A Body in the Basement: Aroma of Death on ID - Who was the found teenage boy, and how did he die?

Investigation Discovery's A Body in the Basement explores the case of 16-year-old Christopher Denoyer, a lively high school sophomore and football player from Salinas, California, who vanished without a trace in 1984.

For 14 years, his disappearance remained a mystery, with police assuming he’d run away after a telegram suggested he’d left for Los Angeles. But in 1998, a discovery shattered that theory. New homeowners renovating their Navajo Drive property found Christopher’s skeletal remains buried under the kitchen floor, a bullet in his skull.

Forensic evidence revealed he’d been shot three times, once in the head and twice in the back, in a brutal act tied to family tensions. The case pointed to his stepfather, Jackson Villarta, who was later convicted of the crime. The case unravels in A Body in the Basement, season 2, episode 8, titled Aroma of Death, airing on October 7, 2025, at 9:00 pm ET on Investigation Discovery.

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A Body in the Basement: Christopher’s disappearance in 1984

A Body in the Basement, season 2, episode 8(Image via Unsplash/ @ JOSHUA COLEMAN)

Christopher Denoyer, a popular student at Salinas High School, was last seen on January 13, 1984. That morning, his mom, Dale Villarta, headed to San Francisco for the day, leaving her husband, Jackson, in charge. Chris went to school but skipped football practice, telling friends he was meeting his girlfriend, Carlotta.

However, he never showed up. When Dale got home, she called Chris’s friend Robert, who said Chris had talked about running away because of strict house rules, like early curfews and no dating, as per CBS News. By 10 p.m., Dale reported him missing.

The next day, a telegram arrived, supposedly from Chris in Los Angeles, apologizing to Dale and Jackson and mentioning NFL dreams. It was charged to their phone bill. Police, assuming he’d run off, stopped investigating. Dale put up missing posters, but the family moved in 1985.

A strange smell filled their house soon after Chris vanished, which Jackson and Dale blamed on a dead pet snake. Chris’s sister, Cherie, found the explanation odd, as the odor lingered for weeks, as per Oxygen.

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The shocking find under the kitchen

Christopher Denoyer's body was found in the basement (Image via Unsplash/ @ Peter Herrmann)

In January 1998, a couple renovating their new home on Navajo Drive made a grim discovery. While checking the crawl space under the kitchen, the husband spotted a shoe in the dirt. Days later, a relative dug deeper and smelled decay, prompting a call to police.

On January 28, officers cut through the kitchen floor and found a shallow grave, about 18 inches deep, holding a skeleton wrapped in a blanket and tarp. A .38-caliber bullet was lodged in the skull. Dental records confirmed it was Christopher Denoyer on February 2.

An autopsy showed he died around January 1984 from three gunshots, one to the back of the head and two to the back. The grave sat right under where the family’s kitchen table once stood, accessible through a pantry trapdoor.

This meant the killer knew the house well and had time to hide the body. The find stunned the community and turned the case into a homicide investigation, connecting the dots to the odd smell from A Body in the Basement reported years before, as per Oxygen.

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Uncovering the truth behind A Body in the Basement

Christopher Denoyer was shot three times (Image via Unsplash/ @ Oleksandr Akulenko)

After the 1998 discovery, Salinas police, led by Detective Bob Eggers, dove back into the case. They started with Chris’s sister, Cherie, now in Ohio, to avoid tipping off suspects. She shared how Chris and Jackson often clashed over strict rules. She also mentioned the strong smell in the house after Chris disappeared, doubting the snake story since it didn’t match the stench’s intensity.

When police questioned Dale in Oregon, she seemed shaken but repeated the snake excuse. Jackson stayed calm, denying any smell or involvement. A search turned up a .38-caliber revolver and matching bullets at Jackson’s property, and tests confirmed the gun fired the fatal shot. Phone records showed the 1984 telegram came from a local payphone, not Los Angeles, proving it was fake.

Investigators believed Jackson shot Chris during an argument while Dale was away, then buried him under the kitchen. The cover-up involved cutting floorboards and forging the telegram, according to People. On February 13, 1998, Jackson was arrested for murder, while Dale faced no charges, later detailed in A Body in the Basement.

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Justice and lasting impact

A Body in the Basement, season 2, episode 8 (Image via Unsplash/ @ Larry Farr)

Jackson Villarta faced trial in May 1999, but it ended in a mistrial when one juror questioned the evidence. A second trial in November 1999 brought a different outcome.

Prosecutors presented the fake telegram, the gun match, and Cherie’s account of family conflicts and the suspicious odor. Witnesses, including police and Chris’s friends, testified about Jackson’s controlling nature and Chris’s dislike of football, debunking the telegram’s NFL claim.

Jackson took the stand, blaming Dale, but the jury didn’t buy it. On November 18, 1999, he was convicted of second-degree murder and later sentenced to 17 years to life.

Now 81, Jackson remains at the California Institution for Men, denied parole multiple times, including in 2023, for showing little remorse. Dale, who divorced him, died in 2010 without charges. Cherie became an advocate for missing kids, as per Oxygen.

Catch A Body in the Basement on Investigation Discovery.

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