On a Friday in late January 2002, 20-year-old Christopher Thompkins began his workday with a surveying company, a job he reportedly enjoyed. He left his home in Ellerslie, Georgia, that morning and carpooled with his colleagues to a job site in a rural, wooded area in Harris County. The four-man crew was working in a line, each about 50 feet from the next, off of County Line Road. At approximately 1:30 p.m., shortly after their lunch break, a co-worker who had been chatting with Christopher turned away for a moment. When he looked back, Christopher was gone, having vanished without a sound, leaving his work tools behind.
The initial response to Christopher's disappearance was perplexing. His co-workers searched the immediate area for a couple of hours without success. One of the crew members notified his own wife that Christopher was missing, but Christopher's mother was not informed until nearly 5:00 p.m. that day. This delay troubled his family, who, along with friends, initiated their own search of the woods that evening and the following morning. They discovered one of Christopher's tan 'FUBU' work boots, a piece of blue fiber from his navy 'Dickies' pants caught on a barbed-wire fence, and twelve cents on the ground near his tools. The official search by law enforcement began the next day, but bloodhounds were unable to pick up a scent to follow.
Months later, in July 2002, the case took another baffling turn when Christopher's other boot was found miles away from the job site. This discovery challenged the initial theory that he may have simply walked away. At the time of his disappearance, Christopher was wearing a blue and gray plaid jacket with a hood, a black skull cap, and a black watch. He is described as a Black male, 5'7' to 5'9' tall, and weighing around 124 to 130 pounds, with his black hair in braids. A distinctive tattoo of an ice cream cone, with the name 'Chris' written vertically and a joker's head as the ice cream, is on his right arm. While his boss mentioned that Christopher had been acting strangely, his mother, with whom he lived, stated his behavior was normal. The investigation was eventually taken over by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and despite the years that have passed, the case remains an unsolved and painful mystery for his loved ones.
Last Seen: Jan 25, 2002
