‘Never had the evidence’: Georgia man acquitted of murder in twisty cold case

Wolfenbarger’s attorneys argued the prosecution had “gaping holes” in its case from the beginning, saying there was little more than circumstantial evidence linking their client to his wife’s death after so much time had elapsed.

“They had no direct evidence that tied him to the case whatsoever,” defense attorney Joel McDurmon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the verdict. “It’s a case that should’ve never been brought.”

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Defense attorneys and former prosecutors told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they weren’t surprised the jury didn’t find Wolfenbarger guilty. Defense attorney Doug Weinstein, who was not involved in the case but was in court to watch some of it, said the state struggled early on to prove its own theory.

In the end, there was nothing solid linking Wolfenbarger to his wife’s death, Weinstein said.

He called it “a terrible case” and said he was astounded by the prosecution’s decision to bring it in the first place. He also said he was surprised it took the jury as long as it did to acquit the defendant.

“It’s almost as if every witness they put on the stand seemed more likely to have done it than the defendant,” Weinstein said. “I’m watching and watching for some kind of case from the state and there never was one … They just never had the evidence.”

Closing cold cases has been a focus — and the source of some fanfare — for Georgia law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, including the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.

Leading the case against Wolfenbarger was Simone Hylton, one of the prosecutors in Fulton’s long-running “Young Slime Life” gang trial involving Atlanta rapper Young Thug and more than two dozen others. That case ended in June without a single murder conviction.

A spokesman for the DA’s office said they wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the case and that they always respect the decision of the jury.

Former DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James didn’t follow the high-profile Wolfenbarger trial, but he told the AJC last week’s acquittal shows some of the challenges prosecutors face when choosing to bring old cases.

“I’ve always said that cases age like milk and not like wine,” said James, who spent 17 years as a prosecutor and six as DA. “Prosecuting cold cases can be very challenging.”

He added that district attorneys have a duty to bring charges if they believe a defendant is guilty and think they have the evidence to prove it. But whether or not they get a conviction depends largely on the jury.

Given that memories fade, witnesses die and people tend to move away, James said prosecutors often have to rely heavily on circumstantial evidence when trying cold cases.

“Ultimately it’s a judgment call on the part of the prosecutor’s office: Is the circumstantial evidence strong enough to exclude all other reasonable theories?”

In announcing Christopher Wolfenbarger’s arrest last year, Atlanta police said they reinterviewed witnesses, followed up on new leads and utilized modern technology to gather enough evidence for an arrest. But authorities remained vague about whether they had found DNA specifically linking Wolfenbarger to his wife’s death.

In April of 1999, Melissa Dawn Wolfenbarger’s severed head was discovered not far from her southwest Atlanta home. About two months later, additional remains were discovered stuffed into trash bags in a wooded area nearby, authorities said. It would be several years before the woman’s remains were positively identified.

Defense attorneys argued the prosecution’s timeline was murky as authorities were unable to say exactly when the 21-year-old mother of two was killed.

Prosecutors said the couple had a tumultuous relationship and that Christopher Wolfenbarger had abused his wife for years. They alleged he killed her after she began seeing someone, telling jurors he felt himself “losing control” over her.

Authorities also said he never reported his wife missing or told her family of her disappearance in late 1998.

Hylton argued the woman’s body had likely been sitting in the woods near her husband’s job for months before her remains were finally discovered.

Wolfenbarger’s relatives told police they last spoke with her on Thanksgiving of 1998 when she phoned them from her husband’s grandparents’ house. Atlanta detectives testified they had always suspected Christopher Wolfenbarger was responsible for his wife’s death, but they didn’t charge him until August 2024.

Melissa Wolfenbarger’s mother, Norma Patton, eventually reported her daughter missing in January 2000, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

Patton, whose late husband was a convicted murderer known as the Flint River Killer, was among the prosecution’s witnesses who testified at trial. She acknowledged helping Carl Patton dispose of some of those bodies during her time on the stand last week, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Credit: AJC staff

Credit: AJC staff

“In this case, we have waited 27 years to get justice for Melissa,” Hylton said in her closing arguments. She pointed toward Wolfenbarger seated next to his attorneys at the defense table. “All roads lead to one defendant, and that is him.”

McDurmon said he is just grateful his client can finally put this behind him after nearly three decades of being “hounded” by investigators.

He said the state’s theory that a handful of prior domestic abuse allegations pointed to proof of a murder was a “leap of logic the jury just wasn’t willing to take.”

“It took them two hours to figure out what the Fulton County DA couldn’t figure out in 25 years,” he said.