Key facts
- Name: Kristina Joanne Porco
- Born: ~1970, Johnsburgh, New York
- Age at disappearance: 16
- Last seen: November 29, 1986, ~10:30 p.m.
- Location: Woodlake Villas, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
- Height / build: Petite, long dark hair
- Status: Still missing — Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office cold case; non-family abduction suspected; DNA in the National Missing Persons DNA database
- Investigating agency: Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office — (843) 524-2777; Crime Stoppers of Beaufort County
The red sweater
It started as the most ordinary teenage fight imaginable. On the evening of November 29, 1986, sixteen-year-old Kristina Porco argued with her mother about her curfew at the family’s Woodlake Villas condo on Hilton Head Island. At 10:30, she walked out.
From a nearby phone booth, she called a friend and asked if she could spend the night. The friend’s mother said no. Kristina said she’d sleep by the apartment complex’s pool instead. During the call, she mentioned something odd: a taxi kept passing her, driving slowly.
Her friend went to the pool shortly afterward. Kristina wasn’t there. Draped over a lawn chair was her red sweater. Nothing else. She has never been heard from again.
She’d left on foot with no money and no extra clothing. A savings account holding a few hundred dollars was never touched. Her father drove around looking for her for hours that night — his exact whereabouts during that window were never established.
Who Kristina was
Kristina Joanne Porco was sixteen, originally from Johnsburgh, New York, an average student at Hilton Head High School with an un-average spark. She’d just finished a book report due the following week. She was auditioning for a part in a school musical group. She sang in the choir and taught Christmas carols in French to second graders. She loved swimming in Lake George. She was looking forward to spending Christmas in Upstate New York with old friends.
Her mother never believed she ran away. Girls planning to run don’t finish their homework first.
The man with the box
Years later, the case acquired a suspect — and one of the strangest artifacts in American true crime. Christopher J. Below, then living in Ohio, was a possible suspect in the disappearances and murders of several young women, including Mary Kushto, Heather Teague, and Shaylene Farrell. He pleaded guilty to attempted involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of Kathern Fetzer — whose body was never found — and went to an Ohio prison.
All of Below’s suspected victims were petite, dark-haired young women. In 1992, investigators searching his abandoned apartment in Lodi, Ohio, found a briefcase containing a five-year-old South Carolina missing-person poster: Kristina Joanne Porco. His half-sister later told police about a shoe box of “treasures” her brother always kept with him — letters, jewelry, nude photographs, and five or six flyers of missing women, all petite with long dark hair. When he caught her looking, he locked the box away. Investigators believe he kept souvenirs.
In November 2004, a South Carolina detective traveled to the Ohio prison to question Below about Kristina. Below was known to have lived in South Carolina in the late 1980s; detectives were trying to pin down his whereabouts on November 29, 1986. He has never been charged in Kristina’s case or any of the others besides Fetzer — and the box has never been found.
Theories: what might have happened
Abducted by Christopher Below. The flyer in the briefcase, the victim profile, his presence in South Carolina in the late 1980s — the circumstantial case is real, and investigators took it seriously enough to interview him in prison. What undercuts a charge: no forensic link, no witness placing him on Hilton Head that night, and the box of trophies — the evidence that might have tied it together — has never been recovered. Below is presumed innocent of Kristina’s disappearance.
Taken by the taxi driver. Kristina herself reported a taxi circling her, driving slowly, in her last phone call. A predator working the island’s late-night streets is a plausible nightmare. But no taxi, no driver, was ever identified.
Someone closer to home. The Beaufort County Sheriff’s cold-case page notes “numerous witnesses to strained relationships in the Porco home” and that the father’s whereabouts during his hours-long search were never established. It is a line in an official file, not an accusation — and nothing more has ever come of it.
She ran away. The initial classification. Everything about her life that week — the finished book report, the audition, the Christmas plans, the untouched savings — argues against it.
Have information?
Contact the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office: (843) 524-2777, or Crime Stoppers of Beaufort County. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- ~1970 — Kristina Joanne Porco is born in Johnsburgh, New York.
- November 29, 1986, ~10:30 p.m. — Argues with her mother about curfew; leaves the Woodlake Villas condo on foot.
- November 29, 1986 (late) — Calls a friend from a phone booth; mentions a slow-circling taxi; says she’ll sleep by the pool.
- November 29, 1986 (later) — Friend finds only her red sweater at the pool.
- 1992 — Kristina’s missing-person flyer found in Christopher Below’s abandoned Ohio apartment.
- 2004 — SC detective questions Below in Ohio prison about Kristina’s case.
- Today — Still missing. Her DNA is in the national database, waiting for a match that has never come.
FAQ
Is Kristina Porco still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Kristina Porco has been missing for nearly 40 years. Her case remains an open cold case with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Was Kristina Porco ever found?
No. Neither Kristina nor her remains have ever been located. Her DNA profile is stored in the National Missing Persons DNA database.
Who is Christopher Below?
A convicted offender serving time in Ohio for the shooting death of Kathern Fetzer, and a possible suspect in several disappearances of petite, dark-haired young women — including Kristina’s. A flyer for Kristina was found among his belongings in 1992. He has never been charged in her case and is presumed innocent of it.
What was in the box?
According to Below’s half-sister, a shoe box he kept with him contained letters, jewelry, photographs — and five or six missing-women flyers, all of petite, dark-haired women. Investigators never recovered the box.
How old would Kristina Porco be today?
Born around 1970, she would be about 56 in 2026.
How can I help?
Share this case file. Anyone with information should contact the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office at (843) 524-2777.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Investigations, “Kristina Joanne Porco” (bcso.net) — (843) 524-2777.
- News: Akron Beacon Journal, “Day 3: The Dark Secrets of Christopher Below” (Craig Webb & Gina Mace, via PorchlightUSA).
- Reference: The Charley Project, “Kristina Joanne Porco” (retrieved Oct 2026); Crimesolverscentral.com (updated 2026).
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.