Christopher Wolfenbarger, Griffin, Georgia man arrested in murder of wife, Melissa Wolfenbarger, whose body parts were found in trash bags in Atlanta 25 years. Mother of two is thought to have been victim of domestic violence as police decline to cite specific evidence linking husband to dismembered woman.
An Atlanta man has been charged with his wife’s murder 25 years after her body was found in multiple trash bags.
In April and June 1999, human remains were found in separate locations in Atlanta, Georgia., and were misidentified, Atlanta police Lt. Andrew Smith said at a press conference on Wednesday, Aug. 7. 11Alive reported that the remains were found in trash bags, and the victim had been decapitated.
Melissa Wolfenbarger, 21, a mother of two had last been in contact with her own mother on Thanksgiving Day 1998, the outlet reported. Her mother, Norma Patton, reported her missing in January 2000, Smith said. Melissa’s husband, Christopher Wolfenbarger, on the other hand, made no effort to report his spouse missing.
Finally, in 2003, Melissa’s remains were properly identified. But it would take another 21 years until someone was arrested in connection with her murder. That person was the dead woman’s husband, Christopher Wolfenbarger who on Tuesday was arrested and charged with Melissa’s murder.
The husband according to online records is in custody in Fulton County Jail.
During the press conference, police did not say what specifically led them to arrest Christopher, citing the integrity of the investigation. Det. Jarion Shephard said during the press conference that after he took over the investigation in 2021, witnesses were reinterviewed and evidence was reexamined, with the investigator declining to cite what evidence led to cops positively linking the man to the gruesome murder. The detective also noted that Christopher had been considered a person of interest from the beginning.
Early on in the investigation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Melissa not having been in contact with her husband since December 1998. In 2000, Wolfenbarger allegedly told police that he had seen Melissa walking down the street in March or April of 1999.
Shephard said he did not know what specifically led to the man murdering his wife, while saying said he believed the case to be domestic violence-related. Christopher was found hiding behind a dryer in his home in Griffin when he was arrested, according to Shephard.
Melissa’ mother and sister appeared alongside police during the announcement and spoke to reporters.
‘Finally, hopefully, we can get justice for Melissa,’ sister, Tina Patton said. ‘Melissa didn’t deserve what she got.’
Tina and Norma said that they never heard from Christopher during the period when Melissa was missing and the subsequent years after her remains were identified.
Norma said that in the summer of 1998, Melissa had briefly moved in with her before going back to Christopher that same year.
‘She loved her kids, and there’s no way on this earth that she would leave them,’ Norma said. ‘That’s why she went back to him. That’s why she kept going back to him.’
Norma and Tina Paton said they always knew Melissa was killed by her own husband. They described him as a man with ‘evil in his eyes’ and compared him to Charles Manson.
