A Georgia man has been acquitted of murder more than two decades after his wife’s remains were found stuffed in trash bags near his workplace.
Christopher Wolfenbarger, who was arrested in August 2024 for the murder of Melissa Wolfenbarger, leaned back in his wheelchair and heaved a sigh of relief when the verdict was read on Friday.
Jurors deliberated for just two hours before coming to a decision, a devastating blow to Melissa’s family who had fought for years to bring charges in the case.
When Melissa disappeared in late 1998, Wolfenbarger claimed she left on her own, Court TV previously reported.
The next year, Melissa’s remains, including her head, were found stuffed in trash bags “directly across the street” from where Wolfenbarger worked at the time.
But the remains were not identified as being hers until 2003 when a DNA sample used to help convict her own father confirmed the remains belonged to her, according to Atlanta police.
Her father Carl Patton was arrested for a string of unrelated killings from the 1970s known as the Flint River murders.
“His arrest is what finally identified her remains,” Melissa’s mother Norma Patton previously told The Independent. “If he had never been arrested, we might have never known.”
Melissa’s death was not at the hands of her father, who had been cleared in her murder, but what happened to her remained a mystery for decades.
DNA connected Melissa’s husband to the crime, leading to his arrest last September, according to 11Alive.
In the prosecution’s closing argument, Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Vincent Faucett described Melissa as being manipulated, intimidated, coerced and abused, arguing that the defendant murdered Melissa when he lost control over her.
But defense attorney Joel McDurmon delivered his closing argument, arguing the state’s case contained gaping holes and that there was no direct evidence pointing to his client.
