Robert Lewis Christian was indeed murdered. It was not a hunting accident as so many people seem to think. He did not slip and fall from his tree stand and had no disorientation episode. He was murdered. But Who? What? Why? Where?
Following his 2 errands (the bank and Walgreens), it was nearly 6 o’clock before Robert actually went on his way to Baraboo. His arrival time at Randy Griffith's home, had he gone directly there, would have been shortly before 7 o'clock. But he did not go directly there. This explains the missing hour or so until the 8 pm witness citing. But where did he go?
Robert had planned to buy some pot. That’s why he withdrew $25 from his bank account. He had never done this before and was not too sure how to go about it. Along the way, he stopped at a bar and made some inquiries. Someone overheard him. They talked and agreed to meet somewhere along Tower Road for the transaction.
Once there, the contact did not show up. This is why Robert said he was looking for his friend and thought he was in the wrong place. It was a set-up. After Robert drove off, he intended to forget about the pot and to go and check his tree stand. He parked his car in that driveway on Tower Road. He got out of his car but only walked a short distance before his contact showed up and picked him up.
Robert fell into the wrong hands. The murderer was not a local but knew the area as he had been here before. But why murder? Why Robert? There could be numerous answers to that. One would have to be inside the murderer’s head to know those answers. Robert was not a specific target. This was just a case of, as I said, falling into the wrong hands. The body was never found locally because the murderer took it with him. Where is it? Only he knows.
One last thing. Robert’s car was stripped by locals after his disappearance. They took the hunting bow as well. Hunting is a big thing in those parts so a hunting bow would surely be a coveted item. They did not know about the money in the glove box. Financial gain was not their objective. The hubcaps and old tires were dumped many miles from the scene so as to make it appear that the perpetrators were not locals. That’s why the license plate was also removed. A local would not do these things.
The pieces of the puzzle are all right there in front of us as are the answers to this mystery. The pieces just have to be put in their proper place. Consider the following :
1-Robert clearly had a planned engagement before heading to Randy Griffith’s place. Not planned in precise detail but planned nonetheless. This explains the missing time between his departure time and the witness citing 2 hours later.
2-Robert was clearly not known for his drug use. This is why it was so discreetly planned. Not because drug-taking was a regular habit of his, as I said. But simply because it was a new thing to him and he did not want it to be known, especially by his mother who even disapproved of his cigar smoking. Keeping this in mind, pot was an obvious choice. A beginner or rare user, especially one as smart as Robert, would not start with hard drugs.
3-Randy, Robert’s friend, knew about the planned pot purchase. When Robert turned up missing, he was terrified something very wrong had happened. He likely thought that if someone got Robert, they could get him too. This is why Randy Griffith is so absent from all the known information. Fear. Not lack of co-operation. Rather, lack of co-operation because of fear.
4-Bloodhounds tracked Robert’s scent from where the car was found to Tower Road, but only for a short distance. Then the scent disappeared. This clearly indicated that, one, Robert himself parked the car there and, two, he was picked by a vehicle on Tower Road. Hence the disappearing scent.
5-At five foot ten and 210 pounds, Robert was a big guy of fairly imposing stature. If Robert was killed by manual means, the murderer had to be likely a man who was large and powerful enough to overcome someone of Robert’s size. If Robert was killed by an object, such as a gun or knife, the killer’s size or gender does not matter. Such means do not require physical size and strength. Just the element of surprise or intimidation.