20-year-old Christopher Carlton Tompkins said goodbye to his mum and drove to work.

Tompkins was working as part of a four-man survey crew in Harris County, Georgia.

It was January the 25th, 2002.

He was last seen in a wooded area between Warm Springs Road and Georgia 85, near County Line Road.

His mother relates what she knows.

She said he parked his car at work and drove to the job site with

the surveyor he worked for. At the time, I was also employed by the surveyor's family as their

babysitter. He worked that morning with three other employees in a lightly wooded area off

County Line Road. All the workers were about 50 feet from each other, walking in the same direction.

Around 1pm, the surveyor phoned his wife to inform her that Christopher was missing.

One of Christopher's co-workers said Christopher was walking in the same direction as the others.

When he looked away and then looked back, Christopher was gone. I was not informed until 4.15pm.

Christopher's mother was not allowed to file a missing person's report until 24 hours later,

but in the meantime she organised their own search for the area her son was working in.

She said what we found was puzzling and what did not make any sense in light of what

Christopher's co-workers told authorities, was we found one of his boots, his work tools, a blue

fibre from his pants, and 12 cents on the ground near the items.

The statements by his employer and co-workers indicated that they believed Christopher

just walked off the job site without telling anyone. His other boot was found several months later

miles from the original boot on some property off I-85. This boot had been found by the owner

of the property. Well, Christopher's employer said that in the days prior to his disappearance, he'd been acting strangely.

However, the employer did not offer any specific details.

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