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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.

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In Loving Memory Of
Christina Diane Holt

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.

Overheard Talk Nearly Derails Zile Jury Selection (4/26/96)
After Battles, J. Zile's Murder Trial Begins Today (4/29/96)
Girl's Death Accidental, Jury Told (4/30/96)
Zile Jury Hears Opening Statements (4/30/96)
Bloodstains Destroyed Zile's Credibility (5/1/96)
Attorneys: Witness To Beatings Won't Testify (5/1/96)
Witness: Zile 'Rough' On Christina (5/2/96)
Zile Witness Says Girl Was Beaten, Bruised (5/2/96)
Zile Erupts In Court, Blasts 'Blatant Lie' (5/3/96)
Zile Loses His Cool Over Shop Owner's Testimony (5/3/96)


OVERHEARD TALK NEARLY DERAILS ZILE JURY SELECTION
Sun-Sentinel
April 26, 1996
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

A conversation overheard in a bar threatened to undo 11 days of jury selection in the first-degree murder trial of John Zile.

On Thursday morning, the day after 12 jurors and three alternates were selected after exhaustive interviews, prosecutors received a call from a man who said he heard a juror in the case say the jury would "hang" Zile for the death of Christina Holt, 7, Zile's stepdaughter
Assistant State Attorney Mary Ann Duggan said she received the call from Carter Rice, who was concerned that a male juror in the case already had his mind made up about Zile's guilt.

Rice said he was at Corbitt's restaurant and lounge on Old Okeechobee Road in West Palm Beach when he eavesdropped on the conversation of a man wearing a jury sticker.

Rice described the man as in his late 40s or 50s, with unnaturally dark hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses and weighing about 200 pounds. The description matched both a man selected for the jury and several who were dismissed from the pool.

Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Roger Colton called an emergency afternoon hearing to have both Rice and Robert Smith, a dismissed juror who was the closest match to the description, come in to testify.

At the hearing, Rice said Smith was the man he saw at the bar. Rice assumed Smith was selected for the jury because Smith was talking about the Zile case and was wearing a sticker identifying him as a juror.

"What upset me is the gentleman deserves an honest trial and [Smith) said he was going to hang somebody," Rice told the judge.

Smith said he was at the bar but because he wasn't picked for the jury, he thought he was free to do and say whatever he wanted.

"I might have been out of line, but I was excused, I thought," Smith said.

The judge assured Smith he did nothing wrong. Also on Thursday, the judge denied the state's request to show jurors the now famous portrait of a smiling Christina Holt that was broadcast on television and printed in newspapers when she was first reported missing. A second photograph that showed the girl with her second-grade class was also rejected because the judge said the pictures might prejudice the jurors.

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AFTER BATTLES, J. ZILE'S MURDER TRIAL BEGINS TODAY
Sun-Sentinel
April 29, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

Nineteen months after prosecutors say he killed his 7-year-old stepdaughter in a rage, John Zile goes on trial today for first-degree murder and child abuse.

A jury of eight women and four men this morning will hear opening statements and the first witnesses called by the prosecution in a case that enraged the public.

Zile, 33, will be tried in Palm Beach County Circuit Court for first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse in the death of Christina Holt. If convicted, he faces a possible death sentence
The case, which will be shown on Court TV, has been an uphill battle for Zile's attorneys, who have fought strenuously to have it moved out of Palm Beach County because of widespread news coverage.

In the weeks before the jury was selected, the defense team presented hundreds of copies of newspaper articles and hours of television and radio broadcasts to show how the public had been saturated by the news media.

The coverage, as well as the April 1995 conviction of John Zile's wife, Pauline, 25, for first-degree murder and child abuse, would prevent them from selecting a fair and impartial jury in Palm Beach County, the defense argued.

But Judge Roger B. Colton denied the request, ruling the case would remain in Palm Beach County unless it became evident that an untainted jury could not be seated.

The defense lost another major battle when it failed to have Zile's confession suppressed.

Days after the Ziles reported Christina had been kidnapped from the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale, prosecutors say Zile tearfully described how he beat the girl, causing her to convulse and die despite his attempts to revive her. He told investigators he hid Christina's body in a closet for four days before burying it behind a Tequesta Kmart.

Last week, the panel of 12 jurors and three alternates was selected after 11 days of extensive questioning by prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Defense lawyer Richard Lubin, who is not involved in the case, was surprised a jury was seated in Palm Beach County.

"I didn't think they would get a jury. There was so much publicity. I thought it would be moved," he said.

Because of the widespread news coverage, 200 prospective jurors were questioned for eight days about their knowledge of the case. Of those, only five said they knew nothing of the crime.

But as the individual questioning progressed, a prospective juror disclosed that another had called John Zile a "sleaze" in the presence of others outside the courtroom.

The incident resulted in 30 members of the prospective jury pool in court that day for questioning being excused out of fear that they had heard the comment.

Prospective jurors who conceded having knowledge of the case were asked whether they could put that aside and render a verdict based on the evidence alone. Many said they could not, but more than 50 prospective jurors said they could.

Last week, the remaining jurors returned to court, where they were questioned further about numerous topics, including their jobs, whether they were parents and their position on the death penalty.

A day after the jury and three alternates were selected, juror problems became an issue again.

Prosecutors learned that a man thought to be a Zile juror was overheard saying in a bar that the jury planned to "hang" Zile. After an emergency hearing, the judge learned that the man making the comments had been excused as a juror.

The trial, which is expected to last three to four weeks, will not involve the jury in the sentencing phase should the panel convict Zile.

This month, the judge granted a defense request that the judge alone will decide Zile's fate.

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GIRL'S DEATH ACCIDENTAL, JURY TOLD
The Palm Beach Post
April 30, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

John Zile's attorneys took the first step Monday in a trial strategy designed to prove that Zile's stepdaughter died accidentally, not because she was murdered.

``Our client, Walter John Zile, does not deny responsibility in the death of Christina Holt,'' defense attorney Craig Wilson told jurors in opening statements in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.
Wilson did not elaborate, but his co-counsel, Ed O'Hara, said outside court that the defense will use medical testimony to show that the 7-year-old girl's death was an accident.

``The child was not beaten to death,'' O'Hara said.

Zile, 33, is charged with first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Based on a request from the defense attorneys, Circuit Judge Roger Colton said he will tell jurors they may consider convicting Zile of a less serious crime, such as second-degree murder or manslaughter.

Wilson described Zile, a restaurant worker, as a loving stepparent who had looked forward to adding Christina to his family.

Prosecutor Scott Cupp pointed jurors in a different direction, saying Zile punished Christina to death in 1994 after the girl moved from Maryland into the Singer Island apartment rented by her stepfather and her mother, Pauline Zile. Christina had been raised by her biological father's family in Maryland.

John Zile became hostilely fixated on what he saw as Christina's tendency to lie, particularly regarding claims she had been sexually molested in Maryland, Cupp said.

``So for this, she was punished and punished repeatedly,'' Cupp said.

The disciplinary sessions, including beatings with a belt, became more intense in the weeks before Christina's death on Sept. 16, 1994, he told jurors.

Zile's preferred method of discipline - flicking Christina's lips with his fingers - eventually rendered her too battered to attend school, he said.

Prosecutors have said Christina died after Zile beat her, then covered her mouth to muffle her screams, a scenario supported by Medical Examiner James Benz. The Ziles left Christina's body inside a closet for several days before John Zile buried her behind a Kmart in Tequesta.

Pauline Zile was convicted of murder last year - jurors concluded she did nothing as her daughter was fatally beaten - and is serving life in prison.

Much of Monday's testimony focused on the hoax the Ziles concocted to mislead police into believing Christina had been kidnapped from a swap shop in Broward County. During the hoax, Zile told Broward County sheriff's deputies he had spanked Christina after catching her sexually molesting the Ziles' younger son, Chad, witnesses testified.

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ZILE JURY HEARS OPENING STATEMENTS
COUNSELOR SAYS DEFENSE WILL SHOW THAT GIRL'S DEATH WAS AN ACCIDENT
Sun-Sentinel
April 30, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

John Zile delivered the ultimate punishment to his 7-year-old stepdaughter in 1994, executing her in a brutal beating that caused her to convulse and die, a jury was told on Monday.
"This is a case not about corporal punishment. This is a case - as regards to Christina Holt - about capital punishment," prosecutor Scott Cupp argued to a Palm Beach County Circuit Court jury.

But defense attorney Craig Wilson asked the jury to keep an open mind until all the evidence is presented.

"Our client, Walter John Zile, is not denying responsibility in the death of Christina Holt," Wilson said.

Stopping short of calling the death an accident, Wilson urged the jury to dismiss the first-degree murder allegation and consider lesser counts of second-degree murder, third-degree murder or manslaughter.

Although Wilson never told the jury Christina died accidentally, co-defense counsel Ed O'Hara said outside the courtroom that is what the defense will prove.

To convict Zile, 33, of first-degree murder, prosecutors must prove that Christina died while her stepfather was committing the underlying felony of aggravated child abuse by beating the girl.

"The accident, if you will, occurred during the administration of discipline," O'Hara said. "No aggravated child abuse occurred on the night in question. ... There was a spanking. There was no premeditation. He's clearly not guilty of first-degree murder."

His trial opened just more than a year after his wife, Pauline, 25, was convicted of first-degree murder and child abuse. She is serving life in prison.

If convicted of first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse, Zile faces a possible death sentence.

On Monday, Cupp said in his opening statement that Christina, who had been raised by relatives in Maryland, came to live with Zile and his wife in June or July of 1994.

By August, Zile began a pattern of physical abuse that increased dramatically over the next few weeks, necessitating the girl's removal from school to hide her injuries.

Christina was beaten with a hand or a belt when Zile thought she lied about being sexually abused by a relative in Maryland, defecated in a closet or was caught fondling her 3-year-old half-brother, Cupp said.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 1994, Cupp said Zile administered his final beating in the family's tiny Singer Island apartment, where Christina convulsed and died.

"She was murdered by the defendant, and she was buried and left in a hole behind a Kmart in Tequesta," Cupp said.

To cover it up, Cupp said Zile and his wife concocted the tale that the girl had been kidnapped from a bathroom at the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 22, 1994. "Christina Holt had been deceased for a month," the prosecutor said the evidence will show.

In his brief opening, Wilson conceded that Zile confessed to the killing when questioned by police, but did so after having no sleep for more than 60 hours.

The defense attorney said Zile had welcomed Christina into his home. "John made every effort to keep his family together, and Christina was every part of that effort," Wilson said.

After opening statements, prosecutors presented testimony from three law enforcement officers involved in the investigation of Christina's reported disappearance.

Broward County Sheriff's Sgt. William Robshaw described John and Pauline Zile as very cooperative in the two days after Christina's reported disappearance.

But John Zile indicated that Christina's move to Florida had caused a "large rift" between them and the girl's maternal great-grandmother, Dorothy Money, who lives in Maryland. "He suggested perhaps that's where we should begin to look for Christina," Robshaw said.

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BLOODSTAINS DESTROYED ZILE'S CREDIBILITY
The Palm Beach Post
May 1, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

John Zile's credibility as the distraught parent of a missing child began to crumble the moment a sheriff's deputy realized the tiny stains inside Zile's Singer Island apartment were blood, according to testimony Tuesday at Zile's murder trial.

The stains that were immediately visible, on a pillow and a box spring, tested positive as blood, Robert Foley, a former sheriff's deputy in Broward County, testified.
"At that point I reached a decision," Foley told jurors.

He next sprayed the inside of the apartment with Luminol, a chemical that glows in the dark when it touches blood. The process illuminates blood that is otherwise invisible.

The Luminol revealed the likelihood of lots of blood - blood on a bedroom carpet, blood spattered on a northwest corner wall, blood on a pair of child's blue jeans, blood inside a hallway and on a living room rug.

The testing, on Oct. 24, 1994, didn't confirm the blood was human, but "there was a sufficient amount of blood to indicate a search warrant should be obtained," Foley recalled

"It was not a normal amount of blood," he testified Tuesday.

Foley said he told Riviera Beach police he believed the Zile's apartment was a crime scene.

Until then, authorities had trusted the tearful assertions of Zile's wife, Pauline Zile, that 7-year-old Christina Holt, Pauline's daughter and John's stepdaughter, had disappeared from a Broward County swap shop.

John Zile, 33, faces the electric chair if he is convicted of first-degree murder in the child's death on Sept. 16, 1994. He is also charged with four counts of aggravated child abuse.

Zile's attorneys, Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, say Christina's death was an accident.

Today, prosecutors may call Chad Brannon, who had evaded a state subpoena until Tuesday afternoon. Brannon told police he saw Zile beat his stepdaughter with a belt and throw her onto a bed.

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ATTORNEYS: WITNESS TO BEATINGS WON'T TESTIFY
Sun-Sentinel
May 1, 1996
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

A witness who watched John Zile beat his stepdaughter with a belt has been ducking prosecution subpoenas to testify at his friend's first-degree murder trial, the State Attorney's Office said on Tuesday.

Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp said during Zile's trial that his office has been unable to serve Chad Brannon with notices to appear in court
"At this point, it appears he's dodging service. He does not want to come in here and testify," Cupp told Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton.

Cupp said he suspects Brannon is still in Palm Beach County.

Brannon's family told investigators that he decided he didn't want to testify shortly after talking to Zile's defense attorneys, Cupp said. Cupp said he was not insinuating Zile's attorneys did anything underhanded.

One of five counts of aggravated child abuse against Zile is based on Brannon's statements that he had to stop his friend from continuing to beat Christina Holt, 7.

"He pulled his belt off and whacked her on the butt five times," Brannon told police in October 1994. "I was standing right there."

What set off the beating was the girl's lies about being sexually abused by relatives in Maryland, Brannon said.

"She kept changing her stories. She'd say one person, she'd start with one person and she'd work down the line," Brannon said. "And she'd name everybody, everybody she was in contact with up in Maryland."

Prosecutors hoped to use Brannon's testimony to show Zile's motive for beating and ultimately killing his stepdaughter was the fear that he, too, would be accused of sexual molestation.

Most of Tuesday's testimony was from former Broward County Sheriff's Detective Robert Foley, who explained how the search for a missing child turned into a murder investigation.

Broward County detectives were involved because Zile's wife, Pauline, said Christina had vanished at the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale.

While searching the Ziles' apartment for the missing girl's fingerprints, hair and DNA, police found spots of blood.

Luminol, a chemical that makes blood glow in the dark, was sprayed on carpeting and furniture and showed large patterns of blood in the apartment, Foley testified.

The trial resumes on Wednesday with testimony from a neighbor who told police she heard Christina's screams the night the child died

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WITNESS: ZILE `ROUGH' ON CHRISTINA
The Palm Beach Post
May 2, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

John Zile spanked his stepdaughter with a belt and dropped her on top of a bed after becoming infuriated by the child's "bogus" claims she had been molested while living with other relatives, a prosecution witness testified Wednesday at Zile's murder trial.

Chad Brannon's testimony forms the basis for one of four counts of aggravated child abuse in the case against Zile, who is also charged with murder in the death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt.
"John turned her around and hit her three times on the butt," after Christina "persistently tried to change her story" regarding the molestation claim, recalled Brannon, a friend of Zile's.

Zile then picked the 7-year-old girl up by her shirt collar, held her over his head and dropped her onto a bed, Brannon told jurors.

"I thought he was getting a little rough," Brannon recalled.

At the time, he said, Christina's legs and buttocks were still marked with welts from an earlier whipping Zile had given the girl.

Brannon also disclosed a possible motive for Zile's rage: his fear that Christina's constantly shifting molestation claims would someday target him.

"He was afraid that she'd turn around and say the same exact things about him," Brannon said.

He also said Christina's claims of having been molested were so graphic that they sounded "a little ridiculous coming from the mouth of a 7-year-old."

Zile, 33, faces the death penalty if convicted of killing Christina. Prosecutors say the child died on Sept. 16, 1994, at the Ziles' Singer Island apartment as Zile was beating her. His wife, Pauline, was convicted of murder last year for failing to prevent the fatal beating.

Zile admits responsibility for Christina's death but says it was an accident.

Lydia Johnson, a teacher at Jupiter Farms Elementary told jurors Wednesday that Christina attended her second-grade class in 1994 for only several days before the Ziles withdrew her.

Johnson described Christina as generally well-behaved, contradicting Zile's reports to other witnesses that the girl was disruptive at school.

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ZILE WITNESS SAYS GIRL WAS BEATEN, BRUISED
Sun-Sentinel
May 2, 1996
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

A reluctant state witness in John Zile's first-degree murder trial on Wednesday testified he saw Zile's stepdaughter beaten with a belt and bruised from previous spankings.

Chad Brannon, 24, testified that he stepped in during the beating he witnessed because Zile was getting out of hand. Zile took off his belt and hit his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7, three to five times with it, Brannon said. Zile also picked the child up over his head and bounced her on a mattress, Brannon said
"I grabbed John by the arm and I said, `Let's go into the living room,'" Brannon said. "I thought that was a little much."

Another time, Zile ordered the child to show off the bruises on her buttocks, Brannon said. "I told her to pull her pants up," he said.

While prosecutors put Brannon on the stand, they received the judge's permission to treat him as a hostile witness. Brannon did not want to testify against his friend and tried to avoid being served with subpoenas to appear at the trial, prosecutors said.

Under cross-examination by Zile's attorneys, Brannon said Zile, 33, cared for his stepdaughter as his own, but the family was under severe financial and emotional strain.

Zile's wife, Pauline Zile, was pregnant and had to quit her waitressing job because of medical complications. That child was put up for adoption, Brannon said.

Christina, Pauline Zile's daughter from a previous marriage, was expected to move in with the family in August 1994 but was dropped off 11/2 months earlier, Brannon said.

Christina had difficulty adjusting to her new life and acted out by disrupting her second-grade class in Jupiter, fondling her younger half-brothers and making up stories about sexual molestation in Maryland, Brannon said. The beating he witnessed was over the child's lies about sexual molestation, Brannon said.

Other state witnesses on Wednesday included Christina's teacher, who said the child was taken out of classes even before school records were transferred from Maryland to Florida. Christina attended only five days of school before her death.

Prosecutors contend the child was kept out of school to keep the beatings secret. Zile said in his statement to police that he and his wife decided not to call paramedics when the child collapsed after a beating because of the tell-tale bruises on the girl.

Pauline Zile, 25, was convicted of first-degree murder last year and sentenced to life in prison.

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ZILE ERUPTS IN COURT, BLASTS `BLATANT LIE'
The Palm Beach Post
May 3, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

John Zile and one of his attorneys erupted angrily in court Thursday after a witness said he saw Zile menace his stepdaughter with his fist and threaten to dump her in a dangerous part of town.

"This is a blatant lie, OK? A blatant lie," Zile said loudly as attorneys argued over whether jurors should be allowed to hear the testimony.
A few minutes later, defense attorney Craig Wilson, using a profanity, loudly vented his own frustration.

"Now we're being asked to defend a ... crime, or an act, that he (Zile) is not charged with in the indictment," Wilson shouted at Circuit Judge Roger Colton.

Colton admonished Wilson and Zile, both of whom apologized.

"I will not tolerate any outbursts," Colton warned.

The judge ruled that, at least for now, prosecutors Scott Cupp and Mary Ann Duggan may not present the disputed testimony to the jurors hearing the state's murder case against Zile.

But Colton said he may allow the testimony, from witness David Muller, into evidence later.

Muller told attorneys and Colton Thursday that he saw John Zile lean over 7-year-old Christina Holt and cock his fist at her shortly after the two entered his pawnshop, Dave's Pawn, in Riviera Beach in 1994.

When Christina became rambunctious inside the store, Zile warned her, "Knock it off or else you're going to end up back on Tamarind (Avenue)," Muller said. Zile's threat contained a racial slur, he said.

Another witness, Deborah Beck, had testified earlier that Zile's wife, Pauline, told her Zile briefly abandoned Christina on Tamarind Avenue once after the child had threatened to run away. Pauline Zile was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder last year for failing to prevent Christina's fatal beating.

"John told her that if she wanted to run away so bad, she could run away down here," Beck recalled Pauline Zile saying.

Zile, 33, is charged with killing Christina on Sept. 16, 1994, in his Singer Island apartment. He also is charged with four counts of abusing her. He could face the death penalty if convicted of murder.

Wilson said Muller's testimony has nothing to do with the charges against Zile and would only inflame the jury.

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ZILE LOSES HIS COOL OVER SHOP OWNER'S TESTIMONY
Sun-Sentinel
May 3, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

John Zile lost his composure as a pawn shop owner testified on Thursday that Zile threatened to take his 7-year-old stepdaughter to a crime-ridden West Palm Beach neighborhood.

In court on Thursday, David Muller, owner of Dave's Pawn in Riviera Beach, testified that Zile and Christina Holt entered his shop in the summer of 1994
Christina began to act up, Muller said, and Zile became angry with her.

Threatening the child with a clenched fist, Zile yelled, "Knock it off or you're going to end up back on Tamarind [Avenue) with the niggers again," Muller testified.

"That's a blatant lie, OK," Zile yelled out from his seat at the defense table. "That's a blatant lie."

Minutes later, one of his defense attorneys also lost his cool as he argued to prevent the jury from hearing that aspect of the pawn shop owner's testimony because Zile had not been charged in connection with the incident.

"Now, we're asked to defend a g-----crime or act that he's not charged with in the indictment," defense attorney Craig Wilson fumed to the judge.

The emotional courtroom outbursts erupted while the jury was out of the courtroom to allow the judge to hear the testimony and determine whether the jury should hear it.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger B. Colton admonished Zile and Wilson, who later apologized to the judge.

Colton ruled the jury would not hear that aspect of the testimony at this time, but said prosecutors could reintroduce it as rebuttal testimony if they choose to after the defense rests.

Zile, who turned 34 on Thursday, is on trial for first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse in the death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt. If convicted, Zile faces a possible death sentence.

Prosecutors say Zile beat the girl, causing her to convulse and die. He's accused of hiding the body in the family's Singer Island apartment for four days before burying it behind a Tequesta Kmart.

Muller's testimony followed that of Deborah Beck, who told the jury that Zile's wife, Pauline, had told her in 1994 that they were having problems with Christina. The girl was unhappy living in Florida, wanted to move back to Maryland and threatened to run away.

"John took [Christina) for a ride in a car to Tamarind Avenue and put her out. He said, `You want to run away so bad, do it here,'" Beck said, recalling what Pauline Zile had told her.

In other testimony on Thursday, Christina's father, Frank Holt Jr. of Maryland, was called by the prosecution to prove that bloodstains found inside the Ziles' apartment were Christina's and not his. Both have the same blood type.

Frank Holt testified he submitted to blood tests when he came to Florida in October 1994 after Christina was reported kidnapped from the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale. But he said he had never been to the Zile's apartment.

Frank Holt's mother, Judith Holt of Maryland, identified a pair of blood-stained jeans as Christina's.

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