Christopher Wolfenbarger Arrested After 25 Years for Wife's Gruesome Murder


After 25 years of investigation, Atlanta police have arrested Melissa Dawn Wolfenbarger’s husband.

Melissa’s severed head was discovered in 1999, and her case has remained an unsolved mystery until now.

Melissa was last heard from on Thanksgiving 1998, when she called her family from her husband’s grandparents’ home.

Her final words to her mother, Norma Patton, were “I love you, and you know where I am if you need me,” a touching goodbye that now carries alot of significance. 


Christopher Wolfenbarger

In the spring of 1999, a severed head was found in a wooded area close to Melissa’s home in southwest Atlanta.

By June of the same year, more dismembered remains were discovered close by. 

At first, the remains were incorrectly identified as those of a man.

It wasn’t until 2003 that the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the remains were indeed Melissa Wolfenbarger’s.

Despite her disappearance, Melissa’s husband, Christopher Wolfenbarger, never reported her missing or told her family where she was.

It was her mother who took the initiative to file a missing persons report in January 2000.



On Wednesday, Norma Patton, along with her other daughter, Tina Patton, and Atlanta police homicide detectives, came together to announce Christopher Wolfenbarger’s arrest.

They wore shirts with Melissa’s photo, created by Norma during the search for her daughter. 

Tina’s shirt featured the impactful message: “Justice has no expiration date.”

The police have not disclosed the exact evidence that led to the arrest of Melissa’s husband.

Detective Jarion Shepard, who has been on the case, said that Christopher Wolfenbarger has always been a person of interest from the start.

The cause of Melissa’s death has not been disclosed.


Early in the investigation, it was discovered that Melissa, only 21 years old and a mother of two, had not been in touch with her husband since December 1998.

According to police reports, it wasn’t until 2000 that Christopher claimed to have seen her walking down the street near their home.

This alleged final sighting of Melissa was said to have occurred in March or April 1999. 

Tina Patton stated firmly at the press conference, “From day one, we knew it was Christopher. There was never any doubt in our minds about who did this.”


The family said that in the summer of 1998, Melissa left her husband and moved in with her mother along with her children. 

She went back to him later that year.

Her mother, Norma Patton, said that after Melissa went back to her husband, they were all worried about her safety.

Tina Patton also reached out to people in similar abusive situations, urging them to seek help by talking to someone they trust.

Christopher Wolfenbarger was booked into the Fulton County Jail on a murder charge.

The arrest warrant details that “Christopher Wolfenbarger knowingly and intentionally killed Melissa Dawn Wolfenbarger and dismembered her body,”

In an unexpected twist, Melissa’s father, Carl Patton, had previously pleaded guilty in 2003 to a series of five serial murders from the 1970s.

The murders were known as the Flint River murders, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

Carl Patton

Authorities have confirmed that Carl Patton was not a suspect in his daughter’s death. 

According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, he is currently serving his sentence at Coastal State Prison.

In another development, a Texas judge has sentenced a man to 40 years in prison for killing his wife only a few months after their marriage.

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