A Brilliant Mind with a Bright Future
In April 1990, Christopher Kerze was the kind of teenager most parents dream of raising. At seventeen, the Eagan, Minnesota resident had already distinguished himself academically as a National Honor Society member and National Merit Scholar semi-finalist. His intellectual pursuits were balanced with participation in his high school's swim team and band, where he played the clarinet.
Christopher's parents, Loni and Jim Kerze, described their son as exceptionally reliable and intelligent. His father later reflected, "He was a guy who, when he decided to do something, he would do it. What you need to know is, he's always been a very great kid. He was a smart kid, a good sense of humor."
This reputation for dependability made the events that unfolded on April 20, 1990, all the more perplexing.
The Day Everything Changed
That Friday morning began with an unusual request. Christopher complained to his mother about a severe headache and asked to stay home from school—something out of character for a student who rarely missed classes. Loni gave her son some pain medication and agreed he should rest, especially since she needed to leave for her job at a local elementary school and Christopher's father Jim was away on business.
The arrangement seemed straightforward enough. Christopher was seventeen, perfectly capable of caring for himself for a day. When Loni returned home that evening, however, she was met with several concerning discoveries: the family's blue 1988 Dodge Caravan was missing from the driveway, their dog Bowser was running loose in the yard, and Christopher was nowhere to be found.
Inside the house, Loni discovered a note on the kitchen table:
"Mom, something important came up + feeling somewhat better. Back by six. (Unless I get lost.) Love, Chris."
The word "lost" had been underlined twice—a reference to what had become a family joke about Christopher's tendency to lose his way when driving. As a new driver, he occasionally took wrong turns or ended up on unexpected routes.
But six o'clock came and went with no sign of Christopher. As evening turned to night, Loni's concern grew. She called Jim, who immediately left his business trip to return home. Around midnight, the couple contacted local police, only to be told—as was common practice in the early 1990s—that they needed to wait 24 hours before filing a missing person report.
Disturbing Discoveries
The next morning, April 21, the Kerzes officially reported their son missing. That same day, a letter arrived at their home, postmarked from Duluth, Minnesota—a city about 150 miles north of Eagan. Both parents recognized the handwriting as Christopher's, but the contents left them devastated.
In the letter, Christopher confessed that he had faked his headache to skip school and take the family van to "go to not even I know where." Most alarmingly, he indicated an intention to take his own life, apologizing for the pain this would cause his family. The letter concluded with the poignant line: "Take heart, because if just one person is better off for having known me, my life will not have been wasted."
The note blindsided Loni and Jim. While they acknowledged that Christopher had seemed to be working through some personal struggles, they saw no warning signs of suicidal ideation or plans. Adding to their concern were two additional discoveries: Christopher had withdrawn $200 from his savings account, and Jim's O.F. Mossberg & Sons 20-gauge shotgun was missing from their home—though curiously, the ammunition Jim stored separately remained untouched.
The Search Intensifies
On April 23, two days after Christopher was reported missing, authorities located the Kerzes' blue Dodge Caravan abandoned in the George Washington Forest outside Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Inside the vehicle were the keys and a note identifying who the van belonged to.
The location puzzled both investigators and the Kerze family. The only connection they could think of was that Christopher's grandparents had lived in Grand Rapids, but they confirmed they hadn't seen him. Search dogs were brought to the scene and picked up a scent that led about a mile into the forest before abruptly disappearing.
Jim later described the emotional impact of these developments: "I tell you when people talk about their heart sinking, I used to think that was some metaphor. It is not. You can be so torn up that your heart actually feels like it is dropping. It weighs a lot. It's a moment that I hope never to live through again."
Mysterious Sightings and Communications
As the investigation progressed, several intriguing leads emerged. An eyewitness came forward claiming to have picked up a hitchhiker matching Christopher's description and dropped him off in Duluth—the city where Christopher's letter had been mailed from.
Even more curious were the reports from one of Christopher's close friends, who began receiving strange phone calls after the disappearance. These calls came from unknown numbers, and when answered, no one would speak on the other end. The friend could hear what sounded like party noise in the background, but whenever he tried to engage the caller, they would hang up. These mysterious calls continued for approximately six months, giving Loni and Jim hope that their son might still be alive.
Other tips came in over the following months. One person reported seeing Christopher in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, though this sighting could never be verified. In another development, a hunter discovered a shotgun in the woods that matched the description of Jim's missing firearm. While investigators believed it could be the same gun Christopher had taken, this too remained unconfirmed.
A Message from Beyond?
In 2004, fourteen years after Christopher's disappearance, police received an anonymous letter that added another layer of mystery to the case. The writer claimed that Christopher was their "guardian angel" and would return home when he felt the time was right. The letter implored police to stop searching for Christopher because, according to the writer, he was alive and well.
Investigators ultimately dismissed the letter as a hoax, but it represents just one of many strange communications and potential sightings that have kept the case active—and kept hope alive for the Kerze family—for decades.
A Family's Enduring Hope
Eventually, Loni and Jim moved from their Eagan home, but they made a point of keeping the same phone number in case Christopher ever tried to reach them. They have remained actively involved in the search for their son, participating in interviews and awareness campaigns over the years.
As recently as 2016, the couple made a public plea for Christopher to come home. Jim expressed the family's ongoing emotional limbo: "Resolution is a funny thing. We aren't going to know anything about what happened to Christopher until one day when we'll know everything that happened to Christopher. So the idea here is to generate enough noise so that we can begin to find resolution."
The Power of Media in Missing Persons Cases
Christopher's case gained additional visibility in 1993 when the band Soul Asylum featured his photo in their music video for "Runaway Train." The video, which highlighted 36 missing children and teenagers, became a groundbreaking tool for raising awareness about missing persons cases.
Of the individuals featured, 21 were eventually found. Sadly, four were discovered deceased, while 11—including Christopher—remain missing. The video also sparked some controversy when one of the featured individuals was identified and returned to what was later revealed to be an abusive household, raising complex questions about the nuances of missing persons cases.
Christopher's photo appears at the 3:26 mark in the original version of the video, showing a smiling teenager with his whole life ahead of him.
The Contradicting Evidence
What makes Christopher's case so perplexing is the contradictory nature of the evidence. On one hand, his suicide note and the missing shotgun suggest a tragic ending. On the other hand, the mysterious phone calls, reported sightings, and the 2004 letter point to the possibility that he might have started a new life elsewhere.
Several elements of the case don't quite align with the suicide theory:
- Why would Christopher withdraw money if he didn't plan to use it?
- Why take the shotgun but leave the ammunition behind?
- If he planned to end his life in the forest where the van was found, why did search dogs lose his scent after only a mile?
- Why would he leave a note in the van identifying who it belonged to, suggesting he wanted it to be returned to his family?
Conversely, if Christopher did choose to start a new life:
- Why write a suicide note that would cause his family such profound grief?
- How would a 17-year-old in 1990, before the internet era, successfully create a new identity?
- What would motivate an academically successful teenager from a loving family to cut all ties so completely?
Could Modern Technology Solve the Mystery?
As with many cold cases from the pre-digital era, advances in technology offer new possibilities for investigation. DNA databases, facial recognition software, and the widespread use of social media make it increasingly difficult for someone to remain completely off the grid.
If Christopher is still alive, he would now be in his late 40s. Age-progression images have been created to show what he might look like as an adult, but without new leads or evidence, the case remains at a standstill.
A Last Description
When Christopher disappeared in April 1990, he was described as standing 5'11" and weighing 135 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He had cystic acne and wore a distinctive outfit: a mid-calf length acid-washed light blue denim trench coat, a large black cotton sweatshirt, blue or black Bugle Boy jeans with pockets at the knees, a black leather belt, white crew socks, brown leather boat shoes size 11 or 11½, and a plastic Swatch watch with a black and white zebra-striped band. He carried a black bi-fold leather wallet containing his Minnesota driver's license.
These details, preserved in missing persons reports for over three decades, represent the last confirmed description of a young man whose fate remains one of Minnesota's most enduring mysteries.
The Lasting Impact
The disappearance of Christopher Kerze illustrates how a single day can permanently alter the trajectory of an entire family. What began as a routine sick day in April 1990 transformed into a lifelong search for answers—a journey marked by hope, heartbreak, and the painful limbo of not knowing.
For Loni and Jim Kerze, the uncertainty has been both a torment and, in some ways, a lifeline. As long as Christopher's fate remains unknown, they can hold onto the possibility that he is still alive somewhere, perhaps struggling with the decision of whether or not to make contact after so many years.
The case also stands as a reminder of how missing persons investigations have evolved over time. Today, the "24-hour rule" that initially delayed the search for Christopher has been largely abandoned, allowing for more immediate responses to disappearances. Resources like the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, AMBER Alerts, and social media have transformed how we search for missing individuals—tools that weren't available when Christopher vanished in 1990.
Yet despite these advances, some cases remain stubbornly unsolved. Christopher Kerze's disappearance continues to haunt not only his family but also the investigators who have worked the case over the years and the community that still remembers the bright young man who vanished one spring day in Minnesota.
Perhaps someday, whether through a new lead, a technological breakthrough, or even a decision by Christopher himself if he is indeed still alive, the mystery will finally be resolved. Until then, his story remains a poignant reminder of how fragile our connections can be, and how the absence of answers can leave wounds that never fully heal.
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