Woman on Motorcyle

[knundrm]

You are correct. The NAMPN case was originated by me. I am Chris' youngest sister. She is also registered on NamUs.
There is no doubt that woman on the motorcycle is my sister. As someone mentioned, Chris had an unusual baby toe on her left foot; on both feet actually. All of our family has positively identified her, which was quite a shock for all of us.
I appreciate your post.

 

[manuk]

Should the "Found Alive" be removed?

 

[WildHuncher]

Per our Timeline thread, Alcala visited a family in El Paso, TX, on August 11, 1977. (I can find no independent reference to this event on the web anymore.) The locker picture of Christine looks plausible for west Texas. My memories of the San Antonio (central TX) region she disappeared from circa 1971 are of parched-looking high grass dotted with stunted little mesquite trees. I'm guessing the picture was taken closer to El Paso.

 

[WildHuncher]

Made a mess with the above and can't seem to edit it now. She disappeared in August 1977 from San Antonio, some hundreds of miles East of where he was on August 11, 1977. If she was heading to LA and he was heading back there, it might plausibly be anywhere along the way. *I* was in San Antonio in 1971, dating the observation as if the terrain type was going to change year by year or something.

 

[Rose_Red]

NAMPN has a new casefile for Christine Ruth Thornton, which shows the Alcala woman on the motorcycle.

http://www.nampn.org/cases/thornton... true shouldnt LE remove her file from NAMUS?

 

[Daphne1972]

Why? Christine is still missing. They actually use the motorcycle picture. Her sister might be able to date the picture because of the lenght of her hair and the clothes she's wearing.

 

[Alleykins]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...mote-area-Apr-82&highlight=Christine+Thornton

Turns out Christine is one of the Sweetwater Jane Does, and Rodney Alcala has been charged with her murder.

 

[badhorsie]

Old news but I am placing this link for completeness

Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala was charged with murder Tuesday in Wyoming in the killing of a woman reported missing in 1977 – a charge authorities credited, in part, to information from the Huntington Beach Police Department.

Alcala, 73, a former child photographer convicted in Orange County for a string of murders in Southern California, remains at California’s Corcoran State Prison and is sentenced to death.

The man once nicknamed “The Dating Game Killer” because he appeared on that game show while in the midst of his killing rampage may have as many as 130 victims across the country, police in Wyoming said Tuesday, citing estimates by authorities. Some online news stories mention Alcala may have an estimated 50 to 130 victims, but the actual number is unknown.

Prosecutors in Rock Springs, Wyo., said Tuesday that one of those victims was Christine Ruth Thornton, 28, of San Antonio. They said Alcala met Thornton and killed her while on a road trip, then buried her on a ranch in Granger, Wyo.

Thornton was about six months pregnant at the time of her death, according to the warrant for Alcala’s arrest.

Though prosecutors said her body was uncovered by a rancher in Wyoming in 1982, Thornton’s alleged link to Alcala wasn’t known for decades.

 

[faerieskye]

This should've gotten more attention back in '10. I bet the ones Websleuth members keep insisting are murder victims, are actually not murder victims, and the ones that they gloss over for some reason, are actually murder victims.

 

[WildHuncher]

Rodney appears perfectly content to die in prison now. No foreseeable California government will carry out any further executions. It appears the police have quietly moved on. There is no pressure for him to cooperate.

When the police first put out those pictures, everyone was excited. All those unknown faces invited sleuthing, and, speaking personally, the call was irresistible. The Rorschach Test aspect was interesting in itself, how unexpectedly large the divergence of opinion could be upon whether there were alarming elements in a picture and if so, what were they.

One could hope back then that the real answers would be coming soon. This now looks very unlikely. We'll probably never know much more.

 

[faerieskye]

Rodney appears perfectly content to die in prison now. No foreseeable California government will carry out any further executions. It appears the police have quietly moved on. There is no pressure for him to cooperate.

When the police first put out those pictures, everyone was excited. All those unknown faces invited sleuthing, and, speaking personally, the call was irresistible. The Rorschach Test aspect was interesting in itself, how unexpectedly large the divergence of opinion could be upon whether there were alarming elements in a picture and if so, what were they.

One could hope back then that the real answers would be coming soon. This now looks very unlikely. We'll probably never know much more.

Seems like he got off the hook, once again. Must be nice coming from a distinguished family with nice connections as he is. Wondering if that's got to do with it. I mean it can't be a real reason it's too old bc they were just on that serial killer who was killing women since the 70s, and they keep rehashing the over analyzed stories of dead serial killers from Rodney's same era all over the media. Cuz none of it is adding up nor making sense as to why it panned out that way.

I guess Rodney was right all along California would never execute him and then he would just get ill, and then die in prison.