Forever Fourteen: The Murder of Christopher Rines
Christopher Rines
1991 Pittsfield, Maine
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, one of the most popular video games in the world was “Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!!” For Nintendo’s NES Home system. Gen X boys would embody the spirit of Little Mac, the underdog hero fighter, through their controller, fighting their way through the ranks to the finale — the dream fight — where they would take on the one and only heavyweight champion of the world from the comfort of their living room, Mike Tyson. With his lightning-fast punches and quick reflexes (that resembled his real-life fighting style) Mike Tyson was a difficult opponent, and beating him gave you serious bragging rights amongst your friends.
But it was no simple task. You had to memorize the fighting patterns. Maybe even write it down so you wouldn’t forget in hopes that today would be the day you would finally beat Mike Tyson.
14-year-old Christopher Rines held those bragging rights. Proud that he was one of the only ones amongst his friends who knew the secret to beating the game. And if you got lucky enough, he might just show you how to beat it, too. A group of young teen boys huddled in front of a television while Chris showed them the results of his hard work.
Meet Christopher Rines, a 14-year-old freshman at MCI
Almost everyone I spoke with mentioned that Christopher Rines was a good kid. But that always came with the caveat that he tended to get into trouble—he smoked and failed miserably at hiding it. He would often get into fights, especially at his school, Maine Central Institute, and he sometimes drank. But the more I dug, the more I kind of felt like his actions were small cries for help. A good kid who was simply misunderstood.
Chris was somewhat quiet, until you got to know him. And he liked to hang out with an older crowd. Like any kid in the 80’s he loved his videogames. Chris was a night owl, and he would stay up late playing “Pac Man” on Atari, or he would step into the virtual ring as professional wrestling icons Andre the Giant or Hulk Hogan in Nintendo’s “WWF Wrestlemania”, and of course “Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!!”. Gene said they had about 40 different games.
Christopher had a habit of sneaking out at night after his parents went to bed. Maybe to smoke cigarettes, or hang out with friends or a girlfriend. But he always came back, and he was never gone for more than one night.
His mother, Mary Lou Rines, said that both Christopher and Gene were targets of frequent bullying, and would often come home with bruises and bloody noses. Mary Lou taught Christopher to stand up for himself, which, in turn would get him in trouble at school when he physically defended himself against somebody who started a fight, but was the only one who got caught for it.
Perhaps the combination of having a difficulty with learning and not feeling supported by teachers and staff, and being frequently bullied made Chris feel like MCI wasn’t a safe environment, made him conclude that skipping was the best option. According to the Waterville Sentinel, attempts to aid him in his education were made without success.
Chris disappears after a night at the Roller Rink
On Friday April 12th, 1991, Christopher never came home.
He left to go hang out with friends sporting his new Pony high-top sneakers and his older brother, Gene’s, black jacket. Gene declined to go, and opted to hang out with his girlfriend instead. It was the last time he saw his brother alive. If he could turn back time, Gene said he would have gone with Christopher.
By midnight when he hadn’t returned home, his father, Fred Rines, called up the Pittsfield police to keep an eye out for him. But they hadn’t seen Chris either.
Chris’ body found submerged in Mill Pond
On May 2nd, 1991, three weeks after Christopher Rines went missing, a team of six state police divers took to Mill Pond, and around 12:15pm, Christopher’s body was found. He was about 25 feet from the shore under 6 feet of ice cold 43-degree pond water. Today, this location is now Fendler Park in downtown Pittsfield.
His death was classified as a homicide by Maine State Police.
Tantalizingly close to being solved
I spoke with the lead detective on Chris’ case, Detective Timothy Culbert, who is now retired and he provided me this statement:
"As we come to the 30th anniversary of Christopher Rines' untimely death, I would like the family to know we did everything we could and followed every lead we had at the time, to find answers. Unfortunately we did not have enough for a final determination, and rightly so, we cannot speculate. I would ask the public, if you saw something...say something. Let the state police close out this case for the sake of the family.”
Chris remembered
In the wake of his death, many people came together to celebrate his life and to remember him. MCI Senior, Beckie Howe, who was close to Chris’ family, led the charge soliciting donations from student organizations like the student council and the key club, as well as the local community through the MCI parents association. She helped to put on a fundraising bake sale, and ultimately raised about $250.
At MCI, a blue spruce tree was planted and a granite marker was placed by the tennis courts. I tried to find the memorial on school campus during my recent visit but was not able to locate it. I read in a comment online that it may have been moved during a renovation project at the school because there are no longer tennis courts on campus. I hope that it is has been preserved.
Special thanks to Christopher’s mother and brother, Mary Lou Rines and Gene Rines for sharing their personal stories with me. Additional thanks to Detective Timothy Culbert and Beckie Howe Warger.
If you’re holding onto any information or think you might know something about the murder of Christopher Rines, I urge you to submit a tip to the Maine State cold case unit.
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1987 Nintendo NES game, “Mike Tyson’s Punch-out!!”
Christopher Rines, on the right, in 1984, at about 7 yrs old
“The gravel pit”, Pittsfield, Maine
“Mill Pond”, 2021, fed from Sebasticook River
Sources For This Episode
Submit a tip to the Maine State Cold Case Unit
Newspaper articles
Bangor Daily News, Waterville Sentinel, and Kennebec Journal various articles, here
Other written sources
Thirteen unsolved deaths in central Maine, online article by CentralMaine.com
Teenager’s death remains unsolved 28 years later, online article by foxbangor.com
Information sources
Weather data by NOAA
Information of buoyancy and decomposition of bodies, by truthorfiction.com, here
Images
Photo of “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!” cover art by gamerzhaven.com
Screenshots from “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!” found here
Photo of teen Chris from Maine State Police Unsolved Homicide page
All other newspaper photos from Bangor Daily News & Brenda Seekins
Credits
Research, writing, audio, and editing by Kristen Seavey
Research, writing support, and photo support by Byron Willis
Audio support by Brad Fitch
Murder, She Told was created by Kristen Seavey
This episode was co-produced by AKA Studio Productions