Ian Thomas

Ian Thomas is Melissa Hastings' former husband. He was coach of the Rosewood High Lacrosse team before he passed.

Season One
He had kissed Spencer, Melissa's younger sister, back when Alison was still alive. Later, it is revealed that he was secretly, romantically linked to Alison DiLaurentis. He and Melissa start dating again. In the winter premiere episode, they elope. He was in a video shot by Alison before she went missing. "A" managed to show the Liars the entire video of Ian apparently choking Alison to death. (Later revealed he did not choke her or kill her during the video)

In "For Whom the Bell Tolls", Ian is nowhere to be found after Melissa and Spencer get into a car accident, leaving Melissa's fetus to be carefully monitored in the hospital. When Spencer is looking for Melissa's cell phone in the church, Ian attempts to kill her, learning that Spencer was the one leaving anonymous ultimatums on his phone. While there, he seems to admit to killing Allison and tells Spencer he's going to have to do the same to her.

In an attempt to escape, Spencer throws away the only piece of evidence linked to Ian: the flashdrive, with Ian's "Footage." She runs throughout the church until finally Ian catches up with her, attempting to throw her over the bell tower landing. Spencer begs for Ian to let her go, with the rest of the liars on the phone overhearing the exchange. Suddenly, a dark hooded stranger throws Ian over the landing where a rope ties around his throat hanging him off the landing. When, Hanna, Aria and Emily get to the church, they find a traumatized Spencer alone, with Ian hanging off the landing, seemingly dead. When the police arrive at the church, Ian is mysteriously missing.

Season Two
In the beginning of Season Two, nobody believes the girls' claims that Ian killed Alison and tried to kill Spencer; they all believe he had simply run away, especially given the money found near the edge of Rosewood recently taken from his bank account and the suitcase. Although Melissa does not believe Spencer at first that her husband is dead, she starts to wonder if Spencer might know something that she doesn't, reasoning that Ian would never leave his pregnant wife.

Later that night, Spencer finds Melissa's cellphone with a text from a restricted number, "Its not safe for me to tell you where I am." Together with the girls, Spencer (pretending to be Melissa) replied, "How do I know it's really you?" and receives the reply, "Ask me anything." Knowing that only Ian would know the answer, she asked, "What are we naming our baby?" In response, she received, "Taylor." However, it should be noted that she tells the answer aloud to the girls before receiving the response, and in the next episode, it is clear that they were being watched by a figure overhead.

It is eventually revealed that Melissa and Wren were trying to help Ian by supplying drugs to him. However, when they arrive to the place where he is hiding, Melissa, Wren, and The Liars are all shocked to find Ian dead once and for all. He has a bloody shot to his head, a gun in his hand, and a letter lying on the ground that when the camera quickly pans over it, says, "I killed Alison, I lost my temper because she knew too much. But there is only so much you can bury. It won't be that easy, but I know how to get rid of the pain. I can't run from the law. Come and find me. -Ian." The scene then cuts up to the room, where a missing horseshoe should sit.

In The Devil You Know, Emily Fields finds, through discrete research, that the suicide and confession note was actually written by "A", revealing that Ian never really confessed to murdering Alison. In addition, as Officer Reynolds reveals based on forensic evidence that from the time that Ian's body was found, he must have been dead for approximately a week, it is clear that he could not have been the one sending text messages to Melissa. It seems that "A" was the real author of those texts, as the black gloved figure had possession of Ian's phone in Blind Dates, before slipping it into Spencer's purse.

Based on this, it is possible that Ian actually did die in the bell tower in For Whom the Bell Tolls or that "A" waited to kill him in the barn.

It is also revealed that Alison had waken up after falling down in the forest in the video footage of her last day alive. She is seen laughing with Ian before walking away from The Kissing Rock. It is not so clear to the girls after seeing this additional video footage that Ian killed Alison.

Ian's aunt, his only surving relative besides the Hastings, wants nothing to do with Ian's death after his body is found. It is left to the Hastings to take care of the funeral. Surprisingly, Spencer is the one to encourage her parents to pay for his funeral, as she feels that Melissa needs it in order to find closure. Peter and Veronica follow her advice, and Ian is given a respectable funeral, complete with religious service and bells ringing in the church, no less. He is buried in the Rosewood Cemetery, where Alison is also buried.

Trivia

 * He is played by Ryan Merriman and by Carlo Marks, who appeared in "Pilot".