Flashback Friday this week was a case from Idaho; here’s another one. Gypsy T., an old friend of Christopher Lyn Holverson, asked me to run his case for Select It Sunday. The circumstances of his disappearance appear straightforward enough: in 1998, Christopher went camping in Madison County with a group of friends, and one night he just left the campsite and never came back. That night it was sleeting and there was snow on the ground. This looks like a case of “got lost and died of exposure” but Gypsy isn’t sure of that and she told me why in the emails she sent me.
With permission, I am sharing some parts of Gypsy’s emails to me, slightly edited for spelling and clarity etc.:
When I was a child I had a friend named Christopher Holverson. We met through his little brother. Chris and I were more the same age and we hit it off. We hung out and chatted on the phone. Later we found out we were distant cousins. Well, as time passed we drifted apart. We would chat occasionally but not much else.
Well, one day in 1998 or 1999 I was watching the news and found out Chris was missing. While camping with friends he had left the tent and never returned. After learning this I became interested in missing person cases. While I am interested in all missing person cases, Chris fascinates me the most of course. The sad part is, Chris is almost one of those forgotten missing persons cases.
Our hometown newspaper did a feature of him a while back, but before that, I could hardly find anything about the case. There was even a time when I couldn’t find a picture. Many people think that he got lost while camping, which I find strange. The place he was camping is pretty popular and not very isolated. He left the tent in the middle of the night. When camping usually you only leave the tent in the middle of the night to urinate. You wouldn’t go far for that. So if he wasn’t far how did he get lost? The area where he was camping is not known for bears or other wildlife dangers. Not saying it didn’t happen, but it’s not likely. My best guess is he was harmed by someone. I don’t know the people he was camping with so I am mot blaming them, but there were other people up there too. Or maybe slim possibility, he decided to make a new life for himself.
When describing her friendship with Chris and what he was like, Gypsy says he was a very kind person and a good friend:
I have a skin disorder, psoriasis. I was teased horribly as a child. In fact, that is one of the reasons Chris’s case is so hard on me. He met me as a preteen and saw my psoriasis and didn’t care. He was one of the first people that didn’t care. He helped me see myself as a worthy whole human that was beautiful. He made a major impact on my early teen years.
Christopher was eighteen when he disappeared. If he’s still alive, he would be 37 today.
The Charley Project Blog 
That is so similar to Christopher Alan Temple. But the distance is too great I suppose.
Jill, I’m glad you brought up Christopher Temple, who disappeared from Bath, MI. Geographically, it’s probably the case that’s closest to me, well one of them anyways.
I did some online research some time ago. Apparently, that area is filled with marshes and bogs and it was theorized he may have encountered one of those and succumbed. His parents feel that his case was upstaged by that of Paige Renkoski, who went missing from Fowlerville a month later. It’s about the same distance to where I live as Bath, just in the opposite direction. All I can say about Bath is that it has some bad history: the worst school massacre ever (worse than Columbine) happened there in 1927. 38 people were killed.
Chris attended East Lansing High School, which is currently ranked as one of the best schools in the entire state, and is also home to Michigan State University.
I am the friend that wrote to Meaghan would include Chris. I am so grateful that she did.
Thought I would mention a couple of other things. Metioned in a feature our hometown newspaper did about him a couple years ago is the fact that the people camping with him state they did go looking for him the night he didn’t cone back to the tent. So if he got lost, how did they not find him? Yes I know he was camping, however the area they were camping was not extremely huge or isolated.
As well, someone that was not related to trip saw a person walking down the road late that night. Was this in fact Chris? Did he walk away from his life? Why did he decide to do that in a sleet storm?
It was sleeting the night Chris vanished which makes it easier to imagine him getting lost and dying due to the elements. However, like I said Chris’s camp mates went to look for him that night and they area isn’t really isolated. As well Chris was really intellegent. It seems like he could have used his wits to help him be found.
It also seems like when official searchers where searching they would have found some clue.
I have never heard of Christopher Temple. So I read his case. It does sound similar to Christopher Holverson’s case. I will be researching it a little more.
Have you seen pictures of the unidentified “Lyle Stevik”? For some reason it made me think of Chris Holverson. I think it is the height and weight and the picture of Lyle lying on the floor after he had been cut down. The ONLY pictures I have seen of Chris show him from the shoulders up. It looked like he had a long neck. Lyle looked like he was long and lanky and from the pics I have seen online of Chris he looked to be long and lanky. The only picture I have seen of Chris’s arms is him with his brother and he is wearing a long sleeve shirt so you can’t see his arms, but they look long and skinny and Lyle had long and skinny arms. Lyle was found deceased in 2001 and Chris went missing in 1998. Do you know if Lyle has been ruled out as being Chris? I don’t mean to upset you by suggesting you look at pictures of Lyle because they are of a dead body. I just would like the police to rule Chris out as being Lyle. It is not that their faces look so much alike to me, it is their body characteristics. The pictures of Chris I have seen he is wearing glasses and his hair covers his forehead. If you could stomach it maybe you could look up Lyle Stevik and just see if you think it is him. Since you knew him I bet you would be able to tell unless he was real young the last time you saw him. I assume it most likely is not Chris, I would just like somebody who knew Chris or the police to rule the possibility out for me. I saw a video of Lyle Stevik on Youtube and I immediately thought of Chris. I guess like I said it was their heights but also Lyle wrote his address as being Idaho. I remember Christopher’s case, but could not remember his name. I went to Namus to look up the missing person’s from Idaho and was able to find him on there and get his name. Years ago I saw his case on some show like Dateline or 48 hours or 20/20. I can’t remember what show, but the sad thing is when I type in his name and search for video’s I can’t find any show about him. I know I saw his case on some show, maybe it was a show like A Current Affair or something, but I can’t find it online today.
It would really help Christopher’s case to get his name and pictures back out there. If he walked away on his own somebody might recognize him or he might see himself in the media and decide to contact his family or the police. If he met with foul play maybe somebody would come forward. I don’t think he froze to death or was carried off by an animal, although it does happen. It seems after all these years some type of remains would have been found if he died accidentally out there. I wish a show like “Disappeared” or any other show would cover his story. I just feel like Christopher’s case is one that could be solved.
Gypsy, are you allowed to tell us what ruled out the Holverson man from the Linkedin site? I’m super curious, cuz he’s a dead ringer for your Chris & if he wanted to walk away from his life for whatever reason, people can lie about stats & backgrounds. I don’t think the Lyle Stevic Doe looks anything like your friend. (eyes not brown, facial structure, nose & chin way off) APHRA75 below wondered why a person would keep their name & change their birthday, but if this is your friend, perhaps he never envisioned being located by his online resume 19 years later. Changing a birthday would go along with a new social security number so he couldn’t be tracked. No?
Oops,sorry for posting twice. Not sure what box to put it into.
Think this could be him 18 years later?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherholverson
Tracey,
Thanks for trying. I have seen that picture before many times. No, it does look similar but no. It has been ruled out.
That is an incredible resemblance!!! I really hope someone very seriously considered him. I wouldn’t say he looks similar, I would say he looks JUST like him and with the same name to boot??? I wonder HOW we was ruled out….
Linked In Christopher Holverson and the missing Christopher Holverson have different birthdays, for one. (I mean, I guess there are ways to get around that, but why keep your name and ditch your birthdate?)
They both even seem to have a cleft chin?!
This is so sad…he sounds like a really sweet guy.
Gypsy, are you allowed to tell us what ruled out the Holverson man from the Linkedin site? I’m super curious, cuz he’s a dead ringer for your Chris & if he wanted to walk away from his life for whatever reason, people can lie about stats & backgrounds. I don’t think the Lyle Stevic Doe looks anything like your friend. (eyes not brown, facial structure, nose & chin way off) APHRA75 below wondered why a person would keep their name & change their birthday, but if this is your friend, perhaps he never envisioned being located by his online resume 19 years later. Changing a birthday would go along with a new social security number so he couldn’t be tracked. No?