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Christina's Story
- Newspaper Articles
The following links take you to various articles in Christina's story
as it appeared in the South Florida media.
PLEASE DO NOT COPY THE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE BEFORE ASKING.
Thank you!
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In Loving Memory Of May 23, 1987 - September 16, 1994 "Beautiful Child who has found love from the angels...RIP..." |
 (Not her actual headstone) |
These
pages contain all of the articles from the Palm Beach Post and The
Sun-Sentinel throughout the years. |
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In Court (3/27/96)
John Zile Seeks To Suppress Search Evidence (3/27/96)
Accused Killer Calls Apartment Search Illegal (3/27/96)
In Court (3/30/96)
Zile Trial Won't Move -- For Now (3/30/96)
In Court (4/4/96)
Krischer Tells Of Zile Confession (4/4/96)
Zile Wants Confession Thrown Out (4/4/96)
In Court (4/6/96)
Zile Staff: No Court TV (4/6/96)
IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
March 27, 1996
WEST PALM BEACH - John Zile, charged with first-degree murder in the
1994 death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, testified Tuesday that
sheriff's deputies misled him in obtaining permission to search his
car and apartment. Zile wants a judge to rule the evidence taken from
the car and apartment are inadmissible at his murder trial next month.
At the time of the search, Zile and his wife, Pauline, had reported
Christina disappeared from a swap shop in Broward County.
JOHN ZILE SEEKS TO SUPPRESS SEARCH
EVIDENCE
Sun-Sentinel
March 27, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer
John Zile told a judge on Tuesday he never gave investigators permission
to search his Singer Island apartment and car for traces of blood.
During a hearing to suppress evidence
seized from the apartment and car, Zile said investigators told him
on Oct. 24, 1994, that they wanted to conduct the searches to collect
"trace evidence," which they said would include hair, fiber
and fingerprints
The evidence, Zile said investigators told him, could be used to help
identify his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7, should she be found dead.
Zile's wife, Pauline, had reported the girl had disappeared days earlier during a trip to the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale.
Zile's defense attorneys have said investigators overstepped their authority by searching the car and apartment for bloodstains.
When investigators sprayed chemicals in the apartment, they found traces of blood, and the Ziles later were charged in Christina's death.
John Zile faces a possible death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. His trial is scheduled to begin April 8.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton did not rule on whether he will throw out the evidence seized. He could rule on that motion, and others, by the end of the week.
ACCUSED KILLER CALLS APARTMENT SEARCH ILLEGAL
JOHN ZILE ALSO SAYS CONFESSION IS INVALID
Miami Herald, The (FL)
March 27, 1996
Author: Herald Palm Beach Bureau
John Zile, charged with beating to death his young stepdaughter and
then creating an elaborate hoax to hide the crime two years ago, testified
in a pre-trial hearing Tuesday that police illegally searched his apartment
for incriminating evidence.
Zile's attorneys say results of the search -- which yielded blood samples
-- shouldn't be shown to a jury because Zile did not authorize a search
for blood.
Zile also says a confession he
made to police is invalid
because he asked for an attorney but didn't get one. In the confession,
he said he was punishing the girl by hitting her for soiling her underwear.
Zile's wife Pauline was convicted of murder last year in the death of Christina Holt. The body of the 7-year-old girl was found in a shallow grave behind a Tequesta Kmart in October, 1994, several days after her mother and stepfather reported her missing.
The couple's tearful pleas on television for Christina's return garnered nationwide attention and sparked an intense search for the girl.
Pauline Zile was the first to tell police it was all a lie, and that her husband had beaten Christina. When confronted with that, John Zile led police to the girl's body.
The hearing continues today. Zile is also asking that his murder trial be moved out of Palm Beach County because of extensive publicity the case received. The trial is scheduled to begin April 7 in West Palm Beach.
Pauline Zile was sentenced to life in prison. John Zile faces the death penalty if convicted.
IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
March 30, 1996
WEST PALM BEACH - The murder trial of John Zile will be in Palm Beach
County, but a judge agreed to reconsider moving the trial if publicity
makes it impossible to pick a jury. Circuit Judge Roger Colton made
his decision Friday after several weeks of hearings during which he
watched hours of television newscasts and radio programs and read hundreds
of articles about the murder of 7-year-old Christina Holt. Zile faces
the electric chair for his stepdaughter's 1994 death. Zile's wife, Pauline,
was sentenced to life in prison for failing to protect her daughter
from Zile. The girl began having seizures after Zile hit her. He hid
her body in a closet for three days, then buried her behind a Tequesta
shopping center. The couple tried to cover up the crime by staging a
kidnapping hoax at a Broward County flea market. Also Friday, the judge
told attorneys that some of the evidence, a mattress and a tarp that
the child's body was wrapped in, had become so putrid that they would
sicken a jury. Colton asked attorneys to devise a way to present the
evidence without sickening the jurors. Zile's trial is scheduled to
begin April 8.
ZILE TRIAL WON'T MOVE - FOR NOW
JUDGE MAY LET DEFENSE RAISE THE ISSUE DURING APRIL 8 JURY SELECTION
Sun-Sentinel
March 30, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer
A judge Friday denied a defense request to move John Zile's murder and
child-abuse trial to another county, saying it was too soon to tell
whether media coverage had tainted prospective jurors.
But Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger B. Colton left the door open for the defense to raise the issue again when jury selection begins April 8.
"I will be in tune to whether
or not the minds of the community are so influenced that John Zile can
not receive a fair trial in this county," Colton said. "If
it comes to light ... I will take the appropriate steps to ensure that
John Zile receives a fair trial.
Also on Friday, the judge denied a defense request to suppress evidence
seized from the Ziles' apartment in October 1994 because the couple
had consented to the police search.
Zile is charged with first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse in the death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7. If convicted, he faces a possible death sentence.
Prosecutors said he confessed to beating the girl in September 1994, which caused her to collapse into convulsions and die. He then hid the girl's body in a closet of his family's Singer Island apartment for four days before burying her behind a Tequesta K-Mart, prosecutors said.
In the meantime, Zile's wife, Pauline, told police her daughter had been abducted from a bathroom at the Swap Shop near Fort Lauderdale. Five days later, John Zile told police where they could find the girl's body.
In court on Friday, Ed O'Hara, one of Zile's defense attorneys, argued that the trial should be moved because prospective jurors have been tainted by the media coverage.
"I think the inconvenience of moving this case is far outweighed by the rights of this man under the U.S. and Florida constitutions" to get a fair trial, O'Hara said.
But Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp said the trial should be moved only in situations such as the case of William Lozano, the Miami police officer who shot and killed a black motorcyclist in January 1989. The killing sparked days of rioting and looting and the trial was moved to Orlando for fear of further rioting.
"We don't have a mob mentality," Cupp said. "The state would urge the court at this juncture to leave this trial where it is.
IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
April 4, 1996
WEST PALM BEACH
State Attorney Barry Krischer testified Wednesday that he repeatedly asked John Zile if he wanted an attorney on Oct. 27, 1994, before Zile confessed to murdering his stepdaughter, Christina Holt. Zile's attorneys, Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, say police and prosecutors obtained the confession illegally and should not be allowed to use it at Zile's trial, which begins next week with jury selection.
KRISCHER TELLS OF ZILE CONFESSION
Sun-Sentinel
April 4, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer
Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer took the witness stand
on Wednesday to explain his involvement in John Zile's confession to
killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt.
Krischer was called as a witness
by his prosecutors, who are battling a defense request to suppress the
confession that Zile, 33, made at Riviera Beach police headquarters
on Oct. 27, 1994
During a brief court hearing on Wednesday, Krischer testified that he
was paged to police headquarters by Assistant State Attorney MaryAnn
Duggan, who told him that Zile's wife, Pauline, had repeatedly told
investigators she did not know where her daughter was located.
"Our major concern and focus was to find that baby. We still did not know if that child was alive," Krischer said.
When he arrived at police headquarters, Duggan told Krischer that John Zile said his stepdaughter's death was "not first-degree murder" and requested to speak to the state attorney.
When Duggan asked Zile if he wanted to talk to investigators, Zile had responded, "What's in it for me?" Krischer said when he entered the room, "I made it clear to him there was nothing in it for him."
Krischer testified he then warned Zile at least six times that he had a right to a lawyer being present. Each time, Krischer said, Zile told him that he did not need a lawyer.
In the moments that followed, John Zile told investigators he had beaten Christina, causing her to collapse into convulsions and die despite his attempts to revive her. He then led investigators to her body, which was buried behind a Kmart store in Tequesta.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger B. Colton is not expected to rule on the suppression of John Zile's statement until Monday, when Zile is expected to testify why he confessed.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, and it could possibly take more than a week to seat a jury. The trial is expected to last four to six weeks.
ZILE WANTS CONFESSION THROWN OUT
Miami Herald, The (FL)
April 4, 1996
Author: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer
Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer took the witness stand
Wednesday to try to keep John Zile's confession in the death of his
stepdaughter as evidence against him.
Zile's attorneys want the confession thrown out because they say it
was illegally obtained -- Zile gave the detailed and damaging statement
after he asked for an attorney but wasn't given one.
Zile goes on trial next week for first-degree murder for the 1994 death of 7-year-old Christina Holt. In October of that year, Zile and wife Pauline touched off an emotional nationwide search for the bright-eyed little girl when they went on TV news with tearful pleas for help after they said Christina had been abducted. Within a week, their story fell apart.
When police questioned them separately, Pauline Zile said her husband had beaten Christina unconscious when the girl soiled her pants. She said he hid her body in the closet in their small Singer Island apartment for four days before burying her.
She wasn't sure where the body was buried, she told police. While she was confessing, her husband was mum. But when he was confronted with his wife's statement, he decided to talk.
The question Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton must decide is whether John Zile's rights were violated. Krischer acknowledged that John Zile, during the more than nine hours he spent in an interrogation room at the Riviera Beach Police Department, asked for an attorney before he made his statement. John Zile was not given a lawyer, though Krischer didn't say why not.
He said Zile later asked to see him.
"He had indicated that he wanted a lawyer, and then contradictory to that statement said he wanted to speak to the state attorney," Krischer said. Krischer was paged, and rushed to the police department.
"He wanted to know, up front, 'What's in it for me?' " Krischer said he made no promises or deals with John Zile and that he asked him six times if he wanted an attorney. Zile answered no.
Krischer said he and police wanted badly to know what happened to Christina and they felt Zile knew.
"Our main concern and focus was to find that baby," Krischer said. "We were hoping Christina was still alive, maybe secreted away somewhere. We were desperate to find that child."
Krischer said he asked police to read Zile his Miranda rights -- informing him that he didn't have to talk to them and was entitled to an attorney -- twice. He said he then took Zile half a tuna sandwich and left while investigators questioned Zile and got the confession.
Zile's attorneys, Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, said Krischer and the police took advantage of Zile's ignorance about his rights to coerce a statement from him. Pauline Zile was convicted of murder last year and sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty for John Zile if he is convicted. Zile will testify when the hearing continues Monday. Jury selection for the murder trial begins Tuesday.
IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
April 6, 1996
WEST PALM BEACH - Television cameras should be barred from the first-degree
murder trial of John Zile because the media have portrayed Zile as a
``demonic and inhuman person,'' Zile's attorney wrote in court papers
filed on Friday. Zile could face the electric chair if he is convicted
of killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in 1994. A jury
convicted Pauline Zile of first-degree murder for failing to protect
her child from Zile. In the court papers, Zile's attorney, Craig Wilson,
accused State Attorney Barry Krischer or reacting to the media rather
than the facts of the case. State witnesses looking for their ``15 minutes
of stardom'' before the camera ``will unjustifiably realize their goal
. . . at the cost of the defendant,'' Wilson wrote. Florida law allows
one video camera and one still camera in the courtroom. Cameras are
barred in federal courts. However, judges in other high-profile cases
in other states recently have begun barring cameras. If the judge refuses
to bar a video camera during the Zile trial, Wilson wants the judge
to sequester the jury. Zile's trial begins next week.
ZILE STAFF: NO COURT TV
Sun-Sentinel
April 6, 1996
Author: Staff Report
John Zile's attorneys want television cameras kept out of the courtroom
at his first-degree murder trial next week in the killing of his stepdaughter.
Zile's court-appointed attorney, Craig Wilson, said in a motion filed on Friday that the media has demonized his client and that the attention the case has drawn has caused witnesses to lie and clouded prosecutors' judgment.
For example, Wilson said, a Home Depot cashier testified at Pauline Zile's trial last year that the Ziles bought a tarp and shovel from her and paid with a check. The tools were used to bury Christina Holt, 7.
But, Wilson said in his motion, investigators knew the woman was lying because a review of the Ziles' bank account did not turn up such a check. Prosecutors still put the witness on the stand.
Wilson said if the case had not drawn so much publicity, Zile would not be charged with first-degree murder, and his wife would not have been convicted of murder last year.
If a judge does not grant the television ban, Wilson said he wanted jurors sequestered at least through jury selection. A hearing is set for Monday.