April 26, 2023 • 27 mins
April 29th, 1999. A skull is found in a trash bag outside Action Glass in Atlanta, Georgia.
Soon after, in different trash bags, various other body parts are found. The remains are identified as the remains of Melissa Wolfenbarger, a 21-year-old married mother of two who is reported missing several months prior.
In a remarkable twist, Melissa’s remains are verified only after her Father is arrested in connection to an unrelated murder.
In this episode of Zone 7, Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum, is joined by the original lead detective on Melissa’s case, Detective Calhoun as they discuss their final thoughts on Melissa’s case. Walt, Sheryl’s husband, reads aloud Carl's final thoughts and reactions to the series on Zone 7. Anyone with information about Melissa’s case is urged to call Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477.
Show Notes:
- [0:00] Welcome back to Zone 7 with Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum.
- [2:26] “Family can be who you are born into, but it’s also who you choose.”
- [2:51] If you missed the beginning of Melissa Wolfenbarger’s case check out those episodes here: Melissa Wolfenbarger: Norma and Tina Patton | Part 1, Melissa Wolfenbarger: Karyn Greer | Part 2, Melissa Wolfenbarger: Trace Sargent | Part 3, Melissa Wolfenbarger: Letters From Carl Patton | Part 4, Melissa Wolfenbarger: Victims of Carl Patton - Liddie Evans Children Speak | Part 5, Melissa Wolfenbarger: Joseph Scott Morgan’s Insight on Melissa’s case | Part 6, and Melissa Wolfenbarger: Continued - Joseph Scott Morgan’s Insight on Melissa’s Case | Part 7, Melissa Wolfenbarger: Dr. Angela Arnold Weighs In | Part 8
- [3:42] Sheryl introduces Detective AB Calhoun to the listeners
- [5:20] Question: What are your first gut feelings and reactions about Melissa’s case?
- [9:43] Question: When you learned that the victim's father is a convicted murderer, did you have any pause there?
- [15:05] Sheryl’s husband, Walt will read Carl’s final letter and thoughts on this series of Melissa Wolfenbarger
- [17:45] “Melissa was a beautiful, smart, loving young lady that had a bright future in front of her two beautiful children that she loved with all of her heart and soul.”
- [20:10] Final thoughts from court documents with Gladys Jackson
- [25:42] Out of the Shadows
- [25:47] “You never know the struggle someone is going through. Always be kind.” -S.W
- [25:51] Anyone with information about Melissa’s case is urged to call Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477.
- Thanks for listening to another episode! If you’re loving the show and want to help grow the show, please head over to Itunes and leave a rating and review! How to Leave an Apple Podcast Review: First, Open the podcast app on your iPhone, Mac, or iPad. Then, hit the “Search” tab at the bottom right-hand corner of the page and search for Zone 7. Select the podcast, scroll down to find the subheading “Ratings & Reviews”. and select “Write a Review.” Next, select the number of stars you’d like to leave. Please choose 5 stars! Using the text box which says “Title,” write a title for your review. Then in the text box, write the review itself. The review can be up to 300 words long, but doesn’t need to be much more than: “Love the show! Thanks!” or Once you’re done select “Send” in the upper right-hand corner.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I was five years old when I learned for the
first time what lifelong loyalty truly was. When my sister
Shelley would break bonds with somebody, it was in a heartbeat,
and it was for life. If you did something to
(00:29):
her or to somebody that she loved in any way,
if you wronged them somehow, in her eyes, that was it.
She would close that door. Now keep in mind, she
was only six. We're Catholic twins, so she's only eleven
months older than me. But you know, she was already
(00:50):
in first grade, so she was a woman out in
the world. So she knew things that I didn't know.
And that's one thing she would teach me. She would
look me in my face and say, we're never talking
to them again. We're done. And I would say, okay,
you know, if they hurt one of our older sisters
or said something about another member of the family, that
(01:13):
was it. Forever years later, somebody did something to one
of our sisters. I don't remember her, and I remember
saying that's it. I'm done for the rest of my life.
I'm not going to fool with that person. And I
was walking around saying blood is thicker than water. Blood
is thicker than water, you know, And I probably wasn't
(01:35):
much more than about eight at this time. Now, our
dad was not a person that you would consider a
big talker, but when he did say something, it was
worth listening to because he was either very funny, very smart,
or very loving one of those things. Well, this particular day,
(01:56):
as I was stomping around pontificating about how you know,
we were going to close ranks and not deal with
this person anymore, blood's thicker than water, he said to
me in his slow, deep South Georgia accent. Remember I
ain't blood related to your mama, and I'd kill for her.
(02:19):
I have never forgotten that, because in that moment I
realized what he was saying to me. Family can be
who you are born into, but it's also who you choose.
So friends can be family. Friends oftentimes are family. So
(02:42):
that was really important for me to learn from him
as early as I did. This episode today is going
to be the last episode on Melissa Wolfenberger until we
have an update for you. Now, I want to be
clear there have been no arrest. Christopher were From has
said repeatedly he had nothing to do with her disappearance
(03:04):
or murder. He has talked to law enforcement, he's talked
to Dateline, he's talked to her family, and he has
said things like he honestly thought that she had gone
off on her own to start a new life in California.
He thought maybe she met another man. That's why he
didn't call police. That's why he didn't contact her family.
(03:25):
That's why he didn't search for her. They had had
a plan to go to California. She was going to
get a fake ID together and they were going to
go off, and he thought she did that without him.
I believe there's a person of interest. I believe this
case could move forward. I believe there's enough circumstantial evidence.
(03:46):
But again, this case is open and it's active, and
we have to hear his denial and accept it for now.
During this series, we have showed you a little bit
of how we work our three sixty one vortex. We've
talked to Norman, Tina, Melissa's mom and sister. We've talked
(04:10):
to a media expert Karen Greer, canine expert Trey Sergent
with Tina's father, Carl Patten. We've spoken to the children
of Lyddy Evans who are victims of Carl Patten. We've
heard from death investigator Joe Scott Morgan, psychiatrist doctor Angie Arnold,
and today we're going to hear from the original lead detective,
(04:34):
Detective Calhoun. And also I asked Carl to send me
a letter for his last words on the case of
his daughter Melissa. So my husband Walt is once again
going to read the letter from Carl in a little
bit and then I'm going to let you have the
final word from someone that is in the most unique
(04:56):
position in this case. In my opinion, Gladys Jackson was
a victim of kral pattern and she also spoke at
the end of one of his trials, and I'm going
to take that straight from the court record, and I
think it's important because again she lived it from both sides.
(05:17):
This man spent in his entire adulthood making the streets safer.
Detective ab Calhoun joined the Atlanta Police Department in nineteen
eighty six. Spent eight years on patrol. And let me
tell y'all something, eight years on patrol in the city
of Atlanta is like twenty five anywhere else. That's where
(05:37):
you learn to talk to people, interact with people, understand
that community, get an ear for the street. You know
who and what you're dealing with. There is no better
training in the world for a police officer. In nineteen
ninety five, he was promoted to investigator. He was assigned
to the homicide squad. That is where he was assigned
(05:59):
the case of Melissager. So you get into homicide as
a young detective and you're given Melissa Wolfenburger, what is
your first gut feelings and reactions about that case.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
It was fortunate that a good missing person detective was
watching and paying attention to what was going on in
the news and saw an article about an individual being
convicted of killing four people. And this individual just made
a comment, I wish you guys can be as diligent
(06:33):
with finding my daughters as you were with getting me.
And this detective start putting things together. Hey, we found
body parts in nineteen ninety nine over in that same
area that this individual is talking about, and a hunch
pays off until we were able to identify Melissa Wolfenbarger
(06:57):
after so many years and unmade, not having a clue,
and while it was a fresh homicide, now now it's
a murder investigation. It was by no means a new case.
Forty eight hours had been well passed, but the approach
was still the same. All right, what do we know?
(07:19):
What can we find out?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
What?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
You know? The approach is to say, what can we
find out about Melissa Waltenbarger? What does our victimology tell
us about her? This young lady. And that's where that's
where I started and just went from there, just like
any other homicide.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So you think, who could murder her in this fashion
and then have her husband not report her missing? You know,
who wants to hurt her to this degree when you
don't have some of the other actions that you would
suspect would have been happening. You would expect the husband
to be losing his mind that he can't find her.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
And you're exactly right, you know common sense. You know
the almost twenty plus years that it's spending homicide. I
know one thing that killers do certain things certain ways.
This was not any running the mail, Okay, I'm going
to kill someone to just dump the body on the
(08:19):
side of the road. This was or I'm going to
rob them and do this and kill this was someone.
This was personal. This was very personal to take a
body and take the time to dismember it as that
person did, and so and that was, yeah, that's common sense.
(08:39):
We know, Yeah, it's not going to be this. You know.
There was some suggestion and I do remember one instance
talking when we were finally able to start communicating with
Chris about the about his wife, was you know, hey,
as far as I knew, I thought she was just
(09:00):
on those drugs and out there on the street and
maybe she would just you know, you know, she had
just succumbed to that. No, No one takes a person
that's maybe strung out on drugs and maybe owe them
money for a drug meaning a drug deal. No one
takes them and dismembers them to that point. That's no,
(09:24):
that's that's common sense. We know it doesn't happen like that. No,
So the fact that she well you may have thought that,
you know, well she just out there, strong out and
this happened to her. No, didn't happen like that. That's
that's too much. I don't think too many drug dealers
want to take that much time and effort to do that.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
You know, it's definitely a clue that he didn't believe
she was coming back.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
My thoughts again, it seems so focused on that as
he you know, because we use the term a person
of interest, and that term can be used and that's
not yes, that is a person of interest. As you
got dubbed deeper and deeper and deeper into this investigation,
all the pieces point towards one particular individual that as
(10:16):
this is the person who committed this crime. But it's
how we as investigators going to be able to prove
it and get it to the point where we can
make an arrest in.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
This case, As that young detective, when you learn that
the victim's father is a convicted murderer, did you have
any pause there? Did you just say, hey, this is
really unusual. Let me look at this guy for a second.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
No, again, when you go back to this is really
how the case broke a person that while he may
have been been convicted of brutally killing four people, he
still had a heart and he still had some of
the same things that we all have and these and
(11:04):
and as a as a true individual, he didn't say no,
I did not do it. It's I understanding. He actually
cligged to these charges and his thing was, hey, good work,
take that same work and help me out. You know,
(11:24):
I know I did these things, but take that same
to use that same effort. I hope that same effort
can be put forth to help us get closure. That's
all he was asking for. And so well, if that
was the case, you know, well there's some well maybe
he it was some of the stuff that he did
that got her killed. Now, no again, if it was
(11:48):
some of the stuff that that that got her got
her killed, wouldn't they want to send a message to him,
don't they? You know, shouldn't they be saying, hey, what
goes around comes around? There was nothing he wanted some closure,
you know, not to say, well, we're putting this guy
up here and you know, saying he's such a great person. No,
(12:10):
he did what he did and he's doing his time.
But you know, my role as a homicide investigator is
not to let focus on that, Well he got what
he deserved. My role is here, we have an unsolved case.
Less close it. I don't care that our father was
(12:31):
this I don't care that she had this status in life.
Well that status, let's try to get this case solved.
And that's been the approach from day one.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
This case is like no other in history in that
you have a serial killer who had a child murdered
that's never happened, and then that serial killer reached out
to police for help in solving the daughter's case.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
What you were working.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Was so unique and so unusual that you know, you
might have gone the same process, but you still had
to be uber aware that, Hey, this ain't like any others,
so I've got to do a few things maybe a
little different.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, and you're absolutely right. I doubt it very seriously
that it's happened like that anywhere else. You know. Again,
when I think about how we learned about the Melissa
Waffenbarger case, in that we learned about it from her father,
who was convicted of these crimes, and I know there
(13:36):
would be others that say, well, it has something to
do with him one, or maybe he did it. Oh
you know, that's that's not the case, or he got
what he deserved. Look, I'm not the one to determine that.
I'm a person up fate. God doesn't make me the
judge of this person. You know. I sat down and
(13:59):
talked with Call specifically about this, and and I think
that was probably another one of the driving factors. When
you sit down and you talk with someone about a
loved one, and you you you hear it in their voice,
in their their actions, and you see them and it's
like this is genuine and it's like, you know, he
(14:22):
has a genuine desire to find out what happened to
his daughter in this instance, she was brutally murdered, and
he just wants to simply get some resolution to it.
He didn't get what he deserved. Any investigation of this
sort should be a reflection of the person that that
(14:44):
that's doing it, that's handling the case. And so what
do you do if while he got what he deserved,
and you go forward with that mindset and just close
it up? Close the case foul up with only a
few narratives of reports, and well, couldn't figure this one
out and close the case file. No, that's that's not
(15:07):
what we do. Our job is to investigate homicides, and
my job was and is to this day still I
feel like I still need to do it in some
way of form to help anyone, and it can. We
just picked up something that was done till it couldn't
go any further. We picked it up and went a
little bit further until we got some resolution and so
(15:29):
that would be That's what our hope is with the
Melissa Waffenburger case. We pick it up and let someone
else go forward with it, give resolution to a call,
and this normal.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
And now my husband Walt, we'll read Carl Patten's final
letter and thoughts on this series on the murder of
Melissa Wolfenberger.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
My name is Karl Patten, and I am the father
of Melissa don Patten Wolfenberger, whose case has been profiled
on Zone seven several times. I am currently being housed
in state prison for murders I committed in nineteen seventy seven,
(16:23):
forty six years ago, coincidentally, the same year my mother
died and Melissa was born. I have said many times
God sent me Melissa to deal with grief and heartache
of losing my mother. In other words, Melissa was a
gift from God, as all children are. She was a
(16:47):
special gift because she was part of me and her
mother my true soulmate and best friend. When you're a
self centered, selfish, arrogant perpetrator, as I once was and
Chris Wolfenberger is, you neither care nor think about who
(17:09):
you hurt. For me, all that changed when I became
a victim. All of the hurt, pain, heartache, and wondering
why my child hit me in the head like a
freight train. Then came the shame, guilt, remorse because I
(17:32):
had to lose my baby girl, God's gift to realize
what I had done to other families. When you kill someone,
you not only hurt that person, but everyone else that
loves that person. I have yet to forgive myself and
(17:52):
probably never will. Living with that guilty conscience be part
of my punishment till the day I die. So when
I ask for forgiveness, I don't expect it, only God forgives.
I do want anyone and everyone that hears this to
(18:17):
know that if I could undo what I did, I would.
But this is not about me. It's about getting justice
for Melissa and the truth and answers for the family
that loves and misses her. Melissa was a beautiful, smart,
(18:38):
loving young lady that had a bright future in front
of her to beautiful children that she loved with all
of her heart and soul. So when her husband says
she just left, I knew then he was a liar
and he had done something bad. Was nineteen ninety eight
(19:03):
and he is still walking around a freeman. But I
know there is no perfect murder, and I know God
says no sin will go uncovered. With new technology and
dogged efforts of Cheryl Mack, Karen Greer, d A Love,
(19:26):
and Detective Stein, this case will be solved and the
guilty party will get his due. As I am, may
God have mercy and forgive us both to the killer
of Dawn. Repentance is the beginning of forgiveness. So man up,
(19:50):
Tell your children what really happened to their mother and why,
real truth. Release them from the lie that their mother
did not want them and that she deserted them, because
everyone that new Melissa knows that is not true. To
(20:11):
Cheryl Mack of Zone seven, DA Love of the Atlanta
DA's Office, Karen Greer of WSTV, and Detective Stein of APD,
and everyone involved in keeping Melissa's case in the public's mind,
thank you from the bottom of my heart. God bless
(20:36):
with much respect. Carl twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
So we've given a final thought to Detective Calhoun and
to Carl Patten, and now I'm going to give the
final thought and the final say to Gladys Jackson. And
this again is straight out of the court documents. The
court says, well, I accept the recommendation and sentenced you
(21:08):
to life in the state penal system to run concurrent
with whatever sentences you are presently serving. All right, Gladys
Jackson says, excuse me, your honor. I'm the daughter of
Richard Russell Jackson, and I don't know if it's my
right or not, but it's my understanding I can say
(21:29):
something to mister Patten the court. Well, I don't know.
The problem was that I should have known or been
made aware that you were here, and nobody told me.
Nobody knew, Gladys Jackson, mister Bill knew. I thought, mister Bill, well,
(21:50):
I knew you were here, but I didn't know you
wanted to speak to him. The court all right, what
do you want? Is it something concerning the sentence, Gladys Jackson, Well,
I just I thought as the victim's daughter, I had
the right to address mister Patten. The court. Well, now
(22:15):
you're the daughter of the victim, Gladys Jackson, Richard Russell Jackson.
The court, Well, you have the right to address the court,
not to address the defendant. So if you want to
address the court that's fine, but if you want to
address the defendant, that would be a whole different issue.
(22:38):
I would rather have you talk to someone from the
victim assistant's office just to find out what it is
before I let you just have a say, Gladys Jackson. No,
that's fine. I just I didn't want to address the court,
mister Bill may and I approached just a second the court, certainly,
(23:05):
if you'll hold on, miss Jackson. Whereupon there was a
bench of conference, after which the following transpired. The court
all right, ma'am, if you'll come forward and give us
your name so we can put it on the record.
That's fine. State your name on the record, Gladys Jackson.
(23:28):
Gladys Elaine Jackson. The court, okay, now you have your opportunity, ma'am.
We have kleenices available. Gladys Jackson. I just wanted to
say that in the eyes of the law, it's a crime.
I understand what he did. Also, Fred White was another victim.
(23:53):
He was my stepfather. Both men were monsters. They abused
my mother from day one. People don't know the details
of this case. It doesn't make it right what happened.
But from the time I was old enough to walk
to the time Fred White died in nineteen seventy seven,
(24:16):
I saw nothing but blood and bruises and broken bones
of my mother. So, as far as I'm concerned, mister
Patten did me, my brother, and my mother a favor.
My mother got ten years out of her life because
of that. Fred White would have killed her at any
(24:38):
point in time. She got to see her only grandchild
because of that. So in my opinion, I love mister Patten.
I just want to tell him thank you for giving
my mother ten extra years of her life. Thank you.
The court all right, thank you. Whereupon the sentencing was
(25:03):
concluded at eleven thirty eight AM. One of the hardest
things about a cold case investigation is sometimes what you
know and what you can prove it's not the same thing.
And what I believe and what I can prove is
not the same thing. There is no doubt when I
(25:25):
think of Melissa Wolfenberger that she was a beautiful, young,
kind mother. She was a devoted wife, She was a
fun and adventurous sister. She was a daughter that gave
her parents nothing but pride and joy. So when you
(25:46):
think of this daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend to
Minny and the way her life ended. It is gut
wrenching to know that after decades, there is still a
killer walking free. So I'm going to tell you point blank,
(26:08):
what we know and what we can prove today may
not be what we can prove tomorrow. This case is open,
it's active, and I ain't going nowhere. I'm going to
end Zone seven the way that I always do with
a quote from somebody from my Zone seven and today's
quote comes from Shane Waters, host of Out of the
(26:30):
Shadows podcast, and Shane says, you never know the struggle
someone is going through. Always be kind. I'm Cheryl my
column and this is Zone seven O
I was five years old when I learned for the
first time what lifelong loyalty truly was. When my sister
Shelley would break bonds with somebody, it was in a heartbeat,
and it was for life. If you did something to
(00:29):
her or to somebody that she loved in any way,
if you wronged them somehow, in her eyes, that was it.
She would close that door. Now keep in mind, she
was only six. We're Catholic twins, so she's only eleven
months older than me. But you know, she was already
(00:50):
in first grade, so she was a woman out in
the world. So she knew things that I didn't know.
And that's one thing she would teach me. She would
look me in my face and say, we're never talking
to them again. We're done. And I would say, okay,
you know, if they hurt one of our older sisters
or said something about another member of the family, that
(01:13):
was it. Forever years later, somebody did something to one
of our sisters. I don't remember her, and I remember
saying that's it. I'm done for the rest of my life.
I'm not going to fool with that person. And I
was walking around saying blood is thicker than water. Blood
is thicker than water, you know, And I probably wasn't
(01:35):
much more than about eight at this time. Now, our
dad was not a person that you would consider a
big talker, but when he did say something, it was
worth listening to because he was either very funny, very smart,
or very loving one of those things. Well, this particular day,
(01:56):
as I was stomping around pontificating about how you know,
we were going to close ranks and not deal with
this person anymore, blood's thicker than water, he said to
me in his slow, deep South Georgia accent. Remember I
ain't blood related to your mama, and I'd kill for her.
(02:19):
I have never forgotten that, because in that moment I
realized what he was saying to me. Family can be
who you are born into, but it's also who you choose.
So friends can be family. Friends oftentimes are family. So
(02:42):
that was really important for me to learn from him
as early as I did. This episode today is going
to be the last episode on Melissa Wolfenberger until we
have an update for you. Now, I want to be
clear there have been no arrest. Christopher were From has
said repeatedly he had nothing to do with her disappearance
(03:04):
or murder. He has talked to law enforcement, he's talked
to Dateline, he's talked to her family, and he has
said things like he honestly thought that she had gone
off on her own to start a new life in California.
He thought maybe she met another man. That's why he
didn't call police. That's why he didn't contact her family.
(03:25):
That's why he didn't search for her. They had had
a plan to go to California. She was going to
get a fake ID together and they were going to
go off, and he thought she did that without him.
I believe there's a person of interest. I believe this
case could move forward. I believe there's enough circumstantial evidence.
(03:46):
But again, this case is open and it's active, and
we have to hear his denial and accept it for now.
During this series, we have showed you a little bit
of how we work our three sixty one vortex. We've
talked to Norman, Tina, Melissa's mom and sister. We've talked
(04:10):
to a media expert Karen Greer, canine expert Trey Sergent
with Tina's father, Carl Patten. We've spoken to the children
of Lyddy Evans who are victims of Carl Patten. We've
heard from death investigator Joe Scott Morgan, psychiatrist doctor Angie Arnold,
and today we're going to hear from the original lead detective,
(04:34):
Detective Calhoun. And also I asked Carl to send me
a letter for his last words on the case of
his daughter Melissa. So my husband Walt is once again
going to read the letter from Carl in a little
bit and then I'm going to let you have the
final word from someone that is in the most unique
(04:56):
position in this case. In my opinion, Gladys Jackson was
a victim of kral pattern and she also spoke at
the end of one of his trials, and I'm going
to take that straight from the court record, and I
think it's important because again she lived it from both sides.
(05:17):
This man spent in his entire adulthood making the streets safer.
Detective ab Calhoun joined the Atlanta Police Department in nineteen
eighty six. Spent eight years on patrol. And let me
tell y'all something, eight years on patrol in the city
of Atlanta is like twenty five anywhere else. That's where
(05:37):
you learn to talk to people, interact with people, understand
that community, get an ear for the street. You know
who and what you're dealing with. There is no better
training in the world for a police officer. In nineteen
ninety five, he was promoted to investigator. He was assigned
to the homicide squad. That is where he was assigned
(05:59):
the case of Melissager. So you get into homicide as
a young detective and you're given Melissa Wolfenburger, what is
your first gut feelings and reactions about that case.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
It was fortunate that a good missing person detective was
watching and paying attention to what was going on in
the news and saw an article about an individual being
convicted of killing four people. And this individual just made
a comment, I wish you guys can be as diligent
(06:33):
with finding my daughters as you were with getting me.
And this detective start putting things together. Hey, we found
body parts in nineteen ninety nine over in that same
area that this individual is talking about, and a hunch
pays off until we were able to identify Melissa Wolfenbarger
(06:57):
after so many years and unmade, not having a clue,
and while it was a fresh homicide, now now it's
a murder investigation. It was by no means a new case.
Forty eight hours had been well passed, but the approach
was still the same. All right, what do we know?
(07:19):
What can we find out?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
What?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
You know? The approach is to say, what can we
find out about Melissa Waltenbarger? What does our victimology tell
us about her? This young lady. And that's where that's
where I started and just went from there, just like
any other homicide.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So you think, who could murder her in this fashion
and then have her husband not report her missing? You know,
who wants to hurt her to this degree when you
don't have some of the other actions that you would
suspect would have been happening. You would expect the husband
to be losing his mind that he can't find her.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
And you're exactly right, you know common sense. You know
the almost twenty plus years that it's spending homicide. I
know one thing that killers do certain things certain ways.
This was not any running the mail, Okay, I'm going
to kill someone to just dump the body on the
(08:19):
side of the road. This was or I'm going to
rob them and do this and kill this was someone.
This was personal. This was very personal to take a
body and take the time to dismember it as that
person did, and so and that was, yeah, that's common sense.
(08:39):
We know, Yeah, it's not going to be this. You know.
There was some suggestion and I do remember one instance
talking when we were finally able to start communicating with
Chris about the about his wife, was you know, hey,
as far as I knew, I thought she was just
(09:00):
on those drugs and out there on the street and
maybe she would just you know, you know, she had
just succumbed to that. No, No one takes a person
that's maybe strung out on drugs and maybe owe them
money for a drug meaning a drug deal. No one
takes them and dismembers them to that point. That's no,
(09:24):
that's that's common sense. We know it doesn't happen like that. No,
So the fact that she well you may have thought that,
you know, well she just out there, strong out and
this happened to her. No, didn't happen like that. That's
that's too much. I don't think too many drug dealers
want to take that much time and effort to do that.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
You know, it's definitely a clue that he didn't believe
she was coming back.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
My thoughts again, it seems so focused on that as
he you know, because we use the term a person
of interest, and that term can be used and that's
not yes, that is a person of interest. As you
got dubbed deeper and deeper and deeper into this investigation,
all the pieces point towards one particular individual that as
(10:16):
this is the person who committed this crime. But it's
how we as investigators going to be able to prove
it and get it to the point where we can
make an arrest in.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
This case, As that young detective, when you learn that
the victim's father is a convicted murderer, did you have
any pause there? Did you just say, hey, this is
really unusual. Let me look at this guy for a second.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
No, again, when you go back to this is really
how the case broke a person that while he may
have been been convicted of brutally killing four people, he
still had a heart and he still had some of
the same things that we all have and these and
(11:04):
and as a as a true individual, he didn't say no,
I did not do it. It's I understanding. He actually
cligged to these charges and his thing was, hey, good work,
take that same work and help me out. You know,
(11:24):
I know I did these things, but take that same
to use that same effort. I hope that same effort
can be put forth to help us get closure. That's
all he was asking for. And so well, if that
was the case, you know, well there's some well maybe
he it was some of the stuff that he did
that got her killed. Now, no again, if it was
(11:48):
some of the stuff that that that got her got
her killed, wouldn't they want to send a message to him,
don't they? You know, shouldn't they be saying, hey, what
goes around comes around? There was nothing he wanted some closure,
you know, not to say, well, we're putting this guy
up here and you know, saying he's such a great person. No,
(12:10):
he did what he did and he's doing his time.
But you know, my role as a homicide investigator is
not to let focus on that, Well he got what
he deserved. My role is here, we have an unsolved case.
Less close it. I don't care that our father was
(12:31):
this I don't care that she had this status in life.
Well that status, let's try to get this case solved.
And that's been the approach from day one.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
This case is like no other in history in that
you have a serial killer who had a child murdered
that's never happened, and then that serial killer reached out
to police for help in solving the daughter's case.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
What you were working.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Was so unique and so unusual that you know, you
might have gone the same process, but you still had
to be uber aware that, Hey, this ain't like any others,
so I've got to do a few things maybe a
little different.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, and you're absolutely right. I doubt it very seriously
that it's happened like that anywhere else. You know. Again,
when I think about how we learned about the Melissa
Waffenbarger case, in that we learned about it from her father,
who was convicted of these crimes, and I know there
(13:36):
would be others that say, well, it has something to
do with him one, or maybe he did it. Oh
you know, that's that's not the case, or he got
what he deserved. Look, I'm not the one to determine that.
I'm a person up fate. God doesn't make me the
judge of this person. You know. I sat down and
(13:59):
talked with Call specifically about this, and and I think
that was probably another one of the driving factors. When
you sit down and you talk with someone about a
loved one, and you you you hear it in their voice,
in their their actions, and you see them and it's
like this is genuine and it's like, you know, he
(14:22):
has a genuine desire to find out what happened to
his daughter in this instance, she was brutally murdered, and
he just wants to simply get some resolution to it.
He didn't get what he deserved. Any investigation of this
sort should be a reflection of the person that that
(14:44):
that's doing it, that's handling the case. And so what
do you do if while he got what he deserved,
and you go forward with that mindset and just close
it up? Close the case foul up with only a
few narratives of reports, and well, couldn't figure this one
out and close the case file. No, that's that's not
(15:07):
what we do. Our job is to investigate homicides, and
my job was and is to this day still I
feel like I still need to do it in some
way of form to help anyone, and it can. We
just picked up something that was done till it couldn't
go any further. We picked it up and went a
little bit further until we got some resolution and so
(15:29):
that would be That's what our hope is with the
Melissa Waffenburger case. We pick it up and let someone
else go forward with it, give resolution to a call,
and this normal.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
And now my husband Walt, we'll read Carl Patten's final
letter and thoughts on this series on the murder of
Melissa Wolfenberger.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
My name is Karl Patten, and I am the father
of Melissa don Patten Wolfenberger, whose case has been profiled
on Zone seven several times. I am currently being housed
in state prison for murders I committed in nineteen seventy seven,
(16:23):
forty six years ago, coincidentally, the same year my mother
died and Melissa was born. I have said many times
God sent me Melissa to deal with grief and heartache
of losing my mother. In other words, Melissa was a
gift from God, as all children are. She was a
(16:47):
special gift because she was part of me and her
mother my true soulmate and best friend. When you're a
self centered, selfish, arrogant perpetrator, as I once was and
Chris Wolfenberger is, you neither care nor think about who
(17:09):
you hurt. For me, all that changed when I became
a victim. All of the hurt, pain, heartache, and wondering
why my child hit me in the head like a
freight train. Then came the shame, guilt, remorse because I
(17:32):
had to lose my baby girl, God's gift to realize
what I had done to other families. When you kill someone,
you not only hurt that person, but everyone else that
loves that person. I have yet to forgive myself and
(17:52):
probably never will. Living with that guilty conscience be part
of my punishment till the day I die. So when
I ask for forgiveness, I don't expect it, only God forgives.
I do want anyone and everyone that hears this to
(18:17):
know that if I could undo what I did, I would.
But this is not about me. It's about getting justice
for Melissa and the truth and answers for the family
that loves and misses her. Melissa was a beautiful, smart,
(18:38):
loving young lady that had a bright future in front
of her to beautiful children that she loved with all
of her heart and soul. So when her husband says
she just left, I knew then he was a liar
and he had done something bad. Was nineteen ninety eight
(19:03):
and he is still walking around a freeman. But I
know there is no perfect murder, and I know God
says no sin will go uncovered. With new technology and
dogged efforts of Cheryl Mack, Karen Greer, d A Love,
(19:26):
and Detective Stein, this case will be solved and the
guilty party will get his due. As I am, may
God have mercy and forgive us both to the killer
of Dawn. Repentance is the beginning of forgiveness. So man up,
(19:50):
Tell your children what really happened to their mother and why,
real truth. Release them from the lie that their mother
did not want them and that she deserted them, because
everyone that new Melissa knows that is not true. To
(20:11):
Cheryl Mack of Zone seven, DA Love of the Atlanta
DA's Office, Karen Greer of WSTV, and Detective Stein of APD,
and everyone involved in keeping Melissa's case in the public's mind,
thank you from the bottom of my heart. God bless
(20:36):
with much respect. Carl twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
So we've given a final thought to Detective Calhoun and
to Carl Patten, and now I'm going to give the
final thought and the final say to Gladys Jackson. And
this again is straight out of the court documents. The
court says, well, I accept the recommendation and sentenced you
(21:08):
to life in the state penal system to run concurrent
with whatever sentences you are presently serving. All right, Gladys
Jackson says, excuse me, your honor. I'm the daughter of
Richard Russell Jackson, and I don't know if it's my
right or not, but it's my understanding I can say
(21:29):
something to mister Patten the court. Well, I don't know.
The problem was that I should have known or been
made aware that you were here, and nobody told me.
Nobody knew, Gladys Jackson, mister Bill knew. I thought, mister Bill, well,
(21:50):
I knew you were here, but I didn't know you
wanted to speak to him. The court all right, what
do you want? Is it something concerning the sentence, Gladys Jackson, Well,
I just I thought as the victim's daughter, I had
the right to address mister Patten. The court. Well, now
(22:15):
you're the daughter of the victim, Gladys Jackson, Richard Russell Jackson.
The court, Well, you have the right to address the court,
not to address the defendant. So if you want to
address the court that's fine, but if you want to
address the defendant, that would be a whole different issue.
(22:38):
I would rather have you talk to someone from the
victim assistant's office just to find out what it is
before I let you just have a say, Gladys Jackson. No,
that's fine. I just I didn't want to address the court,
mister Bill may and I approached just a second the court, certainly,
(23:05):
if you'll hold on, miss Jackson. Whereupon there was a
bench of conference, after which the following transpired. The court
all right, ma'am, if you'll come forward and give us
your name so we can put it on the record.
That's fine. State your name on the record, Gladys Jackson.
(23:28):
Gladys Elaine Jackson. The court, okay, now you have your opportunity, ma'am.
We have kleenices available. Gladys Jackson. I just wanted to
say that in the eyes of the law, it's a crime.
I understand what he did. Also, Fred White was another victim.
(23:53):
He was my stepfather. Both men were monsters. They abused
my mother from day one. People don't know the details
of this case. It doesn't make it right what happened.
But from the time I was old enough to walk
to the time Fred White died in nineteen seventy seven,
(24:16):
I saw nothing but blood and bruises and broken bones
of my mother. So, as far as I'm concerned, mister
Patten did me, my brother, and my mother a favor.
My mother got ten years out of her life because
of that. Fred White would have killed her at any
(24:38):
point in time. She got to see her only grandchild
because of that. So in my opinion, I love mister Patten.
I just want to tell him thank you for giving
my mother ten extra years of her life. Thank you.
The court all right, thank you. Whereupon the sentencing was
(25:03):
concluded at eleven thirty eight AM. One of the hardest
things about a cold case investigation is sometimes what you
know and what you can prove it's not the same thing.
And what I believe and what I can prove is
not the same thing. There is no doubt when I
(25:25):
think of Melissa Wolfenberger that she was a beautiful, young,
kind mother. She was a devoted wife, She was a
fun and adventurous sister. She was a daughter that gave
her parents nothing but pride and joy. So when you
(25:46):
think of this daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend to
Minny and the way her life ended. It is gut
wrenching to know that after decades, there is still a
killer walking free. So I'm going to tell you point blank,
(26:08):
what we know and what we can prove today may
not be what we can prove tomorrow. This case is open,
it's active, and I ain't going nowhere. I'm going to
end Zone seven the way that I always do with
a quote from somebody from my Zone seven and today's
quote comes from Shane Waters, host of Out of the
(26:30):
Shadows podcast, and Shane says, you never know the struggle
someone is going through. Always be kind. I'm Cheryl my
column and this is Zone seven O
Host
Sheryl McCollum
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