At the very beginning in the house? Can't remember if it was ever mentioned.
shareI'm wondering the same. But my best guess is he was a small time crook, an harmless thief caught up in a wrong time with the wrong people (I mean cops). But still that mystery never solved after all Dane went through all those things.
You better know what you want to do before somebody knows it for you -The Astronaut Farmer
Yeah it was a little disappointing that they never resolved that mystery. But I guess we don't always get all the answers. I'd assume it was just some vagrant with no family or friends to look for him.
Maybe it was just a convenient way to explain why the protagonist would go to Houston with Ben to find Freddy.
Dane does ask Jim Bob who he shot, but Jim Bob is interrupted before he gives his answer.
Likely, he is a career criminal in town with no family. The cops saw this as a way to lure Russell back to town so he could be set up and killed. Why they wanted to do this was never explained either.
It wasn't to lure the father; it was to make the Dixie Mafia think the son was dead. The father coming into the picture and the cops killing him was just a loose end that needed cleaning up (to keep the witness protection story in place.)
"I do not like mixing up moralities and mathematics."
Churchill