The Disappearance of Christopher Kerze

By Pete Dove

Did he kill himself? Was he murdered? Did he run off to meet a friend about whom his family knew nothing? Did he join some cult and if so, is he still a part of it? Did he die while a member of this unnamed, unknown group? Did he leave it, and has for decades been too ashamed to admit his error?
Is he indeed dead, but his demise has nothing to do with his departure from an apparently loving, caring and tight knit home?
His parents have no idea. Since his disappearance, they have not moved home, not even changed their telephone number or altered the locks on their doors. Because they are convinced that one day the possibility exists that there will a hesitant knock on the door and there will stand Christopher, older but still their son.
Or a phone call will be received, again, that says 'Mom, I'm ready to come home,' Each time they go shopping, or visit a friend they hold the faintest glimmer of a hope that they will return to find a strange car in the drive, and a man they hardly know but know so well sitting on the sofa, awaiting their return.
Imagine thirty years of that hope, something to be dashed every day. Imagine the pain that causes, the hardship they endure.
Because, nobody knows – has the faintest clue – what happened to Christopher Kerze.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201009267

Book preview

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CHRISTOPHER KERZE

PETE DOVE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHRISTOPHER KERZE

JANE DOROTIK

KELLY GISSENDANER

WENDI ANDRIANO

LARISSA SCHUSTER

ALICIA SHAYNE LOVERA

MARY WINKLER

TRACEY GRISSOM

MICHELLE HALL

The Confusing Case of Christopher Kerze

When researching true crime events any number of oddities might be thrown up.  Bizarre acts, inexplicable deeds, sometimes – often, in fact – actions of such vile viciousness, such selfishness and egotism that the perpetrator’s right to be called a human is inevitably questioned.

That is the nature of the worst excesses of humanity’s outer reaches.  But despite the horror, the suspension of belief, the feeling of bile rising inside there is usually some measure of closure.  Usually, a body has been found; a killer apprehended or even some certainty that a missing person is, sadly, tragically, never going to be found.

Then there is the case of Christopher Kerze. If he were home, and well, Christopher would be forty-seven now.  Probably, he would have a family or partner, and most likely a successful career.  He was that kind of boy, as we shall see.  But thirty years ago, when he was just seventeen years of age, Christopher disappeared.

He has never been seen since. His is one of the strangest cases in Minnesotan history.  Did he run away?  Was he abducted?  Was he encouraged to meet a stranger, or someone he thought he knew, in a remote location?

Did he kill himself?  Was he murdered? Did he run off to meet a friend about whom his family knew nothing?  Did he join some cult and if so, is he still a part of it?  Did he die while a member of this unnamed, unknown group?  Did he leave it, and has for decades been too ashamed to admit his error?

Is he indeed dead, but his demise has nothing to do with his departure from an apparently loving, caring and tight knit home?

His parents have no idea.  Since his disappearance, they have not moved home, not even changed their telephone number or altered the locks on their doors.  Because they are convinced that one day the possibility exists that there will a hesitant knock on the door and there will stand Christopher, older but still their son.

Or a phone call will be received, again, that says ‘Mom, I’m ready to come home,’  Each time they go shopping, or visit a friend they hold the faintest glimmer of a hope that they will return to find a strange car in the drive, and a man they hardly know but know so well sitting on the sofa, awaiting their return.

Imagine thirty years of that hope, something to be dashed every day.  Imagine the pain that causes, the hardship they endure.

Because, nobody knows – has the faintest clue – what happened to Christopher Kerze.  He is, we must conclude, probably dead, but that is far from certain.  And if he is dead, whether that is the result of his own actions, or the callous deed of another, we do not know.

Minnesota calls itself the land of 10000 lakes. (This boast is actually quite modest, since it has eleven and a half thousand lakes which might legitimately bear the name, along with six and half thousand rivers and streams.)  It is also a land of great, open spaces.  It is in the top quartile of US states in terms of area but is merely mid-sized in terms of population.  And, well over half of the total number of residents of ‘The Star of the North’ (as its motto somewhat hyperbolically states) lives in the twin cities of St Paul and Minneapolis.  The remainder of this vast expanse of land and water is remarkably un-populated.

If you wanted to hide a body for any reason, there would be no shortage of places to head to in Minnesota.  Weigh down the body and throw it into any of the endless number of lakes, drive to the prairies of the west, the deciduous forests of the south or the sparsely populated North Woods.

People in Minnesota live well.  It is among the richest and best educated places to reside in the entire nation.  The standard of living for its citizens is the envy of all but the rarest of regions.

Nothing about the Kerze family deviated from these impressive statistics.  They were a typical, comfortably off, law abiding, community minded family.  Then Christopher went missing.

It was April 20th, 1990.  The harsh Minnesotan winters were turning towards hot summer.  Spring is perhaps the most beautiful time in that state.  For a boy soon to graduate, expecting top grades and who loved the outdoors, it is not the time of year to contemplate suicide.

Christopher had also recently passed his driving test.  The freedom of the roads beckoned.  Admittedly, it was a family joke that he could find himself hopelessly lost were he to wander no more than a couple of blocks from his home.  It did seem as though his ability to drive was somewhat handicapped by a poor sense of direction.

He was a conscientious student, one who apparently enjoyed school and had a good circle of friends.  So, when he told his parents that he was unwell that morning they had no reason to doubt his word.  Christopher claimed a bad headache and general feeling of malaise.  Jim, his father, had a business trip and Loni, his mother, her own job to do.  Younger brother Patrick was bundled off to school and Christopher stayed at home to recover his health.

Something happened during the day, because by the time Loni returned the house was empty, other than a casual note on the kitchen table.

‘Mom,’ it said, ‘something important came up + feeling somewhat’ (he was – is - a very educated chap) ‘better.  Back by six. (Unless I get lost).  Love, Chris.’

The use of parenthesis is telling.  Either Christopher was trying to be overtly casual with his throwaway joke – he had underlined ‘lost’ twice – or more likely there was nothing to worry about. 

Also missing were two significant items.  The family’s relatively new, 1988, blue dodge caravan was gone.  It seems hard to reach any other conclusion, especially given the note, than Christopher had taken the vehicle to go wherever.  The second missing item was only discovered later.  Patrick reported to his parents that Jim’s rifle was not in its usual place.  It was a particularly special weapon, worth a reasonable sum.  A 1954-56 Mossberg 20-gauge bolt action shotgun. 

However, although the gun was gone, there was no ammunition taken. 

One other curious incident often receives less attention than it might usually do.  The family dog was normally left tied up in the yard when there was nobody home.  But today it was running free.  Of course, it might simply have escaped.  But that would be a remarkable coincidence.

What possibilities might exist for the fact that dog was not tied up?  Had Christopher been scared by something, and let the dog loose to deter a visitor?  Had he had one final play with his dog then, because he was in an emotional state, forgotten to tie it up before leaving?

Had whatever ‘come up’ been so urgent and worrying that Christopher had simply forgotten to tie up the dog?  That final option seems reasonable but does not fit in with what was a calm note, one in which he had gone so far as to use humor, making fun of his lack of any sense of direction.

Once Jim returned from his business trip, with Loni beside herself with worry, his parents attempted to report their son missing to police.  However, it was too soon for the authorities to accept a missing person report.  Even though it is known that with every passing hour the chances of finding a missing person diminish significantly, the Kerze family would need to wait until the regulatory twenty-four hours had passed.

The next day came a dramatic and disturbing turn of events.  Iona and Jim received a handwritten note through the post purporting to be from Christopher.  In it he claimed to have lied about being sick, using it as an excuse to remain at home so he could take the family van and make a getaway.  He said that he was going ‘to not even I know where’. 

Then he went on to apologize for the worry and unhappiness he was causing his family, whom he loved, but stated that he was planning on killing himself.

There are many observers of this story who have picked up on the fact that he underlined the word ‘lost’ twice on his original note left at home.  They try to make the case that this was some deeply metaphorical statement underpinned with the lack of subtlety of the teenage mind.

However, the tone does not fit.  The theory exists that he left the first note to buy himself some time.  But if so, why return at six pm?  Why not eight or nine?  The same theorists try to link his taking his father’s shotgun to their plot.  They indicate that he took the gun with which to shoot himself.  Yet if that was the case, why not take ammunition?  It is hard to kill oneself with an unloaded gun.

Gradually, even more evidence began to emerge which questioned the suicide theory.  The day he went missing, he withdrew $200 from his bank account.  Not the full extent of his savings, note, nor just enough for some gas for the vehicle and maybe a sandwich and soft drink.  The value of $200 more or less doubled in the following thirty years.  $400 today does not buy a car, or a home, but is certainly more than the average person will spend in a day.  It is a strange amount and does not fit at all with a person attempting to kill themselves a few hours later.

On the 22nd of April 1990, two days after Christopher left home planning, or not, to be back by the evening, and a day after the police accepted that they might have a missing person on their hands, the blue Dodge caravan was discovered.

It was found not far from Christopher’s grandparents’ home.  Had he been making his way there, but was let down by his sense of direction?  There seemed to be no clues hinting that this might be the case.  Perhaps he genuinely did not know where he was going, and this was a route at least mildly familiar to him.

The vehicles were located parked at the side of the road in Itasca County.  That is in northern Minnesota, about two hundred miles from his home in Eagan.  The area is rural, close to expansive woodlands. It is nearly thirty miles north of Grand Rapids.  In other words, if Christopher was looking for somewhere remote to take his life, he had discovered a good location.

Inside was a note, explaining from where the van came, and who owned it.  It appeared as though the note was written by Christopher.  But as to the boy, there was no clue.  Also missing from the van was Jim’s gun. 

So, what happened to the young driver next?  We can only surmise.

One theory is that he took the gun into the woods, loaded it with bullets he had purchased on the way and shot himself.  Another is