When The Smoke Clears

Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

Five to seven minutes: the time it takes for a cigarette to burn. The time it takes to tamp down a craving. Or cover up a crime. Or mark the time between life, and death. It was Mother's Day Weekend 1989, the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier. That's when it happened, in a condo there. Where they found the burned down smoke at the heart of the mystery.

Or maybe smoke-screen is what it was, at the start of a search that would go on 14 years, and would lead... Well, who would have believed it? Certainly not Rhonda Fleming and her 25-year-old sister Christie, who were scheduled to take their mom to a brunch that morning.

Rhonda Davis: We were gonna meet at my mother's house. I just called Christie, just to check in. And the line was busy. A few minutes later I called again. Line was busy. I called, called, called, her phone was busy all Saturday morning, which seemed strange. 

So Rhonda went to her mother's house, anyway, thinking her younger sister would show up. But...

Rhonda Davis: Christie wasn't there, which was very unusual, because she was always on time. Never, never late. And my mom hadn't talked to her. I called Christie again. The phone's still busy. Now I know something is wrong. 

Panicked now, Rhonda called her father Bud Fleming. He was divorced, but had raised both girls and kept close tabs on them, especially Christie who was single.

Rhonda Davis: He hadn't talked to her either.  And as soon as he hung up the phone from me, he drove to her house. He knew there was something wrong.

Rhonda followed him. Found Christie's car in its usual place, but no Christie.  Knocked on her door.  No answer. Then a neighbor managed to break in through a balcony and open the front door.

Rhonda Davis: I ran in the house. And I glanced over, and saw her body laying on the kitchen floor. I thought, she can't be dead. This just isn't happening. And I ran over to wake her up. And I stood over her, and I grabbed her wrists. And as soon as I touched her, I knew she was dead. And all I could think of was my dad coming in and seeing this. 

Her father never did go inside, but a few minutes later, sheriffs’ homicide detectives did.

Det. Steve Davis: She was nude. She was-- bleeding from the head. And there-- appeared to be blood on the kitchen floor as if some sort of struggle had-- taken place there. 

The murder weapon was in plain sight, a blouse, stuffed in her mouth. She'd been suffocated.

And all around her, signs of what looked like a home invasion robbery.

Det. Steve Davis: Her purse and the contents were strewn all over the kitchen-- the-- living room floor. The drawers in the upstairs bedroom were pulled out. Items that were in the drawers were thrown on the floor, on the bed.

The phone was off the hook; looked like it had been moved from its normal place. Blood was smeared on several walls both upstairs and downstairs. And there was something in the kitchen, just above Christie's body that also caught detective's attention.

Det. Steve Davis: There was a cigarette butt that was found on the kitchen counter by the stove that had been placed there and had obviously burnt-- out as it was placed--

Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC correspondent: Over, over the counter and actually stained the counter as it burned.

Det. Steve Davis: Absolutely correct.

Four more cigarette butts were found in the trashcan under the sink, as well as a beer bottle in the living room. No surprise, however; Christie drank occasionally and the cigarettes were her brand. There were few other clues. The only fingerprints found were Christie's. And no one in the condo complex heard or saw anything. Strange, perhaps, given the level of violence.

But who would want to kill Christie Fleming? And why? She had always been extremely popular, according to Janice Puchart, who had known her since grade school.

Janice Puchart: She had tons of friends. She had a big, big social life.  She had a lot-- lot of guy friends. Just friends.

And Christie was doing quite well for herself, working for a big aerospace company.

Rhonda Davis: She had a lot going for her. I mean, she had blossomed into this beautiful-- person that was successful. She owned her own condominium. She had a new car she paid for by herself. 

Successful, attractive, popular. But there was another part of Christie's personality that became apparent the moment you met her.

Janice Puchart: Christie was--real compulsive about things. She had this very compulsive behavior. 

Steve Davis: Christie was apparently a neat freak.  I believe you call it obsessive-compulsive. She was neat-- clean, in fact, fastidiously clean is probably the best way to describe it. You could eat off the floor.

Video   Christie 'always had long-term romantic relationships' Rhonda Davis, Christie Fleming's sister, and Janice Puchert, Christie's friend, describe her past relationships with Art Gutierrez and other men. Dateline NBC

Rhonda Davis: You'd walk into her house, it was like a model home. Nothing was out of place. She was constantly-- picking up after everyone. (laughter)

In fact, detectives also found plenty of evidence of Christie's clean and organized life. Her closet, full of clothes perfectly organized along with lists of every outfit and what to wear with them. Even her jewelry box was in ideal order; not a bracelet out of place. But neatness wasn't Christie's only compulsion. From an early age, she was  also extremely security conscious.

Rhonda Davis: My dad raised both of us girls to be afraid, to be secure, he made sure we took every precaution to be safe, all the time.

Christie lived in a gated complex and kept a loaded gun in her nightstand. She had two locks on her door, secure windows. It didn't make sense. If this had been a robbery, surely there would have been some sign of forced entry.

Steve Davis: There's no broken door, no door lock pried. No window broken. The house was locked. So obviously she let whoever in that did this.

And given Christie's obsession with security, this could mean only one thing...

Steve Davis: Whoever killed her was somebody she knew. That was clear.

Shocking?  Yes of course. But not necessarily to Christie's father, as he told the news media right after the murder.

Bud Fleming (to media): Christie was a very, very trusting girl so somebody could, a friend of hers or someone from work or just a friend could come to the door and she'd open it for them.

A friend? A colleague from work? Was it possible that Christine Fleming had been murdered by one of them?

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