After a quarter-century, an arrest has finally been made in the chilling murder of Melissa Wolfenbarger, whose head was discovered in a trash bag. This breakthrough in the case came about during the trial of Carl Patton, infamously dubbed the “Flint River Killer,” who happens to be Melissa’s father.
Atlanta mom Melissa Wolfenbarger was last heard from by her family on Thanksgiving 1998 … and now, 25 years later, her alleged killer, her own husband, has finally been arrested.
She was just 21 when she disappeared. In April 1999, a severed human head was found in a trash bag … before authorities found additional remains — reportedly legs, arm and feet, but no torso — in June. The were initially misidentified as belonging to a man.
Melissa would eventually be reported missing in January 2000; her husband, Christopher Wolfenbarger, never reported her missing or told family he hadn’t seen her. The pair shared two children.
It wasn’t until March 2003 that tests confirmed the remains belonged to Melissa.
In a wild twist, also in 2003, Melissa’s father Carl Patton Jr. was arrested and later convicted of the “Flint River Murders,” a 1977 killing spree which included the deaths of Fred Wyatt, Betty Jo Ephlin, Liddie Matthews Evans and Joe Cleveland. After his wife Norma — who allegedly helped him dispose of the bodies — testified against him, Patton was sentenced to life in prison, where he eventually confessed to a fifth murder, that of Richard Russell Jackson.
Her father’s case actually brought more attention to Melissa’s disappearance — and allegedly led to the confirmation of her remains. Patton was reportedly questioned about her murder, but cleared of any involvement.
Though Christopher was always considered a person of interest, he has adamantly denied any involvement in his wife’s murder over the years. Most recently, in 2021, he told Dateline he “had absolutely no reason to kill her. There was no insurance money. We didn’t have any assets. There was no reason in the world for me to hurt her like that.”
He has contended over the years that he and Melissa fought and he last saw her go for a walk, but she never returned. When asked about some of her remains being found close to his job, he told Dateline, “Who in their right mind kills somebody and dumps the body at their job – it just doesn’t make sense.”
“It damn near destroyed me,” Wolfenbarger previously said of his wife’s death. “At the time I really believed she had changed her name and left for a better life. And that she’d come back eventually. Sometimes I thought I’d see a glimpse of her here and there. But it was never her.”
“That’s the reason I didn’t report her missing,” he continued, while reiterating his belief she ran off and changed his name. “She wanted to get away from her parents and from this place. So she had to become someone else. I just thought she’d come back when things settled down.”
Melissa’s sister, Tina Patton, said in a press conference on Wednesday that “from day one, we knew it was Christopher.”
“There was never, ever any doubt in our minds, who did this. My mom has said, ‘I don’t know how many times, that when she first met him, there was just evil in his eyes,'” she said.
At this time, it’s unclear what evidence led to his arrest.
“Christopher Wolfenbarger knowingly and intentionally killed Melissa Dawn Wolfenbarger and dismembered her body,” investigators wrote in an arrest warrant, via the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
He was booked on one count of murder Wednesday and remains in Fulton County Jail.
via: TooFab
