the security guard, also told

(05:57):
police that on the evening of October third, the building's
exterior lights as well as the lights in the parking
lot were not working, so the area was incredibly dark.
In fact, unless someone was standing on the edge of
the parking lot by the bushes, no one would have
seen anything going on. When the evidence technicians arrived on

(06:19):
the scene, Alan Kulovitz proceeded to photograph the scene as
well as Christina's body, observing a gaping wound in the
center of her throat and another stab wound just above
her left breast. He determined, based on the blood spatter
surrounding her, as well as on her chest and on
her clothing, that Christina had died where she had lain

(06:41):
and that the terr in her dress had been folded
back before she had been stabbed. Her stockings and underwear
had been shoved down by her ankles, and her right
foot was buried in the dirt where she had kicked
repeatedly trying to get away from her attacker. The lividity
on her back and legs also showed that this was
where she had died. As I've explained in the past,

(07:04):
lividity is the settling of the blood, and based on
that lividity being present on her back and on the
back of her legs showed that Christina had not been
moved at all from where she had been found. Police
immediately began searching the area surrounding the crime scene, looking
for evidence to point them towards Christina's killer. Of the

(07:26):
evidence they were looking for, they were focused on finding
the knife that had been used to kill her. However,
they were unable to find it. They searched the plaza
and the neighboring thirty acre field that separated the high
school from the plaza, as Christina had likely cut through
the field and plaza on her way home. On October sixth,

(07:47):
Christina's autopsy was performed by doctor Yupulchoi. He observed extensive
bruising on the external parts of her body that supported
the theory that she had been sexually assaulted, but there
was no evidence of sperm found. There was some bruising
found internally, but he was not able to determine what
caused it. There was also a bruising found on her

(08:10):
right arm. Of the stab wounds, doctor Choy observed that
the one on her neck was over six inches long
and extended to both sides, deep enough to transact her
trachea and esophagus. There were scrapes and bruises on her
face and along her neck and left side of her shoulder,
so doctor Troy theorized that Christina's attacker could have possibly

(08:31):
knelts on her neck and shoulder to try and hold
her down, or she had been struck with a heavy object.
There was also evidence that her head had been struck
against the hard surface as well. Doctor Troy said that
the stab wounds on her chest, one superficial, the other deeper,
were most likely inflicted first. Her death was violent and horrific,

(08:53):
and it's clear that Christina fought like hell to stay alive.
Sometime after Christina's body was found. An employee for the
Department of Public Works was mowing the grass near where
Christina had been found when he came across her Social
Security card and a wallet with some of her other
cards in id Inside. Officer Francisia Goardy searched the area

(09:15):
and found more items belonging to Christina, like her cosmetics,
a shredded address book, and pieces from her corduroy bag
that the mower had run over. On October ninth, nineteen
eighty four, Christina was laid to rest and the funeral
was held at the Lane Sullivan Funeral Home in Park Forest.
So many people showed up that they had to use

(09:37):
auxiliary rooms for the overflow. It was standing room only.
Two priests were used to conduct the service, and the
service had to be delayed for fifteen minutes because so
many people wanted to say their last goodbyes. Hundreds of
people came to warn her, including a young man named
Christopher Abernathy at Sas seventeen. He told a reporter named

(10:02):
Carol Dorset, who had come to cover the funeral, that
he had once dated Christina and had loved her. Carol
noticed that he had scrapes on his face and lip,
and Christopher explained that he had gotten hurt running into
a tree. He then informed this reporter that he had
an M sixteen rifle in his car and planned to
open fire during the service, presumably as a farewell salute.

(10:27):
This threat was reported to the police, leading to Christopher
being questioned. However, it appeared that the police did not
find Christopher's threat credible, as he was ultimately released without
any charges being filed. Police also failed to find any
weapons when they searched his car, in addition to the

(10:48):
evidence found at the original crime scene and the field.
In terms of Christina's personal effects, police did find DNA
evidence that they collected from various items as well as
from Christina's bank body. However, they weren't able to test
anything due to the restrictions and technology at the time,
but they were hopeful it woul become and useful. Incidentally,

(11:10):
weeks before Christina's murder, as a little side note fun
fact if you will, Alec Jeffries, a British geneticist, had
just successfully isolated DNA to obtain a person's unique genetic
fingerprint in his efforts to trace genetic markers through families
to find patterns of inherited disease causing mutations. According to

(11:31):
an article and wired on September tenth, nineteen eighty four,
he successfully isolated the strands, and his discovery over the
next year would begin to be used in criminal investigations
and forensic analysis. So police wered mere months away from
being able to properly test this evidence forensically. Now, the

(11:54):
investigation stalled with zero leads, and the months passed by
with Portraysha attempting to rebuild her life without Christina. Christina
was Patricia's only child, and it was a struggle to
live life without her. Patricia, who was a claim suggester,
told the Southtown Star quote, I had a great amount

(12:15):
of difficulty dealing with other people's problems. They did not
seem quite as important as my own At the time.
People call in to complain because they didn't get the
check or her bill wasn't paid. I thought, lady, I
just lost my daughter. I don't care whether your bill
got paid or not. I couldn't handle it. In the beginning.

(12:36):
It was hard for me to think of anybody but myself,
and of course it was she had just lost the
most important person in her life, her only child. I
could totally sympathize and understand the fact that the only
thing she was thinking about was herself and her daughter
and how she was supposed to go on without her.

(12:57):
She also spoke about how she worries for the children
in the neighborhood and the teenagers, especially the girls, because
there was no place for them to go to safely
hang out with each other, and they were still out
walking around at night without an adult or any sort
of safety or protection. She also really wanted to see
something happen with the Plaza, the place where Christina had

(13:20):
been killed. She said, quote the plaza has become so
desolate that something like this could have happened. It wasn't
necessarily abandoned, but it wasn't a bustling shopping center where
there were plenty of people around to hear if something
bad were happening. In fact, many of the stories there
were closed. Ultimately, Patricia said that even if they found

(13:41):
who was responsible for her daughter's murder, it would do
little to ease the pain she felt. She said, quote,
it's always going to be the same. She was murdered,
she's dead, she's gone. That will never change. Whether they
bring someone to justice or not finding and prosecuting the
killer may only act to maybe a little relief to

(14:01):
the question in my mind of knowing who it was.
Would I know him? Did they know me? Do they
know my house? Do they know where I live? Do
they know me? That's right? Do I see them every day?
Wouldn't that be a kicker? One year after Christina's murder,

(14:22):
Christopher Abernathy was arrested after his friend Alan Dennis informed
the police that Christopher had confessed to killing Christina. Alan
was being interrogated concerning a burglary that had occurred, and
he told police what Christopher had said. He alleged that
Christopher told him over the summer that he had murdered Christina.

(14:44):
Christopher was brought in for questioning on November thirtieth, nineteen
eighty five, and he was questioned for forty hours. According
to court records, this is what Christopher said happened on
the night Christina died in his written confession. Now to
propose this, it was confirmed that Christopher had a learning
disability and had dropped out of high school his sophomore year,

(15:07):
and this learning disability is reflected in the way he
wrote out his confession, he said quote. I asked my
friend Tony to take me to Park Forest to see
some friends. I went to Jules to get me something
to eat. I got a twinkie and a can of pop.
Then I see Chris walk by herself. So I walked

(15:27):
up to her and she was crying. At the time,
I asked her what was worry. She said she got
into a fight with her boyfriend, and I asked her why.
She said it was not any of my business at all.
So I said to her, if she wants me to
walk her home, and she said yes, please. Then she
started to get upset more. Then she hit me and

(15:49):
I grabbed her arms. At the time, I had a
knife with me. I had it in my hand at
the time that I was holding her. She pulled away
from me. I think that I could have hit her
with my open hand. Then I grabbed her again. I
still had the knife in my right hand in front
of her. Then tried to pull her arms up in
front of her. She put my hands by her neck.

(16:12):
Then I said something to her. I can't remember what
I said to her. She turned her neck and then
I accidentally cut her neck. I took my picture from
her then I ran to Mickeyda's. Then I went to
the park for a while. Then I went and called
Tony to pick me up, and then I went home. Now,
I do want to stress that nowhere in his signed
confession did he say that he killed her, nor did

(16:34):
he mention any sexual assault. A lot of what he
said in this confession, frankly, doesn't make a lot of sense,
and it's important to reiterate that Christopher had been questioned
for forty hours at this point, and during that time
he had repeatedly begged to speak to his mother, to
which he was told no. Now, finally the police told
Christopher that he would be allowed to go home if

(16:57):
he wrote and signed a confession. Instead, Christopher was arrested
and charged with first degree murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault,
and armed robbery. He had also been given a polygrop test,
which he submitted too willingly and he failed. Now, due
to Christopher being two months shy of eighteen when Christina

(17:19):
was killed, that meant he was ineligible for the death
penalty according to Illinois law. According to The Southtown Star,
Christopher's mother, Anne Kolis, was furious that her son was
arrested and gave a statement at his bond hearing. She said,
quote he was at Ingles Hospital when the murder happened.
The Park Force police picked him up last year and

(17:40):
let him go, and now they are doing it all
over again, allegedly, though Ingles Hospital had no record of
Christopher being there at the time of Christina's murder. She
also explained that the injuries on his face that were
seen when he attended Christina's funeral were from him drinking
at a gathering and running into a tree when he
was leaving the party. She also claimed that Christopher was

(18:04):
heartbroken when he read about Christina's murder in the paper
and had cried about it, and she had driven him
to the funeral herself. Now, Frank Grego, Christopher's attorney, filed
a few different motions to have evidence suppressed. He had
attempted to stop the grand jury indictment, citing that Detective
Carl Custer's suspicions about Christopher being guilty and not actual

(18:28):
evidence should have been reason enough for the indictment not
to go forward, but that was rejected. He was also
attempting to have the confession suppressed, as Christopher had made
this confession after being held by police with Otto Warren
for over thirty six hours and did not have his
lawyer present. Additionally, he had asked for the bond hearing

(18:49):
to be delayed because he still had not received any
documentation or evidence from the police. Up until that point.
The only thing he had was this written confession, and
that was it. He said he had given the police
in the State's attorney three days to give him everything
and they still hadn't done it. Although he did eventually

(19:11):
receive all of the documentation necessary. Christopher went to trial
in December of nineteen eighty six, and at Christopher's trial,
Patricia was shown the blood stained pink dress Christina had
been found in by Assistant State Attorney Patrick Quinn. Patricia
burst into tears on the stand and confirmed that this
evidence was the dress that Christina had put on to

(19:34):
go to the concert on the day she was killed.
Christopher's public defender, Frank Rego, said in his opening statement
that Christopher was known to say things that weren't true,
suggesting that everything that he had been accused of telling
Alan Dennis was fiction made up by Christopher. Also read
at the trial was the oral statement that Christopher had

(19:56):
allegedly made by Assistant State Attorney Paul Perry that said quote.
Defendant said that he had known Christina for about a
year before her death. On October third, nineteen eighty four,
he saw Christina in the vicinity of the Park Forest Plaza.
Christina was crying. Defendant asked her what was wrong. She
said that she had had a fight with her boyfriend.

(20:19):
Defendant asked her the reason for the fight, and she
replied that it was none of his business. Defendant then
asked her if she wanted him to walk her home,
and she said yes. As they were walking, defendant kept
asking her about the fight. She became upset and hit him.
He pushed her like to cheer her up. They started arguing.

(20:41):
They were next to the Marshall Field Store when he
might have hit her without realizing it. Then he probably
accidentally knocked her down. He got on top of her,
pursed her dress up, and pulled her panties down. He
was trying to have sex with her. He had a
butterfly knife with a three or four inch blade in
his hand. He had her pinned. He didn't realize the

(21:03):
knife was in his hand at the time. Then she
was struggling then he might have without realizing, stabbed her
once or twice in the chest. She threw him off
and he got back on her. He pinned her arms
to her chest. Then she tried to pull her hands away,
and instead of pulling, she pushed them up. Then she
turned her head suddenly and he might have cut her

(21:25):
neck on accident. He grabbed her purse and her slip,
took his picture out of the purse, and threw the
purse and the slip away. Two days later, he was
treated at South Suburban Hospital for injuries to his face, chests, ribs,
and arm that he suffered when he ran into a tree.
Now I have to say that this oral statement is

(21:46):
a bit confusing because that's not what was signed when
Christopher was at the police station. It seems like they
were filling in some blanks of their own volition, because
that's not again, what he signed. That's not what he wrote.
Dot I read that to you. They don't exactly match.
They definitely added a little bit more detail. Now it's

(22:06):
very possible that what he said in his oral statement
was obviously written down by someone else, and maybe what
he wrote down didn't exactly match because he couldn't exactly
remember what he had said. It's possible, but it's interesting
that they don't match. It's also important to note that
during the trial, no physical or DNA evidence was ever
presented to the jury. The entire basis of the state's

(22:30):
argument was the confession and polygraph test. Now, the defense
brought in witnesses to testify on Christopher's behalf. A friend,
Lisa Roebel, testified that she met up with Christopher on
October third, and they had gone to her grandmother's house
in mid Lothian, where they had cut the lawn and
had dinner. She said he left at around eleven thirty pm,

(22:52):
and during her cross examination she said that they had
also gone to another friend's house at ninth thirty pm.
She also said that she had spoken with Detective Coustra
twice but had not mentioned being with Christopher on October third.
In December of nineteen eighty five, she testified that she
had gone with Detective Coustra to Marshall Fields and was
able to point out where Christina had been found because

(23:15):
Christopher had shown Lisa where her body had been. After
Christina's wake, Detective Couster testified that Lisa told him she
didn't see Christopher on October third. Lisa's mother, Virginia, also
testified that Christopher and Lisa had dated from July to
December of nineteen eighty four, and that they left from
Lisa's grandmother's home between six thirteen seven, getting back to

(23:39):
her home at around ten before sitting on the porch
until Christopher left at eleven thirty. Alan Dennis also got
on the stand and testified that in the summer of
nineteen eighty five, Christopher told him he was responsible for
Christina's murder, after Allan had asked him if he was involved.
He also confessed that they had met in nineteen eighty

(24:00):
and that at some point he had beaten Christopher very badly,
which could explain his broken ribs or bruise ribs and
scrapes and bruises that he was treated with at the hospital.
In their closing argument, the prosecution alleged that the motive
behind Christina's murder was Christopher's sexual advances being denied. The

(24:21):
prosecution also said that the details mentioned in his confession
could only be known by the killer. Frank Rago argued
that Christopher was quote looking for attention and now he
realizes he is in trouble and this has gone too far.
He also alleged that the confession was made under duress
and that it was a made up story and didn't

(24:42):
make any sense besides the fact that many of the
details mentioned in his confession were in newspapers cover and
Christina's murder, which I can confirm is fact because most
of my research is based on newspapers from nineteen eighty four. Additionally,
there were fingerprints found on a notebook the crime scene
that had not been tested, and they were at the

(25:04):
very minimum. Even if say technology had an advanced enough
by that point to forensically analyze DNA, they could visually
analyze fingerprints. That was something that was able to be done.
The jury deliberated for four and a half hours after
the week long trial, and came back with a verdict
of guilty on all counts on January fifteenth, nineteen eighty seven.

(25:28):
Of course, Christopher's mother was devastated, and she pleaded with
prosecutor Thomas Consel that he had gotten the wrong man.
The Southtown Star reported that Thomas told Anne Collis quote,
He'll die in prison, said with a grin. Anne attacked
Conseil and broke his glasses before being led away from

(25:49):
the area, and the Robles were very upset as well,
insisting that what they had said was true and that
Christopher was not in Park Forest at the time of
Christina's murder. At the sense of Securing, according to the
Chicago Tribune, the prosecution read it a statement from Patricia
Hickey that said, quote, there is no sentence that will
bring my daughter back, But the thought of Abernathy ever

(26:12):
being let out of jail to mingle with society and
perhaps commit a vicious and brutal attack on anyone else
would be more than I could stand emotionally. He has
his life, which is more than my daughter will ever
have again. I hope and I pray that the courts
put him away for the rest of his life, so
he can never again enjoy the freedom enjoy of living

(26:34):
that he's so carelessly destroyed for my fifteen year old daughter.
Christopher was ultimately sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole for murder, as well as thirty years
each for the other charges. Of course, Christopher and his
lawyer appeal the conviction, citing a myriad of issues with
the trial. In nineteen eighty nine. According to court records,

(26:58):
Christopher was attempting to appeal due to the following issues.
Quote The trial court aired in denying his motion to
suppressed statements. The trial court unduly restricted the defense's cross
examination of the key state witness. The trial court erred
in allowing the state's attorney to show a videotape of
Christina Hickey to the jury, Certain remarks made by the

(27:19):
state's attorney in closing argument and constituted reversible error. The
trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on
involuntary manslaughter, among others. Their main argument was the denial
to have his statements suppressed, on the basis that Christopher
claimed he had never been given his Miranda warnings and

(27:39):
that he wouldn't have understood them even if he was.
He said he cooperated the entire time because he had
nothing to hide, but that the first time he had
ever been given the warnings were in front of the
state's attorney. After his arrest. However, he had signed the
document verifying that he had been given the warning by
detective Coups at the time of questioning on November thirtieth,

(28:03):
and that he understood them. Christopher also claimed that he
was unaware that he could have a lawyer present during
questioning and that he agreed to sign the confession because
Kustor told him he could go home. He said he
was frightened and just wanted to leave. The court went
on to explain that Christopher had signed all necessary waivers

(28:24):
allowing for questioning, the administering of the polygraph and haarn
DNA samples to be taken, and as a side known,
I don't know why police bothered with that because they
didn't have any of the evidence tested at all. Now
this was denied because the court determined that despite testimony

(28:45):
that Christopher had trouble understanding things, he was a very
articulate at trial and was able to answer every question asked.
The court also stated that just because he had a
learning disability, it did not mean he was incapable of
understanding what was being told or asked of him. Regarding
the issue of cross examination, Christopher claimed he was denied

(29:06):
the right to question Alan Dennis and explore his probationary status,
alluding to the fact that he was not a credible
witness because at the time that Allan Dennis told the
police about Christopher and what he had allegedly told him.
Alan had just been arrested and was being questioned about
five burglaries he was accused of committing. The court denied

(29:28):
this because Alan had confessed to the burglaries and allegedly
did not receive any benefit to speaking about Christopher. Again
interesting because the courts decided not to prosecute Alan Dennis
for the burglaries, and the reason the court did not
instruct the jury to determine if Christopher was guilty of

(29:48):
involuntary murder was because they stated that the positioning of
Christina's body, the way her dress had been torn and
folded before her death, as well as her injuries, were
enough to proved that her death was not an accident
or the result of a burglary or an assault gone wrong.
They determined that her murder was very much intentional, which

(30:10):
I agree the evidence supports that her murder was intentional. Ultimately,
Christopher's appeal was denied, and while he continued to proclaim
his innocence as to his family, that was the end
of it until it wasn't. As I said in the beginning,
the murder of Christina Higgey is a cold case and

(30:31):
based on everything I've said until now, it seems as
if it is closed. Christopher Abernathy was tried and convicted,
and justice was seemingly served. However, decades after his arrest,
some journalism students at Northwestern University began looking into Christina's
case and they spoke to Alan Dennis. Alan had a

(30:55):
lot to tell them. During this conversation, Alan recanted his
original testimony and explained that Christopher had never actually told
him anything about Christina's murder. He had been pressured to
implicate Christopher because Alan was told by police that if
he did, he would be given leniency regarding some minor charges,

(31:19):
and that they had given him three hundred dollars to
buy clothes for court. While Alan had confirms he had
committed upwards of thirty burglaries, he was only charged with
two and given a two year sentence. He was under
the impression that if he refused to implicate Christopher, he
would be charged with more burglaries and given a harsher sentence. Now,

(31:43):
this new evidence was brought to a law firm and
an attorney named Lauren Keisberg began looking into the case.
In twenty fourteen, Lauren started working with the Illinois Innocence Project,
and she asked the Cook County States Attorney's Conviction Integrity
Unit to examine in the case. This led to an
agreement between the Integrity Unit and the Innocence Project in

(32:06):
August of twenty fourteen to have evidence retested for DNA
and have it processed. Eight items were processed and none
of these items contained any DNA belonging to Christopher Abernethy,
including the vaginal swab and fingernail scrapings. Partial DNA was

(32:28):
found that belonged to a different person entirely, but it
was unable to be tested enough to determine who it
belonged to due to the DNA profile being incomplete. State's
Attorney Anita Alvarez also stated that in addition to the
lack of physical evidence time Christopher to Christina's murder, there

(32:48):
were also other disturbing issues with his conviction, including the
lack of consideration for his diminished mental capacity during the
time he signed the confession, as well as the fact
that his sign statement did not include any key details
of the crime itself. Anita Alvarez and her team confirmed
that Christopher Abernathy was never near Christina Hickey on the

(33:14):
night she was murdered. In fact, the Roebuls were most
likely telling the truth that Christopher Abernathy was not in
park Force at all on October third of nineteen eighty four.
On February eleventh, twenty fifteen, the Conviction Integrity Unit filed
a motion to have Christopher's convictions vacated. That same day,

(33:36):
this motion was granted and Christopher was released from prison
exonerated of all charges twenty eight years after he was
found guilty at forty eight years old. And in twenty sixteen,
Christopher Abernathy filed a civil rights lawsuit against former Park
Forest police officers Carl Custer and Donald Myers the Cook

(33:58):
County State Attorney's office when Stephen Theodore, the owner of
the polygraph service used by the police. They were accused
of forcing Allan Dennis to falsely implicate Christopher Abernathy, as
well as conspiring with Stephen Theodore to falsify the polygraph results.
In twenty seventeen, Christopher received a certificate of innocence as

(34:20):
well as two hundred and twenty two thousand dollars in
compensation from the State of Illinois, and in twenty nineteen,
Park Forest settled for twelve point seven million dollars, Cook
County paid three hundred thousand dollars and Steve and Thomas
agreed to pay one thousand dollars to settle the lawsuit.
While it is amazing that Christopher Abernathy was exonerated because

(34:44):
he was innocent, and I believe that Cook County wanted
to be able to say that they solved this murder
because they put all their efforts into getting Christopher, no
one was looking at Christina's case to find her real killer.
It sat on touched for almost thirty years. Now. It
has been over forty years and there have been no

(35:07):
real updates, even though old friends of hers have been
doing whatever they can to try and get answers, including
compiling a timeline of events and a list of attacks
and murders that are similar to Christinas that occurred around
the same time. This is why organizations like the Cold
Case Coalition are so important, because while one victim in

(35:27):
this case got justice, meaning Christopher Abernathy being a victim
of the law and judicial system, Christina, the one who
was so brutally murdered, is still waiting to have her
case solved. And I can't understand how it's been forty
years and not only did police get the wrong guy,
they haven't made any progress in finding the right one.

(35:51):
Thank you so much for listening and joining me today.
This case frustrates me greatly because, as I said, they
waste it's so much time zeroing in on the wrong guy.
Christina and her case had essentially been ignored for thirty years.
Now that they definitely don't have the right guy and
Christopher Abernathy has been exonerated, her case is polled, there's

(36:14):
no leads, there is no nothing. Hopefully her mother and
her father get justice for their daughter, and hopefully at
some point that partial DNA profile gets a hit and
the source sense Below will be links to the Cold
Case Coalition's website. You can check it out see the
amazing work that they do, as well as all of

(36:37):
the sources for this case. As always, I hope you
have a wonderful week and I will see you in
the next chapter of the Book of the Dead. Bye, guys,
Thank you so much for listening to this chapter of
the Book of the Dead, and don't forget that you
can always connect with us on Instagram. You can connect

(36:59):
with us on Twitter and you can absolutely connect with
us on Patreon. We also have a merch store as
well that we have frequent discount codes coming out for
so that you guys can get March hand drawn by
myself at a better cost. We hope you have a
lovely rest of your week and just remember please be

(37:20):
kind and don't forget to always stay safe, stay curious,
and stay vigilant. Bye guys, Bye by

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