Inmate To Be Charged In Cold Case Murder of Girl, 13

MONTEREY COUNTY, CA – Prosecutors in Monterey County announced Thursday that, following the
retesting of DNA evidence, they would file charges against a longtime suspect in the 1998 murder of 13-year-old Christina Williams.

Charles Holifield, 56, has been incarcerated at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla since 1999 on a third-strike sentence of 25 years to life in prison for attempted kidnapping and threatening a woman in September
1998.

Holifield's prior strike offenses included forcible rape, kidnapping and assault with intent to commit rape, Assistant District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni said.

Christina went missing on June 12, 1998 after she took her family dog for a walk in Fort Ord, where she lived with her Navy family in military housing.

Less than an hour later, Christina's mother saw the dog wandering along near the family's home with its leash still attached.

A nationally publicized search took place over the next seven months, including a $100,000 reward.

On Jan. 12, 1999, Christina's body was found on the grounds of a University of California nature preserve 3 miles from where she was last seen.

Police from the Presidio of Monterey worked with the FBI, the Local Naval Criminal Investigations Service and Monterey County sheriff's investigators, along with other law enforcement agencies and investigated the
case for almost 20 years.

Last year, a Monterey Peninsula cold case review team including police from Carmel, California State University at Monterey Bay, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Sand City and Seaside, the District Attorney's
Office, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the California Highway Patrol worked together to identify new leads and reexamine crime scene evidence, including DNA testing of specific items.

At a news conference Thursday, Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo said Holifield had been a suspect "almost from the beginning," and had been interviewed by law enforcement, but only with the new DNA results did prosecutors believe they had sufficient evidence to charge him with Christina's murder.

Flippo said Holifield would be eligible for the death penalty, but that prosecutors would not announce whether they would pursue the death penalty until after the preliminary hearing.

As of Thursday afternoon, Holifield had not been notified of the pending charges, Flippo said, which will be filed April 14.

• ALSO SEE: Stolen Pug 'Buddy' Returned Anonymously to Elderly Owners in Livermore

--Bay City News/Image courtesy of "In Memory of our Daughter CHRISTINA MARIE WILLIAMS" website