Christian Boyle

Murdered – December 2017 – Cleveland

Blount County

Christian Boyle’s mother Kerry Payne describes the 18-year-old as trusting and always willing to help. She said Christian called her every day, sometimes more than once. In the weeks prior to his disappearance, Christian had frequently called checking on his ill father. So when he didn’t arrive at his parents the evening of December 12, 2017, to do his laundry as planned nor was he answering or returning calls and his social media had gone dark, Kerry knew something was wrong.

For the next 13 days, Christian’s family and friends searched every area they knew to look for any sign of Christian, but he and his car had just seemingly vanished. That is, until Christmas night of 2017, when a group of people out riding ATVs spotted Christian’s car on Cold Branch Road. When investigators arrived, they also found Christian shot to death, though it is unclear whether he was lying outside of his car or still inside.

At the time, Blount County Sheriff’s Office stated they had two main suspects who were in Jefferson County Jail waiting on a murder trial, but there was not enough evidence to proceed with any charges.

It was reported that Blount County DA Pamela Casey asked the Alabama Attorney General’s Office to review the case in 2020, and they accepted. In 2023, we requested an update from DA Casey on the status of the case and clarification on who was handling the case. She informed us that she’d only asked for the AG’s Cold Case Unit to assist in the investigation and that her office would handle any potential future charges. We also requested a copy of any public records, but were told a court order was required and that it was her office’s policy not to release any records related to ongoing investigations.