PANAMA CITY -- A court date has been set for the man accused of gunning down his landlord on church grounds nearly four years ago.
Christopher Ray Hyler, 47, was set for a December jury trial Thursday for the Aug. 10, 2010 shooting death of Robert Ellison in the construction office of First Baptist Church in Panama City Beach.
Hyler was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in May 2013 after a grand jury indictment.
Investigators worked the case for almost three years and interviewed more than 100 people. But none of the dozens of people working on the site at the time heard or saw anything suspicious.
Hyler previously spent about 18 months in prison for attempted burglary and was released in April of 2009. After he was arrested, police said, Hyler made numerous statements implicating himself in the killing. Police have recovered physical evidence in the course of the investigation, but not the gun used in the shooting.
Hyler was arrested at a property Ellison owned, and had lived in another of Ellison’s properties in the past.
Hyler has been in the Bay County Jailwithout a bond since his arrest. He waived his right to a speedy trial in September.