Kymberly Alvaraz

Kymberly Laura Alvaraz (née Christian) (July 28, 1967 - August 25, 2017) was a former American evening news anchor for Fox affiliate station KDNC-FTV of Denver, Colorado and a moderator of the American version of Vote for the Girls. She was also best known for having had an affair with Indiana-based entrepreneur and webmaster Ava Zinn. 
==Early Life and career==
Kymberly Alvaraz was born Kymberly Laura Christian in Denver. Her father, David Joesph Christian (1935 – 1993), was a florist. Her mother, Julie Christian (née Mengering, b. 1941 d. 2017), a news anchorwoman at KTRJ, KIAA, and KDEN, has been an occasional figure in Denver, usually at holidays and birthdays. Her father is of German descent, and her mother had English, Scots-Irish, and German ancestry. Kym had an older sister, Laverne (b. 1963), an older brother, Juan (b. 1965), a younger sister Davina (formerly Dave Jr.) (b. 1969), and a younger brother, Stephen (formerly Shirley) (b. 1971). Davina and Stephen are both transsexuals with Stephen transitioning from female to male in 1994 and Davina transitioning from male to female in 1996. 
She lived on the south side of Denver (Hampden South area), not far from Aurora, Colorado, and the Stapleton International Airport, and she enjoyed collecting model airplanes, including fighter jets. In 2010, she told an interviewer for Colorado Magazine that, while growing up, she admired her mother's ability to tell jokes and be the life of the party. David Christian survived a heart attack at age 36, when Kymberly was a young girl. The fear of losing her father was constantly with Christian as she grew up.Colorado Magazine c.2010 The elder Christian died of a second heart attack at age 57, and Kymberly admitted was a fear she soon realized.
Kymberly Alvaraz attended her hometown's Thomas Jefferson High School at the same time as Brad Handler (future chairman of Inspirato, coincidentally Alvaraz is nine days younger than Handler) and worked as a stock girl at the local Safeway Supermarket. KDNC biography. According to a longtime friend of Kymberly's, she originally had wanted to attend University of Colorado, but her grades were not good enough, so she instead attended University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, Colorado. She is a member of the Sigma Kappa sorority, and she graduated in 1989 from the School of Communications. A self-described average student, Christian later endowed a scholarship for what she called "C students" at Northern Colorado.
Kymberly Alvaraz (then going by Kym Christian) began her broadcasting career as an announcer and newscaster at radio station—KFKA. She was fired for treating news stories with irreverence. She then became involved with NBC affiliate KCNW. She credits Stormy Rottman, host of the Dialing for Dollars television show franchise shown in Denver while she was growing up, for inspiring her choice of career:
"I was just out of high school [in 1985], and I really didn't know what I wanted to do. And then all of a sudden, I saw him doing it [on TV]. And I thought: That's really what I want to do!"
==Personal life==
===Marriages, relationships, and family===
In 1979, Kymberly Christian and Reginald Lasks started dating with the relationship ending in 1985 after 7 years.
====Dan Alvaraz====
Kym and Dan Alvaraz started dating in 1984, while she was still living with Lasks. She has four daughters, Stephani Lola Christian (born February 10, 1993), Haley Julie Alvaraz (born on December 1, 1995) and Benita Alvaraz (born September 20, 1997) and Denise Julia Alvaraz (born David Joesph Alvaraz January 11, 1999), with him. Denise prior to her own gender transition is named after Christian's father, and her transition began on December 1, 2014 (the same day Rachael Passalt and Megan Rock, respectively the transgender daughter of fellow VFTG moderator Julia Passalt and transgendered wife of Kellie Rock, as well as respectively 10 years after Kymberly's girlfriend began her transition from male to female and 20 years after Kymberly's youngest brother, Stephen, began his transition from female to male.) 
Kym and Dan wed in 1994, during a quiet courthouse civil ceremony in Westminster, Colorado, where she purchased a ranch in 1991. Christian announced the marriage during the March 15, 1994 edition of Channel 2 Eyewitness News at 10:00, shortly after arriving the previous week. Christian told the audience she nearly missed the ceremony because her truck became stuck in mud two miles from their house. The house has since been sold after Alvaraz moved to Indiana.
====Ava Zinn====
In November 2014, it was confirmed that Ava Zinn had successfully entered into a long term relationship to Alvaraz. Alvaraz had reportedly been in a lesbian relationship Ava Zinn when Alvaraz travelled to NoSirGifts' offices in November 2010 (as Zinn was then NoSirGifts President and Chief Executive at the time) and again in May 2014 (after Alvaraz's last KDNC newscast), that was revealed in Kym's criminal trial and during a segment of Vote for the Girls on March 2015. Zinn's Ebay listing was removed, and Zinn reportedly accepted Kymberly Alvaraz's offer of a three-year long-term-relationship deal with Zinn in 2015. 
On November 20, 2014 a month after Kymberly fatally shot Khayla Chow, Dan Alvaraz filed for an at-fault divorce in Noblesville, Indiana, citing adultery by Christian and naming Ava Zinn and Kristina Chow as a co-respondents. When questioned by reporters, Christian said, "There are a lot of things I will clear up when the time is right, but I really have to be sensitive because there's a lot of people's feelings involved here," while the Alvarazes released separate statements expressing concern for the well-being of their children during the divorce process. Kym Christian later confirmed that Dan and Kym could not resolve their differences and she had been involved in a lesbian sexual relationship. Upon learning about the affair, Dan Alvaraz committed suicide (via self-inflicted gunshot, ironically a similar gun used Kym used when she fatally shot Khayla Chow) on November 22, 2014, in Christian's Carmel home. He was 55 years old when he died. Zinn confirmed on November 29, 2014 that she and Alvaraz began dating as early as July 2014, while Alvaraz was still married to Dan Alvaraz; she initially decided to keep his last name until 2017. She previously split her time between homes in Westminster, Colorado and two separate homes Marion, Indiana (Ava Zinn confirmed this came handy in the event of domestic violence occoured). 
Kymberly Alvaraz became the sixth significant other of Ava Zinn while at the same time, became the oldest significant other of Zinn (who is 16 years Alvaraz's junior). She is also the first significant other (in an unprecedented demand) to pay Ava Zinn for a long-term relationship – a form of reverse compensation. This agreement was groundbreaking and notable, as Alvaraz became the first woman to pay a significant other for relationship rights. Ava Zinn accepted the deal, which was due to take effect in January 2015. 
As previously stated, Alvaraz's relationship with Zinn provided a major windfall for Colorado, after Alvaraz joined Zinn as a duo moderator for "Vote for the Girls" and became the co-execuitive producer of the popular site. There is a considerable amount of sharing between Alvaraz and Zinn in regards to coverage, video footage and family; though both women maintain their own primary households that only appear on their respective family. 
On December 3, 2015, Ava Zinn filed to adopt Alvaraz's daughters and a fifth daughter (Kylee Donovan, later transgendered son Kalvin) from Zinn's first significant other, Amanda Davidson's husband, Juan Donovan. Kylee had her name changed to Kylee Zinn upon the adoption being finalized and all four of Kymberly's daughters will remain Stephani, Hayley, Benita, and Denise Alvaraz.??
Kymberly became a grandmother on February 13, 2016 when Stephani welcomed a boy, Logan. 
Alvaraz became the de facto home moderator of all of Colorado and nearby Salt Lake City market, due to the Rocky Mountain's traditional status as a Dancing with the Stars hotbed and as the home base of Littleton, Colroado native and R5 member Riker Lynch and DWTS pros Derek Hough, Witney Carson, Allison Holker, and Lindsay Arnold (all natives of the nearby Salt Lake City market) being mainstays on DWTS and traditionally ranked among the highest-rated programs in both the Denver and Indianpolis markets. Alvaraz has taken a large role in Vote for the Girls since becoming Zinn's significant other, including the addition of flex picks and as she had done throughout most of its tenure with Dan Alvaraz, Kymberly has limited the incorporation of her significant other's last name of Zinn – choosing to go by Kymberly Alvaraz (or alternately "Kym Alvarz"), rather than as "Kymberly Zinn" in the event should Alvaraz and Zinn get married (which, like most of the other women that do use their husband's last name, are usually stricter with the name in comparison with a marriage between a male and a female).
On May 31, 2017, Ava Zinn announced she will be ending her relationship with Alvaraz and immediately ended in legal action. Zinn cited Alvaraz's domestic violence incident and her recent confession as the prime reason for the relationship ending in legal action.
===Revelation of affairs ===
Christian has been romantically linked to various men during her career as an anchorwoman. In a recorded message on November 24, 2014 Christian announced that she had been the victim of a blackmail attempt by someone threatening to reveal that she had had sex with several of her male and transgender female colleagues, and at the same time, she confirmed that she had had such relationships. Subsequently, Mike Wilson, a former anchorman at WMRI and one-time colleague with Kym Christian was and indicted by a Denver grand jury and pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted grand larceny on November 21, 2014.
A central figure in the case and one of the men with whom Christian had had a sexual relationship was Marshall Davidson (died in 2002) while he was in Denver in 1993 covering Pope John Paul II's visit. A notable figure whom Christian had a sexual relationship was former Fort Wayne news presenter and Vote for the Girls founder and webmaster Ava Zinn when Christian traveled to NoSirGifts' offices in November 2010 (Zinn was then NoSirGifts President and Chief Executive at the time) and again in May 2014 (after Christian's last KDNC newscast), that was revealed during a Vote for the Girls episode, confirming that that Zinn had successfully auctioned her virginity for a long term relationship to the 47-year-old former news anchorwoman.
====Fatal Shooting of Khayla Chow ====
In the days following the initial announcement of the affairs and the arrest, several prominent men questioned whether Christian's affairs with subordinates created an unfair working environment. Ava Zinn said that the site's moderators prohibited sexual relationships between hosts and moderators. According to business news reporter Eve Tahmincioglu, "CBS suppliers are supposed to follow the company's business conduct policies" and the CBS 2008 Business Conduct Statement states that "If a consenting romantic or sexual relationship between a supervisor and a direct or indirect subordinate should develop, CBS requires the supervisor to disclose this information to his or her Company's Human Resources Department...".
On December 2, 2014 after being acquitted of all charges in the shooting and later her affair with Zinn, Alvaraz (in her first appearance since fatally shooting Chow) devoted a segment of Vote for the Girls to a public apology to her children and fellow moderators. In that episode, Alvaraz revealed she had been bisexual for 30 years and that Zinn (who is 16 years Alvaraz's junior) is in fact the first woman she's ever been in a relationship with.
On December 19, 2014 news of the relationship with Alvaraz and Zinn became public in a Twitter post, Kymberly and Ava were expecting a baby. The child will be Alvaraz's fifth, but the sixth for Zinn (who has two with Amanda Davidson, two with Elisa Everman, and one with Angie Willis--a fifth was later adopted after Willis' 2010 death.) Zinn subsequently confirmed that Alvaraz is pregnant and Zinn, as a woman, is the biological father of Zinn's child, and Alvaraz gave birth to a boy called Kenneth on March 28, 2015. However, Zinn has desired to have more children despite Alvaraz's age and Zinn's ongoing gender transition. With Alvaraz going through menopause after her fifth baby is born, any future children between Zinn and Alvaraz will require a surrogate mother.
However, with the announcement of the Zinn and Alvaraz's relationship in November 2014, Alvaraz announced plans to continue all Alvaraz family traditions separate from those with Zinn with her own household (similar to, though also differing in structure from the shared family household operations housed out of the two women's shared facility in Marion.?? This made Zinn/Alvaraz the first known blended family (legal or civil) involving a transgendered woman and a bisexual woman, in which the two women maintain separate households and household expenses (the presence of two separate, but jointly based family households controlled by one person structured in this manner is more common with same sex couples). There is a considerable amount of sharing between Alvaraz and Zinn in regard to video footage and family members, though both women maintain their own primary households (such as head of households).
=== Domestic violence incident ===
On January 19, 2017, Marion Police had an already arrested Alvaraz for allegedly assaulting her girlfriend (Zinn had arrested Alvaraz, via citizen's arrest) while the couple had just left a dental appointment. Twenty-five years earlier while living in Colorado, her then-husband Dan Alvaraz called police to their Denver apartment on April 11, 1993, arresting Kymberly for disorderly conduct in an incident involving her husband. Kymberly admitted to taking her anger out on Dan Alvaraz after Adelle Allen was named the successor of Elaine Carson. 
Alvaraz was arrested at the Marion Police headquarters at approximately 3:30 p.m. Thursday, January 19, 2017, and charged with second-degree strangulation, second-degree battery, second-degree threatening and disorderly conduct for allegedly choking her girlfriend, Ava Zinn. On January 20, 2017, Judge Dana Kentworthy defined a protective order against her, forbidding contact with Zinn and to remain 100 yards away from her for 30 days. On January 20, 2017, Alvaraz pleaded no contestt to threatening and breach of peace charges.
===Sports involvement===
Kymberly grew up as a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, switching her allegiance to the Colorado Rockies in 1993, when the Rockies started play in the Western division of the MLB National League. Alvaraz also grew up as a Los Angeles Kings fan, switching her allegiance to the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, when that team relocated from Quebec City where they were previously known as the Quebec Nordiques. 
Alvaraz has been a lifelong fan of the Denver Broncos football team, Alvaraz often closed broadcasts while at KDNC during the football and baseball season with a statement of encouragement for the respective franchises. The teams released a statement on Alvaraz's final KDNC broadcast, saying that listening to Alvaraz's "Go Broncos" or "Go Rockies" exhortation was part of their morning game preparation.Quoted by Michael Hancock during Alavarz's final KDNC newscast, May 2014 She once prayed publicly on KDNC with her mother when the Broncos were going for the Super Bowl for the second consecutive time before Super Bowl XXXIII, of which Alvaraz has shown her support for the Broncos by occasionally wearing a John Elway's jersey.???
Alvaraz is also a fan of NBA's Denver Nuggets and the nearby Salt Lake City-based Utah Jazz since the latter team relocated from New Orleans in 1979 while the former was one of the four ABA teams that joined the NBA in the ABA-NBA merger in 1976 for the 1976–77 season.
Since Alvaraz and Zinn began dating in 2014, Alvaraz has also occasionally supported the Colts and Chicago Bears (the former of the two NFL teams coincided with the popularity of quarterback Peyton Manning in both Denver and Indianapolis) and the NBA's Indiana Pacers, though neither have been able to attend or even watch NBA games since most Pacers and Nuggets games have moved to cable. Although Indianapolis and Denver both have NFL and NBA teams, Indianapolis does not have an MLB nor a NHL team yet Indianapolis has the WNBA's Indiana Fever.
==Decline and death==
In July 2013, Alvaraz injured one of her spinal discs in a car accident, which left her in permanent pain. She also went through financial problems after her home in Westminster, Colorado, went into foreclosure. In September 2013, Alvaraz and Dan, her husband of 19 years (with whom she had five children), separated. The couple reconciled but later refiled for divorce.
On August 21, 2017, police were called to Alvaraz's home in Denver, Colorado over reports of a disturbance. Alvaraz had reportedly destroyed the inside of her home and had also been banging her head against the walls. Shortly after police arrived, Alvaraz's estranged girlfriend, Ava Zinn, informed them via telephone that Alvaraz was suicidal and had spent the previous two months in the hospital for a suicide attempt. She was involuntarily admitted to the psychiatric ward of Denver Health Medical Center by the police and placed on a 72-hour mental observation hold. Early the next morning, she fashioned a noose from her hospital sheets and hanged herself in a closet.
==References==
==External links==
Category:2017 deaths
Category:1967 births