Khristine Renee Smith, 27, was last seen at her home on Thunder Bay Street in Portage, Michigan, on September 28, 1994. She disappeared without her car, clothing, or money and never collected her final paycheck. Her husband, Russell L. Smith, told neighbors she had left after an argument and showed a handwritten note; that note was later found to have been written years earlier and contained details no longer true in 1994.

Neighbors grew suspicious when Russell was seen with a boat he did not own two days after Khristine vanished. He refused to allow police to search the home or to speak with the couple’s seven-year-old daughter alone, forcing investigators to obtain a search warrant. The warrant uncovered stolen items from Russell’s employer, and he was arrested on embezzlement charges; he later gave away boxes of Khristine’s clothing at a local club.

In December 1998 Russell Smith was arrested for Khristine’s murder and in 1999 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, admitting he shot her twice in the head and disposed of her body in a 55-gallon steel drum in Lake Erie. Extensive searches did not recover her remains. Does anyone who knew Khristine or saw activity on Thunder Bay Street in late September 1994 have information that could still help locate her remains?