On April 14, 1992, a three-year-old girl named Amber Bennett was rushed to the hospital with severe head trauma. She was already dead by the time she arrived. Amber’s mother, 22-year-old Christina Boyer, denied hurting her daughter.
Ultimately, she was charged with capital murder and entered a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. She has been in prison since 1992 and still claims to be innocent. Several journalists and advocates believe that she was unfairly convicted and have argued in her defense.
Christina Boyer was born on October 23, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Her mother was a heroin addict, so Christina wound up in the custody of child services before she was sent to live with her foster parents.
John and Joan Resch adopted her when she was two and a half years old. She started going by the name Tina under their care.
The Resches took in foster children frequently. When Christina was 12, she spoke up about one of her foster brothers’ inappropriate actions toward her, but her foster parents did nothing to help. Instead, they didn’t believe her and slapped her across the face.
When Christina was 14, she began noticing that objects around her, such as plates or chairs, would move on their own anytime she got angry or upset.
Somehow, she had telekinetic powers. She soon became popular with journalists, psychology experts, and paranormal enthusiasts.
In 1984, a parapsychologist named Bill Roll moved into the Resch home to observe Christina. At that point, Christina was 15 years old. According to Bill, she had “one of the most convincing cases of poltergeist activity” he had ever seen.
He invited her to stay in his home in North Carolina. Christina readily agreed, as her relationship with her adoptive parents was not so good.
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When she arrived in North Carolina, she met his research partner, Jeanie Lagle. She underwent various therapies and brain scans.
Eventually, the Resch family asked her to come back home. Not long after returning to Ohio, Christina ran off and got married to a man named James because she wanted to get away from the Resches.
However, James treated her horribly and was physically abusive. He tracked her down when she tried to run away and went to great lengths to prevent her from leaving.
She finally managed to escape, but he continued stalking and harassing her. When she was 19, she learned that she was pregnant. Her daughter, Amber Gail Bennett, was born on September 29, 1988.
Christina’s next husband, Larry, also turned out to be abusive. She left town with Amber while he was in jail. She made her way to Carroll County, Georgia, where Bill and Jeanie had moved to.
In 1992, she started dating David, who also had a daughter around Amber’s age. Amber was an extremely active kid who was always getting new scrapes and bruises.
One day, Amber fell and hit her head on the curb after scrambling to get out of her car seat. She developed a bump on her head.
On April 14, 1992, Christina went to work, leaving David to watch Amber. When she returned home six hours later, Amber wouldn’t wake up from her nap, and her face looked grayish.
They rushed her to the hospital, but it was too late. Before she knew it, the police were leading Christina away for questioning.
The idea behind the case was that she was covering up abuse from David. She denied any kind of abuse. Her lawyer suggested she take the Alford plea to avoid the death penalty. It was a way of pleading guilty while maintaining innocence.
The medical examiner who conducted Amber’s autopsy testified that Amber’s fatal injury could not have occurred in the morning before Christina left. It had to have happened while she was gone.
In the end, Christina was sentenced to life in prison. David was sentenced to 20 years in prison for child cruelty. To this day, Christina is still behind bars while David has served his sentence.
You can see more about Christina’s story or sign the petition to free her here.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
