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Christi Nichols

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Christi Jo Nichols

Christi Nichols

Real Name: Christi Jo Nichols
Nicknames: Christi Stanley, Christi Williams (maiden name)
Location: Gothenburg, Nebraska
Date: December 11, 1987

Bio[]

Occupation: Bartender at Pete's Lounge
Date Of Birth: September 6, 1965
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Marital Status: Married
Characteristics: White female with brown hair and green eyes. She has pierced ears and two scars (one through her left eyebrow, and one on her abdomen). She is allergic to smoke. She has Scheuermann's disease, a permanent curvature of the spine. She was wearing blue jeans, a blue jean jacket, and hiking boots when she disappeared.

Case[]

Details: Twenty-two-year-old Christi Jo Nichols and her twenty-six-year-old husband, Mark Nichols, lived in Gothenburg, Nebraska, with their two children, Lindsey and Preston. Gothenburg is along Interstate 80 in the heart of Nebraska's farm belt. There is a strong sense of community among its 3,500 residents. On December 11, 1987, Christi vanished. Her disappearance turned into a controversy that continues to this day.
Loved ones describe Christi as shy, thoughtful, caring, and smart. Her parents, Ken Williams and Connie Stanley, divorced when she was a child. Growing up, she lived in Overton, Nebraska, with Connie, her stepfather Greg, her siblings Korey and Cyndi, and her three stepbrothers. Connie remembers Christi was a good student. In 1983, she graduated from Overton High School. After attending Kearney State College for a semester, she moved to Gothenburg to live with her paternal grandmother, Violet Williams.
Shortly after moving to Gothenburg, Christi met Mark. In 1984, when she was nineteen, they married. Soon after, in December 1984, their daughter, Lindsey Mae, was born. In April 1986, their son, Preston, was born. Those who knew her well felt her life centered around her family. According to Connie, Christi was well-liked but had a negative self-image. She felt she did not do anything well until she had her children. She always dreamed of being a mother. She was proud of them, devoted to them, loved them, and always put them first. They were her "pride and joy." Connie does not believe she ever would have left them.
Christi worked part time as a bartender at Pete's Lounge – a bar owned by Gary Geiken, Mark's uncle. Mark worked as an attendant at a local gas station. He was the last person to see her alive. Rumors have spread throughout Gothenburg that he is responsible for her disappearance. He maintains his innocence and wants her to come home. But until she returns, he remains under a cloud of suspicion.
The police investigation has raised some disturbing questions about the events surrounding Christi's disappearance. Since she vanished, no one, including her family and friends, has had any contact with her. For this reason, the Nebraska State Patrol was called in. Officer Terry Ahrens was put in charge of the case. As the investigation proceeded, he believed that this was not a "normal" missing persons case and that she had likely met with foul play.
The police uncovered evidence that Christi and Mark's marriage was in trouble. They learned she had been seeing another man. He told the police they became acquainted because she was lonely and needed someone to talk to. Mark claims he knew nothing about her affair, although he was suspicious. He once asked her about it, but she denied it.
Ten days before her disappearance, on December 1, 1987, Christi went to Gothenburg Memorial Hospital for treatment of an injury she received during a fight with Mark. Her right thumb had been bent back to touch her forearm. According to him, the fight started when he tried to keep her from going out. She got upset with him, tried to hit and kick him, and then burned the side of his neck with a cigarette. He tossed her onto the waterbed, and she landed wrong, twisting her thumb underneath her. He denies abusing her.
Dr. Carol Severeid Shackleton had seen Christi before and treated her thumb injury that day. She said Christi acted like a "scared rabbit," not maintaining eye contact or being very verbal. She felt Christi was not telling her everything about the cause of the injury. During the visit, Mark was in a nearby hallway. She does not know if his being there was reassuring for Christi. Christi also gave a statement about her injury to Gothenburg Police Chief George "Bob" Shackleton.
Christi's family alleges that Mark was domineering towards her and always needed to be in control. He monitored her phone calls and threatened to take Lindsey and Preston from her. Several people, including Connie, saw her with bruises. Initially, she claimed they were from accidental falls or bumps. However, she eventually admitted that Mark was abusing her. He allegedly abused his first wife as well. A few months before she disappeared, she told her cousin, Debbie Fredrickson, that she wanted to divorce him. She wrote letters to Debbie detailing his controlling and abusive nature.
A few weeks before Christi's disappearance, Debbie visited her at Pete's Lounge. When they left, she showed Debbie a large bruise on her side and said Mark had "thrown her around" during an argument. She also told Debbie that one night, he held her up against a wall, choked her, and stabbed a knife into the wall near her head. Lindsey witnessed the incident. Debbie felt Christi was more concerned about Lindsey than herself. She also acted like it was "not a big deal." Debbie told her to get help and to leave him.
Two days before she vanished, on December 9, Christi met with attorney Claude Berreckman to begin divorce proceedings. She told Debbie she was frightened that Mark would find out, so she went to Berreckman, whose office was ten miles away in Cozad, Nebraska. He has handled hundreds of divorces. But she was one of the most distressed, upset, and nervous clients he had ever seen.
Christi spent two hours in Berreckman's office. She told him she wanted to file for divorce and get custody of Lindsey and Preston, but she did not have any money. She described Mark's abuse and showed a bruise on her arm. Berreckman told her not to worry about money and agreed to help her. He then called the Dawson County Sheriff's Office to report the abuse. They told him to contact Chief Shackleton. He also called domestic violence counselor Betty Koch of the Dawson County Parent-Child Center. He then urged Christi not to return home.
Berreckman felt Christi was sincere and honest. He could not imagine why she would make up a story about being abused by Mark if it did not happen. No one knows what her state of mind was when she left Berreckman's office. Mark claims she was planning on running away, while Connie believes she was planning to fight for custody of Lindsey and Preston. Berreckman does not believe she was panic-stricken to the point that she would run or leave. When she left, she made an appointment to return to his office the following week.
That evening, Christi went to pick up Lindsey and Preston from the home of Mark's parents, Loell and Verna Nichols. They told her she could not take the children. According to Connie, Chief Shackleton was friends with Mark's family and told them about her meeting with Berreckman. When Mark found out, he was "livid." Christi called the police, but Chief Shackleton told her that Mark was allowed to keep the children from her. According to Connie, Chief Shackleton had confronted Christi twice that day regarding her issues with Mark.
The next morning, December 10, Christi called Connie and said Mark had brought Lindsey and Preston home. He told her he would not take the children again as long as she agreed to a list of demands: quit her job, take her name off their checking account, stop divorce proceedings, not take the children anywhere alone, and not leave town. She told Connie that although she told him that she would agree to his demands, she would not follow them.
That day, Christi met with domestic violence counselor Betty Koch at Chief Shackleton's office. She told Koch about her marital problems and Mark's abuse. They planned to have her attend a group support meeting at Koch's office the next day. They wanted to discuss her needs and how Koch could help. Koch wanted her to go to a shelter, but she declined, saying she would return the next day with Lindsey and Preston.
That afternoon, Christi and Mark went Christmas shopping with Lindsey and Preston. They took pictures with Santa and then had dinner at Pizza Hut. This was the last afternoon she spent with her family. He claims he was uncomfortable that day because he felt "a lot of anger" coming from her.
That evening, Christi and Mark hired babysitter Diane Janssen and went to Pete's Lounge. Diane had babysat for them for over a year. She was surprised they went out that night because she knew they were not getting along. For a couple of hours, they played pool and shuffleboard. He claims things went well that night, and they were both in a good mood. However, the bar's owner, Gary Geiken, felt a "tenseness" between the couple. He was surprised they were there together that night.
When Pete's Lounge closed at midnight, Christi and Mark drove to Jack & Jill, an all-night convenience store, to buy groceries. According to clerk Mike Heun, Mark shopped while Christi stayed up front and talked to him. She seemed nervous, edgy, and in a hurry. At 12:30am, she and Mark headed home after buying breakfast items and milk.
Between 12:30 and 1am, Diane was doing her homework in front of the living room television when she heard a car door slam outside. Moments later, Mark came in. However, Diane did not see Christi, nor did she see him with the groceries. He claims he was about five feet behind Christi when she reached the door. According to him, she walked past the living room, down the hallway toward Lindsey and Preston's bedroom, and entered the main bathroom. She stayed in the bathroom for about fifteen minutes because she was sick.
That night, Mark paid Diane in cash. She thought that was strange because Christi normally paid her instead of him, and she did it with a check. Also, Christi usually asked her about how Lindsey and Preston were. Diane cannot believe she did not see or hear Christi, as she was there for at least five minutes before leaving. Diane thinks she would have heard Christi's footsteps on the tile floor when she came in or heard her in the bathroom.
According to Mark, Christi went to bed immediately after Diane left. He last saw her at 2am, when he went to sleep beside her. At around 7am, Lindsey and Preston woke him up. Christi was not in bed. He searched the house and noticed she had taken a suitcase full of belongings. About $30 was missing from his billfold, along with her tip money. However, both family cars, a Ford Pinto and a 1977 Mercury Cougar, were still in the front yard. He claims he saw no signs that she would pack up a suitcase and leave.
At 9:30am, Mark received a phone call from Connie, who lived 100 miles away in Big Springs, Nebraska. Even though he knew Christi was gone, he told Connie she was still asleep because he "did not want to worry [Connie]." Suspicious, Connie asked a friend to call the house. Mark told the friend that Christi was out shopping. He claims he did that because he did not know who was calling. Connie then called family and friends in Gothenburg to see if anyone knew of Christi's whereabouts.
At 11:30am, Mark took Lindsey and Preston to the Gothenburg home of Christi's grandmother, Violet Williams. He appeared upset. He asked her to watch them while he searched for Christi. She thought that was strange because he or Christi would normally call ahead of time to ask if she could watch them. However, he did not call her that day. She also thought it was strange that he never asked if Christi was there or if she had seen her.
Mark claims he spent the next two hours driving around Gothenburg looking for Christi. He drove down residential streets where their friends and family lived. He hoped to spot her leaving a store or a friend's house. However, the police checked into his story and found no one in Gothenburg who had seen him driving around.
At 1:37pm, Mark filed a missing persons report with the Gothenburg Police Department. He then returned to Violet's house and picked up Lindsey and Preston. Later that afternoon, Chief Shackleton searched Christi and Mark's house and found a round, half-dollar-sized dried blood stain under a laundry basket on the main bedroom carpet. He also found blood in the bathroom washbasin. However, he "did not think much of it."
Initially, the police believed Christi had left to escape her tumultuous marriage. According to Chief Shackleton, three people in North Platte and Gothenburg reported seeing her after her disappearance. Mark also found an undated note under the front seat of her car. It was allegedly addressed to her boyfriend and read, "I want you to know I will probably be leaving town after Christmas, and I will try not to see or talk to you until then…It will all work out somehow. I'm really sorry." Tests confirmed it was in her handwriting. However, the police felt it was "ambiguous."
Chief Shackleton and two officers later returned to search Christi and Mark's house. They discovered she had left most of her belongings, including cosmetics, toiletries, clothing, diamond jewelry, her winter coat, Social Security card, and driver's license. She also did not pick up her last paycheck.
Christi's family hired private detective Dennis Whelan of Omaha, Nebraska, to search for her. Six weeks after her disappearance, he searched her and Mark's house and discovered that the bloodstain in the bedroom was larger than the police had thought. The blood had soaked into the carpet's padding, where a larger, saucer-sized stain was found. Lab tests showed the blood was type B, which was Christi's type. Mark told the police it was menstrual blood and had been there for some time.
Two months after Christi disappeared, in February 1988, the State Patrol officially entered the investigation at the request of the Dawson County Attorney's Office. They discovered that Mark had moved out of the house the day after her disappearance. He, Lindsey, and Preston then moved in with his parents. A few weeks later, he boxed up her clothes and sold their cars. According to Connie, he also forged her name on the cars' titles.
Three months after she disappeared, in March 1988, Christi's blue suitcase was found next to a tree near an Interstate 80 rest area in Maxwell, Nebraska, thirty miles west of Gothenburg. The police found it surprising that earlier, Mark had precisely detailed the suitcase's contents: two pairs of jeans, a sweatshirt, a bra, a jacket, a purse, an empty billfold, and a matchbook from Pete's Lounge. In the purse was a hairbrush, a tube of lipstick, a mirror, a nail file, Neutrogena cream, a pen, a lighter, a piece of gum, and a coin.
The suitcase and its contents were neatly lying around, with the clothing neatly folded. The police theorize it was intentionally placed there. They believe the person who put it there wanted it to be found. Officer Ahrens said if his wife had left him, he would not have been able to look through the closet and say what she had taken. Yet, Mark knew exactly what Christi had taken.
Since Christi's disappearance, the area surrounding Gothenburg has been searched extensively. According to Connie, neither Mark nor his family participated in any searches. The police searched the town dump after hearing rumors that Mark had "chopped" Christi up, put her in garbage bags, and buried her there. Scuba divers have searched nearby lakes. Trained dogs have scoured mapped-out areas. Nearly 200 square miles of land have been searched. Other than her suitcase, no trace of her has ever been found.
Christi's case has since stalled. Her family and the police suspect foul play. However, according to Dawson County District Attorney James O'Rourke, it would be difficult to file charges against anyone unless Christi or her body is located. O'Rourke is concerned about the details surrounding her disappearance: she has not contacted any family members, she did not take a vehicle, and she has been missing for such a long time.
The police and Christi's family do not believe that she would leave Lindsey and Preston and not try to contact them. Connie thinks that her meetings with the attorney and counselor shortly before her disappearance suggest she had no intention of leaving, especially without her children. According to the police, she was a good communicator and maintained contact with her family. She called Connie and Violet almost daily.
Mark continues to maintain his innocence. Although he claims to have passed a polygraph, the police say the results were inconclusive. He believes everyone is in "cahoots" against him and that he only became a suspect because the police had no one else to blame. He denies hurting her, saying he is "not a violent person" and that he never hit her "in anger." He claims their marital problems were "minor" and that they wanted to save their marriage.
Mark believes Christi left because she was "tired of married life and being tied down" and could not handle the stress of being a mother. He thinks she is somewhere in the western United States. He wants her to come home, or at least call and let them know she is okay. Violet hopes and prays that she is still alive. But if she is deceased, Violet would like to know where she is so she can be given a proper burial.
By all accounts, Christi was trapped in a marriage gone wrong. Nobody can say for certain that this motivated her disappearance. All that is known is that she has vanished without a trace, and her family and friends would like to know why.

MarkNichols

Mark Nichols

Suspects: The police consider Mark a suspect in Christi's disappearance. Family, friends, and other witnesses confirmed he was abusing her in the weeks before her disappearance. She wanted to divorce him, but he threatened to take their children away. He was the last person to see her alive. Within days of her disappearance, he had moved out of their house, sold both their cars, and boxed up her clothes. Blood was found in their bedroom and the trunk of their car. Most of her belongings were left behind. Three months after she disappeared, her suitcase was found at a rest area. Earlier, Mark had precisely detailed its contents.
Christi was seeing another man around the time of her disappearance. He said they began seeing each other because she was lonely and needed someone to talk to. The police interviewed him and ruled him out as a suspect.
Mark believes Christi ran away because she was tired of married life and could not handle being a mother. A note found in her car initially led the police to believe she had left voluntarily. However, they have since stated that the letter was "ambiguous." He claims that in May 1988, a Denver doctor called and asked for Christi's medical records. The police, however, could not substantiate his claim.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the November 16, 1988 episode.
  • It was submitted to the show by private detective Dennis Whelan.
  • Christi was included in a deck of playing cards that feature pictures of unsolved murder victims, which are distributed to prisons and jails across the state.
  • Some sources name the bar where Christi worked "Pete's Place" and state that: she went to the emergency room on November 27; she told Mark she wanted a divorce two days before she disappeared; she told Connie she would do anything he wanted so that she could keep Lindsey and Preston; he was five yards behind her when they returned home on the night she disappeared; they argued until they went to sleep at 2am; he woke up later in the night to see her covered in blood and sleeping on the bedroom floor; Connie called at 8 or 8:30am that morning; Mark went to Violet's house at 11am and either did not tell her that Christi was missing or said she left him for another man; he initially could not file a missing persons report because not enough time had passed; he told the police she left him; her tip money was left behind; the police overlooked the blood in the couple's bedroom; he packed up all their belongings a few days after she disappeared; and her driver's license was found in her billfold.

Results: Unsolved. In December 1988, the FBI entered the investigation at the State Patrol's request. In the spring of 1989, the State Patrol brought in a cadaver dog to search areas where Christi might have been buried. At the time of her disappearance, a major construction project was underway in Gothenburg. Two overpasses were built: one above Sixth Street and the other above the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and U.S. 30. Gravel fill was used at both locations and was left uncovered. However, the cadaver dog did not detect anything at either site.
There are several theories regarding the location of Christi's body. Mark's parents, Loell and Verna, had a concrete pad poured on their property a few days after she disappeared. A worker said the sand appeared to have been disturbed before the concrete was poured. A garage was later put there. It is not known if the area was ever searched. Others have theorized that her body was dumped in an empty well in the central Nebraska countryside, an irrigation ditch, or a lake outside town. Also, when she disappeared, lye was stolen from a nearby farmer's co-op. It was theorized that the lye was used to destroy her body.
Following Christi's disappearance, Connie received temporary custody of Lindsey and Preston. Mark was reportedly furious about this and repeatedly took Connie to court. In May 1989, he sued her and her husband, Greg, in federal court for defamation of character. He also claimed that they illegally taped phone calls between him and his children. A judge later dismissed the lawsuit.
In April 1990, Mark divorced Christi on the grounds of desertion. He maintained she left voluntarily, abandoning him, Lindsey, and Preston. He allegedly told Connie he was glad Christi was gone and that she was a bad mother who wanted "a new life with a new man." While staying with Connie, Lindsey reportedly said, "Daddy put Mommy in a bucket…and then put her in green water."
After spending time in foster care, Lindsey and Preston were sent to live with Loell and Verna. Mark later received custody of them. Connie was allowed supervised visits, but he moved often, making it hard for her to see them. Due to his influence, she has not seen them since 1990. She does not know what he has told them about Christi.
In 1990, Mark claimed he was robbed while working at a Gothenburg gas station. However, the police discovered he fabricated the story. He was sentenced to twenty days in jail for false reporting. He later moved to North Platte, Nebraska, with Lindsey, Preston, and his new wife. On March 20, 1992, an arrest warrant was issued for him. He was accused of assaulting his new wife. However, he and his family moved to Missouri before the arrest warrant could be served. They later moved to Arkansas.
Meanwhile, Christi's aunt, Joanne Kniss, moved to Omaha and became a licensed private investigator for private detective Dennis Whelan. On several occasions throughout the 1990s, they asked the Dawson County Attorney's Office to convene a grand jury for the case. Investigators supported the idea, believing it could turn up new leads. However, no grand jury was ever convened due to insufficient evidence. The district attorney said it would be difficult to prosecute the case without Christi's body.
A witness later came forward, claiming to have encountered Mark the night Christi disappeared. He was hanging out at a park next to the couple's house when he spotted Mark in the backyard beside his pickup truck. Mark noticed him, angrily walked towards him, and yelled at him. He quickly left the scene. When he learned of Christi's disappearance, he realized the encounter happened the same night, around the time babysitter Diane Janssen left.
In 2004, DNA testing confirmed that the blood found in Christi and Mark's bedroom and the trunk of his Mercury Cougar was hers. Although he claimed it was menstrual blood, testing determined it was not. However, not enough of it was found to indicate that she was deceased.
Christi's family believes the police mishandled the initial investigation and did not take her disappearance seriously. They also believe that Chief Shackleton was too close to Mark's family and that the Dawson County Sheriff's Office should have taken over the investigation. Interestingly, Chief Shackleton left law enforcement after pleading no contest to an official misconduct charge.
The Nebraska State Patrol, Dawson County Sheriff's Office, and Gothenburg Police Department consider Christi's case open. They no longer believe she vanished voluntarily. Her case is considered an "open homicide." Recently, it was assigned to the State Patrol's cold case unit. Mark remains the only suspect. He now lives in Hastings, Nebraska. Connie believes Christi was planning to leave Mark on the day she disappeared, but he beat her to death and disposed of her body before she had the chance to do so.
On March 29, 1999, Violet died at seventy-eight. In June 2006, Dennis Whelan died at seventy. On June 23, 2011, Greg died at sixty-three. On September 28, 2013, Claude Berreckman died at eighty. On June 1, 2023, Joanne died at seventy-six. In Violet, Greg, and Joanne's obituaries, Christi is listed as pre-deceasing them.
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