Murder or Suicide? Christian Andreacchio - Part 1 - Killer Queens: A True Crime Podcast

On February 26, 2014, Christian Andreacchio was found dead in the bathroom of his apartment. After a 45 minute investigation, the police on the scene ruled his death a suicide and closed the case. However, Christian’s family refused to believe that and their investigation would turn up a great deal of evidence that pointed to the fact that his death was more likely a homicide.

February 26, 2014

In the early evening in Meridian, Mississippi on February 26, 2014, the 911 dispatch received a call from a flustered man who tells the dispatcher, “We’ve had a suicide.”

A girl can be heard screaming in the background and when the dispatcher tells the caller not to touch anything, he calls her away and eventually has to physically move her. He calls the girl, Whitley, and says that she has to move. He informs the dispatcher that the now deceased man’s name is Christian Andreacchio. The man on the phone, Dylan Swearingen, tells the dispatcher that Christian shot himself. The call was made at 4:45 pm and by 5 pm Sgt. James Lagoy arrives on the scene. Dylan meets Lagoy at the front door and directs the officer to the upstairs bathroom where Christian’s body is still lying slumped over the tub.

Upon first glance, Lagoy didn’t see a weapon. Just minutes after he arrives, the EMTs and another officer arrive followed closely by 2 detectives and the coroner. The coroner does his thing at the scene and then removes Christian’s body from the apartment. It’s at this time that the officials find the gun. Chrisitan’s Kimber .45 had been wedged between his left thigh and the bathtub. They collected the gun and the one bullet that was in the bathtub and did a gunshot residue test on Dylan and Whitley as well Christian.

Dylan and Whitley were taken to the police station to answer some questions, but at some point before 6 pm, the chief of police arrives at the apartment and tells everyone to wrap it up, this case was a suicide. Nothing to see here. After 45 minutes of “investigating” this case, it was closed and determined that 21-year-old Christian Andreacchio had committed suicide in the bathroom of his apartment. By 6:30 pm an officer was en route to tell Christian’s parents the terrible news that their son was dead from an apparent suicide. However, that decision would not be one that was accepted by his family and everyone who knew Christian. It would become the life work of his parents to make sure that Chrisitan’s case was not swept under the rug.

Christian Andreacchio

Chrisitan Shane Andreacchio was born on November 4, 1992. He was the 2nd child (out of 4) to Rae and Todd Andreacchio. Rae and Todd had both been born and grown up in Meridian (Rae) and Dalewood (Todd), Mississippi. In fact, Todd grew up 200 yards from where they currently live. Rae had attended 2 years of junior college and then started working at Meridian Aviation as a receptionist when she was 18-years-old. I was there that she and Todd met. Todd worked there as a lineman who fueled the planes. Todd and Rae had grown up near each other, but in very different lives. Where she was 1 of 4 kids and had a typical suburban life, Todd’s parents divorced when he was 5-years-old with him going to live with his father. He said that he grew up in bars with his dad and his dad’s friends who were out drinking.

As soon as he could, Todd joined the Air Guard and went to basic training but ended up at Meridian Aviation. After they got married, they started having kids. First was Josh, then Christian, Alexa, and finally, Shelton. Rae and Todd spend the first years of their marriage working 1 or 2 jobs each and making ends meet. Meanwhile, the kids were living their best country life. They were outside all the time doing the imaginative things young kids did before technology.

Chrisitan’s little sister, Alexa was the only girl and Christian was described as a 2nd father to her. He was her go to for everything from advice to help with anything. Alexa looked up to Christian and was glued to his side. Rae remembered a story about the boys watching over Alexa, but they wanted to ride dirt bikes and she was too little. So, ever the problem solver, Christian locked her in a dog kennel and pulled her around tied to his dirt bike.

Josh was also close to Christian and the two spent a great deal of their time together as kids and both would go on to work on tugboats for Magnolia Marine, but they were also complete opposites. Josh was described as quiet and even a little shy, but Christian was not that kid. Growing up Christian had done okay in school and was cooperative with the teachers, but he didn’t really like school. Teachers said that Christian did anything they asked him to do, but he was your typical boy. He was “rambunctious,” “talkative,” and “impulsive” and needed to be moving and doing things. He loved to wrestle and ride his dirt bike.

In fact he loved dirt bikes so much that, for his 16th birthday, he would ask for a dirt bike instead of a car. More than anything though, Christian loved the water. His family remembers that it wasn’t uncommon for them to wake up and Christian already be out on the water on a jet ski. He’d get out there by 5:30 am and would spend hours on the lake. Christian was described by almost everyone as “magnetic.” He was someone everyone wanted to be friends with and everyone wanted to be around. He was always happy, laughing, smiling, and was, at all times, living his best life.

Christian was known as a fun-loving, loyal guy and his mom wrote on the Magnolia Son site that she created in his memory that he was “a friend you would want to have your back.” He’d “fight for you when you couldn’t fight for yourself.” He was considerate and not one of those kids that was ever embarrassed to hang out with his mom. Christian and Rae went to concerts and movies together. She remembers that Christian often sent her pictures of the sunrise/sunset at different points along the route of the tugboat he’d work on later, just to share the beauty. Rae wrote that he had a particular fondness for harassing her and pushing her out of her comfort zone.

She wrote that the “family revolved around Christian’s larger than life personality, his smile, his sense of adventure, his total disregard for norms, his need to hug and kiss and show physical affection so unlike most of his family.” Rae said that Christian was a ladies man and a flirt. She said it didn’t matter if you were 20 or 80, he would make you feel like you were the only girl in the room.While he was a good-time guy, Christian was also a genuinely wonderful human. He was known to stand up for the little guy and as a person who would give you the shirt off his back. He even grew up donating his outgrown clothes and shoes to kids who were less fortunate than him. Christian was also the kind of guy who would never pass on a dare and would do absolutely anything to make you laugh especially when you were down. Their pastor said that you’d never find anyone who didn’t like Christian.

At his funeral, a young man stood up and told the Andreacchios that Christian had always stood up for him in school. It also wasn’t until after his death that the Andreacchios learned about the old man that lived in their neighborhood that Christian used to visit. This man came by the Andreacchio house and told them that Christian used to stop by about once a month just to check on him and see if there was anything he needed. Rae and Todd had never known about this.

In high school, Christian met Avery Smith. Avery said that he came into the Honors English class they shared and she kind of started to crush on him right away, but she was certain he didn’t think that way about her. Avery was more of your standard “nerd” who was focused on her school work. At first, she even tried setting Christian up with her friends. It wasn’t until Christian told her to stop trying to push him off on other girls, because he wanted her that she got the hint.

They dated for about 5-years and Christian became a part of Avery’s family and Avery became part of Chrisitan’s. Her family said that they “100% trusted” Christian and knew that he was an “upstanding” guy. They even said they knew for a fact that he would have died before allowing anyone or anything to hurt Avery. He went on vacations with their family and vice versa. Avery’s brother Kellen said that his kids called Christian Uncle Monkey or Uncle Monk. Kellen also said that Christian would walk in and just snatch up the newborn to snuggle. Christian was energetic and social and Avery was “motivated” and “studious.” Rae said he brought her out of her shell, and she kept him calm.

When Christian was 18 he started a job on a tugboat. These boats traveled the Mississippi and Christian loved it. The job required that the crew worked 6 hours on and 6 hours off and to live on the tugboat for their 30-day “hitch.” He worked on the same boat with Magnolia Marine for the rest of his life. Chrisitan was a quick study of all the aspects of working on a barge and by 20, he was a first mate. This was considered a rarity. You’re never that young and that high up the chain of command. Chrisitan’s only superior was the captain of the boat. A job that Christian himself aspired to. His ambition was to become the youngest captain in the history of Magnolia Marine. And he was well on his way. He was a hard worker and had no problem spending 9 months of the year on the boat.

He has been remembered by co-workers as a “great boss” who was respected and always willing to help the newbies learn the ropes. Christian worked hard at home too and even helped his dad build their family home on the lake in Dalewood.

Christian’s life on the tugboat and Avery going to college to become a veterinarian was rough on their relationship. Christian would be gone for a month and when he was home for 2-3 weeks he wanted to be with Avery, but he wanted to go out and have fun. Avery, on the other hand, was still the same studious girl who was dedicated to becoming a veterinarian. It became obvious that right now, the two of them were better off apart. They broke up amicably and everyone thought that eventually they would get back together.

Chrisitan was still a part of the family to the Smiths. Even after they split, Rae said Christian would tell her that he was going to live at her house until he was 27, because that’s when Avery would be done with veterinary school and they could buy a house and get married. Rae jokingly said that Avery should have dumped him before now, and she had no hard feelings toward Avery. Avery said that she didn’t really try to reach out to him a lot after they broke up, because she saw on social media that he had a new girlfriend and she didn’t want to mess that up.

Christian had begun dating someone else. Enter…Whitley Goodman.

Whitley Comes on the Scene

Chrisitan and Whitley met through a mutual friend and quickly became a couple. Whitley was a few years younger than Christian, but they knew the same people. They were said to have been kind of “obsessed” with each other, but they were toxic to each other. Christian’s best friend, Taylor Dial said that he had known Whitley’s family before he ever met Whitley, and he never saw her with the family. They let her run wild.

Whitley, beautiful with long blonde dreadlocks and aspirations of becoming a cosmetologist, was remembered by the same teachers who described Christian, but she was not remembered quite as fondly. She was said to “always be in trouble.” She even had an ankle monitor she had to wear due to truancy issues. The teacher remembers that, once during state testing, Whitley’s ankle monitor went off, and they had to have her mom come down to charge it. At first, the Andreacchios thought of Whitley as sweet and “meek and mild.” She put on a good show, but that didn’t last long after she moved in.

Christian had told his parents that Whitley had nowhere to go. She had told him that her mom got remarried, they had kids, and they told her they no longer had room for her. The Andreacchios felt for her, so, because they are wonderful people, they allowed her to come live with them. In the Andreacchio home, Christian (and then Whitley) lived in the basement. It was basically his own apartment and even had a door to the outside. They had privacy and plenty of space, but Whitley still managed to wear out her welcome quickly.

Rae had begun hearing stories about Whitley from people around town, and then began seeing things for herself that made her question Whitley’s character, mental stability, and intentions with Chrisitan. Rae also began noticing that Whitley was always the victim in her stories and excuses. Rae had seen tweets of Whitley’s that posed questions like: Just woke up, what should I do first: meth or bath salts? and other drug references all over her social media. Whitley claimed it was a joke.

Rae and Christian had a tradition of going to lunch at O’Charley’s before he left for hitches. They went once and Rae took the chance to talk to him about Whitley and the relationship. She expressed that she didn’t trust her. Christian brushed it off as, Mom this isn’t serious, we’re just having fun – it’s not like we’re getting married. Rae noticed that things would go missing from the house and that Whitley was blatantly rude to people like waitstaff at restaurants. Whitley started doing manipulative things like calling Chrisitan to tell him that Alexa was out smoking and riding around with people she shouldn’t. Christian, being the protective big brother, would call Rae and tell her she needed to get Alexa. Rae told Christian, Alexa is here at the house.

Whitley also went into Alexa’s room and Rae and Todd’s room without them being there and without their permission. Once, she went into the master bedroom and took a picture of Christian and Avery out of the frame. Rae didn’t notice until Whitley brought it back to her with the faces stabbed out. Rae said that Whitley came in and put the defiled picture in front of her and said “that’s what I think of that.”

The final straw was when Whitley gave Alexa some Xanax. Alexa had never had a Xanax, and she was out cold for a while. The Andreacchios were done being nice to her and letting her live in their home. Rae felt that Whitley didn’t like her or Alexa and was jealous of their relationship with Christian so she wanted to poke at it. She was trying to “alienate” Christian from his family. They kicked her out, but this upset Christian who decided that if Whitley wasn’t staying, neither was he. Around the same time, Chrisitan’s older brother, Josh was going through a divorce and had an apartment in Meridian with a spare room he needed to fill. Chrisitan and Whitley moved into the room and Josh got to see Whitley in action.

He said she was a high school dropout, and she was a partier. He didn’t really pay attention to their relationship, but he knew that he and Christian had talked about her not really “moving in,” but more just staying there sometimes. However, Whitley ended up fully moving in and Josh kind of became her “babysitter” when Chrisitan was on the boat. He didn’t really talk to her, but just kind of kept watch.

While Chrisitian was off working on the boat, Whitley was in Meridian, Mississippi spending his money, driving his car, living in his apartment without working or going to school or taking medication – all of which she was supposed to be doing. When neither Christian nor Josh were there, the apartment was the party apartment. All while being in constant contact with Christian on the boat. When Chrisitian was home, he and Whitley wouldn’t go out like he used to. Instead they stayed in the apartment playing XBox. Neither of them were faithful in this relationship and there was no trust. It was said that they were both “fantasizing” and had an “immature mindset” about their relationship.

Once, Christian got fed up and asked Josh to buy an at-home drug test. He told Josh, if she failed, kick her out. Josh did buy it and gave it to Whitley with an explanation of the consequences if/when she fails the test. At first, Whitley refused to take the test at all. Then she said she already knew she was going to fail for marijuana. Chrisitian said she needed to take it anyway to prove that she was only going to fail for weed. She agreed and ultimately failed like she said she would. However, she didn’t just fail for weed. She also failed for benzodiazepines.

Josh followed Chrisitan’s directive and kicked her out. He said that she put all of her things in a black plastic trash bag and she had almost no reaction to being kicked out despite the fact that she had been vocal about not having anywhere else to go.She eventually moved back in after talking with Christian and promising him that she would change. Christian was said to have a blind spot for Whitley. Whitley continued to live off Christian’s money. His money bought her clothes, makeup, a car, and anything else she wanted. Christian was making very good money and had told his mom that he planned to retire at 40 and move to Jamaica, but he was supporting himself and 2 other able bodied adults.

At one point, Chrisitan began asking about putting Whitley as his beneficiary on his life insurance. It seemed like a rash move for only knowing her for less than a year, but he wanted to make sure she was taken care of if something happened to him on the boat especially since she might be pregnant. Whitley turned out not to be pregnant, but there was a time when she told Christian she could be. Christian began asking around at work about taking Avery off as a beneficiary and replacing her with Whitley. He talked to his dad and a lady he worked with about it, but Todd and his “Boat Mama,” Cheryl Stanley were adamant that he shouldn’t do anything until it is absolutely confirmed whether or not Whitley is pregnant. Cheryl referred to Whitley as money hungry. Rae has said that she doesn’t know if there was ever a pregnancy or if it was another lie Whitley used to get Christian locked in.

Rae, Todd, and Cheryl all believe that Whitley assumed the insurance policy had been changed. However, Rae and Avery remained the beneficiaries of Chrisitian’s life insurance. Christian’s brother, Josh remembered that Christian and Whitley were on the outs near the time of Christian’s death. Josh encouraged him to break up with her for good. The drug test incident had been during Chrisitian’s most recent hitch, and Josh encouraged Chrisitian to follow a plan he’d told Josh about of leaving Meridian and moving to Jackson without Whitley.

February 25th and 26th, 2014

Christian had boarded the boat for this most recent (and final) hitch on February 22, 2014. Josh was on another boat for his own hitch that started on the 7th, leaving Whitley home alone. Christian was overly concerned about Whitley’s activities when left to her own devices and was tracking her phone (they both tracked each other’s phone). He was also texting Josh about how awful this relationship was and that he was ready for it to be over.

He called her over and over (5 times between 5:16 pm on the 25th and 12:50 am on the 26th and he’d later call one more time at 7:15 am) and she continuously ignored his phone calls and texts. He kept calling their friend Dylan Swearingen to try and get through to Whtiley. Dylan had been in constant contact with Christian as well and Cheryl Stanley (“Boat Mama”) said that Christian’s phone went off nonstop. Whoever it was would not leave Christian alone. Rae said it was like he was being baited to come home and take care of the situation.

Then Christian received a call from Dylan that Whitley was driving his BMW around with another man riding shotgun. Christian needed to handle this right now, but he’s on a tugboat on the Mississippi River somewhere near Louisiana. You can’t just leave the boat. People are dependent on you, and you literally can’t just leave a tugboat. The only opportunity to get off the boat is when it makes a stop. So, Christian has to first come up with a reason compelling enough for him to be let out of work for a while and to be let off the boat. Then he has to figure out how to get home since his car is back at a marina in Mississippi.

Christian had been talking to and about Whitley’s nonsense for the majority of this hitch and his “Boat Mama” was well aware of the drama. When Christian woke up on February 25th, he was talking to her and told her that he had to get off the boat, because his mom had kicked out his dad and little sister and they needed to get into his apartment, but the landlord wouldn’t let them in without Christian being there. This excuse worked on the captain, but Cheryl said she told Christian, “I was born at night, but not last night.”

He told her what he had told the captain, I’m going home to take care of stuff and he’d meet them at another dock the next day. This would just be a brief pitstop to get something handled, and then back to his job that he loved by 5:30 the next evening. Christian called a friend he’d worked with, Justin Burns, around midnight on the 25th to see if he could come pick him up in St. Rose, Louisiana and take him to Meridian, Mississippi. Justin had agreed, but then just before he was going to leave his house, Christian called him and told him not to worry about it, he got another ride. Christian had tons of friends who would happily make the drive to pick him up, but he didn’t call them. He could have probably called Rae and told her the plan and she’d have driven to Louisiana with a smile on her face and packing supplies in the trunk to help kick Whitley out of her son’s life for good. But Christian didn’t call her either. Instead, Christian called Dylan Swearingen.

Who the Fuck is Dylan Swearingen? - A Brief Side Step - We’ve Heard the Name, But Who Dis?

Dylan Swearingen grew up with Christian, but not as his friend really. He was just an acquaintance who was more Whitley’s friend than Christian’s. Dylan was a known drug user and just a sketchy dude all around. He was the kind of guy who just hung out at home all the time getting high. Taylor Dial said that Dylan was bringing Christian down. Taylor likened Christian and Dylan’s friendship to the old saying, “You are what you eat.” You become the people you surround yourself with.

Rae referred to both Dylan and Whitley as “leeches.” They were “partners in crime” and used Christian for his money. Dylan wrecked his truck and Christian paid for the damage. Dylan was not a great friend to Christian, but for some reason, Christian called him over everyone else to drive to pick him up.

Back to the 25th/26th

Christian and Dylan had spoken in the early morning hours (1:37 am) and by 3:45 am, Dylan was driving to Louisiana. Christian talked to Rae on the phone at 7:43 am on the 26th while waiting for Dylan. He told her that he had to get off the phone, but made absolutely no mention of getting off the boat. Rae recalls having a typical conversation with him and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She says that this conversation keeps her san, because she wishes they had been in a better place in their relationship since they were so strained over Whitley. This was a regular conversation, and he told her he loved her at the end like he always did.

Dylan arrived at about 8 am and said in his statement to police that Christian was coming to his car while peeling off his blue work jumpsuit (that hasn’t been seen since). Once in the car Christian told Dylan that they had to go, because he left without permission and security was after him. The two men pulled off and stopped by a gas station to fill up Dylan’s tank (on Christian’s dime). The trip back to Meridian was about 3 hours. They arrived in Meridian around 11:30 am. And after 12:40 pm there was no more activity on Chrisitan’s phone until 3:44 pm.

After Christian gets off the tugboat, the only people he sees and talks to are Dylan Swearingen and Whitley Goodman. Between then and the police arriving on the scene after being called to a suicide, all we have to go by are the statements of Dylan and Whitley that were given to the police.

after the 911 call

The officers who arrive on the scene investigated for 45 minutes and then declared Christian’s death a suicide. One of the weird things about this, as explained by the private investigator for the Andreacchios, Max Mayes, is that the police on the scene don’t ever make the declaration of cause of death, and they definitely don’t do it on sight in 45 minutes. Another is that the police chief was the one to call it off. Max said that he had a long career in law enforcement, and he had never seen that. He said that that case is the responsibility of the lead investigator and the chief of police doesn’t come in and stop the investigation.

Christian was found with his head in the tub and his feet outside the tub. He was laying over the side of the tub, but it wasn’t like he was kneeling beside the tub (like giving a kid/dog a bath), it was like he was laying over the edge of the tub with his waist/hips holding most of the weight on the side of the tub. His hands were outside of the tub as if they were by his side, and he fell forward onto the side of the tub. There was a bullet hole in the wall on the other side of the bathroom by the light switch and there was some blood spatter. However, the only bullet collected was inside the tub and the gun was found wedged between Christian’s left thigh and the tub.

The officials did a gunshot residue test on Christian, Whitley, and Dylan. Whitley and Dylan were taken to the police station to give their statements.

dylan's statement

Dylan’s statement is the most detailed…

“Christian called me at 1:37 am asking if I was able to come pick him up in St. Rose, Louisiana at a docking bay that his barge had stopped. I told him yes that I could pick him up. He told me that I needed to be there between 7:45-8 am. I left my home at 3:45-4:00am on my way to get him. We exchanged a few phone calls just to touch base and he would ask me where I was or how far from the landing area. After a couple hours or so, I finally reached the destination that he was at. I called him when I arrived and he said give him a few moments. He came down the hill where I was park and removed his blue jumpsuit he wore for his work. He said he had left without permission and security of the place along with the sheriff were alerted but he decided to leave, I have no conclusion on whether he was able to leave or if just left by self choice.

After we left the destination I picked him up at, we talked like we always have. Nothing was out of the ordinary. We stopped at a gas station and got us some drinks and he filled my truck up for coming to get him. As we pulled out and got back on the interstate, he began to tell me that him and Whitley were having relationship issues. The issues were regarding another boy hanging out with Whitley while he was gone and he then told me this was the reason for him coming home. Then we continued our route to Meridian, just talking and listening to the radio.

We pulled into the apartment complex that he was living at. He noticed the BMW he bought for Whitley was there and he walked in. He began asking her where she had been because they have a tracker on each other’s phones. She spent the night at the boy’s house that Christian earlier mentioned. His name is Matt Miller. After asking her multiple questions regarding what she had done, she mentioned the usage of Xanax, she was not sure of some of the activities they participated in. He blamed Xanax for her not knowing. I stayed upstairs a majority of the time due to I didn’t want to interfere with their argument. I stuck my head over the stairs one moment and heard him saying over and over “Do you love me?” After a few times of asking he pulled his gun out and cocked it and stuck it to his head and asked again “do you love me?” She said yes and tried to grab the gun away from him. After awhile things calmed down and we watched a movie.

I asked him if he wanted me to go get some food and give them a moment alone. He gave me his debit card and said get some Chik-Fil-A and to “take all of his money out of his account.” I asked him was he sure and he replied “yes.”

He also broke her phone in an earlier argument. I told him I would take the phone and see if they could fix it. I got the food and he provided me with the banking information but they said he as the account holder would have to withdrawal the money. I came back and everything was fine. We watched another movie. I noticed they were leaving and I said “where are yall going?” he replied “to take a little ride.” I fell asleep and woke up around 2 hours later. Whitley was asleep and Christian was sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette. He acted normal and I said “I’m about to go to Best Buy and look at speakers, do you need anything while I’m out?” he replied no. At an earlier time after I saw him point the gun to his head, I took the gun from him and placed it behind the curtains because he was acting very aggressive. As I left I told him I hid it due to his actions and I gave it back and told him “unload it and please don’t touch it.” As I left, I made it to Best Buy and talked to the car audio technician.

As I walked in I noticed he wasn’t on the couch and I walked around the apartment calling him and got no answer. I walked up the stairs and noticed the bathroom light was on so I figured he was taking a shower. I knocked and said “are you alright?” Still no answer so I walked downstairs. And walked into the room that Whitley was sleeping in. I told her he didn’t answer me and that we need to check on him she went back to sleep and I walked back upstairs and knocked once more. I asked aloud again “Christian? Are you okay?” he didn’t reply so I opened the door and I saw Christian laying face down across the tub with blood in it. I yelled “Whitley, Christian is dead we have to call 911” and she screamed and ran upstairs and began holding him. I then called 911 and directed them to the apartment and the police arrived and then they took control of the scene and asked us to sit in the living room.”

Whitley’s Statement

Whitley’s statement on the other hand was brief and vague…

“Saturday, the 22nd, also the day Christian left out for work at 5 AM, that night I went to a Mardi Gras party with my family. He stopped talking to me starting at 1 the day he left for two more days. He has always had trust issues and when I eventually got in touch with him he said he would rather me be at home missing him and didn’t want me going out from past issues we had without him. I contemplated breaking up with him and tried to convince myself we could work things out, because a relationship without trust isn’t a relationship and we tried for so long to build up trust and be normal but I love him. Last night, the 25th, he said he was coming home and quitting his job. I told him we could talk it out and there were some things we needed to work on before we could move on with our relationship. Today he came home and early he wanted to take ride with me. We went to Bonita and he just said he felt like between me and his mom he couldn’t make anyone happy. I said laid down with my dog in our bedroom and Dylan, the guy who picked him up from work, woke me up. I went upstairs and found the love of my life face down swooshed up into a puddle of blood.”

Letting the Family Know

Once the police were done “investigating,” (by 6:30 pm) they informed the Andreacchios. One person referred to the information as similar to events like 9/11, because you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you found out. Rae and Todd were out to eat and Todd’s dad called and told them to come home. They kind of disregarded and finished eating. Until Todd’s dad called again and told them they had to come home, because something had happened to one of the kids.

They did a mental check of all their kids. Alexa was at church – she’s fine. Christian’s on the boat and Rae had just talked to him that morning – he was probably fine. Josh – it had to be that Josh got hurt on the boat. He was newer on the boats and he must have made a mistake that a more seasoned worker like Christian wouldn’t have made. The worst thought was that Josh was injured.

They got to Todd’s dad’s house, and he had to be the one to tell them that Christian was dead. Rae said no. Nope, it’s not true. Todd’s dad gave Rae Christian’s license that was taken off of him and said it was a suicide at his apartment. Rae really didn’t believe him then. Not only was Christian not at his apartment, but he would not kill himself.

In fact, every. single. person. who knew Christian and was interviewed later said that Christian would not kill himself. Christian loved life. He loved his family, his friends, his job and there was absolutely no way that anyone outside of the law enforcement officers was going to believe that Christian killed himself. Everyone said that Christian had never seemed depressed. And while we never know what is truly going through someone’s mind and what they are going through, everyone was confident that Christian would never kill himself.

Rae would later say, “Nobody wants to think that their child was at a point in their life where they took their own life. I mean, that’s just human nature…But we had someone in the community…who killed himself…and that really bothered Christian. And he, several times told me, you know, ‘Mom, if anybody ever says I killed myself, you come looking because I wouldn’t do that.’”

Avery was studying in the library when she found out and she remembers that she “lost it.” She said a friend had to stay with her that night, and she just kept calling her mom over and over. Kellen got a call from their mom while he was getting off work. She told him Christian shot himself. Kellen says he remembers saying, “Bullshit. Who killed him?” He said that he knows Christian wouldn’t have killed himself, but if he had, he wouldn’t have done it in a bathroom. He said that Christian would have made it a huge scene, a production.

Josh was on his boat near New Orleans when he was called up to the captain. Someone was on the phone for him. They told Josh that Christian committed suicide. Josh said, No he didn’t and hung up. He went back to work. Eventually, he got off the boat and his uncle, Chris picked him up and brought him home. Once he was allowed back in the apartment, Josh was pretty shocked by the state of the place. He had been gone less than 4 weeks and when he left the place was spotless, but now there were cigarettes and empty beer containers everywhere as if people were just dropping things as they walked around. There were holes in the wall other than the bullet hole, and Christian’s mattress had huge knife slashes in it.

Josh said that there is “no possible way he committed suicide. To me it’s 0%.”

Before he went to pick up Josh, Chris had been called by Rae and helped take care of some things. Rae called her brother, Chris Thompson and told him that they were telling her that Christian was dead after shooting himself in his apartment and that can’t be right. She asked Chris to go to the apartment and see what was going on. Chris went to the house and there was crime scene tape up and officers at the door. He told them this was his nephew’s apartment, and he heard he was dead. They told him they couldn’t tell him anything except that there was a death in the house. So, Chris called his friend on the police force who confirmed that it was Christian. They’d found his ID in his pocket.

Chris drove to the police station and asked to talk to someone about this case. An officer came out and told him it was an apparent suicide. Chris told officers he was confused, because Chrisitan was supposed to be on the boat. That’s when he found out that Whitley and Dylan were there being questioned. Chris had to be the one to finally confirm Christian’s death for Rae. He asked the officer for the keys to the apartment and asked if he was allowed to go in. Officer said sure. Chris was like, Oh shit. I don’t want to disturb the scene. The officer said, no, it’s ok.

He went back to the apartment and saw the bathroom upstairs. At that scene, he turned back around, left the house, and locked the door. He thought about Christian’s cellphone.

He called Rae to see if she knew where it was. When she confirmed she didn’t have it, Chris went back to the police station. He asked the officers for the keys to Christian’s car and his cellphone. The officers told him they didn’t know where his cell was. He told them, go ask one of those doofuses. They went and asked Whitley and at first she told them she didn’t know. The officer told her they weren’t leaving until they had the phone. All of a sudden, the phone was in her purse along with Christian’s keys.

Chris said he felt like this was a giant red flag that she had these things and lied about it, but the future DA, Kassie Coleman (who was then the Assistant DA) said, “My personal opinion…is that she did not want the phone to get in the hands of law enforcement…because there were a lot of sexually oriented photographs and messages on that phone.”

Unfortunately, the Andreacchios have not been able to get into the actual phone despite trying multiple passcodes. Rae assumed that since this obviously wasn’t a suicide because that’s not who Christian was, that the investigators and police and lawyers would do their jobs. They’d find out what really happened.

Christian’s Funeral

For a minute though, the Andreacchios didn’t focus on what happened and focused on saying goodbye to Christian. They had a funeral where a cover of Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton was played and their pastor said moving things about Christian.

He said that people would look at Christian Andreacchio and think, I want to be like him and I want to live like that. People “envied” him. He was charismatic and lived a good life. He explained to the mourners that he had talked with Rae and said that he wasn’t sure it got harder than that. This is the hardest thing a parent lives through because that’s not how life works. It’s not supposed to happen like that and this piece of the puzzle of your life doesn’t fit.

At the funeral home, Rae had brought a street sign that Christian and his friends had likely stolen (she found it in his closet) and had everyone sign it like a guest book. People wrote loving notes to Chrisitian about always loving him, thanking him for making them laugh and brightening their day, about missing him every day, and expressing their love.It now hangs in his room at the Andreacchios who also have his treasured dirt bike displayed in the room along with the flag from his boat that was sent to them by his captain and co-workers. They also kept a dollar bill framed that Christian had always kept and written the dates of his promotions on. Once Andreacchios made it through this, they were back to figuring out what happened to their son.

For part two, click HERE!