WEBVTT 00:00:08.269 --> 00:00:10.810 The views and opinions expressed in Cold and 00:00:10.810 --> 00:00:13.710 Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All 00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:16.129 parties mentioned are considered innocent until 00:00:16.129 --> 00:00:18.969 proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing 00:00:18.969 --> 00:00:22.410 also contains adult themes and languages. Listener 00:00:22.410 --> 00:00:26.269 discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin 00:00:26.269 --> 00:00:29.010 -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:31.269 And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover 00:00:31.269 --> 00:00:35.240 cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:37.479 and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:40.460 host Ali. And I'm your co -host Eli. Welcome 00:00:40.460 --> 00:00:43.740 back everyone. Just want to say another quick 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:47.280 thank you at the top to Ginger who last week 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:50.740 bought us a coffee on the buy us a coffee page. 00:00:51.100 --> 00:00:54.100 All of the money that's donated to us through 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.479 that link just goes right back into this podcast. 00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:00.340 So thank you again to Ginger. Yeah, it means 00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:04.920 a lot to us that Our listeners are, you know, 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:07.280 of course, willing to support in any way that 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.760 they can. But, you know, in this way, it pushes 00:01:10.760 --> 00:01:13.939 the podcast in a specific way. And it's really 00:01:13.939 --> 00:01:17.200 nice. So thank you so much. But with that, I 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.019 think we can just jump into this episode. We 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:24.879 are on episode 127 this week. Yep. And we are 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:28.760 on a cold case. Let's get into it. So just as 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:31.140 a quick content warning at the top, this case 00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:33.400 does involve a young person, and there are some 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:35.760 brief mentions of sexual assault and domestic 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:39.879 violence. Today, we are talking about the cold 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:43.340 case of Christina Pipkin, and this takes place 00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:48.540 in May of 1991 in Hickory Ridge, Arkansas. But 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:51.379 first, a little bit about Christina. Christina 00:01:51.379 --> 00:01:55.340 is nine years old in 1991. She is a fourth grader 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:57.680 at Hickory Ridge Elementary School, where she 00:01:57.680 --> 00:01:59.959 is a talkative young girl and a good student. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:03.620 She liked to color, read, and write poetry and 00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:06.980 gospel songs. Her mother, Frida, says, quote, 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:09.900 She's got a lot of interests, and she's just 00:02:09.900 --> 00:02:12.780 as smart as she can be. She wrote a song called 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:15.319 I Love You, and when she started singing it, 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:18.539 it sounded like about a person. In the end, it 00:02:18.539 --> 00:02:21.750 was about the Lord. End quote. Christina and 00:02:21.750 --> 00:02:23.969 her family had just moved to the little town 00:02:23.969 --> 00:02:26.590 of Hickory Ridge a few months before the timeline 00:02:26.590 --> 00:02:31.030 starts. The town is small. It has a population 00:02:31.030 --> 00:02:35.009 of less than 500 people. The mayor of Hickory 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:38.629 Ridge is also the fire chief, the plumbing inspector, 00:02:38.889 --> 00:02:41.710 and the water operator for the town, just to 00:02:41.710 --> 00:02:45.009 kind of paint a picture for you. Christina is 00:02:45.009 --> 00:02:48.409 tall for her age. She stands at 4 '9 and weighs 00:02:48.409 --> 00:02:51.860 about 80 pounds. She has short brown hair and 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:57.659 brown eyes. And now a timeline of events. On 00:02:57.659 --> 00:03:02.939 Saturday, May 4th, 1991. So it's unclear exactly 00:03:02.939 --> 00:03:05.539 what Christina was getting up to on this Saturday. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:09.340 But what we do know is that between 4 .30 and 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:12.599 5 p .m., she asks her parents if she can go out 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.199 and go door -to -door to try to sell some stuff 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:18.580 for her school's fundraiser. The students were 00:03:18.580 --> 00:03:21.039 tasked with selling costume jewelry in order 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:23.900 to raise funds for the school. Christina gets 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:26.659 permission but is told to be back before it gets 00:03:26.659 --> 00:03:30.240 dark. Christina is wearing shorts and a t -shirt 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:32.840 that said Desert Storm on it, along with Hickory 00:03:32.840 --> 00:03:36.360 Ridge Elementary School. It had a logo of Arkansas, 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:40.520 the American flag, and Kuwait on it. She's wearing 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:44.020 white sandals and has red yarn bracelets on her 00:03:44.020 --> 00:03:48.000 ankle and wrist. She's also carrying a pencil 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.259 and the order form with her as she walks around 00:03:50.259 --> 00:03:54.500 town. At the time of reporting in 1991, the last 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:57.439 confirmed sighting of Christina is around 6 .30 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:00.780 p .m. She was taking an order from a woman about 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:04.180 two blocks away from her home, but she was near 00:04:04.180 --> 00:04:07.180 Arkansas 49 when she was last spotted, which 00:04:07.180 --> 00:04:09.379 was a busy road that had a lot of through traffic. 00:04:10.830 --> 00:04:14.090 However, in recent years, some more details have 00:04:14.090 --> 00:04:17.769 come out around the last time she was seen. Multiple 00:04:17.769 --> 00:04:20.029 children interviewed by police said that they 00:04:20.029 --> 00:04:22.769 had seen a stranger in town driving a light blue 00:04:22.769 --> 00:04:25.910 car and had been seen near the grocery store 00:04:25.910 --> 00:04:28.709 on the day that Christina went missing. Most 00:04:28.709 --> 00:04:31.529 kids reported the man driving the light blue 00:04:31.529 --> 00:04:35.350 car as white, having long, messy hair and high 00:04:35.350 --> 00:04:38.839 cheekbones. One of the child witnesses said that 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:41.839 they saw the car slowly following Christina as 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:44.500 she was walking near the grocery store. They 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:46.899 said that Christina was shaking her head no at 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:50.980 the car. A cashier at the grocery store told 00:04:50.980 --> 00:04:53.540 police that the day Christina went missing, a 00:04:53.540 --> 00:04:56.720 stranger came in with long dark hair and a mustache 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:01.339 to buy cigarettes around 5 .45 p .m., about 45 00:05:01.339 --> 00:05:04.639 minutes before Christina was last seen at 6 .30. 00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:08.060 As it gets darker and darker outside, Christina's 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:10.420 parents begin to worry when she doesn't come 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:15.279 back. She had never stayed out late before. They 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:18.819 start looking for her around 8 p .m. Her parents 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:22.000 go door to door, asking if anyone had seen her. 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:25.180 No one had seen her recently, though lots of 00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:27.379 folks do say that they had seen her walking around 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:32.730 earlier. Finally, at around 8 .53 p .m., Christina's 00:05:32.730 --> 00:05:36.129 parents call police to report her missing. The 00:05:36.129 --> 00:05:38.730 town is so small that they don't have a police 00:05:38.730 --> 00:05:40.709 force themselves, but the county sheriff shows 00:05:40.709 --> 00:05:44.550 up and takes the search seriously. The town's 00:05:44.550 --> 00:05:47.769 emergency alarm is sounded, and by 9 .30, more 00:05:47.769 --> 00:05:51.350 than 250 volunteers had showed up to help search. 00:05:51.589 --> 00:05:54.629 That's over half the town. Nobody thinks this 00:05:54.629 --> 00:05:57.410 is a runaway situation. People search through 00:05:57.410 --> 00:05:59.410 the night for Christina, but they don't find 00:05:59.410 --> 00:06:03.279 any sign of her. The next day, Sunday, May 5th, 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:05.860 another massive search is launched as the day 00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:09.339 breaks. People are searching on foot, horseback, 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:12.379 ATV, helicopters, and airplanes looking for any 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:15.579 sign of the little girl. With each passing hour, 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:19.699 the search gets more and more desperate. Investigators 00:06:19.699 --> 00:06:22.300 say, quote, it's getting past the time when she 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:24.339 may have stayed all night with a friend and didn't 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:27.779 call her parents. It has the appearance of an 00:06:27.779 --> 00:06:32.220 abduction, end quote. By Monday, so Christina 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:35.259 has been missing since Saturday night, the FBI 00:06:35.259 --> 00:06:38.279 joins the search for the missing girl, and searches 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:40.959 continue throughout Monday and into the next 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:44.699 day, Tuesday, May 7th. Christina has been missing 00:06:44.699 --> 00:06:47.220 for three days now when the search comes to an 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:50.939 end. In the evening hours, just over the border 00:06:50.939 --> 00:06:54.439 into the next county, about four miles from where 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:57.790 Christina was last seen, A man and his sons are 00:06:57.790 --> 00:07:00.250 walking down to a nearby bridge to check on the 00:07:00.250 --> 00:07:04.009 water levels. The bridge went over Cow Lake Ditch, 00:07:04.170 --> 00:07:06.829 a water ditch that runs for miles in between 00:07:06.829 --> 00:07:11.529 fields of crops. At this time in 1991, the water 00:07:11.529 --> 00:07:13.990 was about nine feet deep, but it did fluctuate. 00:07:14.850 --> 00:07:16.889 When the man and his sons get to the bridge, 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:19.649 one of the sons notices something in the water. 00:07:20.310 --> 00:07:23.230 The man goes down and realizes what he's looking 00:07:23.230 --> 00:07:26.579 at. He brings his sons home as quickly as he 00:07:26.579 --> 00:07:30.000 can so he can call the police. When police arrive, 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:32.699 they find the body of Christina in the water. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.860 Her body is fully clothed, but her white sandals 00:07:36.860 --> 00:07:40.600 are missing. Also missing is the pencil and order 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:43.660 form that she had been carrying. Cross County 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:46.920 Sheriff Ronnie Huey says, quote, we haven't a 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.439 clue as to what happened. There's nothing that 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:52.120 we can even build a theory on yet, end quote. 00:07:53.579 --> 00:07:56.079 There are no obvious signs of trauma to her body, 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:59.680 according to police. No bruising, cuts, scrapes. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.379 Police say that they will need to wait for the 00:08:02.379 --> 00:08:04.920 autopsy before commenting on a cause of death. 00:08:05.500 --> 00:08:08.240 However, police immediately begin to treat the 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:11.560 death as foul play. The next day, Wednesday, 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:16.220 May 8th, Christina's autopsy is conducted. Her 00:08:16.220 --> 00:08:19.819 cause of death is labeled as drowning. and the 00:08:19.819 --> 00:08:22.620 autopsy confirms that she had not been sexually 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:26.639 assaulted. Police do believe that she died where 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:29.639 she entered the water, and she likely died on 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:32.899 Saturday, the day that she went missing. Police 00:08:32.899 --> 00:08:35.860 still believe that foul play is involved. They 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:38.460 point to her missing shoes, and they don't believe 00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:40.559 that she could have walked four miles without 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:44.200 anyone else seeing her on the busy road. Police 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:46.639 say, quote, We're going to keep scratching and 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:48.879 digging, trying to get that one clue that will 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:51.460 get us started. You just keep on keeping on. 00:08:51.740 --> 00:08:54.080 Someone is going to remember something or we're 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:57.779 going to kick something over. End quote. Christina's 00:08:57.779 --> 00:09:00.879 parents support this. Christina couldn't swim. 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:03.940 There would have been no reason for her to walk 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:08.669 so far out of town to go swimming. And, when 00:09:08.669 --> 00:09:11.129 they did go swimming, she would only splash around 00:09:11.129 --> 00:09:13.110 on the shallow end because she didn't like going 00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:16.590 where she couldn't touch the bottom. Police spend 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:18.929 all day searching the area where she was found 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:22.190 for additional clues. Divers are sent into the 00:09:22.190 --> 00:09:25.850 water, but nothing further is recovered. Her 00:09:25.850 --> 00:09:28.429 shoes are never found, and neither is the pencil 00:09:28.429 --> 00:09:32.990 she was carrying or the order form. On Friday, 00:09:33.009 --> 00:09:36.129 May 10th, just shy of one week since she was 00:09:36.129 --> 00:09:40.370 last seen, Christina is laid to rest. Police 00:09:40.370 --> 00:09:43.110 still have zero leads in the case. They have 00:09:43.110 --> 00:09:45.309 talked to a few people, but no one has emerged 00:09:45.309 --> 00:09:49.269 as a real person of interest or a suspect. Both 00:09:49.269 --> 00:09:51.169 of Christina's parents will be questioned by 00:09:51.169 --> 00:09:54.389 both the police and the FBI, and both of them 00:09:54.389 --> 00:09:58.450 will be cleared of any suspicion. The case very 00:09:58.450 --> 00:10:02.250 quickly goes cold. Over the next few years, other 00:10:02.250 --> 00:10:05.049 children will go missing and either are never 00:10:05.049 --> 00:10:08.720 recovered or they're found murdered. This includes 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:11.799 the murder of Michael Moore, Steve Branch, and 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:14.100 Christopher Byers that resulted in the arrest 00:10:14.100 --> 00:10:17.620 of the West Memphis Three. Police don't think 00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:21.259 any of these cases are related, but it is happening 00:10:21.259 --> 00:10:25.860 a lot. In June of 1995, so it's been over four 00:10:25.860 --> 00:10:28.100 years since the death of Christina, and police 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:30.679 are just as convinced today as they were the 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:32.799 day they found her that foul play is involved. 00:10:33.750 --> 00:10:36.110 repeating that she did not get there by herself. 00:10:36.629 --> 00:10:40.009 Someone took her out where she was found. The 00:10:40.009 --> 00:10:42.330 case has been reviewed by other detectives over 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:46.629 the years, retired detectives and freelance detectives, 00:10:46.649 --> 00:10:49.230 but nothing new has ever surfaced from this, 00:10:49.269 --> 00:10:55.049 and no new leads have come to police. Then, seemingly 00:10:55.049 --> 00:10:58.929 out of nowhere, in November of 1999, so it's 00:10:58.929 --> 00:11:01.740 been over eight years since the murder, and police 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:05.500 make an arrest in the case. They say that they 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:08.480 have new forensic information that results in 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:11.299 the arrest of Robbie Tubbs for Christina's murder. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:14.919 Tubbs first came to police's attention when his 00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:18.080 late wife told police that when Christina was 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:21.759 still missing, before her body was found, Tubbs 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.100 was watching the news coverage and said that 00:11:24.100 --> 00:11:25.980 no one would find the girl because there are 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:28.860 too many ditches for the girl to drown in. and 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:32.279 days later, Christina was found in a ditch, drowned. 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:36.799 She also told police that he had tied her up 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:39.080 and beat her when she threatened to tell the 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:42.360 police of what he had done. Police say that they 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:46.179 found a hair in Tubbs' 1980 AMC Eagle sedan. 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:50.039 The hair was found on the right front passenger 00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:53.960 side. Police collected the sample about seven 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:57.259 months after the murder. Police are not able 00:11:57.259 --> 00:12:00.120 to arrest him in 1991 because they don't have 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:03.000 testing to prove that the hair was Christina's. 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:06.779 But with advances in DNA technology over the 00:12:06.779 --> 00:12:09.039 years, police say that they have been able to 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:11.899 confirm that the hair found in his car belonged 00:12:11.899 --> 00:12:16.139 to Christina. Tubbs is arrested and pleads not 00:12:16.139 --> 00:12:20.259 guilty to the crime. And in April of 2000, nearly 00:12:20.259 --> 00:12:23.000 nine years after the murder, the trial starts. 00:12:23.950 --> 00:12:26.470 The state is seeking the death penalty in this 00:12:26.470 --> 00:12:30.470 case. However, almost as quickly as the trial 00:12:30.470 --> 00:12:35.610 starts, it stops. It's revealed by Tubbs' defense 00:12:35.610 --> 00:12:38.950 team that the hair in question, the one found 00:12:38.950 --> 00:12:42.649 in his car, was never actually tested by the 00:12:42.649 --> 00:12:46.110 FBI. There had been a mix -up in the samples, 00:12:46.210 --> 00:12:50.409 and the FBI had tested known samples of Christina's 00:12:50.409 --> 00:12:53.519 hair. So of course those came back as a match 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:57.120 for her DNA. So the court delays the trial for 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:00.080 two months so the FBI can test the strand found 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:03.919 in the car, the correct sample. Within weeks 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:06.600 though, the FBI reports that the hair sample 00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:09.720 from the car is not a good enough sample for 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:13.299 them to be able to get a DNA profile from. Therefore, 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:17.490 they can't prove that it's Christina's. Tubbs' 00:13:17.629 --> 00:13:22.110 late wife also can't testify and her testimony 00:13:22.110 --> 00:13:25.909 is not admitted into court. She can't testify 00:13:25.909 --> 00:13:29.450 because she was murdered two years to the day 00:13:29.450 --> 00:13:32.769 after Christina in a burglary that had gone wrong. 00:13:33.970 --> 00:13:37.169 Tubbs had been cleared of any involvement in 00:13:37.169 --> 00:13:40.370 his late wife's murder. So without these two 00:13:40.370 --> 00:13:43.409 pieces of critical evidence, the prosecutors 00:13:43.409 --> 00:13:47.320 are forced to drop all the charges. The prosecutor 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:49.679 doesn't have enough evidence to prove beyond 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.740 a reasonable doubt and certainly prove a death 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:55.960 case with what evidence he has left after those 00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:58.820 two things are taken out. The evidence that is 00:13:58.820 --> 00:14:01.539 left is really just contradicting stories in 00:14:01.539 --> 00:14:04.200 how the hair could have ended up in his car. 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:07.919 Investigators say that they don't plan to reinvestigate 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:11.600 the case and Tubbs can't be charged again in 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.090 this case because of double jeopardy. After this, 00:14:15.149 --> 00:14:19.929 the case really goes cold until about 2023 when 00:14:19.929 --> 00:14:23.549 another podcast, Hell Gone Cold, covers this 00:14:23.549 --> 00:14:25.970 case. And it brings up a lot of media attention. 00:14:26.129 --> 00:14:28.629 And there are some new details released. And 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:31.070 that's when we get the details about the children 00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:36.149 seeing a suspicious figure in town the day that 00:14:36.149 --> 00:14:38.309 Christina went missing. But other than that, 00:14:38.470 --> 00:14:42.730 there are really no new developments in Christina's 00:14:42.730 --> 00:14:47.419 case. So with that, if you know anything about 00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:51.940 the murder of Christina Pipkin in 1991, please 00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:58.440 call the Arkansas State Police at 501 -618 -8420. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:04.200 So that is the case of Christina Pipkin. I loved 00:15:04.200 --> 00:15:08.580 hearing the detail about Christina and that she 00:15:08.580 --> 00:15:13.559 was chatty at school and just the way... people 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:17.659 spoke about her. And we've said this before when 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:21.779 we've covered cold cases involving children, 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:27.200 but it's just really heartbreaking to learn about 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:32.679 their budding personalities and the way that 00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:37.919 they're just squashed out of existence. I don't 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:43.299 know. As always, these are... The most difficult 00:15:43.299 --> 00:15:47.059 cases for me to listen to, but I'm so grateful 00:15:47.059 --> 00:15:51.179 that we cover them. And just more about Christina, 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.600 she sounded just like a little ray of sunshine. 00:15:55.379 --> 00:15:59.200 Yeah, the detail of Christina writing poetry 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:01.840 and writing gospel songs, there's something about 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:06.620 a child that writes worship music that is just 00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:08.840 so endearing. You know, whatever kind of worship 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.039 music it is, it's just... There's something very 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:16.879 innocent and pure about it. And yeah, I think 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.539 that just kind of sums up Christina, you know. 00:16:19.940 --> 00:16:24.039 Yeah. And the things that she was doing in her 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:27.240 young life, which kind of brings us into this 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:31.580 into the timeline, which is, you know, doing 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:34.480 her little sales thing in the neighborhood. I 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.580 definitely remember this happening in my neighborhood 00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:41.149 with fundraising stuff. little pizza kits and 00:16:41.149 --> 00:16:45.769 stuff. I remember this being a very normal thing 00:16:45.769 --> 00:16:51.230 in the 90s. So when you introduced that that's 00:16:51.230 --> 00:16:53.590 what she was doing, I immediately understood 00:16:53.590 --> 00:16:58.789 kind of her navigating of the local neighborhood. 00:16:58.950 --> 00:17:02.370 It was a space that she knew. Definitely. And 00:17:02.370 --> 00:17:05.470 just as a side note, you know, after Christina's 00:17:05.470 --> 00:17:09.130 murder, the county, the school district banned 00:17:09.130 --> 00:17:12.130 door -to -door sales as fundraisers for children 00:17:12.130 --> 00:17:15.410 after this they didn't want kids doing it anymore 00:17:15.410 --> 00:17:19.190 and you know when I was growing up I don't think 00:17:19.190 --> 00:17:21.730 my school officially had anything like this we 00:17:21.730 --> 00:17:23.809 had other kinds of fundraisers but never anything 00:17:23.809 --> 00:17:26.210 that we were supposed to go door -to -door for 00:17:26.210 --> 00:17:30.029 but I did have that kind of fundraising for like 00:17:30.029 --> 00:17:33.910 um like my dance squad stuff so it was something 00:17:33.910 --> 00:17:36.089 that was still happening a lot in the 90s but 00:17:36.089 --> 00:17:40.720 I don't think it's happening I wanted to ask 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:45.079 a more specific question about this part of the 00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:49.539 timeline. I didn't catch when you said that she 00:17:49.539 --> 00:17:52.339 asked her parents to go out. What was that time 00:17:52.339 --> 00:17:56.480 window? So she left her parents' house between 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:00.519 4 .30 and 5 p .m. and was last seen at around 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:05.380 6 .30 p .m. So this was, you know, perceivably 00:18:05.380 --> 00:18:09.630 daylight. For the most part. Yeah, it would have 00:18:09.630 --> 00:18:12.549 been the early evening hours, but the beginning 00:18:12.549 --> 00:18:15.829 of May. So the days are getting longer every 00:18:15.829 --> 00:18:19.029 day at this point in the year. When you were 00:18:19.029 --> 00:18:25.769 speaking about her route and mentioning through 00:18:25.769 --> 00:18:28.849 lanes or through traffic, is that just like concentrated 00:18:28.849 --> 00:18:32.890 areas where lots of people are crossing from 00:18:32.890 --> 00:18:35.710 like different towns or cities? Yeah, she was 00:18:35.710 --> 00:18:39.210 the last seen. I believe near Arkansas 49. And 00:18:39.210 --> 00:18:43.750 so this is like a highway country road and it 00:18:43.750 --> 00:18:46.450 kind of links some major cities and it runs right 00:18:46.450 --> 00:18:49.910 through the small town of Hickory Ridge. So there's 00:18:49.910 --> 00:18:53.130 usually a lot of just traffic on this road as 00:18:53.130 --> 00:18:55.470 people kind of go from one city to the next. 00:18:56.309 --> 00:18:59.029 Thank you. I think I had, you know, a loose understanding, 00:18:59.250 --> 00:19:02.250 but that definitely clarifies things, which, 00:19:02.309 --> 00:19:05.789 you know, brings me to what you spoke about next, 00:19:05.869 --> 00:19:12.140 which is. This man, this creepy mystery guy with 00:19:12.140 --> 00:19:16.359 the mustache, he also buys the cigarettes, right? 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:20.140 Yeah, the grocery store clerk said that she sold 00:19:20.140 --> 00:19:24.579 cigarettes to a strange man that matched the 00:19:24.579 --> 00:19:26.940 children's description of the man that they saw 00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:30.559 around 4 .45 p .m. You know, you bringing up 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:36.720 the grocery store clerk. I feel like I can't 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:42.619 not mention the community here and the unwavering 00:19:42.619 --> 00:19:46.339 support that this family received in search of 00:19:46.339 --> 00:19:49.380 Christina. And, you know, I was kind of impressed 00:19:49.380 --> 00:19:53.740 at how law enforcement showed up as well. A tiny, 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:55.859 you know, a small community, but very mighty. 00:19:56.039 --> 00:20:01.259 The love is clearly there. Yeah, the town definitely 00:20:01.259 --> 00:20:03.960 showed up for Christina and searched for them. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:06.380 I will say this, and I didn't mention it in the 00:20:06.380 --> 00:20:09.299 timeline, but just since you mentioned it, the 00:20:09.299 --> 00:20:14.940 small town of Hickory Ridge did fall into some 00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:19.240 small town traps of, you know, rumor mills. And 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:23.559 the town eventually was like pretty vicious towards 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:26.240 Christina's parents. And they ended up moving 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.420 just months after they buried her because they 00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:33.069 couldn't take. the rumors or people saying they 00:20:33.069 --> 00:20:35.970 weren't acting right or a lot of townsfolk were 00:20:35.970 --> 00:20:39.950 upset that the family had used funds that were 00:20:39.950 --> 00:20:41.930 raised for a headstone, but the family had used 00:20:41.930 --> 00:20:44.750 it on other expenses at the time. So, you know, 00:20:44.769 --> 00:20:46.690 the police had to kind of come out again and 00:20:46.690 --> 00:20:48.670 again and say that her parents were not involved 00:20:48.670 --> 00:20:51.450 because people wouldn't stop speculating and 00:20:51.450 --> 00:20:56.170 spreading rumors that they were. That's so sad 00:20:56.170 --> 00:21:01.160 and so unfortunate that there was another side 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:06.420 to the same coin. But, you know, with a tragedy 00:21:06.420 --> 00:21:10.299 like this, rocking a community, you know, I think 00:21:10.299 --> 00:21:14.920 it can change people as well. So I, you know, 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:18.700 that's devastating to hear because her parents 00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:23.059 absolutely deserve peace. More just like about 00:21:23.059 --> 00:21:25.960 the community in general and that, you know, 00:21:25.980 --> 00:21:31.549 it is the size of 500 people. Is it common knowledge 00:21:31.549 --> 00:21:34.369 that there are small bodies of water in this 00:21:34.369 --> 00:21:38.730 area to outsiders of the community? I was just 00:21:38.730 --> 00:21:43.710 curious about that. Would someone have had to 00:21:43.710 --> 00:21:48.029 have known that that small ditch or body of water 00:21:48.029 --> 00:21:51.730 was there to bring her there? No, that's a good 00:21:51.730 --> 00:21:58.200 question. Where she was found, police theorized 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:00.799 that she would have been dropped right from the 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.980 road over. So anyone driving along the road would 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:08.200 have seen this water underneath. But again, and 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:09.859 we'll have pictures of this on our Instagram 00:22:09.859 --> 00:22:11.799 of where her body was found, because I just want 00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:15.119 to emphasize that this, and I get why police 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:17.900 truly believe foul play was suspected here, because 00:22:17.900 --> 00:22:20.980 this is not like a swimming spot. It's, you know, 00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:26.500 it's off. a highway, runs underneath it. If you're 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:29.700 from the Midwest, you drive and do a long drive, 00:22:29.779 --> 00:22:32.440 you see this type of water all over the place. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:34.380 And you never see people swimming, you never 00:22:34.380 --> 00:22:39.519 see people fishing. So this water just, it's 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:42.819 not a place that a child who didn't know how 00:22:42.819 --> 00:22:45.259 to swim, I think, would be tempted to go swimming. 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.359 And furthermore, on top of that, when I was looking 00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:53.160 at the maps and the Fastest way, point A to B, 00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:55.059 where she was last seen to where her body was 00:22:55.059 --> 00:22:59.259 found. If she had walked there along the road, 00:22:59.420 --> 00:23:02.839 there were other water spots. There was other 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:06.599 places to enter the water if that's what she 00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:10.440 wanted to do. So the fact that all these other 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:12.539 opportunities were missed and like went even 00:23:12.539 --> 00:23:15.359 farther out, I think that is very suspicious. 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:17.960 And I definitely see how police believe that 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:21.250 it was foul play involved. Yeah, I mean, there's 00:23:21.250 --> 00:23:23.529 not really any part of me that thinks otherwise. 00:23:24.750 --> 00:23:29.250 I have a few questions about Robbie Tubbs, just 00:23:29.250 --> 00:23:32.849 to bring him up briefly. What do you make of 00:23:32.849 --> 00:23:35.549 this connection? I mean, I know he, Double Jeopardy, 00:23:35.650 --> 00:23:39.549 because I didn't know, I don't know, I don't 00:23:39.549 --> 00:23:42.529 know who he is. I wasn't writing a lot of questions. 00:23:42.569 --> 00:23:44.829 I was just listening to you. And I just wanted 00:23:44.829 --> 00:23:47.789 to circle back on kind of what happened here 00:23:47.789 --> 00:23:54.940 with him. Yeah, it's Tubbs. He's not an upstanding 00:23:54.940 --> 00:23:59.559 member of the community outside of this. Later, 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:02.079 you know, robbery charges will be brought against 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:05.240 him. And he'll also, I believe, admit that of 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:08.799 like having sexual relations with a teenager. 00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:14.839 So, you know, overall, not a great guy. But I 00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:19.519 don't know really what to make of this. You know, 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:26.000 the hair is really small evidence. Like, I, that's 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:28.779 just having a hair kind of connect you to something. 00:24:28.980 --> 00:24:31.579 That's a lot for a death penalty case, for sure. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:36.700 So, like, I definitely have doubts about it, 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:38.940 but I'm also suspicious. You know what I mean? 00:24:39.019 --> 00:24:42.579 So it's like, I'm suspicious of this person. 00:24:42.619 --> 00:24:45.019 And, you know, he did have some contradicting 00:24:45.019 --> 00:24:50.559 stories. That Christina went missing. He was 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:54.000 out of town staying at a hotel, but the hotel 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:57.059 had no records of him that weekend. So he is 00:24:57.059 --> 00:25:00.339 caught in some lies there, but not enough to 00:25:00.339 --> 00:25:04.599 prove a capital murder case. Well, even though 00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:08.079 there's, you know, limited information in Christina's 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:11.079 case, I was glad to hear that, you know, another 00:25:11.079 --> 00:25:14.819 podcast had covered this and there was a moment 00:25:14.819 --> 00:25:17.279 like a blip where there was energy around her 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:22.369 case again. And I hope that that happens here 00:25:22.369 --> 00:25:25.630 with you sharing her timeline with us and kind 00:25:25.630 --> 00:25:28.069 of connecting some dots and providing updates. 00:25:29.769 --> 00:25:34.150 I feel it's kind of painful to say this or admit 00:25:34.150 --> 00:25:37.390 this. I feel lost thinking about this case because, 00:25:37.450 --> 00:25:41.670 yeah, there's a lot of speculation, but I think 00:25:41.670 --> 00:25:44.910 because it happened in her town and so close 00:25:44.910 --> 00:25:49.269 to home. My mind has a very difficult time trying 00:25:49.269 --> 00:25:54.329 to pin anyone down for this. I'm so glad that 00:25:54.329 --> 00:25:57.630 you brought it to Cold and Missing. Yeah, it's 00:25:57.630 --> 00:26:01.410 hard to kind of point any way. You know, the 00:26:01.410 --> 00:26:04.009 only people truly cleared are her parents, and 00:26:04.009 --> 00:26:06.690 she has a brother. You know, her family has all 00:26:06.690 --> 00:26:09.309 been cleared in the case. But outside of that, 00:26:09.369 --> 00:26:12.230 it's really hard to figure out what happened 00:26:12.230 --> 00:26:16.339 here. She just... Really vanished, it seems like. 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:19.900 And then she was found a few days later with 00:26:19.900 --> 00:26:23.380 no other marks. You know, I had wondered if, 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:26.299 you know, if there was anything else on her body 00:26:26.299 --> 00:26:28.680 that gave police an indication of foul play. 00:26:28.819 --> 00:26:32.500 But it does just seem like her cause of death 00:26:32.500 --> 00:26:36.700 was drowning. And police had theorized, you know, 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:39.039 around the time of the trial that perhaps she 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:42.579 had been suffocated before. being put in the 00:26:42.579 --> 00:26:46.180 water. But that was never proved. You know, nobody 00:26:46.180 --> 00:26:47.960 testified that that's what happened. It's just 00:26:47.960 --> 00:26:52.599 kind of what police theorized in the media. You 00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:55.940 know, I do hope that there is continued momentum 00:26:55.940 --> 00:27:00.359 around Christina's case. And, you know, I, I 00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:01.980 realized that, you know, there's this double 00:27:01.980 --> 00:27:04.380 jeopardy. That's what the papers I'm not a legal 00:27:04.380 --> 00:27:06.200 expert. I'm not a lawyer. So I don't know if 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:08.900 there's a legal loophole that would ever be able 00:27:08.900 --> 00:27:12.240 to bring charges against him again. But You know, 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:15.380 even just getting concrete answers for her family 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:21.059 and just knowing beyond a reasonable doubt what 00:27:21.059 --> 00:27:23.400 happened to Christina, I think would go a long 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:26.920 way for the community to provide answers and 00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:30.460 to give some healing to everybody that knew her, 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:33.319 just exactly what happened to her. And so I hope 00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:36.420 police continue to work the case and put resources 00:27:36.420 --> 00:27:39.490 towards the case. But again, if you know anything 00:27:39.490 --> 00:27:43.490 about the murder of Christina Pipkin in May of 00:27:43.490 --> 00:27:47.690 1991, please call the Arkansas State Police at 00:27:47.690 --> 00:27:53.750 501 -618 -8420. And like I mentioned earlier, 00:27:53.890 --> 00:27:57.849 we will have pictures of Christina on our Instagram, 00:27:57.910 --> 00:28:01.809 but we'll also have a picture of the area where 00:28:01.809 --> 00:28:04.309 her body was found just to kind of give you an 00:28:04.309 --> 00:28:06.390 idea. There's nothing graphic in the photo. It's 00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:09.690 just kind of an image of the bridge just to give 00:28:09.690 --> 00:28:14.410 an image to the site and why it does seem very, 00:28:14.509 --> 00:28:18.630 very strange that a child would wander there 00:28:18.630 --> 00:28:21.190 to go swimming and why foul play is suspected 00:28:21.190 --> 00:28:25.769 here. So those will be on our Instagram at coldandmissing. 00:28:26.150 --> 00:28:28.549 Thank you again to everyone who's rated and reviewed 00:28:28.549 --> 00:28:31.150 us. I did see some new wonderful reviews come 00:28:31.150 --> 00:28:33.990 in this week. So thank you so much. You know, 00:28:33.990 --> 00:28:36.849 again, it just kind of feeds the algorithm machine 00:28:36.849 --> 00:28:40.390 and kind reviews feed it even more. So if you 00:28:40.390 --> 00:28:43.089 have the time to leave us a written review, it 00:28:43.089 --> 00:28:45.390 goes such a long way in getting this podcast 00:28:45.390 --> 00:28:47.690 in front of other people. And it gets these cases 00:28:47.690 --> 00:28:49.630 in front of other people, which is really the 00:28:49.630 --> 00:28:52.509 goal here at Cold and Missing. This isn't for 00:28:52.509 --> 00:28:56.170 fame or money or anything like that. It's really 00:28:56.170 --> 00:28:59.049 just to get these cases out in front of people 00:28:59.049 --> 00:29:00.730 and to get people talking about these cases. 00:29:01.500 --> 00:29:03.660 And if you want to see other cases that we have 00:29:03.660 --> 00:29:06.119 covered, or if you need a transcript to follow 00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:07.960 along because you or someone you love is hard 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:10.220 of hearing, you can find those at our website, 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:13.619 www .coldandmissing .com, where you can also 00:29:13.619 --> 00:29:16.119 leave us a review. Or if you want to donate like 00:29:16.119 --> 00:29:18.880 our friend Ginger did, you can find the link 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:22.940 to the Buy Me a Coffee on our website. But that 00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:25.319 is all I have for you this week. Thank you so 00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:27.660 much for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your 00:29:27.660 --> 00:29:30.599 host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Have 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:33.039 a good week and stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe, 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:33.279 y 'all.