Christina was last seen in Ozark, Arkansas during the summer of 1999. She was reported missing from Fordyce, Arkansas; her family moved there shortly after her disappearance. She never re-enrolled in school for the fall of that year and has never been heard from again.

One of Christina's younger brothers died in 1993, and her father died of cancer in 1999. Christina was born in DeQueen, Arkansas and lived in Fordyce and in Idabel, Oklahoma during her childhood. She and her two surviving younger brothers went to live with their aunt and uncle, Wanda Faye Richart and Charles Walter "Bubba" Richart, in 1997, because their mother was unable to care for them. Charles is their father's brother. Later that year, one of Christina's brothers was removed from the home by the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) after it was alleged that Wanda abused him. Christina disappeared in 1999. In the spring of 2000, the DHS removed her other brother from Wanda and Charles's home due to abuse allegations.

Wanda and Charles told authorities Christina had gone to California voluntarily with a great-aunt. Charles said she had called them several times after her departure and sounded happy, but the calls stopped in April 2000. Investigators did not realize this story was untrue until 2005, six years after Christina's disappearance. The Richarts continued to cash Social Security benefits checks for Christina for eighteen months after she went missing.

In February 2008, authorities unsealed a federal indictment charging Wanda and Charles with making false statements to law enforcement about Christina's disappearance. The indictment stated Wanda and Christina got into an argument and Wanda forced her into the bathroom, shut the door and filled the tub with water while Christina screamed for help. When Wanda opened the bathroom door, her husband and two other people who were living in the home at the time saw Christina; she was wet and appeared to be dead. Wanda warned all of them not to contact the police. Investigators stated they believed Charles had buried Christina's body in a wooded area outside Ozark and burned her clothes afterwards, and that the Richarts moved to Fordyce within a month of Christina's death and fabricated the story about her being with her aunt. One of the witnesses, who was 18 years old and pregnant at the time of Christina's supposed murder, finally approached police several years later. She said she had not done so sooner because Wanda had threatened her life.

Charles was held under house arrest awaiting trial and Wanda was incarcerated. In June 2008, Charles pleaded guilty to conspiring to make a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and confessed he had buried Christina's body in the Ozark Forest. Investigators are digging at several locations there. Charles said he wasn't present when Christina died, wasn't aware Wanda had threatened the other witnesses, and didn't conspire with Wanda to invent the story about Christina being in California. He admitted he had lied to FBI agents, however, and admitted he knew Wanda was lying to them. Charles faces up to five years in prison, but he could get a reduced sentence depending on the outcome of his cooperation with the investigation.

No one has been charged in Christina's presumed death; all the charges are related to statements Wanda and Charles made that she was alive and living in California. Wanda is still awaiting trial. Christina's disappearance remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.