On April 8, 1988, 27-year-old Lysandra Marie Turpin vanished in Humboldt County, California. For 22 years, her fate remained unknown. Then, in February 2010, her case took an unexpected turn—not through investigative breakthrough, but through confession.

Ernest Samuel Christie III, living on the East Coast in North Carolina, contacted the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office with a burden he could no longer carry. Now 38 years old, Christie had been just 16 when his father, Ernest Samuel Christie Jr.—known locally as Ernie—committed the crime. Decades of silence had finally broken.

Christie III provided law enforcement with a map leading to Turpin's remains, buried in a ditch near Fieldbrook, approximately 80 miles south of the Oregon border. When authorities excavated the site, they discovered charred bones, teeth, and fragments of clothing. A forensic odontologist positively identified the remains as Lysandra Marie Turpin, confirming what the younger Christie had reported: his father had kidnapped, held, and murdered her at his home in Fieldbrook. After killing her, Ernie Christie dumped the body in a ditch, covered it with tires, doused it in gasoline, and set it ablaze.

But Turpin's murder was not an isolated incident. As investigators delved deeper into the case, they uncovered evidence of a pattern of predatory violence spanning decades. Ernie Christie, a frequent methamphetamine user, had held at least one other woman captive in a location that defied belief: a hollowed-out redwood tree stump in Humboldt County. Inside the makeshift prison, authorities found carpet, plastic jugs, a hypodermic syringe, and clothing. This victim eventually managed to escape; she has since passed away. After the case reopened, investigators chain-sawed the tree stump open, discovering the horrifying evidence that corroborated her ordeal.

A third victim came forward after learning of her captor's connection to other crimes. She recounted being taken onto Christie's fishing vessel, where he tied her up and threatened to kill her. She managed to escape, and her account was later corroborated when detectives located and interviewed her. According to Humboldt County Sheriff Gary Philp, who issued statements during the 2010 investigation, her testimony provided crucial verification of Christie's violent methodology.

Ernest Samuel Christie Jr. died in June 2006, four years before his son's confession brought these crimes to light. Because he was deceased before any charges could be filed, no trial ever took place, and no official conviction was ever rendered. However, the evidence gathered through his son's cooperation—the map, the remains, the tree stump, and the surviving victims' accounts—left no doubt about the nature and extent of his crimes.

Christie III's decision to come forward, though decades delayed, appeared to stem from a need to relieve himself of the personal burden he had carried since adolescence. According to Sheriff Philp, the younger Christie faced no charges for his delayed reporting. Instead, his cooperation was credited with solving a cold case and potentially preventing future violence by a man who, by all accounts, showed no signs of stopping.

The case gained further public attention when Christie III's account was featured in the true crime television series *Evil Lives Here*, in an episode titled "He Kept Her in a Tree Stump," which aired on March 13, 2022. The episode brought renewed attention to Humboldt County's dark criminal history and the long shadow cast by one man's unchecked violence.

Today, Lysandra Marie Turpin's case stands as a reminder of how cold cases can surface through unexpected channels—and how the weight of knowledge can eventually compel even reluctant witnesses to speak.

**Sources:** https://defrostingcoldcases.com/cold-case-of-lysandra-marie-turpin-solved/ https://kymkemp.com/2022/03/10/evil-lives-here-to-feature-episode-on-humboldt-county-resident-ernie-christie/ https://victimsheartland.forumotion.com/t2867-son-says-father-ernest-samuel-christie-killed-lysandra-marie-turpin-in-1988-guides-police-to-remains https://websleuths.com/threads/ca-claire-christie-24-humboldt-county-30-march-1977.254209/ https://abc7news.com/archive/7376307/