Thunder Valley Casino Murder Victim Never Found

Crime Q&A

Remember the woman who was at Thunder Valley Casino and disappeared? Seen on videotape gaming, then leaving the casino and seen in parking lot accompanied by a man who later was charged and incarcerated. Was that woman's body ever found?
– Shirl, Sacramento

The body of 27-year-old Christie Wilson, who disappeared from the Thunder Valley Casino near Lincoln Oct. 5, 2005, has not been found.

A jury was convinced that Mario Flavio Garcia killed her and convicted him of first-degree murder in 2007.

Casino cameras showed Garcia and Wilson gambling together the night of Oct. 4, 2005, and showed them walking toward the parking lot at 1:15 a.m. Oct. 5.

According to stories in The Bee, Placer County sheriff's detectives arrested Garcia after finding hair follicles with Wilson's DNA in and on his car. Later, tiny blood spots matching Wilson's DNA were found on a back seat.

Garcia, a former Auburn resident, was sentenced to 59 years to life in prison and is incarcerated at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran.