Evil Lives Here on Investigation Discovery: The Story Behind Ernest Christie
Documentary series about Sam Christie's testimony regarding his father's brutal assaults and the kidnapping of a woman in California
What is the series about?
Evil Lives Here on Investigation Discovery presents in the episode "Dangerous Relatives" the chilling account of Ernest Christie, seen through the eyes of his son, Sam Christie. The series is known for its format, where family members of perpetrators share the signs they overlooked or the fear they lived under while the crimes took place. In this specific episode, we follow Sam Christie's traumatic upbringing in California, where his father transformed their home into a regime of terror and violence.
The true case
The true case of Ernest Christie is one of the most bizarre and frightening stories from California's criminal history. Ernest Christie was a violent man who not only terrorized his own family but also committed serious crimes against strangers. The most shocking aspect of the case involves a woman named Patty, whom Ernest Christie kidnapped after brutally beating her. He kept her captive under inhumane conditions in a hollowed-out tree stump of a redwood tree, which was set up as a primitive prison.
His son Sam Christie was forced to witness these events. As a child and young man, he was paralyzed by fear of his father, which created a complex moral trauma. Although Patty at one point attempted to escape, and Sam faced the choice of helping her or obeying his father, the situation ended with Patty being released by Ernest Christie himself under unclear circumstances. Patty never reported the assault to the police at the time, likely due to fear of retaliation, which meant that Ernest Christie's actions remained hidden from authorities for decades.
Timeline of the case
The case spans several decades, beginning with Ernest Christie's escalating brutality in the 1970s and 80s. It was during this period that the kidnapping of Patty took place in the wooded areas of California. After Ernest Christie's death in 2006, Sam Christie chose to break the silence. He led investigators to the locations where his father had committed his atrocities, including the notorious tree stump. Police investigations confirmed many of Sam's details, although many of the legal consequences were excluded due to the father's death.