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E255: Christine Cole Part 1
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January 6th, 1988 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island began like so many others for the Cole family. It was yet another frigid day but Christine, who had just turned 10, was excited to help by running some errands for her mom. Christine had clear directions on where to go and what to get. But, as dinnertime came and went without Christine returning from her errands, her mother knew something was wrong. And, weeks later, her worst fears were realized.
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Transcript
Reflections on Community and Personal Ties
00:00:00
Speaker
I grew up in a town much like Pawtucket, Rhode Island. While my childhood town was much smaller than the population of roughly 70,000 people in Pawtucket, both were places where nearly everyone knew your name. Where the streets around your home were second nature. Where neighbors were like relatives looking out for one another. And where the local schools and the local supermarket were the centers of community life.
00:00:29
Speaker
Small and smallish towns like these have a lot in common. We had our share of stories, both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
Introduction to Christine Cole's Case
00:00:40
Speaker
But in Pawtucket, there's one that, like a persistent echo, has reverberated through the years. The story of innocence lost on a cold January night in 1988. It's a story that has stuck with me as well, perhaps because the girl at the center of our case would only be a year older than I am, but also perhaps because it reminds me of the fragility of childhood and innocence. This is the case of Christine Cole.
Podcast's Mission on Missing Persons
00:01:47
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families.
00:02:07
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
Acknowledgment of Production Delays
00:02:25
Speaker
Sleuth Hounds, I want to take just a second to apologize that there wasn't an episode last week and I've been a bit tardy in posting this one. I have experienced some significant family medical issues recently that coupled with the ice storm additional projects I have at work and still going to physical therapy twice a week for my hand injury that I sustained in a car accident back in September. All of those things piled on top of one another.
00:03:03
Speaker
in essence, led me to a place mentally where I couldn't cover a case with the fidelity that I know it deserves. So I decided to postpone. But here we are. So let's go ahead and get into the details.
The Day Christine Disappeared
00:03:24
Speaker
The story of Christine Cole is one that has haunted the industrial city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island for over three decades.
00:03:33
Speaker
On January 6, 1988, just two days after her 10th birthday, Christine, a bright-eyed girl with long dark hair, was sent on a quick errand by her mother.
00:03:46
Speaker
It was a freezing cold day with temperatures near zero, but having been cooped up inside all day and for the last little bit, the winter of 1988 had been brutally cold, freezing over local rivers even. Christine was excited to be trusted with an errand, especially because there would be a little treat in it for her.
00:04:13
Speaker
Her mission, to use the food stamp voucher her mother had given her, run to a local market, Reds Seafood on Mineral Spring Avenue, with permission to go to Saints Market two blocks further if she couldn't get the items at Reds, and pick up a few items for dinner, milk and clams. Which makes me think they were probably having some sort of clam chowder. That's what it makes me think of, at least in Rhode Island.
00:04:43
Speaker
There should be some change left over, and Christine's mother, Margaret Cole, who went by Margie, had told Christine that she could use the change to purchase some candy. It was like an after-birthday present.
Concerns and Dangers of Christine's Errand
00:04:58
Speaker
When Christine left home late that afternoon to grab the items for dinner that I just mentioned, she was given specific instructions by her mother about which stores she could visit. She was to go to Red's Seafood First, which was about a half mile, 10 blocks from her apartment.
00:05:20
Speaker
If Red was closed or if they didn't have the necessary items, she could go to Saints Market a couple of blocks further. It wasn't unusual for Margie to ask Christine to run errands for her because Christine was the oldest of Margie's children and Christine was extremely familiar with the neighborhood and with the neighbors. I will say In thinking about this case, as many of you may have noted already, Christine was only 10. I understand also that some 10 year olds are much more mature and responsible than others, but Margie did expect that Christine would follow through with this errand and so she sent her on her way. But I also want to point out we are in January and
00:06:19
Speaker
in January when we're talking about Christine leaving home in the late afternoon, it will start to get dark soon.
Inconsistencies in Christine's Movements
00:06:29
Speaker
And that does add a factor that we have to at least keep in mind when we're talking about this case.
00:06:37
Speaker
If you're wondering also why Margie was so specific in her orders to Christine, it might be because Christine, as any 10 year old might do, had a tendency to dawdle and to make pit stops where she tended to lose track of time.
00:06:55
Speaker
Again, I want to emphasize here that I don't know of many, if any, 10-year-olds who have a great sense of time and Christine was no exception. Just in the last year, Christine had once gone for a walk without telling her mother and was gone for over six hours.
00:07:15
Speaker
Worried, her mom had called law enforcement, but Christine was later located at a friend's house where she had been the whole time. Prior to that, she had been reported missing after hours passed and she was found looking for something in a dumpster that she believed she had lost.
00:07:35
Speaker
That happened a couple of years earlier when she was only eight. In fact, according to my research, there were at least three separate times when it seemed that Christine was missing or had run away.
00:07:53
Speaker
You've heard enough of the cases that Maggie and I have covered here on the show to know why I'm telling you all of these details, because it would shade law enforcement's perspective concerning the night in question that I'll speak about in just a moment.
00:08:09
Speaker
Plus, we have the added problem that the timeline of the events on the sixth are different depending on which source you read. WPRI 12 Rhode Island cites a detective linked with Christine's case saying one thing and the Boston Globe who conducted a thorough and in-depth investigation into the case saying another. So for our purposes, since details matter,
00:08:38
Speaker
I will tell you both. According to Amanda Milkovich's article for the Boston Globe, the following is a detailed recounting of Christine's actions after leaving home on January 6th.
00:08:53
Speaker
Milkovich notes that Christine left home around 4 p.m. on the 6th, bundled up in two pair of socks and a hooded coat, though she didn't have a hat nor gloves for the added protection against the cold on her head and hands. And it seems that Christine did as she was told, taking the $10 in food stamps first to Red Seafood, where she arrived between 4.15 and 4.30, according to a store clerk.
00:09:22
Speaker
Christine was a regular at Red Seafood and the employee there confirmed she came in and that she bought three pounds of clams and a bag of chips, which she carried out in a white paper bag.
00:09:37
Speaker
She did not, however, get the milk yet. So it seems as though all is going according to plan at this point. After leaving the seafood market, rather than going straight to Saint's Market to get the milk and the candy, Christine made a detour to a friend's apartment on Wilmarth Court about six blocks away.
00:10:00
Speaker
The friend's mother told police that Christine arrived without the white bag of clams and the two girls played dolls for about an hour from around 5 p.m. until a little after six. When it was time for Christine to leave, the friend's mother asked if Christine would like a ride home. It was getting colder as the day wore on. Near zero, in fact.
00:10:24
Speaker
but Christine refused the ride, insisting that it was just a short walk. However, as the friend's mother watched Christine walk down the street, she noticed that Christine began walking in the opposite direction from her home.
00:10:41
Speaker
Around 7pm, Christine was seen at Saint's Market. According to Milkovich, the timing of the visit and the signing of Christine is pretty concrete because the owner of the store, Nellie Sarava, forgive me if I've mispronounced the name, had a unique interaction with Christine that stood out to her.
00:11:01
Speaker
The owner, just like the friend's mom, said Christine did not have the white shopping bag filled with clams with her when she came into the store. But she does remember that Christine bought a gallon of milk and then some gumballs. She remembers because according to an article by Suzanne Espinoza for the Providence Journal, Christine had used her change to buy a gumball, but the money had gotten stuck.
00:11:28
Speaker
So she had helped Christine to get several gumballs and had given Christine a small bag to put them in. She recalled that Christine was also clutching a broken necklace and she had helped Christine put the pieces into the bag along with the gum.
00:11:45
Speaker
In helping Christine, the owner had noticed the little girl's hands were frigid. As such, she also gave Christine a small mitten that had been abandoned in the store. She helped Christine get the one mitten on and had advised her to keep the other hand in her pocket. After leaving Saint's Market, Christine's whereabouts become a lot less clear.
00:12:12
Speaker
In an alternative version of the timeline, Detective Cormier, who you'll hear much about in part two of this case, is cited in a WRPI article by Kim Colunian as recalling that Christine first went to Saint's Market to purchase milk and gum and that, quote, later she walked to a now closed seafood market to pick up clams, end quote.
00:12:39
Speaker
This version does not clarify when Christine stopped to play with a friend, though that is a detail law enforcement believe transpired as well. Other versions of the timeline still shift the timing of various events. For example, having Christine leave home around 5.15 versus 4 p.m.
00:13:02
Speaker
One thing that is detailed in every account is that as time passed and Christine didn't return, Margie's boyfriend, Oscar Waldron, went out to look for her around 6.30 p.m., with Margie staying home with Christine's three younger brothers in case Christine were to return home in the meantime.
Community and Police Search Efforts
00:13:23
Speaker
It is reported in several sources that Oscar first checked at Saint's Market, where he was told that Christine had left between 15 and 45 minutes earlier. Again, sources vary on the time. Regardless, he had just missed Christine by less than an hour. So he believed that she was likely on her walk home and that he would return to see her safely back.
00:13:50
Speaker
However, Christine never arrived. By 8.45 p.m., Margie could wait no longer and called the Pawtucket Police to report her daughter missing. Christine's life, like so many children's, had its nuances. Her teacher at Baldwin Elementary described her as a good and quiet student, but recalled her being absent quite often.
00:14:19
Speaker
Her mother revealed that Christine often ran away, sometimes for hours at a time. In fact, according to the November 25th, 2024 article by Amanda Milkovich about the case in the Boston Globe, quote, one woman called Christine a wanderer who occasionally stole from a local market or hid food outside to sustain herself, end quote.
00:14:49
Speaker
These details have led a lot of people to surmise that Christine likely had problems at home. After all, why would she often run away or seek opportunities to stay away from home? They question. The community who knew and loved Christine, though, soon joined the search. But as the hours turned to days, the chilling reality set in.
00:15:27
Speaker
the joy of an errand gone wrong, slowly morphed into deep seated dread. The first attempts to locate Christine involved retracing her steps with the community hoping that perhaps she has simply lost her way or that she had been staying with a friend. There was even speculation that perhaps she had lost the bag of clams she purchased. Remember that at two of her stops at the friend's house and at saint market, she was seen without the bag.
00:15:58
Speaker
Maybe she was too afraid to go home, a theory that might prompt her to want to stay with someone she knew, or find a place to stay the night, or maybe anger would subside by the next day. But if that were the case, no one called, no one stepped forward.
00:16:19
Speaker
The search for Christine grew more desperate with each passing day. Just a few days in, local law enforcement received additional manpower and other support from both the FBI and from other states, including the use of a bloodhound from Connecticut State Police. Together, police and volunteers scoured the area, searching backyards, landfills, alleyways, and even the railroad tracks.
00:16:48
Speaker
You see, there had been one other sighting, potentially, of Christine on the night of the sixth at another local market. A worker at Star Market on Barton Street also claimed to have seen Christine, or at least someone who looked like Christine based on a photograph that night, but much later than she was seen at Saint's Market, and not alone,
00:17:15
Speaker
According to Alexander Reed for the Boston Globe, the manager of Star Market recognized Christine Cole as one of the two young girls he recalled coming into the store between 9.30 and 10 p.m. on the night of the 6th. He remembered the two because he said they were, quote, acting up, end quote.
00:17:35
Speaker
In another article, the Globe article previously mentioned by Amanda Milkovich, he recalled believing the girls were shoplifting and kicking them out. A second worker from that night concurred, adding that the girl with Christine looked to also be around 10 or 11 years old, even though she wore a jacket with the name of a high school.
00:17:59
Speaker
If this sighting is valid, as it seems to be since the borrowed bloodhound led law enforcement to Star Market, that means that not only did Christine not return home with her purchases, but that she walked even further away from her home. Star Market is almost a mile further away from home than Saints Market.
00:18:26
Speaker
Unfortunately, the scent ended there. Another dog, beginning at Star Market, led police to railroad tracks that run behind the store before losing Christine's scent again.
00:18:39
Speaker
The phone lines at the police station rang constantly with tips and at least one hoax call from someone who claimed to have killed Christine and left her body in an abandoned house on Hendrick Street in Providence. But when the police searched the house, they found nothing. None of the other tips led to Christine either.
00:19:02
Speaker
A local philanthropist offered a $10,000 reward via Crime Stoppers, hoping to entice new witnesses. but nearly two weeks passed and the tips had run dry. The police administered polygraph tests to at least four people, including Christine's mother and her mother's boyfriend. They also questioned the mother of Christine's friend, where Christine had stopped to play that evening, and a man previously questioned about the murders of two other children, more on him in a bit.
00:19:35
Speaker
Without a direct link to a potential perpetrator and without any clear evidence of a crime having even been committed, police were hoping to find something, anything to guide them to a next step. At this point, according to an article in the Boston Herald by L. Kim Tan, the police weren't ready to say that foul play was even involved since they didn't even have evidence that Christine was abducted.
Impact on Christine's Family
00:20:03
Speaker
However, they were, regardless of whether Christine's absence were the result of foul play or not, extremely concerned about the severe winter weather that I mentioned in the beginning. A recent snowstorm made the ice covered sidewalks even more dangerous, and the frigid temperatures would have made it deadly if Christine had been outside for any length of time, even if she had tried to find a place to make it through the night.
00:20:32
Speaker
What if she had fallen asleep somewhere outside? What if she were hiding somewhere? With these worries at the forefront, all law enforcement agencies participated in searching, according to Amanda Milkovich, quote, basements in vacant buildings, dumpsters, a church, a cemetery, and parked vehicles, end quote.
00:20:53
Speaker
quote, trash haulers dumped their loads so investigators could comb through garbage for a child's body. They searched landfills, homeless encampments, the railroad tracks, an old tower, and a mill, end quote, Malkovich added.
00:21:11
Speaker
You see, their fear was that perhaps Christine had crawled into a dumpster, fallen asleep, and had not made it through the night, which was law enforcement's belief at this point. One woman claiming to be a psychic called police to say that Christine's body would be found in the Blackstone River. But remember, that river was nearly frozen solid that January.
00:21:37
Speaker
Christine's mother didn't believe the woman either, especially if Christine had wandered off alone and something had happened because, Margie said, Christine was afraid of water. That didn't stop the coast guard though from searching the river as it began to thaw in February, though they found nothing.
00:22:00
Speaker
When the weeks passed with no sign of Christine, the local community became increasingly concerned, making it harder to ignore the possibility that something bad had happened to the young girl.
00:22:12
Speaker
As for her family, Christine's disappearance had a devastating impact. According to an article by Amanda Pitts for ABC 6 News, Christine's brother Clint said that her disappearance, quote, literally tore my family apart, end quote. He explained that they had a good life and a quote, perfect life, end quote, before his sister's disappearance. But after she went missing, quote, it kind of diminished, end quote.
00:22:43
Speaker
The family, already dealing with the challenges of a single parent household, was thrown into turmoil by the uncertainty of Christine's whereabouts. The emotional toll of not knowing what had happened to her, coupled with the extensive search efforts leading to no answers, created an immense strain on the family.
Discovery of Christine's Body and Autopsy Details
00:23:04
Speaker
Then, on February 28th, 1988,
00:23:10
Speaker
Over 50 days after she had disappeared, a man walking his dog on a beach in Kanimiket Point Park in Warwick, almost 20 miles from Pawtucket, made a heartbreaking discovery. What he initially thought was a doll or a pile of clothes or even a mannequin was the body of a female child washed ashore.
00:23:35
Speaker
The little girl was found fully clothed in a gray parka and purple pants, but she wore no shoes. Her pants, however, were fastened in an unusual way, described as haphazard in a lot of my research, fastened twice and tight around her waist.
00:23:55
Speaker
and she was missing her underwear, which her mother said was unusual. Sand, shells, and vegetable material filled her clothing. Pictures of the body from the waist down of only her clothing in essence were shown to Margie Cole, who identified the outfit as what Christine had been wearing the last time she saw her daughter. Her teeth indentation would confirm that the body was that of Christine Cole.
00:24:25
Speaker
The medical examiner determined that due to the state of her remains, Christine had likely been in the water since her disappearance, which made determining the cause of death difficult. There were no clear signs of trauma, no hemorrhaging, no bone fractures, no cuts. There was water in her lungs, but it was difficult to say with certainty whether she had drowned or that the water was present as the result of decomposition.
00:24:52
Speaker
Despite the difficulty, the cause of death was listed as asphyxia with submersion. In other words, drowning. However, the manner of death was listed as undetermined. Tests for sexual assault were also conducted, but the medical examiner could not confirm either way, even though all testing for sperm, I read, was negative.
00:25:18
Speaker
According to several sources, investigators believe that Christine likely entered the water either by force or by accident in Pawtucket, which was upstream from where her body was recovered in Warwick. They theorized she could have been carried down the river by the current and possibly stuck in ice jams when they initially searched there.
00:25:41
Speaker
However, they couldn't rule out that she may have been attacked before ending up in the river.
Exploration of Theories and Suspects
00:25:47
Speaker
And of course, they still considered the possibility that her death had been an accidental drowning.
00:25:54
Speaker
Despite not having an obvious perpetrator, the police did begin investigating Christine's death as a potential homicide, but the case went cold for decades. According to reporter Amanda Milkovich, in 1998, 10 years after the discovery of Christine's body, the FBI decided with advancements in DNA testing to look again at Christine's body for both semen and blood, but they found nothing.
00:26:22
Speaker
Then in 2008, something changed. DNA was discovered on Christine's body. Actually on the inside of her pants near the groin area. That DNA was tested. You'll hear more about this in part two, but was unable to be used to pinpoint a specific person.
00:26:47
Speaker
In 2018, something changed again. A new detective decided to reopen Christine's case and retest DNA evidence of that dark stain. That evidence, for this detective at least, would point to a suspect. But the path to justice, as you'll soon see, would be far from clear.
00:27:12
Speaker
Over the years, various theories developed regarding what happened to Christine. Theory number one was that Christine's death was the result of a tragic accident. Since her body was found in the water with no signs of overt trauma, it is possible that she simply fell into the river and drowned. However, remember that according to Christine's mother Margie, Christine was known to be afraid of the water.
00:27:38
Speaker
One detail that may have lended credence to the accident theory was if she had been seen near the riverbank. Perhaps she could have fallen into the icy water while walking alone.
00:27:50
Speaker
However, the circumstances surrounding her clothing, the fact that her underwear was missing and the way her pants were fastened suggests that it being an accident may be an incomplete theory. Additionally, the location where her body was found was some distance from where she was last seen, which could mean that she did not enter the water alone or willingly.
00:28:16
Speaker
Theory number two was an early one explored by law enforcement as it relates to potential foul play. Some of the early police investigations relied on witnesses and collected evidence, but DNA evidence was not well understood in the 1980s. The police considered several suspects, including a man with a newspaper clipping about Christine and another, the one I'll tell you about now, who was arrested for other crimes against children.
00:28:46
Speaker
However, none of the early leads led to any conclusive evidence. One of the initial theories, though not as developed as others, focused on a man named William Sarmento, though he himself is not theory number two. According to an article in United Press International, Sarmento was a suspect in other child murders around the time of Christine's disappearance, and police were attempting to determine if he could be involved.
00:29:15
Speaker
In 1988, the 21-year-old Sarmento was indicted for the 1987 abductions and murders of both nine-year-old Frankie Barnes and six-year-old Jason Wolf. In these cases, police initially were led by some letters to a man named Alphonse Toby. One of the, quote unquote, confession letters in those murders was signed, Alphonse Toby, catch me if you can.
00:29:44
Speaker
Even though Toby's name was spelled wrong in the letter, investigators had obviously wanted to speak with him. It was through Toby that police were led to William Sermento, whose handwriting matched the letter, and who was then charged with the two murders.
00:30:02
Speaker
However, in terms of Christine's case, it appears as though the investigators wanted to speak with Alphonse Toby again since Toby lived near the Cole residence just down the street, making him theory number two.
Closing and Community Engagement
00:30:18
Speaker
Toby was given a polygraph test. However, the polygraph did not appear to implicate him, showing no signs of deception. The evidence and investigation seemed to stall when no connection to Christine could be confirmed.
00:30:35
Speaker
Christine's father, who was not a clear part of her life during the majority of it, her mother, her mother's boyfriend Oscar, and the mother of Christine's friend were also all ruled out as suspects around the same time. Police would have to begin investigating elsewhere. Next time, we'll discuss those other potential leads here on Coffee and Cases.
00:31:02
Speaker
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00:31:31
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.