On a spring day in Las Vegas, seventeen-year-old Michelle Lynn Korfman, a white female, attended a Seventeen magazine cover model competition at the Meadows Mall on April 1, 1984, with aspirations of a modeling career. It was there that she crossed paths with Christopher Wilder, a man who presented himself as a fashion photographer, preying on the dreams of young women.
Wilder, a wealthy real estate investor and race car driver, had a dark history of sexual offenses and had already embarked on a cross-country crime spree. A photograph taken at the event captured Wilder in the background, watching Michelle. After a brief conversation with Wilder, Michelle left the mall with him.
Her family's hopes turned to despair when she did not return. Weeks later, on May 11, 1984, Michelle's body was discovered near a roadside rest stop in Southern California's Angeles National Forest. An autopsy revealed that she had been bound, gagged with duct tape, and had suffered immensely before her death. The cause of death was determined to be asphyxia from soil being forced into her larynx and trachea. It was not until mid-June that her remains were positively identified through dental X-rays. Her car was later found in the parking garage of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
The investigation into Michelle's disappearance and murder quickly focused on Christopher Wilder. By the time her body was found, Wilder was already a person of interest in a series of abductions and murders of young women across the United States. The FBI added him to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list as he continued his violent rampage. Wilder's spree came to an end on April 13, 1984, in New Hampshire during a struggle with police. As an officer attempted to disarm him, Wilder's own gun discharged, firing a bullet that passed through his body and fatally wounded him. While justice for Michelle Korfman was never served in a courtroom, her killer's reign of terror was over.
