Christine Rothschild entered the University of Wisconsin in 1967 after having graduated with
honors from Senn High School in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents and three sisters lived in a
modest home on Chicago’s North Side, where her father worked as president of a local brokerage
firm. Christine enjoyed her classes and had hopes of becoming a journalist upon graduation.
She was an attractive young woman, with long blondish-brown hair and often spent her summers
modeling for department store catalogs.
During spring of 1968, the weather was miserably cold and wet, but Christine kept upbeat by
looking forward to a long awaited visit with her family in Chicago. Unfortunately fate
intervened and 18-year-old Christine became the first victim of the Capital City serial killer.
On a dreary May evening in 1968, a male student discovered her body hidden behind some
shrubbery outside of Sterling Hall, a mathematics building located on North Carter Street.
After going over the crime scene, investigators theorized that Christine had been killed early
that morning while out jogging. The coroner ruled that she had died as a result of at least
12 stab wounds to the chest. As the summer wore on, investigators looked into several
suspects, but none proved to be the killer. At one point they offered a $5,000 reward for
information relating to the murder, but that also proved to be futile. With no new suspects,
a murder weapon, or any leads to follow, the case was placed into a “cold case” folder.
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