In the winter of 1989, a young boy named Christopher Conan Milke, at the tender age of four, was reported missing in Phoenix, Arizona. His mother, Debra Jean Milke, and her roommate, James Lynn Styers, initially told authorities that the boy had vanished while visiting a mall to see Santa Claus on December 2nd. This account, however, quickly began to unravel as the investigation deepened.
The search for Christopher came to a tragic end when his body was discovered in a desert wash on the
outskirts of Phoenix. He had been shot three times in the back of the head. The devastating discovery shifted the focus of the investigation towards those closest to the little boy. Suspicion soon fell upon his mother, Debra Milke, her roommate James Lynn Styers, and a friend of Styers, Roger Mark Scott.
Following intense questioning, Roger Scott confessed his involvement in the horrific crime and implicated both Styers and Debra Milke in a murder plot. Scott's confession led investigators to believe that Styers and Scott had taken Christopher to the desert under the guise of looking for snakes and it was there that the fatal shots were fired. Scott claimed that Debra Milke had orchestrated the murder of her own son. Styers, on the other hand, maintained that Debra was not involved.
Based on the alleged confession of Debra Milke to a detective, which was not recorded, she, along with Styers and Scott, were arrested and charged with Christopher's murder. All three were subsequently convicted. Debra Milke and James Styers were sentenced to death, while Roger Scott also received a lengthy prison sentence. However, in a stunning turn of events years later, Debra Milke's conviction was overturned in 2013 due to revelations of misconduct by the lead detective in the case, and the charges against her were ultimately dismissed in 2015. James Lynn Styers and Roger Mark Scott remain convicted in the death of four-year-old Christopher.
