Noah Waters, a 49-year-old man from Cullman, died on May 13, 2023, after a violent encounter that investigators say was connected to both a robbery and an intentionally set fire. In the early morning hours, at approximately 6 a.m., Cullman County Sheriff’s Office investigators and the Alabama State Fire Marshal’s Office were called to a residential fire along County Road 1635 in Cullman County.
After firefighters brought the blaze under control, Waters was found dead inside the burned residence.
What initially appeared to be a fatal fire quickly became a homicide investigation. Authorities requested an autopsy, and investigators later confirmed that Waters’ death was a homicide. Additional reporting stated that Waters had been shot to death before or in connection with the fire. The circumstances uncovered during the investigation led authorities to believe that the killing occurred during a robbery and that the residence was subsequently set on fire, resulting in two separate capital-murder theories under Alabama law.
The investigation was conducted jointly by the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Detectives collected evidence from the fire scene and worked with the Cullman County District Attorney’s Office as the case developed. On June 2, 2023, authorities arrested Joseph Wayne Christiansen of Baileyton after warrants were issued in connection with Waters’ death. Christiansen was charged with two counts of capital murder: capital murder committed during first-degree robbery and capital murder committed during first- or second-degree arson.
Christiansen was not the only person accused. Michael Lambert was also arrested in June 2023 and faced the same capital-murder charges. The case continued to expand during the following months as investigators and prosecutors developed evidence they believed connected additional people to the killing.
In November 2023, a Cullman County grand jury indicted Charity Dawn Hutton in connection with Waters’ death. Hutton was arrested on November 14 and charged with capital murder during first-degree robbery and capital murder during first- or second-degree arson. At the time of her arrest, she was being held in the Cullman County Detention Center without bond. Her arrest made her the third person charged in the case. District Attorney Champ Crocker confirmed that the grand jury had indicted Christiansen, Lambert and Hutton in connection with Waters’ killing.
The charges against all three defendants reflect the prosecution’s allegation that Waters was killed in the course of a robbery and that arson was also part of the criminal episode. Capital-murder charges are accusations and do not by themselves establish guilt. Publicly accessible reporting located for the case documents the arrests and indictments of Christiansen, Lambert and Hutton, but does not provide a confirmed subsequent trial verdict or conviction for any of the three in Waters’ case.
