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The Columbus Poltergeist Kid · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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On October twenty third, nineteen sixty nine, a child came into the world
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and straight into a life raging with difficulty. Christina Boyer's mother was a drug
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addict, and when she found herself suddenly responsible for another fragile human life,
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she decided that she couldn't take care of it. When she was just a
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baby, the Franklin County Children's Services removed Christina from her family home and sent
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her to live with John and Joan Resh. By that point, John and
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Joan were experienced foster parents. They were established within the community and became a
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home for over two hundred and fifty children in need throughout the years. At
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one point they even had six foster children living with them at once. Christina
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was only about two years old when she moved into their busy but strict household.
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As she grew, she came to view Thereshes as her own family and
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started going by the name Tina Resh. But tragedy was not far on the
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horizon. When Tina was only twelve years old, one of her older foster
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brothers began molesting her. Like many victims, especially when their children, it
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took a while for Christina to find the courage to confide in the people that
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she saw as her parents. But what she says happened then was anything but
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the reaction a loving Foster family would provide. Finally, I did tell them,
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but they didn't believe me and slapped my face, Christina later said,
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and the trust between them all was broken. Only two years later, Christina
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began talking about another strange and unnatural experience that she was having, experiences that
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she described as something like telekinesis. According to Christina, whenever she got angry,
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upset, or had big emotions, objects around her would start moving on
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their own. It was possible Christina thought that she had the supernatural ability to
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move things with her mind, or it was possible there was something else going
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on entirely. An astonishing number of people believed Christina and believed that she had
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this gift. As the word got out the media, parapsychologists and paranormal investigators
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arrived by the dozens, all for their chance to examine the Columbus poltergeist kid.
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She was even featured on the popular TV show Unsolved Mysteries. They're about
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to meet a young woman with an extraordinary story to tell. Her name is
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Tina rush On. Tina was just fourteen years old, she found herself at
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the center of frightening vortex. Her objects moved to their own accord, an
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ordinary household appliances took on a life of their own. Were poltergeist to blame,
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demonic possession or was it all an elaborate hoax? At least one noted
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parapsychologist believes the truth lies elsewhere in the mysterious power of the mind. I
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did say poltergeist because it was now mostly accepted that Christina was haunted by a
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poltergeist who was in turn, reacting to her anger and frustration by moving inanimate
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objects around her. One parapsychologist and his assistant believed in Christina so much that
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they ended up actually moving into the rash family home. Bill Roll was determined
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to get to the source of Christina's powers, and later wrote that Christina had
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one of the most convincing cases of poultergeist activity he had ever seen. Desperate
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to not lose what he believed to be one of the biggest investigations of his
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life, Bill then invited Christina to come and live with him in his home
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in North Carolina. Christina was only fifteen years old when Bill approached her with
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this proposition, and like any teenager, she was vulnerable and was having a
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hard time with her foster parents. My adoptive father had stopped speaking to me
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and my adoptive mom and I argued all the time. Bill was like someone
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who was saving me from drowning in my own family, she later said,
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and she agreed to move in with Bill. There, Christina found herself at
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the center of attention once more. Bill first introduced her to Genie Lagel,
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a psychiatrist and hypnotherapist, and together they began to medically examine Christina, test
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her abilities and took her to parapsychology conferences. But then the Russias asked Christina
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to come home. Christina agreed, but only for a moment. Shortly after
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arriving back at the rash family home, and when Christina was only sixteen years
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old, she i met and married a man named James Bennett some when she
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later described as a complete monster. James would beat Christina until she lost consciousness.
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He would often gag and rape her. Whenever Christina would try to run
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away, he would chase her down, beat her again, and threaten her
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life. At one point, he even burned all of her clothing in an
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attempt to make it impossible for her to leave him again. When Christina finally
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did manage to escape, James continuously stalked and harassed her. Understandably, all
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of this was too much for Christina to bear, and she became very ill.
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She couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep, and when she couldn't even keep
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water down, she ended up going to the hospital. There, she was
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confronted with the startling news, news that would forever change the course of her
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life. The then nineteen year old Christina was told that she was pregnant.
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Others may have viewed this pregnancy has another hardship to contend with, especially considering
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who the child's father was and how they came to be, but to Christina,
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it was a blessing. She later said that finding out she was pregnant
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actually saved her life. She was no longer fighting to keep herself alive,
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but she was fighting for her child, and that made everything so much clearer.
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Christina was now determined to do better and be better so that her child
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wouldn't have to go through the same hardships that Christina had growing up. She
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got herself a job and her new place to live, and shortly after that
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she welcomed her daughter, Amber Gail Bennett into the world. Christina then met
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and married a man named Larry Boyer, But what had looked like a fresh
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start and a new hopeful beginning quickly turned sour. A familiar pattern began to
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emerge when Larry turned abusive. By this time, Christina didn't stick around long
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enough for things to get worse. When Larry was in jail one night,
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Christina packed up Amber and their things and moved to Carroll County, Georgia.
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It was a quiet and highly conservative town. The people there thought that Christina
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was a wayward sinner, or at the very least, an incredibly unusual woman
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who'd shown up without her husband and with a team of parapsychologists hot on her
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tail. Bill Roll and Genie Lagel actually ended up following Christina to Carroll County,
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still determined to get to the bottom of this poltergeist activity that supposedly was
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still happening all around her. But Bill and Jeanie brought their own problems with
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them, problems that Christina found herself caught in the middle of. Genie claimed
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to have been taking on most of the workload while Bill hogged the limelight.
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He allegedly started going to parapsychology conferences without Genie, claiming all of the research
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and all of the evidence they had collected together was his own. But the
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final straw came when Genie found out that Bill had been writing a book about
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Christina behind her back, and it was after that that Genie did decided to
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take matters into her own hands. She approached Christina and struck up a deal
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where Jenny could write her own book about Christina and their research, and Christina
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agreed to help her. In return, Genie paid Christina five dollars per hour
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to type up her research notes and the two of them got to work.
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The extra money helped Christina out around the house, and it was a house
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that now had more mouths to feed. Somewhere along the way, Christina had
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met David Herron, a man who also had her daughter the same age,
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Zamber. When he and his child moved into Christina's trailer, they brought with
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them a fresh start and a new sense of opportunity. David could now look
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after the children, and Christina could pick up more hours working with Genie both
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typing up her research notes and working on the book that they hoped to later
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sell, but they were still trouble on the horizon. Christina later said that
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she would often have to remind David that Amber was different from his own daughter.
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Amber was in energetic, almost hyperactive, and often got herself hurt because
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of it. Amber would get the usual bumps and bruises that most toddlers do,
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but in the spring of nineteen ninety two, she also took a dive
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out of the back of the car when she was over excited about getting out
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of her car seat. Amber hit the pavement and ended up with a large
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swollen forehead that had Christina desperately calling her foster mother, Joan for advice about
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Joan told Christina that Amber was probably fine and to just keep an eye on
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the swelling and on her behavior. Christina breathed a sigh of relief and went
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about her days. As the swelling went down, she felt comfortable enough to
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leave Amber alone again with David and head out to work, but when she
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came home later that day, David was standing in the driveway. He told
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her that something was wrong with Amber, and she wouldn't wake up. Christina
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rushed inside to find her daughter unconscious, her skin already turning a sickening shade
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of gray. By the time they reached the hospital, it was already too
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late for little Amber. Christina was distraught, but within moments she was escorted
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down to the local police station, not to give a statement, but to
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be questioned about her daughter's death. It turned out that Amber's death had not
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been an accident, but a result of another blow to the head, a
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blow that was later determined to have happened while Amber was at work and more
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than likely the result of a beating. The question that investigators put to Christina
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was if she'd known that David had been abusing her daughter or not. Christina
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denied everything and denied that David had ever hurt Amber. The authorities didn't believe
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her, and prosecutors later argued that if Christina had taken Amber to the hospital
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sooner, like when she first started showing signs of bruising, it was more
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than likely that Amber would still be alive. They said that Christina had a
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role to play in her daughter's death, one that revolved around protecting her daughter's
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abuser instead of her own shope. The death penalty was now on the horizon
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for Christina. Not wanting to risk it, her lawyers advised her to take
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an offered plea. This is a plead that people can make where they plead
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guilty without actually saying they're guilty of the crimes are being charged with. Essentially,
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they're saying that they're innocent, but they would rather go to prison than
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risk going to court being found guilty and sentenced to death. Christina was put
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away for life and is still behind bars to this day. David Herron was
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somehow found not guilty of murder, but was sentenced to twenty years for child
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cruelty. He was released in twenty eleven. That's ten minute Murder for today
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