A former Army captain who was on the run for almost five years after fleeing a court-martial for sexually abusing his daughter was found hiding at his mother’s house last week.
Christopher Wilkinson, once an intelligence officer at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, was arrested by a U.S. Marshals Service task force on Sept. 18, according to a press release shared with Task & Purpose by the law enforcement agency.
Wilkinson had been on the run since his command granted him leave in January 2021, just weeks before he was expected to face a court-martial. He was granted leave, according to court records, “based in part on his history of professionalism and timeliness.”
He instead fled, leading to a yearslong manhunt that ended in rural Illinois, where investigators spotted Wilkinson’s blue 1963 Chevy pickup parked at his mother’s home — and the fugitive ex-captain stashed away upstairs.
“Christopher Wilkinson will transfer to the Army on a date yet to be determined to serve his sentence for his in absentia conviction,” Tony McCormick, a spokesperson for the Army, told Task & Purpose in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “It is undetermined at this time if he will face future charges.”
Five years on the run
Wilkinson was charged in 2019 with several counts of sexual misconduct against his daughter, who was under the age of 16, according to court records.
After being approved for leave, he last spoke to his supervisor days before his trial, which was scheduled for Feb. 1, 2021. Wilkinson told his mother that he was going hiking and court records said that he left for the Dragoon Mountains northeast of Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where he was an instructor in the Army’s Captains Career Course.
On the day of his court-martial, Wilkinson failed to show and his command was unable to contact him. Army officials sent a search party to the last known coordinates where his cell phone pinged in the mountains. When that effort failed to find him, a massive search effort was launched that included members of the Directorate of Emergency Services, military police, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, local law enforcement, canines, aviation assets and personnel on horseback.
At one point, officials offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Wilkinson’s mother, who was not identified by name in court records, told authorities in the early days of the search that she had not spoken to her son since he informed her he was going hiking.
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Investigators initially probed Wilkinson’s hometown of Bluffs, Illinois, but “no information was uncovered on Wilkinson’s whereabouts and the case went cold,” according to the press release.
Wilkinson was convicted “in absentia” and sentenced to three years in confinement and expulsion from the service. Wilkinson was in the Army for nearly 20 years before his expulsion, first as an enlisted mechanic and then as an intelligence officer, his records show.
Leads point to Illinois home
It is not clear where Wilkinson spent most of his time while on the run, but in July of this year, investigators “chased down leads” — which were unspecified in the news release — that led them to his mother’s house in Bluffs.
After his capture, Wilkinson was booked into a local county jail and is expected to be turned over to the Army.
“No child should ever have to endure any abuse, let alone this egregious crime”, District of Arizona U.S. Marshal Van Bayless said in the press release. “The U.S. Marshals Service is dedicated to pursuing predators wherever they may be, until they are brought to justice.”
