Christina's Story: Newspaper Articles

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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.

Witness' Words Draw Zile's Wrath (5/3/96)
In Court (5/4/96)
Zile's Jurors View Grisly Photos (5/4/96)
Zile Jurors Shown Graphic Photos Of Girl (5/4/96)
Christina Stopped Breathing During Beating, Zile Jury Told (5/7/96)
Jury Sees Blood-Stained Evidence (5/7/96)
Zile Showed Police Stepdaughter's Grave, Officer Tells Jurors (5/7/96)
Charges Manipulated, Zile Lawyers Say (5/8/96)
Jury Hears Zile's Taped Confessions (5/8/96)
Zile's Tape Recounts Death Of Christina (5/8/96)

WITNESS' WORDS DRAW ZILE'S WRATH
Miami Herald, The (FL)
May 3, 1996
Author: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer

Tension that has built up after nearly a month in a courtroom got the best of accused child-killer John Zile on Thursday. He screamed at a witness.

Zile is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the 1994 death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt. Testimony started Monday, but Zile, the attorneys and Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton have been in court since early April, when they began to select a jury and discuss pretrial motions.
"It's a blatant lie! A blatant lie!" Zile screamed as pawnshop owner David Mullen explained what he saw at his shop one day.

Zile and his wife, Pauline, were frequent customers at Dave's Pawn on Broadway in West Palm Beach, Mullen said. Pauline Zile pawned a Hooked on Phonics set and her wedding ring one day, he recalled.

On another day, John Zile came in with Christina. Zile threatened the little girl if she wasn't quiet, Mullen said, by drawing his fist back as if to strike her, and saying "knock it off, or you're going to head back to Tamarind Avenue."

An earlier witness, Debra Beck, said her friend Pauline Zile told her John punished Christina by abandoning her on a corner of Tamarind Avenue, a high-crime area in West Palm Beach known for drive-by shootings, drug dealing and prostitution.

Zile's outburst came out of earshot of the jury. The judge had sent them into the jury room while he listened to Mullen's testimony. Colton decided not to let the jury hear the statement, mostly because Mullen said Zile used an ugly racial epithet.

Zile later apologized to Colton.

"It just upset me," Zile said. "It's not hard for people in this town to make remarks about me."

Christina's biological father and paternal grandmother also testified Thursday. Judith Holt said Christina was sent to Florida in June 1994 from Maryland, where she had spent most of her young life. Frank Holt Jr., briefly answered a few questions, saying he rushed to Florida when Christina was declared missing.

Pauline and John Zile pulled an elaborate ruse to mask Christina's death, saying she disappeared from the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop. Police soon suspected the parents, though, and found blood stains in the couple's Singer Island apartment.

John Zile said he beat the girl to punish her for soiling her pants, and she suffered a seizure. Pauline stood by and watched. She was convicted of first-degree murder and child abuse last year and sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty for John Zile if he is convicted.

Also testifying was Lynne Stillson, who works at the Poolsville, Md., day-care center that Christina attended from the age of 2 until she was 6. John Zile says the girl was such a severe disciplinary problem -- he claims she repeatedly soiled her pants and defecated on the floor -- that he had to punish her.

But Stillson testified Christina never had those problems. Another teacher, Lydia Johnson, also said the girl was well- behaved.

The trial, expected to last a month, continues today with testimony from a DNA expert who examined blood samples found in the Zile apartment.

IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
May 4, 1996

WEST PALM BEACH

Christina Holt had bruises on her face, arms, legs and buttocks but no bones were broken and she suffered no internal injuries, Dr. James Benz told a jury Friday in circuit court. Holt's stepfather, John Zile, is on trial for first-degree murder in the girl's death in September 1994. Benz, the county's chief medical examiner, said the 7-year-old girl died of asphyxiation. Prosecutors claim that Zile covered the girl's mouth with a cloth when she tried to scream as Zile disciplined her. Detectives found the girl's body wrapped in a sheet and tarp and buried behind a shopping center in Tequesta. One juror turned her head when jurors were shown several photographs of Christina's body before the autopsy. Zile and the girl's mother, Pauline Zile, staged a kidnapping hoax at a Broward County flea market to cover the girl's death. Pauline Zile was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for failing to protect her daughter from Zile. Zile could be sentenced to the ele ctric chair if convicted of killing Christina. The trial continues on Monday.

ZILE'S JURORS VIEW GRISLY PHOTOS
MEDICAL EXAMINER DESCRIBES 7-YEAR-OLD CHRISTINA'S INJURIES
Sun-Sentinel
May 4, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

A jury on Friday viewed photos of Christina Holt's small body after it was pulled from a 57-inch-deep grave that prosecutors say her stepfather, John Zile, dug behind a Tequesta Kmart.

On Oct. 28, 1994, the decomposing body of the 7-year-old girl was found wrapped in a blue plastic tarp bound by clear packing tape, Palm Beach County Medical Examiner James Benz told the jury
Once the tarp was removed, another layer of cloth and duct tape were found. Under that, investigators found the body covered in a sheet, then two large plastic trash bags and finally a blanket.

Despite the advanced stage of decomposition of the body, Benz testified that his autopsy found bruises on Christina's left eyebrow, left cheek, left lower jaw and right cheek.

A cut inside her mouth, along with the bruises, indicated there had been "traumatic injury to the facial area," Benz said.

Other bruises were found on both her arms, right leg, knee and thigh and on her buttocks.

"No fractures were found in any of the bones, and no internal injuries to any of the organs," Benz testified as jurors reviewed the photos.

Zile, 34, is on trial in Palm Beach County Circuit Court for first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse. If convicted, he faces a life sentence.

Prosecutors say Zile beat Christina on Sept. 16, 1994, causing her to convulse and die. He is accused of hiding the girl's body in a closet for four days before burying it behind the K mart.

On Friday, Benz was questioned only by prosecutors. Courtroom testimony was cut short to allow the defense time to have their medical experts review Benz's testimony before they cross-examine him on Monday.

Benz said he classified the girl's death as a homicide and that the cause of death was asphyxia.

He noted food particles were found in Christina's respiratory tract and lungs, indicating she asphyxiated on her own vomit.

Defense attorneys say Benz's findings will be disputed by defense medical experts when they testify.

In particular, defense attorney Ed O'Hara said Benz's findings that Christina suffered no broken bones could bolster the defense contention that girl's death was accidental and not the result of a brutal beating.

"We think, in our case in chief, we'll be able to explain the asphyxiation," O'Hara said.

But Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp disputed the defense theory that Christina's death was an accident.

"If the state and the grand jury believed this was an accidental, we wouldn't be here," Cupp said.

ZILE JURORS SHOWN GRAPHIC PHOTOS OF GIRL
Miami Herald, The (FL)
May 4, 1996
Author: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer

Jurors in the murder trial of John Zile not only heard the gruesome facts about what killed his stepdaughter, they also saw pictures of her bruised and decomposing body.
And they learned how 7-year-old Christina Holt died -- she was asphyxiated, choking on her own vomit.

The color photographs, taken at the Palm Beach County medical examiner's office before an autopsy, show bruises on Christina's face, arms, legs and buttocks.

The pictures appeared to overwhelm at least one juror, who rocked agitatedly back and forth in her chair and only glanced at the photos.

One photo was too graphic for the jury to see, Judge Roger Colton ruled. It was a head-on shot of Christina's face, with her mouth slightly open.

Zile, 34, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the beating that led to Christina's death in 1994. Zile and his wife at first claimed the girl had disappeared from the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop, touching off an emotional nationwide search.

The couple later admitted that the girl died after John Zile beat her as punishment for soiling her pants. Her mother stood by and watched.

As medical examiner James Benz gave his clinical recitation of the bruises he found on Christina's body, John Zile kept his head down most of the time, his eyes averted from jurors who looked at him from time to time.

The left side of her face was badly bruised, enough to cause "traumatic injuries" to her mouth, Benz said. He said he found no internal injuries or broken bones, but did find several bruises all over her body.

John Zile told police he "whacked" and slapped Christina when she misbehaved, and that on the night she died, she went into a seizure after one of the beatings. His attorneys say it was an accident resulting from corporal punishment. They say John Zile was charged with first-degree murder not because of the way Christina died, but because the Ziles fooled the public into thinking the girl had been abducted.

"If it hadn't been for the coverup, we wouldn't have 12 jurors sitting there," defense attorney Craig Wilson said.

Another pawnshop owner also testified Friday. Mike Bruno said Pauline Zile pawned a pink girl's bike in September 1994 -- shortly before Christina died.

Pauline Zile was convicted of first-degree murder last year and sentenced to life in prison. John Zile's trial continues Monday in West Palm Beach.

CHRISTINA STOPPED BREATHING DURING BEATING, ZILE JURY TOLD
The Palm Beach Post
May 7, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

John Zile told police his stepdaughter ``pooped her pants,'' fell to the floor and stopped breathing after he lost his temper and began striking her, a detective testified Monday.

As jurors scribbled notes, Riviera Beach Detective Edward Brochu related John Zile's graphically chilling account of Christina Holt's death on Oct. 16, 1994, at the Ziles' Singer Island apartment.
Zile told police he ``popped'' and slapped Christina on the face and spanked her to discipline her because Christina had misbehaved at school and he suspected her of sexually abusing the Ziles' youngest son, Brochu recalled.

The 7-year-old girl began bleeding from the mouth and lip, Brochu said Zile told him and Tony Ross, an investigator with the state attorney's office, in the Oct. 27, 1994, statement.

``He covered Christina's mouth during the time he was striking her so she would not scream out . . . as she had in the past,'' Brochu said.

Zile also said he attempted CPR and submerged Christina in bath water to revive her, Brochu testified. Zile then hid the girl's body in a closet for several days before burying her behind a shopping center in Tequesta.

Zile said he knew that, because of what he had done, ``Our (family's) life was over,'' Brochu said. He also recalled Zile saying that ``he felt it was an accident.''

Medical Examiner Dr. James Benz, who concluded that Christina died from asphyxiation, acknowledged Monday that his autopsy findings do not specifically rule out the possibility, however unlikely, that the child died in connection with a seizure, as defense attorneys have suggested.

``I have no other explanation for the child's death,'' Benz testified Monday. ``Can I prove it based on anatomical findings alone? No.''

Also Monday, jurors took a brief look at the tarp and other material that prosecutors say Zile wrapped his stepdaughter in before burying her. The items were exhibited on the unenclosed, unused eighth floor of the courthouse to reduce the chance of unpleasant odors.

Zile, who turned 34 last week, could be sentenced to die if convicted of first-degree murder. His wife, Pauline Zile, who is Christina's mother, was convicted last year of first-degree murder for failing to stop the beating that killed her daughter. She is serving life in prison.

Prosecutors Scott Cupp and Mary Ann Duggan said they may rest their case today or Wednesday. Jurors may hear Zile's taped confession today.

JURY SEES BLOOD-STAINED EVIDENCE
ZILE PROSECUTORS PRESENT ITEMS USED TO WRAP GIRL'S BODY FOR BURIAL
Sun-Sentinel
May 7, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

Before jurors on Monday viewed items prosecutors say John Zile used to wrap his 7-year-old stepdaughter's body before burying her, evidence clerk Dottie Remchuck gave them one more spritz.

The spray bottle Remchuck used contained a water-based odor neutralizer that was applied to mask the stench that clings to the items: a blue tarp, a child's Power Rangers tent and the tape used to bind the bundle that held Christina Holt's body
Also on display were a blood-stained pillow and twin-bed mattress and box springs seized by police from the Ziles' Riviera Beach apartment.

Although the trial has been held in a 10th-floor courtroom at the Palm Beach County Courthouse, the evidence viewing was two floors down, on the 8th floor.

The judge hoped the odor on the evidence, enhanced by a year of storage, would not be noticed by jurors.

Zile, 34, appeared upset when he first viewed the items before the jury's arrival. But as the jury viewed the display, they showed no reaction. Zile also was impassive, occasionally whispering to his defense attorneys.

Zile is on trial for first-degree murder and four counts of armed robbery in connection with the Sept. 16, 1994, death of Christina. If convicted, he faces a possible death sentence.

In court on Monday, defense attorney Craig Wilson cross-examined Palm Beach County Medical Examiner James Benz, trying to prove that Christina's injuries were not the result of a beating by Zile, but were caused by the girl having a seizure.

But Benz, who ruled the death a homicide and the cause of death as asphyxia, said Christina had not been diagnosed as having a seizure disorder, and toxicology tests revealed she was not on seizure medication.

Benz said, however, that some of the bruises found on Christina's body could have occurred after her death.

Benz told prosecutor Maryann Duggan that Christina could have been asphyxiated when someone placed a hand or an article over her mouth to muffle her screams.

Later on Monday, Lt. Edward Brochu, a Riviera Beach detective, told the jury how Zile confessed on Oct. 27, 1994, to beating Christina about the face and buttocks early on Sept. 16, 1994.

Brochu said Zile told him he was questioning Christina about her possible sexual abuse of her youngest half-brother when he became enraged and began striking the girl.

"Christina went into a type of seizure. First, she defecated ... then fell to the floor," Brochu said. "He stated he'd covered Christina's mouth [with his hand) during the time he was striking her so she would not scream out ... as she had in the past."

Today, jurors are expected to hear the tape-recorded confession Zile gave to police, with the state possibly resting its case by late afternoon.

ZILE SHOWED POLICE STEPDAUGHTER'S GRAVE, OFFICER TELLS JURORS
Miami Herald, The (FL)
May 7, 1996
Author: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer

After it all started to unravel, after police found the bloodstains in the apartment, after his wife gave a tearful confession, after the hoax of his missing stepdaughter was uncovered, John Zile decided to "do the right thing" and lead detectives to the body, a police officer testified Monday.
As testimony in Zile's first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse trial entered its second week in West Palm Beach, jurors heard from the officer who took Zile's confession late one night in October 1994.

Zile told Riviera Beach detective Lt. Edward Brochu that "he wanted to do the right thing," Brochu testified.

Once his confession started spilling out, Zile became so helpful that he even drew on a map where police would find the body of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt.

He took police to the burial site in the woods behind a Tequesta Kmart, Brochu said. When they still couldn't find the body, Zile drew a map for them.

Before that, he told Brochu what happened 41 days earlier in the tiny Singer Island apartment that Zile and his wife, Pauline, shared with their young sons Chad and Daniel and with Christina, Pauline's daughter from another marriage.

It was around midnight, Zile told Brochu, and he was questioning the little girl about "previous sexual activity" that he alleges she had with one of his boys. Christina was a "problem type child," Zile told Brochu.

"He started disciplining Christina Holt, striking her several times on the buttocks and lips," Brochu said. "He observed visual injuries, bleeding lips, puffy lips."

Zile said Christina then went into a seizure, fell to the floor, and her heartbeat sped up, then slowed down. He tried to revive her with CPR, smelling salts, and by submerging her in a tub of cold water.

Then he wrapped her body in a blanket and stuck it in a closet, where it stayed for four days until he found a place to bury it. Singer Island wouldn't do, he told Brochu.

"Because of the water level, the body would come up," Brochu quoted Zile as saying.

Zile, 34, took notes while Brochu testified. Earlier in the day, he watched as jurors filed by evidence that police collected at the burial site -- the blue tarp and plastic Power Rangers tent in which he wrapped Christina's body. The items were not brought into the courtroom because of the odor, and a court employee sprayed them liberally with "a water-based odor neutralizer" before jurors viewed them.

Zile and his attorneys maintain that what happened that night of Sept. 16, 1994, was an accident. Christina died of a seizure after Zile administered corporal punishment, they say.

But prosecutors say Zile beat the girl until she choked on her own vomit and died. They say they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

His wife, Pauline Zile, was convicted of murder and aggravated child abuse last year and sentenced to life in prison.

CHARGES MANIPULATED, ZILE LAWYERS SAY
The Palm Beach Post
May 8, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

John Zile's attorneys accused prosecutors Tuesday of manipulating details of the charges against Zile in order to reconcile apparent conflicts in witness testimony.

Discrepancies in the specifics behind one charge also seemed to momentarily confuse Circuit Judge Roger Colton, but he rejected requests by the defense to dismiss that count and the other four counts against Zile.
Zile is charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 16, 1994, death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt. He is also charged with four counts of aggravated child abuse.

One of those abuse counts is based on testimony from Dayle Ackerman, who lived within earshot of the Ziles' apartment on Singer Island and who says she heard Zile beating Christina the same day the girl died, but roughly 16 hours earlier.

Prosecutors also used Ackerman's testimony last year against Zile's wife, Pauline, who was convicted of murder for failing to intervene to prevent her daughter's death.

But at that trial, prosecutors suggested Ackerman had heard the beating that directly led to Christina's death, John Zile's attorneys said Tuesday.

They complained to Colton that, in the case against John Zile, prosecutors improperly realigned Ackerman's testimony so that it now supports a different charge.

"There's something wrong with this picture, judge," defense attorney Craig Wilson told Colton.

Prosecutor Scott Cupp countered that it is up to the jury to decide exactly when certain events most likely occurred.

The indictment against Zile gives jurors a time frame for each count, including a time span from June 15 to Sept. 21 covering the incident in which Ackerman says she heard Zile beating Christina. That time span is designed to cover more than one possible time for the incident, based on conflicting testimony from Ackerman and another witness, Cupp told Colton.

"They don't contradict each other on what happened, but on when it happened," Cupp said.

He said he and prosecutor Mary Ann Duggan were forced to associate testimony and events one way at Pauline Zile's trial and another way at John Zile's trial because the Ziles were not tried together. As a result, he said, the jury at Pauline Zile's trial never heard John Zile's taped statement.

"We were dealt this hand," Cupp said. "Nothing that the state has done has been improper."

Zile's attorneys also argued unsuccessfully that one of the abuse counts - the one charging Zile with keeping his stepdaughter out of school - should be thrown out because keeping a child out of school doesn't constitute abuse.

The judge who presided over Pauline Zile's trial dismissed that charge. But Cupp noted Tuesday that in Zile's taped statement, which was never a factor at his wife's trial, Zile all but says that he and his wife pulled Christina out of school as a form of punishment.

Cupp described school as Christina's "last chance ... the last time there could have been intervention" to stop her stepfather from beating her.

Zile, 34, could be sentenced to death if the jury convicts him of first-degree murder.

Wilson and Zile's other attorney, Ed O'Hara, say Christina's death was an accident, the result of a seizure that coincided with Zile's attempt to punish the girl for inappropriate sexual behavior with his youngest son and for lying.

They will open their case today and expect to call witnesses, including several medical experts, over the next two days.

Even if testimony concludes Friday, the defense attorneys will ask Colton to delay closing arguments until next week so jurors may avoid sequestration at a hotel over the weekend, O'Hara said.

On Tuesday, jurors heard John Zile's taped statement in which he recalled that Christina seemed to suffer a seizure after he began slapping and spanking her the night she died.

Zile said he had become enraged with Christina for her behavior with his son, for continually changing details of her claim she had been raped while living with other relatives and for defecating on the floor in front of him.

"I asked her why she did that and she said she felt like it," Zile recalled.

He then began spanking her, Zile told police on Oct. 28, 1994. When Christina began to scream, he said, he covered her mouth.

"It was late at night, one, and two, my kids were asleep," he said.

THE CHARGES AGAINST JOHN ZILE

First-degree murder - John Zile is accused of killing his stepdaughter, 7-year-old Christina Holt. Prosecutors say Zile began beating the girl around midnight Sept. 16, 1994, then covered her mouth to muffle her screams. Medical Examiner James Benz says Christina died from asphyxiation.

Aggravated child abuse - Covers a period from Sept. 16, 1994, to Sept. 17, 1994. This charge relates to the beating that prosecutors say killed Christina. It is based on Zile's own taped statement to police.

Aggravated child abuse - Covers a period from June 15, 1994, to Sept. 21, 1994. Dayle Ackerman, who lived next to the Ziles on Singer Island, says she heard Zile beating Christina about 8:15 a.m. Sept. 16, 1994, the same day Zile says Christina died but about 16 hours earlier. The June 15-Sept. 21 time span is designed to cover more than one possible time for the incident, based on conflicting testimony from Ackerman and another witness.

Aggravated child abuse - This charge relates to Zile's decision to keep Christina from attending school, which prosecutors say was a form of `malicious punishment' constituting child abuse.

Aggravated child abuse - Covers a period from Aug. 30, 1994, to Sept. 15, 1994. Chad Brannon, a friend of Zile, says he saw Zile hit Christina with a belt and saw bruises that suggested earlier beatings.

JURY HEARS ZILE'S TAPED CONFESSIONS
Sun-Sentinel
May 8, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

John Zile wiped tears from his eyes on Tuesday as a jury listened to two tape-recorded confessions he gave to police on the night he led them to the spot where he buried his 7-year-old stepdaughter.

Jurors listened intently, some jotting notes on legal pads as Zile calmly told detectives of Christina Holt's Sept. 16, 1994, death, her makeshift burial behind a Tequesta Kmart and the attempted coverup of her murder
After leading detectives to Christina's grave, Zile, 34, told police in the Oct. 27, 1994, taped statement that he beat the girl after she defecated. He said he was questioning her about his belief that Christina had sexually abused her younger half-brother.

Christina was crying, so he put his hand over her mouth. Suddenly, she had a seizure and collapsed.

"Please breathe," he told investigators he pleaded while unsuccessfully trying to revive Christina.

Zile is on trial in Palm Beach County Circuit Court for first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse. If convicted, he faces a possible death sentence. His wife, Pauline, was convicted last year of first-degree murder for failing to protect her child. She was sentenced to life in prison.

In court on Tuesday, the playing of John Zile's confessions made him the last witness for the prosecution, which rested its case.

Zile told investigators that after Christina died, he wrapped the body in sheets and blankets and hid it in a closet. During the next two days, he searched for a place to bury her.

"I wanted to find a place for her to make a decent burial," Zile said.

On the second day after her death, Zile found a field behind the Kmart in Tequesta. He bought a shovel and a blue tarp for wrapping the body.

The next day, Zile told investigators, he watched half of a Monday Night Football game, then drove to Tequesta to dig Christina's grave in a driving rainstorm. "I dug it in about 45 minutes. I dug it as deep as I could," he said.

He returned the next night to bury her, Zile told investigators.

"I took her out of the closet and wrapped her in a few more things. I was trying to make it so water wouldn't come through," Zile said.

He placed the body, wrapped in the tarp, a child's Power Rangers tent, blankets and trash bags, in the trunk of his car and drove to Tequesta.

Before leaving the makeshift grave, Zile stopped for a moment. "I said a little prayer for her," he said.

Weeks later, Zile said he and Pauline Zile gave up their son, born Oct. 9, 1994, for adoption as they had planned.

Zile also said that he and his wife were forced to concoct the tale that Christina had been abucted on Oct. 22, 1994, from the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale to explain the girl's disappearance.

ZILE'S TAPE RECOUNTS DEATH OF CHRISTINA
Miami Herald, The (FL)
May 8, 1996
Author: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer

Jurors heard a tape Tuesday of John Zile explaining how he slapped, spanked, and "whacked" his stepdaughter, Christina Holt.
Zile is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the September 1994 death of Christina. He and his wife Pauline concocted an elaborate scheme to hide her death -- with tearful pleas on TV, they claimed Christina had disappeared from the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop.

All the while they were fooling the public, Christina's body was buried behind a Kmart in Tequesta.

The prosecution rested its case Tuesday, finishing up with the statement John Zile gave police after the ruse unraveled.

Christina was a lying, manipulating little girl, Zile told police. She had "an attitude," and didn't listen to her parents.

Zile's tone of voice was matter-of-fact as he confessed to police October 28, 1994. The 7-year-old girl died while he was punishing her, Zile said, but it was an accident. She had a seizure, he said, soon after he started disciplining her for lying, and for soiling her pants.

"I was highly upset," Zile told police. "I asked her why, and she said, 'because I felt like it.' That's when I smacked her."

He hit her in the mouth, hard enough to draw blood. She started crying, Zile said, "starting to whine." So he put his hand over her mouth.

"The boys were in the next room," he said. "I didn't want them to wake up."

The beating lasted less than five minutes. Her mother sat on the couch most of that time, watching.

Zile said Christina, who had only lived with her mother and John Zile for three months before her death, had sexually molested at least one of his young sons, and then lied about it.

After she "expired," Zile said, he wrapped her body in a blanket, and laid it on the bed, "like she was going to sleep."

The next day, he stuffed the body in a closet, where it remained for four days until he buried it in Tequesta.

Zile explained why they came up with the missing girl hoax.

"We wanted to save ourselves and our family, and her family, from the anguish of knowing the truth," Zile said. "At least there would be hope, they'd remember her as she was."

While his voice on the tape was impassive, Zile looked shaken as he sat listening to it in the courtroom. He kept his face turned from the jury and the public, and wiped his eyes occasionally as the tape played.