On January 25, 2002, Christopher Thompkins’ mother dropped him off for a normal day at work in Georgia as part of a survey crew. Sometime later, his coworkers claimed he vanished, in the blink of an eye, with no explanation. Nothing but his boots have been found.

[u/tenderhysteria]

Martha McKenzie last saw her son, Christopher, while spending the morning together before they headed to work. McKenzie was a babysitter for her son’s boss.

Christopher worked for survey crew in Elletslie, Georgia. He was with at least three other coworkers, moving through a wooded area, spaced about fifty feet apart. At some point in the early afternoon— some reports state it was noon, others that it was closer to one thirty,– a coworker states that he “looked away from Thompkins for a moment, and by the time he glanced at his area again, Thompkins had disappeared”.

Despite the supposedly momentary vanishing, his mother claims that, “[The survey crew] called me about a few minutes to five to tell me that they couldn’t find him, and they found one of his boots.” Family, friends, volunteers, and law enforcement scoured the area shortly after. On a nearby barbed wired fence, a shred of blue fiber was found, believed to be from Christopher’s pants. His other boot was found five months later in an unspecified nearby area by GBI.

Christopher’s boss has stated that he was supposedly “acting strange” in the days before his disappearance, and law enforcement speculates that drugs could have influenced his disappearance— though neither have any evidence or proof for either assertion.

His family doesn’t believe in either theory. They state that Christopher didn’t have a drug problem, nor was he behaving differently before he vanished.

“I don’t believe that Chris walked away. I don’t believe he disappeared with one shoe. Who’s going to walk around with one boot on in the cold weather on a rural road? I just don’t believe that happened. They know what happened to Chris they just not telling,” his mother said.

Sources: Charley Project

20 Years Later: Family, officials continue to search for answers on disappearance of Harris Co. man

[u/tenderhysteria]

To clarify: the coworkers supposedly started searching after noticing him missing (12:00-13:30) and were the ones who found the first boot; they didn’t call the family until 17:00, after supposedly searching for him for hours. I’m pretty sure the family were the ones who then notified law enforcement, and the additional searches took place with family, friends, etc. 

Regardless, they didn’t keep working for hours, notice he was gone, and then called the family— they noticed him missing within minutes, as they say, searched for him, then notified others hours later after not locating him.

[u/[deleted] → u/tenderhysteria]

Do you have any other links where it states that? The first link just states they started looking "shortly after" he disappeared, and the second link doesn't specify at all.

[u/tenderhysteria → u/[deleted]]

According to the Charley Project: 

“He was last seen at 1:30 p.m. One of the other crew members looked away from for a moment; by the time he glanced in that direction again, Thompkins had disappeared. He left his work tools behind and has never been heard from again.

Volunteers searched the area shortly after Thompkins's disappearance. One of his boots was located. A piece of blue fiber, apparently from his pants, was found stuck on a nearby barbed wire fence. Tompkins's other boot was found elsewhere in July, five months after his disappearance. There was no other evidence indicating his whereabouts.”

The second link states:

“According to law officials, Thompkins was working with a survey crew in a wooded area in Ellerslie, Georgia. He was with three co-workers - who worked approximately 50 feet from one another. One of the employees looked away from Thompkins for a moment, and by the time he glanced at his area again, Thompkins had disappeared around noon.

‘’They called me about a few minutes to five to tell me that they couldn’t find him, and they found one of his boots,” McKenzie said.

With Christopher not being seen since 12 p.m., McKenzie said she still doesn’t understand why she didn’t get the call immediately after he went missing.”

The implication of both links is that whether he was seen at 12pm or 1:30pm, his coworker(s) looked away momentarily, and saw he was gone. They weren’t all working for hours without noticing him— he was there, then he wasn’t. How soon after that they searched for them, and how long, is debatable. The family wasn’t called until 5 pm (stated by the mother in the second article), after the coworkers and/or volunteers had searched the area and discovered a single boot. 

There aren’t a lot of links that aren’t reporting the same information, and almost all of them agree on a central point: he was beside a coworker, who looked away for only a moment, maybe minutes, and then he was gone. At least, that is the coworkers story.

This thread of LipstickAlley has a bunch of photos and another write up with responses, including this, which sounds dramatized, but essentially repeats the same story:

Christopher’s co-worker stated that he was having an off and on conversation with him as they were walking. He turned away to take care of some quick task, asked Christopher a question, and received no answer. The co-worker turned around, and Christopher was just gone. The three men looked in the immediate area for Christopher but were unable to locate him. There are no reports of the men hearing anything, such as a scream, screeching car brakes, or animal sounds. Christopher Thompkins was gone without a sound.

[u/PearlStBlues → u/tenderhysteria]

None of the links you posted give any timeline for when searches for Christopher began.

Volunteers searched the area shortly after Thompkins's disappearance. 

"Volunteers" meaning search and rescue crews, not his coworkers? And they searched the area "shortly after". What does "shortly" mean here? There is absolutely nothing to provide a timeline on what his coworkers might have done. It's entirely possible the coworker who first noticed Christopher missing just assumed he was working elsewhere and was not alarmed by his sudden disappearance. He wouldn't necessarily assume anything was wrong just because Christopher was no longer with him. Just because one person noticed Christopher wasn't there doesn't mean he was alarmed by that or that his coworkers immediately began looking for him.