Christina Boyer gained notoriety as a teenager in the middle of the 1980s after her family asserted her claims of being capable of moving things with her mind. She once again came to the attention of the media in 1992, but this time it was because of being charged with the murder of Amber, her three-year-old daughter. More than 30 years after the alleged incident, a group of Boyer supporters maintain the claim of her innocence and are pleading with law enforcement to revisit the conviction.
A new true crime documentary series on Hulu, 'Demons & Saviors', is based on Boyer's story and delves deep into her life, the specifics of her daughter's death, and the legal battle. The three-part show seeks to analyze the evidence in the case, looks at the campaigns by the alleged murderer's supporters to get her released, and features interviews with Boyer, who continues to insist on her innocence.
The chilling real story of Christina Boyer
Christina Boyer also known by the name Tina Resch earned the nickname "poltergeist girl" in the 1980s due to her alleged supernatural abilities - a reference to Steven Spielberg's 1982 film 'Poltergeist', as per the New York Post. The Hulu docu-series describes how Boyer's birth mother left her in a hospital, leading to Joan and John Resch adopting her. She claims that her adoptive father, John, assaulted her physically, disciplining her "with fist[s]." "I was prepared for prison long before I ever came to prison," said Boyer, recalling her childhood, and alleging that she was molested by her adoptive brother.
She finally left home, got married (which Boyer claims was abusive), and ultimately relocated to Carrollton, Georgia, with her daughter, Amber, according to ABC News. Boyer maintains her claim that when she returned home from her psychologist's home on April 14, 1992, her three-year-old daughter was unresponsive. David Herrin, her boyfriend, was supposedly keeping an eye on the child when the tragedy struck. The medical examiner ruled that the toddler daughter died as a result of a deadly hit to her skull and that her injuries were indicative of child abuse that had likely taken place over a number of days, as per ABC News.
The central mystery of the case is still unanswered as Boyer maintains her innocence of not being at home when Amber supposedly received the fatal blow. Boyer and her boyfriend Herrin were both charged with the child's murder. In the 'Demons & Saviors' documentary, former District Attorney Peter Skandalakis claims that witnesses saw the mother violently mistreat her daughter, something that Boyer denies. Moreover, the case never went under trial as Boyer agreed to a plea bargain in order to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years with the possibility of parole, according to ABC News.
For more than three decades, Boyer has maintained her innocence. "Her steadfast unwillingness to 'confess' remorse for a crime she did not commit constitutes both evidence in favor of her exoneration as well as a roadblock for the Parole Board," says a website dedicated to her case. Boyer is still "hopeful" that her sentence will be commuted. "I’m more hopeful now actually, because there’s so many more people all around that are involved," she states.
The 'demon' in Christina Boyer
Boyer, who is presently incarcerated at Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville, Georgia, is said to have the ability to mentally manipulate items. According to reports, she allegedly had the power to bend silverware, cause objects to flutter in the air, and even take a phone off its hook. A Columbus Times Dispatch photographer captured the last event, which made her a household name across the country. According to Boyer, the paranormal occurrences began in 1984, when she was 14 years old, and claims that her adoptive parents hired a priest to perform an exorcism. As per The New York Post, Boyer's story was determined to be an elaborate hoax when she was caught on camera attempting to fake her supposed powers.
