Ep 53 | CHRISTOPHER SOKOLIC Transcript

Ep 53 | Christopher Sokolic Transcript

Before we begin this podcast, please be advised that the following episode contains language that some listeners may find offensive and inappropriate. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not reflect the views of the podcast producers. Listener discretion is advised.

That's a hard day for me to recollect man. You told Alexandria that you, quote unquote, "You were gonna be on the six o'clock news." The drugs had complete control of me, bro. Even if I didn't have... everything, I had to shoot everything. The needle itself is just a whole new world, you know. See, this is where it goes blank, because they said I stabbed him a lot, and I don't remember stabbing him all those times.

Dude, you must have been, are you high as a kite right now? I'm definitely not in my right state of mind. I'm not putting you on trial at all. As a matter of fact, I'm letting you show everybody that you're just a normal guy, that the drugs f***ed you up. I think that society thinks that people like you out there are just a demon and a hell child waiting to kill people.

I've learned my lesson, but I didn't get sober until all this happened. This whole event got me sober. You are now listening to the podcast Voices of a Killer. I'm bringing you the stories from the perspective of the people that have taken the life of another human and their current situation thereafter in prison. You will see that, although these are the folks that we have been programmed to hate, they all have something in common.

They are all humans like us that admit that they made a mistake. Will you forgive them or will you condemn them? They are currently serving time for their murders and they give us an inside glimpse of what took place when they killed and their feelings on the matter now. Here are the voices of those who have killed.

Welcome back to Voices of a Killer. In this week's episode, we talk to Christopher Sokolic, the man responsible for a bloody homicide that took place in a parked car in 2020. The crime was violent and the body disfigured. But is Christopher really the cool-headed killer the press made him out to be?

In this episode, Christopher shares another side of himself that is absent from news coverage as he details the 15-year long battle with addiction that destroyed his life and compelled him to act contrary to his true character. We'll hear about Christopher's first life-changing experience with meth, a drug that consumed him

and about the star witness in Christopher's trial, whose testimony was instrumental in his guilty conviction. Now in active recovery, Christopher often battles to recall what happened on that drug hazed May afternoon. But we'll piece together the story and hear exactly what was going through his mind during a fit of stabbing that cut the life of Zachary Tripp short.

What is the truth behind the Facebook messages Christopher exchanged that day? Where did the animosity between him and Zachary begin, and how does he make sense of his crime now with the benefit of hindsight? We'll cover all this and more on this episode of Voices of a Killer. So Christopher, where are you from? I'm from Barnhart, which is in Jefferson County, Missouri. So you were born and raised in the state of Missouri? Yes, sir. How was your childhood growing up? Honestly, my childhood was good. It was real good. I came up in a good house. Good family, good parents. Yeah? Yeah. No, no violence or alcohol or drugs in the family?

No violence, no drugs, no alcohol, man. Do you have siblings? Oh yeah, I got a sister. Do you have a relationship with her? Yeah, I do now. Yeah, are your parents still together? Yep, still together. Yeah, do you have a relationship with them? Yes, I do. How's that? That's good. It's good. Better than it's ever been, to tell you the truth.

Really? What's made it better? Sobriety. Getting away from drugs. At some point you got a problem with drugs? Oh yeah. So, I mean, you had a decent childhood, you know, no violence, no drugs and alcohol from your parents. What made you drift towards that, doing that? I think acceptance, man, from friends trying to fit in, you know, or trying to, you know, seem like I belong somewhere, maybe something like that.

I think that's where it started. Yeah. Kids in school. And when did it start? Did it start before high school or in high school or after? Oh yeah, when I was in high school, I was probably, you know, I probably smoked weed, drank, and I was probably in the 5th grade. I think it was the 5th summer I finished 5th grade.

What was your drug of choice? Amphetamines. Are you talking about at the age, like from high school, or like when I first started, or like at the end? Yeah, what eventually became the one, you know? Yeah, m*** all the way. M***. Yeah, did you end up shooting it? Oh, yeah. And that's usually when it gets really bad because it seems like it turns the whole thing into some other drug, you know.

Whenever you started shooting it, what age were you? I was probably 16 or 17 the first time I shot. I can't really remember. Wow, that's really young. And that's a, you know, that's so strong whenever you shoot something like that. Was that pretty much it after that? You just wanted to shoot m*** all the time?

Yeah. Yeah, s***, I mean, after that, even if I didn't have... everything, I had to shoot everything, the needle itself was just a whole other world, you know? Right, right. When did your parents catch on that you were doing stuff like that? Probably not long after, probably, you know, a year or so after I started using, you know. I kept getting arrested for having drugs, and I guess, you know, I got found out.

At what age was your first time you getting arrested? I think that was 17 or 18 is when I started catching my first felonies. What was your first felony? What did you do? It was possession of a controlled substance. Yeah, m***? Yeah. Have you ever been to rehab? Yeah, I did. Yeah, multiple rehabs. I did multiple.

Looking back on your times of doing m***and getting started on that, do you have a completely different outlook on m*** now than you did then? Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And what is that outlook now? Well, I mean, back then I didn't think it was a problem. I was just trying to party and have fun, you know, and I, now it's just, I was just destroying my life.

Yeah. Even when it hurt, I just didn't see it. I just kept thinking about it next time. The state of Missouri has a long troubled history with meth. Drug related overdoses are on a steady rise each year, and fentanyl contaminated m***is a pressing concern statewide. Christopher's early life is a testament to Missouri's m***problem.

From as young as 16 years old before his teenage brain had fully developed, Christopher was addicted to m***. The addiction, which Christopher attributes to pressure from his high school friends totally derailed his life. He began shooting other hard drugs by needle and quickly sinking deeper into an addiction that consumed every aspect of his life. Everything at that time in his life, Christopher tells me, revolved around chasing the next opportunity to get high. Drug use came hand in hand with other illicit behavior, and around this time, Christopher began to build a substantial criminal record. Here's a list of just some of the crimes he got mixed up in over the years: wearing drug paraphernalia, littering, buying alcohol as a minor, fourth degree assault, possession of a controlled substance, and stealing. That's 4 felonies and 10 misdemeanors for which Christopher served at least 180 days in jail, paid over 2, 000 in fines, and was placed on probation at least 3 times. By the time Christopher had reached the tail end of his 20s, his rap sheet was long and he had a consistent pattern of re ffending.

This was a clear indication that Christopher was failing to get clean and alter his behavior, as the criminal justice system profiled him as a repeat criminal. There's a Facebook post from KSDK News about Christopher's crime posted in May of 2020. Underneath, somebody who must have known Christopher personally has commented, quote unquote, "So sad.

CJ had such a kind heart and he let drugs take it away." As you might expect, you can find a lot of disgust and anger about Christopher's crime online, but this one comment cuts through it all. It seems to be a little snapshot into who Christopher really was back then behind the drugs: a kind hearted kid whose life was torn apart by meth.

So I got a question for you, you know, whenever you Google your name and you start reading about your case, obviously it wasn't that long ago, so there's going to be stuff that comes up all over the news. It's a murder case. What I want to know is from your perspective, is it first degree murder? Did you plan it?

I didn't plan it, no. Okay. So what I want to do is I want to kind of trace back a little bit and we'll just kind of go through some things. What I want to know is there's a basically a star witness in your case by the name of Alexandria Ayers. What is your relationship with her prior to this event? Well, I mean, that's, it was, it's complicated, man.

I guess I was kind of sleeping with her. I was just sleeping with her. It was more of a friend. She was trying to help. I was going through a really bad time. I mean, that was the worst my addiction's ever been. And she was kind of there for me, you know, as a friend but we're sleeping together. I think it was more, but it was hard for me to tell. At that point the drugs had complete control of me, bro.

Okay. So she was an acquaintance, but also kind of friends with benefits? Yeah. You think if I asked her that she'd say the same thing about you, that's what that was? I don't know what she'd say, bro. I mean, I thought it was a little more at the time, but when I look at it, I think she was just trying to help me.

Yeah. And I just didn't see it. I thought it was more. I don't know what she'd say. At what age did you meet Alexandria? Probably just the year before all this happened, the year 2004, I can't remember. Okay. 2018, 2019, probably. And then, the victim in your case, Zachary Tripp, how do you know him prior to the crime?

I met him through somebody I was in high with. So, I guess Zach was also somebody that you got high with? Yeah. Had you ever crossed each other before and got mad at each other? No. Not really, no. No, actually, never. I don't think we ever got no arguments or nothing. Wow. So, on May 25th of 2020, you went and met Zachary Tripp and Alexandria Ayers.

What were you meeting up with them for? I remember... That's a hard day for me to recollect, man, but I mean, I just remember being... I was trying to get high. Had to find a way to get high. I had just wrecked my car. I was at my parents' house. I didn't have, you know, and I was just trying to get out of there.

I was trying to find a way to get high. And I remember I was trying to meet up with Ali, and then we could scheme a way to get high. But at the same time, I was messaging Zachary, trying to find a way to get high also. And he said he was going to come. Zachary did, but then he stopped answering after a while.

So I met up with Ali. So whenever you met up with Ali, did you get high with Ali? Or Alexandria? You talk about Alexandria when you meet up with Ali? Yeah, Alexandria, I mean, I'm sorry. Sure, so, did you? No, we didn't. How come? She didn't have nothing. I only met up with her for a second, but I did meet up with her, and I guess Zachary was already on the way to come get me, and he just wasn't answering on Facebook or whatever, so I met her at the front of the neighborhood where I was staying, and I seen him drive by. And I was like, "Oh, that's him, I gotta go."

Did that make you mad? I went with him. Did that make you mad that he wasn't answering? No, not really. I mean, I guess maybe at the time. I don't know. I don't feel like it did. You hop in with the victim, Zachary Tripp. Did Alexandria go with you? Not at that time. Where did you and Tripp go? We went down to, we went to somebody's house where I thought I could get something,

that she might give me something. Were y'all able to score? No. So you and Tripp left there empty handed? Yeah. Where'd y'all go then? We came back to Barnhart. I said, "I got to pick Ali up." And my plan at the time in my head, I was thinking I was going to go to my grandpa's house. I hadn't seen my grandpa in a few, you know, like a few months.

And the time I did see him, you know, I scared him and my grandma real bad because I came over high and I was tripping. You worried your grandparents by the way you were acting is what you're saying? Yeah, exactly, yeah. Did you go over there that day, the day of the murder, and talk to your grandparents and ease them up a little bit?

I didn't get to talk to them. Yeah. That's unfortunate. So where did you and Tripp go? Zachary Tripp? Well, we went and picked Ali up or Alexandria back up and over to my grandpa's house. I said, "Let's go over there. We're gonna hang out for a while." My grandpa didn't leave. He didn't drive no more.

So I knew he was there. May 20th started out like any other typical day for Christopher. He was at the peak of his addiction in 2020, and his only priority that day was to get high. At the time, his car was out of commission, which made him reliant on those around him to access a drug supply. All morning, Christopher messaged Alexandria back and forth on Facebook, repeatedly asking to see her. They met up at around noon at a gas station in Barnhart.

There, Christopher fooled around and even jumped into a nearby creek at one point. When Christopher caught sight of Zachary driving by in his white Chevy sedan, he hopped in. Together, they meandered around town, seeking drugs from people in their neighborhood, but ultimately came up empty handed. 30 minutes later, they went back to pick Alexandria up and drove toward Christopher's grandfather's house.

Up front sat Christopher and Zachary. Alexandria was in the back seat. The activities of this day were fairly normal for Christopher. His behavior, however, was not. According to Alexandria in a later statement, something about Christopher just seemed off that day. Looking back, she would mention Christopher's Facebook messages to be atypical and concerning.

Christopher could be dramatic at times, she said, but she began to worry when he said things like he needed to quote unquote "get his head straightened out" and that she could expect to see him on the quote unquote "six o'clock news that night." Were these messages an indication that Christopher was planning to do something rash?

Or were they a harmless cry for help from somebody going through a difficult time? There's no better person than Christopher to ask about the unusual messages he sent Alexandria that day. We'll hear his answer after the break. So whenever you picked up Alexandria, you tell me if this is accurate or if this is just a flat out lie, but you told Alexandria that you, and quote unquote, "you were gonna be on the six o'clock news."

Did you say that? I didn't tell her when she picked me up. This was before Zachary picked me up. Before Zachary said he was on the way. I was messaging Alexandria first trying to meet up with her. And for real, I was just in a bad mental state. I needed somebody to talk to or I needed to get high is what I needed. Well, I wanted to get high, but I was really kind of eager for her to come meet up with me or talk to me or something though.

Okay. What you're saying is, is you didn't tell her you were going to be on the 6 o'clock news because you were going to hurt somebody. You were going to be on the 6 o'clock news because you were losing it and wanted to get high? Yeah. Did Alexandria take the stand and say that you said that? Yes, she did.

Did you tell your attorney that they're taking it out of context or did it still get admitted into court? It still got admitted into court and my lawyer knew that she was taking it out of context. And I just don't think he argued the point during my trial. Wow. Well, it's all over the news. You know, of course, that's what the news does, which is what I hate about the news. And, I mean, it is used in the trials, so I can see why the news reports on it, however, you know, I would always just kind of put a caveat in there or something, you know. Because we don't know for sure if that's, you know, what it was. And you're saying that it was taken out of context, that when you said you were going to be on the 6 o'clock news, it had nothing to do with hurting anybody.

It was just because you were losing it and wanted to get some drugs. Yeah, I was trying to get her attention. I was trying to make her, you know, think, oh man, maybe I have to see what's wrong with this motherf***er and talk to him or something, you know. Right, well, Trying to get some sympathy, you know?

So, after you said this to her in a text or whatever, you all get back in the vehicle together. So now it's you, Zachary Tripp, the victim, and Alexandra Ayers. And where are y'all headed now? Right now we're going to my grandpa's house. We're driving. While you're driving, did you and Zachary have any negative words with each other?

None at all, dude. None. Nothing. Yeah, none. Okay, so no negative words. And at some point, did you ask him to pull over? No, we got to my grandpa's house, and I told him to pull over on the side of a barn. Okay, so whenever y'all pull over, who's the first person out of the vehicle? Nobody was out of the vehicle yet.

At that moment that he puts it in park, and you're at your grandpa's, y'all are parking everything, what's the mood like? Is anybody agitated at this point or anything? No, nobody's agitated, no. What's the very next thing happen that after y'all parked? I told Zachary to pop the trunk. I gotta get something outta the trunk.

Right, I gotta get something outta the trunk. What was it that you needed to get? I had a box of clothes that I had in the trunk because I hung out with Zachary regularly. Had a box of clothes and some other s*** in the trunk. So did you get out and you went around back? I actually, I didn't get out of the car.

Anybody get out? Nobody got out of the car. So what's the next thing that happened? I heard Zachary say, "You ain't gonna need to get nothing out of the trunk." And he reached forward. And moved his hand to the left side of the steering wheel so I couldn't see what he was doing. So before he said that, there's absolutely no negative tension, right?

No negativity going on at all, no. So whenever he says, "You're not gonna need anything out of that trunk", did you say, "What do you mean?" Or what did you do? No, I didn't say nothing. No, I didn't say nothing to him. No words were spoken at all yet. What's your next move after that?

I started stabbing him. So all he said was, "You're not gonna need that." And you stabbed him? Yeah, I seen him move, lean forward and move something. I couldn't see what it was. Dude, you must have been, are you high as a kite right now? I'm definitely not in my right state of mind, yeah. Let me ask you this, whenever he leans forward, did you already have the knife in your hand?

No, I was sitting... When he leans forward, no. It was sitting in the cup holster, open, face down. And did you scoot forward in your seat and stab him in the chest, reach around and stab him? No. Where did you stab him? In the front. See, this is where it goes blank because they said I stabbed him a lot and I don't remember stabbing him all those times.

I know you need to know answers. That doesn't help. But I mean, it's hard to answer. No, I understand. What was Alexandria's reaction whenever you started stabbing him? I only remember her saying, "What are you doing?" And then she got out the car and I didn't know. I don't know what happened to her after that.

You know, I guess she walked off. Christopher's account of his crime is somewhat confused and disjointed. Both he and Zachary were high that afternoon and he can't fully recollect what took place, which makes it difficult to say just what happened in the parked car. As he remembers it, Christopher instructed Zachary to park behind a barn on his grandfather's property on East Marriott Street.

The mood was friendly, and Christopher asked to get some things out of the trunk of the car. The rest is hazy, but Zachary seems to have refused to open the trunk, and as he leaned down, Christopher misinterpreted this as an act of aggression. Without warning, he took a locked black pocket knife and stabbed his friend 23 times in the head, neck, chest, and back, a terrifying death. Terrified, Alexandria, who had watched all this from the back seat, opened the door and fled to safety. 

Christopher made no attempt to cover up the crime scene. Shortly after stabbing Zachary, he also fled, abandoning both the body and the car. Acting on a call Alexandria had made, investigators arrived at the scene to discover Zachary's body lying face down in a field just 25 feet from the car.

The body was saturated with blood, and Christopher's pocket knife was next to it, in a locked position. The white sedan, now full of blood, had left tire marks indicating that Christopher had attempted to skid away, but had crashed into a bush. Video surveillance from a nearby property corroborated Alexandria's story as it showed the white car pulling up and Alexandria fleeing 30 seconds later.

In short, there was plenty of incriminating evidence tying Christopher to the crime, and police had little trouble identifying him as the man responsible. Just after midnight, they apprehended him at his mother's house and took him into custody. Do you think your reaction to stabbing him was justified with him just saying you're not gonna get that outta your trunk? No. Okay. I'm glad to hear you say that because it really doesn't sound justified. I completely agree if you wanna be ready for somebody, if he's gonna pull something on you, if you want to have your knife ready and stuff like that, but. I mean, you're just in an argument at that point, possibly.

You really took it way over the edge quickly, man. But hey, listen, I'm glad to hear you say that, you know, that you don't think that's right. How do you feel now that you've done that, you've sobered up? Man, I don't have the words to describe it, man. Guilty. And that just ain't me, that wasn't the way... I don't know how to describe it, dude.

Yeah, because it's, I really think you were just completely drugged out. I mean, starting to shoot m***amphetamine at 15 years old, dude, you're gonna f***ing really not have some, you know, right ways of thinking as long as you have that stuff pumping through your brain all the time. It's just, it's toxic, man.

Toxic. Because I promise you, somebody reaching forward and saying you're not gonna get something outta the trunk is not grounds to stab him. You know what I mean? Yeah, when he leaned back, I thought I saw a knife. See, before we get too far, I thought I saw a knife in his hand. You didn't say that earlier though.

So I mean, like now. Oh yeah. I mean, so I don't know, man. You can't kind of, kind of too late for that. I mean, unless you really forgot. But you didn't say that earlier. No, I mean. I know, but I mean, I've already been to court for this. I've already, I have my, I know. I'm not putting you on trial. I'm not putting you on trial at all.

As a matter of fact, I'm letting you show everybody that you're just a normal guy, that the drugs f***ed you up. That's what I'm doing for you right now. I'm not putting you on trial, bro. I promise. So, it's just kinda, it's crazy. You know, I ask these questions because I think that society thinks that people like you out there are just a demon and a hell child waiting to kill people.

But you actually all the right circumstances and recipes put all that together for you where, you know, drugs at a young age and lost in life and desperate and not being able to think straight by thinking somebody is going to do something when they're really not, you know, it's f***ed up, dude. It's a shame that you got to hold a m***at such a young age, you know, I'm sorry to hear that for you, the victim's loved ones, you know, it's cause it really damaged a lot of people.

Do you ever get hate mail from anybody? No, I don't. Christopher admits to me that he had no just grounds to stab Zachary Tripp. The drugs were in control that day, which impaired his decision making abilities to the extent that he made a terrible rash mistake he now deeply regrets. Three years ago, Christopher was also asked to account for his crime, this time as a defendant in a trial that took place over two days at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Hillsboro.

The charge Christopher faced was first degree murder, the most serious level of homicide. Put simply, first degree is a premeditated crime. To get a successful conviction, the prosecutor would have to prove that Christopher had intentionally killed Zachary after planning and deliberation. The defense team countered that Christopher was just a man strung out on drugs who had acted recklessly after a sudden trigger.

His drug induced mental state had robbed him of sound judgment and his careless abandonment of the crime scene was clear proof that this crime was unplanned. However, the prosecutor had a key witness in the form of Alexandria Ayers. Her testimony about the comments Christopher had made about being on the news prior to the stabbing became a central piece of evidence.

The prosecutor took the messages out of context to argue that Christopher had planned to kill Zachary that day. They also pointed out that it was Christopher who directed Zachary to park behind the barn, which was interpreted as an attempt to conceal his attack. Stabbing Zachary 23 times also counted heavily against Christopher.

Although he had ample time to back down, the stabbing was violent and excessive. And Christopher then fled the scene without giving any aid to his dying friend. It took less than an hour and a half for the jury to reach their conclusion. Guilty. Christopher was sentenced to life without parole, which effectively means he will live out the rest of his life in prison.

Drugs have wrecked Christopher's life over the past 15 years. Will this crime now be the wake up call he needs to stay sober and commit to living a better life in jail? So, did you plead guilty or not guilty? I pled not guilty to first degree murder. I mean, yeah, they piece some... Here's the thing that also sucks about your situation.

You probably understand that what you did was not right. However, you probably really didn't say the s*** about the six o'clock news meaning him. And you're just whacked out on drugs, I don't know. But you pled not guilty, but they did find you guilty. What was that like watching those jurors look at you and you know that they held your life in their hands. During your trial?

I was, I don't know. I don't know. I don't got an answer. I don't know, but I don't know the answer to that one. I don't know. I mean, it was scary knowing that people did that, but I mean. What did they sentence you to? Life without parole. And how does that make you feel, knowing that you're going to die in prison?

Sad. Sad? How do you get along in prison? I mean, I kind of stick to myself. I got a job and I work. I go to work, I come home and I read. I mean, I just stick to myself, mind my own business. Do you think you should be out of prison? Do you think you should have a parole date? I wanna say, yeah, I do, but I mean, who's to decide who gets a parole date and who doesn't?

Yeah. I learned my lesson, but I didn't get sober until all this happened. This whole event got me sober. It was just a life-altering event. What do you think could have changed? I mean, what could have happened to where you didn't go down this path? What could have been done differently? I should have stopped doing drugs when everybody kept telling me.

That's the only... I should have just got sober. All them years ago, I went to that first NA meeting, I should have got sober. Yeah. Well, Christopher, it's a shame that you got such an early start in drugs and everything. It really screwed some stuff up, but I appreciate you reaching out to me, man. I hope everything works out for you. Alright.

Alright, man, take care. Right on, bro. Alright, you too, man. Yep, bye bye.

On the next episode of Voices of a Killer.

I asked, I said, "Well, why are you threatening me with the shotgun like you're gonna kill me?" Right. What was her response? She didn't have none. And this is the same woman that you used to give flowers to and madly in love with? Yeah, I just ran over there and started shooting and then hopped in my car and left.

What did you do with the murder weapon? Well, I gave it back to the dude that it belonged to. I believe everybody should have a second chance.

That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. I want to thank Christopher for sharing his story with us today. His ability to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special. If you want to listen to these episodes weeks in advance, you can now do so by joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/VoicesofaKiller. There you will get access to raw interviews, unseen news coverage, and unique correspondence with the guests of Voices of a Killer. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/VoicesofaKiller to support the podcast. Your support is what keeps us passionate about bringing these stories to you.

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I'm your host, Toby, and we'll see you next time on Voices of a Killer.