Christian Shephard is the father of Jack Shephard and was the chief of surgery at the same hospital where Jack had worked in Los Angeles. Christian, an alcoholic, saw his medical career ended when Jack revealed that Christian was drunk while operating on a pregnant woman who'd been in a car accident and caused her death. Depressed, Christian heads off to Australia to handle some family business and dies after excessive drinking. Jack goes to Australia to claim his father's body, which is in a coffin on the plane when the plane crashes onto the island. After the crash, Christian's body is mysteriously missing from the coffin, which is found in the wreckage.