In the early morning hours of July 15, 1986, Christopher's parents couldn't locate their son. They had put him to bed at midnight and found his crib empty in the morning. Their garage door opener turned up missing and a basement window was open. Christopher has never been heard from again. At 6:30 a.m., his parents alerted the police. Arriving officers couldn't find any signs of forced entry, but the front door stayed unlocked the night of his disappearance.

Members of Christopher's family initially seemed like potential suspects in his case. His parents had separated prior to his disappearance but were reconciling, and the night of Christopher's disappearance was the first night his father had spent in the home since the separation. Christopher's mother failed two polygraph exams, which she attributed to a withdrawal from tranquilizers. Authorities haven't cleared either of his parents of involvement in the case or charged them in connection with it. Three weeks after he vanished, they drained Quail Lake, three blocks from the family's home, to search for his body. They recovered nothing.

Christopher's family member refuse to consider him deceased. They believe he and his guardians don't know he's an abducted child. Christopher's loved ones operate a site featuring information about his case. Texas and New Mexico top the list of his possible locations. According to the website, the family had been receiving hang-up phone calls for about six months before Christopher disappeared. The calls stopped when he vanished, then resumed again several months later. His sister believes the abductor was a woman who'd had an affair with Christopher's father and had a history of break-ins. This individual maintains her innocence in his disappearance.

Some time after Christopher's disappearance, the Colorado Springs Police Department destroyed most of the case evidence; his family accused them of negligence and incompetence in their investigation. His disappearance remains unsolved.