Dad charged after son’s body uncovered in Gary trailer park
By Lori Caldwell lcaldwell@post-trib.com May 5, 2011 4:30PM
Maps
Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM
GARY—Wrapped in a blanket and plastic garbage bags, 13-year-old Christian Choate’s broken body remained hidden under concrete for two years where police say his father and stepmother buried him after covering him with lime, then placing a Bible on his chest.
When Lake County crime lab technicians located the boy under about two feet of dirt at the Colfax Mobile Home Park Wednesday, they found everything as father Riley Choate described.
“It was a very gruesome scene,” Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said at a noon news conference Thursday.
Choate, 39, of 7209 Bertram St., Hammond, was arrested at his girlfriend’s home on a larceny warrant issued in Kentucky. He has been charged with removal of a body from a death scene, failure to notify authorities of the discovery of a dead body and failure to report a dead body, but Buncich said additional charges are expected after his investigators question other Choate relatives in Kentucky.
Choate led police to his son’s body Wednesday under a shed at the mobile home across the street from his family’s former home. at 5930 W. 36th Ave.
An autopsy completed Thursday shows Christopher died from “sustained blunt force trauma to his body with internal bleeding and a skull fracture,” court records state. His death has been ruled a homicide.
The boy’s mother, Aimee Eriks Estrada, who lives in Calumet Township, called 911 Sunday night and told Lake County police her daughter, Christine, recently told her about the death of her brother in early April, 2009.
Police began searching the area Monday, using cadaver dogs provided by the Chicago Police Department, but had no success until Choate agreed to cooperate.
Choate told police that after determining Christian was dead, he decided to bury the boy. “If I had it to over, I’d have just called. But I was freaking out,” he told police earlier this week. Buncich told reporters Choate did not admit responsibility for the boy’s death, then added, “Yet.”
Christine Choate, 17, told police she noticed her brother had become ill and had stopped eating, then later saw his was not breathing. Her stepmother, Kimberly Choate, told her to try to resuscitate him “but he was already deceased,” the probable cause affidavit states.
The girl said she saw Riley and Kimberly Choate take the body out of their home, then return “covered in mud.”
Kimberly Choate is no longer with Riley Choate. Buncich said she was being held for questioning and also has a larceny warrant issued in Kentucky.
Christine and Christian Choate had been living with their father since July 2005. Estrada said she left Riley Choate about that time because he had been abusing her, but agreed to let him have custody of the children, court records state. She told police she had not seen either child in several years, Buncich reported.
Christian was never reported missing to any police agency, and shortly after he died, his family moved to Kentucky.
Buncich praised his investigators for an “excellent piece of police work.” He said that although the crime occurred within Gary city limits, “It’s in Lake County. I gave the order to initiate the investigation.”
Gary police said they had received a tip with less detailed information about a missing boy more than a week ago and were following leads when they learned from reporters that Lake County had uncovered a body.
“A lot of relatives are involved in this,” Buncich said. Investigators are in Kentucky taking statements and expect to return with additional information and possibly more suspects, he said.
Reach Lori Caldwell at 648-3258
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