The views and opinions expressed in Cold and
Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All
parties mentioned are considered innocent until
proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing
also contains adult themes and languages. Listener
discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin
-Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover
cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone
and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host Ali. And I'm your co -host Eli. Welcome
back everyone. Just want to say another quick
thank you at the top to Ginger who last week
bought us a coffee on the buy us a coffee page.
All of the money that's donated to us through
that link just goes right back into this podcast.
So thank you again to Ginger. Yeah, it means
a lot to us that Our listeners are, you know,
of course, willing to support in any way that
they can. But, you know, in this way, it pushes
the podcast in a specific way. And it's really
nice. So thank you so much. But with that, I
think we can just jump into this episode. We
are on episode 127 this week. Yep. And we are
on a cold case. Let's get into it. So just as
a quick content warning at the top, this case
does involve a young person, and there are some
brief mentions of sexual assault and domestic
violence. Today, we are talking about the cold
case of Christina Pipkin, and this takes place
in May of 1991 in Hickory Ridge, Arkansas. But
first, a little bit about Christina. Christina
is nine years old in 1991. She is a fourth grader
at Hickory Ridge Elementary School, where she
is a talkative young girl and a good student.
She liked to color, read, and write poetry and
gospel songs. Her mother, Frida, says, quote,
She's got a lot of interests, and she's just
as smart as she can be. She wrote a song called
I Love You, and when she started singing it,
it sounded like about a person. In the end, it
was about the Lord. End quote. Christina and
her family had just moved to the little town
of Hickory Ridge a few months before the timeline
starts. The town is small. It has a population
of less than 500 people. The mayor of Hickory
Ridge is also the fire chief, the plumbing inspector,
and the water operator for the town, just to
kind of paint a picture for you. Christina is
tall for her age. She stands at 4 '9 and weighs
about 80 pounds. She has short brown hair and
brown eyes. And now a timeline of events. On
Saturday, May 4th, 1991. So it's unclear exactly
what Christina was getting up to on this Saturday.
But what we do know is that between 4 .30 and
5 p .m., she asks her parents if she can go out
and go door -to -door to try to sell some stuff
for her school's fundraiser. The students were
tasked with selling costume jewelry in order
to raise funds for the school. Christina gets
permission but is told to be back before it gets
dark. Christina is wearing shorts and a t -shirt
that said Desert Storm on it, along with Hickory
Ridge Elementary School. It had a logo of Arkansas,
the American flag, and Kuwait on it. She's wearing
white sandals and has red yarn bracelets on her
ankle and wrist. She's also carrying a pencil
and the order form with her as she walks around
town. At the time of reporting in 1991, the last
confirmed sighting of Christina is around 6 .30
p .m. She was taking an order from a woman about
two blocks away from her home, but she was near
Arkansas 49 when she was last spotted, which
was a busy road that had a lot of through traffic.
However, in recent years, some more details have
come out around the last time she was seen. Multiple
children interviewed by police said that they
had seen a stranger in town driving a light blue
car and had been seen near the grocery store
on the day that Christina went missing. Most
kids reported the man driving the light blue
car as white, having long, messy hair and high
cheekbones. One of the child witnesses said that
they saw the car slowly following Christina as
she was walking near the grocery store. They
said that Christina was shaking her head no at
the car. A cashier at the grocery store told
police that the day Christina went missing, a
stranger came in with long dark hair and a mustache
to buy cigarettes around 5 .45 p .m., about 45
minutes before Christina was last seen at 6 .30.
As it gets darker and darker outside, Christina's
parents begin to worry when she doesn't come
back. She had never stayed out late before. They
start looking for her around 8 p .m. Her parents
go door to door, asking if anyone had seen her.
No one had seen her recently, though lots of
folks do say that they had seen her walking around
earlier. Finally, at around 8 .53 p .m., Christina's
parents call police to report her missing. The
town is so small that they don't have a police
force themselves, but the county sheriff shows
up and takes the search seriously. The town's
emergency alarm is sounded, and by 9 .30, more
than 250 volunteers had showed up to help search.
That's over half the town. Nobody thinks this
is a runaway situation. People search through
the night for Christina, but they don't find
any sign of her. The next day, Sunday, May 5th,
another massive search is launched as the day
breaks. People are searching on foot, horseback,
ATV, helicopters, and airplanes looking for any
sign of the little girl. With each passing hour,
the search gets more and more desperate. Investigators
say, quote, it's getting past the time when she
may have stayed all night with a friend and didn't
call her parents. It has the appearance of an
abduction, end quote. By Monday, so Christina
has been missing since Saturday night, the FBI
joins the search for the missing girl, and searches
continue throughout Monday and into the next
day, Tuesday, May 7th. Christina has been missing
for three days now when the search comes to an
end. In the evening hours, just over the border
into the next county, about four miles from where
Christina was last seen, A man and his sons are
walking down to a nearby bridge to check on the
water levels. The bridge went over Cow Lake Ditch,
a water ditch that runs for miles in between
fields of crops. At this time in 1991, the water
was about nine feet deep, but it did fluctuate.
When the man and his sons get to the bridge,
one of the sons notices something in the water.
The man goes down and realizes what he's looking
at. He brings his sons home as quickly as he
can so he can call the police. When police arrive,
they find the body of Christina in the water.
Her body is fully clothed, but her white sandals
are missing. Also missing is the pencil and order
form that she had been carrying. Cross County
Sheriff Ronnie Huey says, quote, we haven't a
clue as to what happened. There's nothing that
we can even build a theory on yet, end quote.
There are no obvious signs of trauma to her body,
according to police. No bruising, cuts, scrapes.
Police say that they will need to wait for the
autopsy before commenting on a cause of death.
However, police immediately begin to treat the
death as foul play. The next day, Wednesday,
May 8th, Christina's autopsy is conducted. Her
cause of death is labeled as drowning. and the
autopsy confirms that she had not been sexually
assaulted. Police do believe that she died where
she entered the water, and she likely died on
Saturday, the day that she went missing. Police
still believe that foul play is involved. They
point to her missing shoes, and they don't believe
that she could have walked four miles without
anyone else seeing her on the busy road. Police
say, quote, We're going to keep scratching and
digging, trying to get that one clue that will
get us started. You just keep on keeping on.
Someone is going to remember something or we're
going to kick something over. End quote. Christina's
parents support this. Christina couldn't swim.
There would have been no reason for her to walk
so far out of town to go swimming. And, when
they did go swimming, she would only splash around
on the shallow end because she didn't like going
where she couldn't touch the bottom. Police spend
all day searching the area where she was found
for additional clues. Divers are sent into the
water, but nothing further is recovered. Her
shoes are never found, and neither is the pencil
she was carrying or the order form. On Friday,
May 10th, just shy of one week since she was
last seen, Christina is laid to rest. Police
still have zero leads in the case. They have
talked to a few people, but no one has emerged
as a real person of interest or a suspect. Both
of Christina's parents will be questioned by
both the police and the FBI, and both of them
will be cleared of any suspicion. The case very
quickly goes cold. Over the next few years, other
children will go missing and either are never
recovered or they're found murdered. This includes
the murder of Michael Moore, Steve Branch, and
Christopher Byers that resulted in the arrest
of the West Memphis Three. Police don't think
any of these cases are related, but it is happening
a lot. In June of 1995, so it's been over four
years since the death of Christina, and police
are just as convinced today as they were the
day they found her that foul play is involved.
repeating that she did not get there by herself.
Someone took her out where she was found. The
case has been reviewed by other detectives over
the years, retired detectives and freelance detectives,
but nothing new has ever surfaced from this,
and no new leads have come to police. Then, seemingly
out of nowhere, in November of 1999, so it's
been over eight years since the murder, and police
make an arrest in the case. They say that they
have new forensic information that results in
the arrest of Robbie Tubbs for Christina's murder.
Tubbs first came to police's attention when his
late wife told police that when Christina was
still missing, before her body was found, Tubbs
was watching the news coverage and said that
no one would find the girl because there are
too many ditches for the girl to drown in. and
days later, Christina was found in a ditch, drowned.
She also told police that he had tied her up
and beat her when she threatened to tell the
police of what he had done. Police say that they
found a hair in Tubbs' 1980 AMC Eagle sedan.
The hair was found on the right front passenger
side. Police collected the sample about seven
months after the murder. Police are not able
to arrest him in 1991 because they don't have
testing to prove that the hair was Christina's.
But with advances in DNA technology over the
years, police say that they have been able to
confirm that the hair found in his car belonged
to Christina. Tubbs is arrested and pleads not
guilty to the crime. And in April of 2000, nearly
nine years after the murder, the trial starts.
The state is seeking the death penalty in this
case. However, almost as quickly as the trial
starts, it stops. It's revealed by Tubbs' defense
team that the hair in question, the one found
in his car, was never actually tested by the
FBI. There had been a mix -up in the samples,
and the FBI had tested known samples of Christina's
hair. So of course those came back as a match
for her DNA. So the court delays the trial for
two months so the FBI can test the strand found
in the car, the correct sample. Within weeks
though, the FBI reports that the hair sample
from the car is not a good enough sample for
them to be able to get a DNA profile from. Therefore,
they can't prove that it's Christina's. Tubbs'
late wife also can't testify and her testimony
is not admitted into court. She can't testify
because she was murdered two years to the day
after Christina in a burglary that had gone wrong.
Tubbs had been cleared of any involvement in
his late wife's murder. So without these two
pieces of critical evidence, the prosecutors
are forced to drop all the charges. The prosecutor
doesn't have enough evidence to prove beyond
a reasonable doubt and certainly prove a death
case with what evidence he has left after those
two things are taken out. The evidence that is
left is really just contradicting stories in
how the hair could have ended up in his car.
Investigators say that they don't plan to reinvestigate
the case and Tubbs can't be charged again in
this case because of double jeopardy. After this,
the case really goes cold until about 2023 when
another podcast, Hell Gone Cold, covers this
case. And it brings up a lot of media attention.
And there are some new details released. And
that's when we get the details about the children
seeing a suspicious figure in town the day that
Christina went missing. But other than that,
there are really no new developments in Christina's
case. So with that, if you know anything about
the murder of Christina Pipkin in 1991, please
call the Arkansas State Police at 501 -618 -8420.
So that is the case of Christina Pipkin. I loved
hearing the detail about Christina and that she
was chatty at school and just the way... people
spoke about her. And we've said this before when
we've covered cold cases involving children,
but it's just really heartbreaking to learn about
their budding personalities and the way that
they're just squashed out of existence. I don't
know. As always, these are... The most difficult
cases for me to listen to, but I'm so grateful
that we cover them. And just more about Christina,
she sounded just like a little ray of sunshine.
Yeah, the detail of Christina writing poetry
and writing gospel songs, there's something about
a child that writes worship music that is just
so endearing. You know, whatever kind of worship
music it is, it's just... There's something very
innocent and pure about it. And yeah, I think
that just kind of sums up Christina, you know.
Yeah. And the things that she was doing in her
young life, which kind of brings us into this
into the timeline, which is, you know, doing
her little sales thing in the neighborhood. I
definitely remember this happening in my neighborhood
with fundraising stuff. little pizza kits and
stuff. I remember this being a very normal thing
in the 90s. So when you introduced that that's
what she was doing, I immediately understood
kind of her navigating of the local neighborhood.
It was a space that she knew. Definitely. And
just as a side note, you know, after Christina's
murder, the county, the school district banned
door -to -door sales as fundraisers for children
after this they didn't want kids doing it anymore
and you know when I was growing up I don't think
my school officially had anything like this we
had other kinds of fundraisers but never anything
that we were supposed to go door -to -door for
but I did have that kind of fundraising for like
um like my dance squad stuff so it was something
that was still happening a lot in the 90s but
I don't think it's happening I wanted to ask
a more specific question about this part of the
timeline. I didn't catch when you said that she
asked her parents to go out. What was that time
window? So she left her parents' house between
4 .30 and 5 p .m. and was last seen at around
6 .30 p .m. So this was, you know, perceivably
daylight. For the most part. Yeah, it would have
been the early evening hours, but the beginning
of May. So the days are getting longer every
day at this point in the year. When you were
speaking about her route and mentioning through
lanes or through traffic, is that just like concentrated
areas where lots of people are crossing from
like different towns or cities? Yeah, she was
the last seen. I believe near Arkansas 49. And
so this is like a highway country road and it
kind of links some major cities and it runs right
through the small town of Hickory Ridge. So there's
usually a lot of just traffic on this road as
people kind of go from one city to the next.
Thank you. I think I had, you know, a loose understanding,
but that definitely clarifies things, which,
you know, brings me to what you spoke about next,
which is. This man, this creepy mystery guy with
the mustache, he also buys the cigarettes, right?
Yeah, the grocery store clerk said that she sold
cigarettes to a strange man that matched the
children's description of the man that they saw
around 4 .45 p .m. You know, you bringing up
the grocery store clerk. I feel like I can't
not mention the community here and the unwavering
support that this family received in search of
Christina. And, you know, I was kind of impressed
at how law enforcement showed up as well. A tiny,
you know, a small community, but very mighty.
The love is clearly there. Yeah, the town definitely
showed up for Christina and searched for them.
I will say this, and I didn't mention it in the
timeline, but just since you mentioned it, the
small town of Hickory Ridge did fall into some
small town traps of, you know, rumor mills. And
the town eventually was like pretty vicious towards
Christina's parents. And they ended up moving
just months after they buried her because they
couldn't take. the rumors or people saying they
weren't acting right or a lot of townsfolk were
upset that the family had used funds that were
raised for a headstone, but the family had used
it on other expenses at the time. So, you know,
the police had to kind of come out again and
again and say that her parents were not involved
because people wouldn't stop speculating and
spreading rumors that they were. That's so sad
and so unfortunate that there was another side
to the same coin. But, you know, with a tragedy
like this, rocking a community, you know, I think
it can change people as well. So I, you know,
that's devastating to hear because her parents
absolutely deserve peace. More just like about
the community in general and that, you know,
it is the size of 500 people. Is it common knowledge
that there are small bodies of water in this
area to outsiders of the community? I was just
curious about that. Would someone have had to
have known that that small ditch or body of water
was there to bring her there? No, that's a good
question. Where she was found, police theorized
that she would have been dropped right from the
road over. So anyone driving along the road would
have seen this water underneath. But again, and
we'll have pictures of this on our Instagram
of where her body was found, because I just want
to emphasize that this, and I get why police
truly believe foul play was suspected here, because
this is not like a swimming spot. It's, you know,
it's off. a highway, runs underneath it. If you're
from the Midwest, you drive and do a long drive,
you see this type of water all over the place.
And you never see people swimming, you never
see people fishing. So this water just, it's
not a place that a child who didn't know how
to swim, I think, would be tempted to go swimming.
And furthermore, on top of that, when I was looking
at the maps and the Fastest way, point A to B,
where she was last seen to where her body was
found. If she had walked there along the road,
there were other water spots. There was other
places to enter the water if that's what she
wanted to do. So the fact that all these other
opportunities were missed and like went even
farther out, I think that is very suspicious.
And I definitely see how police believe that
it was foul play involved. Yeah, I mean, there's
not really any part of me that thinks otherwise.
I have a few questions about Robbie Tubbs, just
to bring him up briefly. What do you make of
this connection? I mean, I know he, Double Jeopardy,
because I didn't know, I don't know, I don't
know who he is. I wasn't writing a lot of questions.
I was just listening to you. And I just wanted
to circle back on kind of what happened here
with him. Yeah, it's Tubbs. He's not an upstanding
member of the community outside of this. Later,
you know, robbery charges will be brought against
him. And he'll also, I believe, admit that of
like having sexual relations with a teenager.
So, you know, overall, not a great guy. But I
don't know really what to make of this. You know,
the hair is really small evidence. Like, I, that's
just having a hair kind of connect you to something.
That's a lot for a death penalty case, for sure.
So, like, I definitely have doubts about it,
but I'm also suspicious. You know what I mean?
So it's like, I'm suspicious of this person.
And, you know, he did have some contradicting
stories. That Christina went missing. He was
out of town staying at a hotel, but the hotel
had no records of him that weekend. So he is
caught in some lies there, but not enough to
prove a capital murder case. Well, even though
there's, you know, limited information in Christina's
case, I was glad to hear that, you know, another
podcast had covered this and there was a moment
like a blip where there was energy around her
case again. And I hope that that happens here
with you sharing her timeline with us and kind
of connecting some dots and providing updates.
I feel it's kind of painful to say this or admit
this. I feel lost thinking about this case because,
yeah, there's a lot of speculation, but I think
because it happened in her town and so close
to home. My mind has a very difficult time trying
to pin anyone down for this. I'm so glad that
you brought it to Cold and Missing. Yeah, it's
hard to kind of point any way. You know, the
only people truly cleared are her parents, and
she has a brother. You know, her family has all
been cleared in the case. But outside of that,
it's really hard to figure out what happened
here. She just... Really vanished, it seems like.
And then she was found a few days later with
no other marks. You know, I had wondered if,
you know, if there was anything else on her body
that gave police an indication of foul play.
But it does just seem like her cause of death
was drowning. And police had theorized, you know,
around the time of the trial that perhaps she
had been suffocated before. being put in the
water. But that was never proved. You know, nobody
testified that that's what happened. It's just
kind of what police theorized in the media. You
know, I do hope that there is continued momentum
around Christina's case. And, you know, I, I
realized that, you know, there's this double
jeopardy. That's what the papers I'm not a legal
expert. I'm not a lawyer. So I don't know if
there's a legal loophole that would ever be able
to bring charges against him again. But You know,
even just getting concrete answers for her family
and just knowing beyond a reasonable doubt what
happened to Christina, I think would go a long
way for the community to provide answers and
to give some healing to everybody that knew her,
just exactly what happened to her. And so I hope
police continue to work the case and put resources
towards the case. But again, if you know anything
about the murder of Christina Pipkin in May of
1991, please call the Arkansas State Police at
501 -618 -8420. And like I mentioned earlier,
we will have pictures of Christina on our Instagram,
but we'll also have a picture of the area where
her body was found just to kind of give you an
idea. There's nothing graphic in the photo. It's
just kind of an image of the bridge just to give
an image to the site and why it does seem very,
very strange that a child would wander there
to go swimming and why foul play is suspected
here. So those will be on our Instagram at coldandmissing.
Thank you again to everyone who's rated and reviewed
us. I did see some new wonderful reviews come
in this week. So thank you so much. You know,
again, it just kind of feeds the algorithm machine
and kind reviews feed it even more. So if you
have the time to leave us a written review, it
goes such a long way in getting this podcast
in front of other people. And it gets these cases
in front of other people, which is really the
goal here at Cold and Missing. This isn't for
fame or money or anything like that. It's really
just to get these cases out in front of people
and to get people talking about these cases.
And if you want to see other cases that we have
covered, or if you need a transcript to follow
along because you or someone you love is hard
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www .coldandmissing .com, where you can also
leave us a review. Or if you want to donate like
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to the Buy Me a Coffee on our website. But that
is all I have for you this week. Thank you so
much for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Have
a good week and stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe,
y 'all.