Thad Christian

Thad Christian, 54, was fatally shot in the abdomen with a shotgun on August 30, 1965, while fishing with a friend at a creek in the rural community of Central City, west of Anniston. Robert Haynes, 41, had earlier told the two men to leave the area without saying whether he owned the property, then returned and shot Christian as they loaded their fishing gear into their car. Haynes was arrested and charged with murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to five years at a prison camp; how much of that sentence he actually served was not documented. Haynes died in a car accident three years later, in 1968. When the FBI reopened the case decades afterward, it found most surviving local records had been damaged by water and were illegible; one salvaged 1965 file noted a claim that several other Black men had also been at the creek that afternoon, a detail never further investigated.

Anniston, AL · Calhoun County

• 1965: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• Victim identity, background, and the August 30, 1965 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's “Un(re)solved” case summary.
• Robert Haynes pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to five years, a fraction of the murder charge originally filed; he died in 1968, per the same sources.

• How much of his five-year sentence Haynes actually served before his 1968 death was never documented.
• The identities of the other Black men reportedly present at the creek that afternoon, referenced in a 1965 FBI file, were never established.

• PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved — case summary
• U.S. Department of Justice — Notice to Close File
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs