Melissa Wolfenbarger: Letters From Carl Patton | Part 4 - Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Ms Coon, my fourth grade teacher, surprised us one day
by giving us the name and address of a child
in Denmark, and she told us that we were going
to have a penpal the whole school year, and we
were going to write letters to them every week. At
Christmas time, we were going to exchange gifts. We were

(00:31):
going to know their birthday and other special times for
them so that we could send them a gift or
some type of special recognition. This was a wonderful experience
to me because once I mailed off my letter, the
anticipation of getting one in return was always such a blast.

(00:51):
I could not wait. This was a slow process. It
was not making a phone call where you got immediate
answers to your questions. What's your favorite toy, do you
play a sport? Do you have brothers and sisters? We
had to wait weeks to find out those answers. I'm
having that same experience a little bit with my relationship

(01:14):
with Carl Patton. Carl Patton is Melissa Wolfenberger's father, and
as you know from the previous episode where we talked
to Norma and Tina, her mom and sister, Karl is
incarcerated for murders that he committed in nineteen seventy seven.
But Carl wants to be a part of seeking justice

(01:36):
for Melissa, Well, he has information that I need, and
the only way I can do that is through letters.
I want to talk about the significance of including Carl
in this investigation. If you want to know why people murder,
ask a murderer, If you want to know whether Carl's

(01:57):
background had anything to do with what happened to his daughter,
flat out asking if he believes that somebody in his
past was seeking retribution, then we'll know that. Y'all, this
is a case like none other that I have ever
heard of that I've ever worked. I can't even find

(02:18):
anything in just general research that has happened like this historically.
There is no other case like Melissa Wolfenberger. Here's why
you have her father who has been named and classified
as a serial killer by law enforcement. Her daddy's a

(02:39):
Flint River killer. That's the moniker. You're going to learn
later that he hates that, that he does not consider
himself a serial killer, because he will tell you he's
not a Ted Bundy type. He has never sought somebody
out to murder them. That he did not know. He's
never stalked and killed anybody that he did not have

(03:00):
a connection with. He has never killed the same victim
over and over and over like a Ted Bundy. So
in this case, we have a serial killer turned crime
victim who turned to the detective that arrested him for help,
who then turned to a nonprofit for help, who then

(03:22):
got his family to meet with the disc attorney over
the case. So he has tried to put as much
effort into this as he could from where he sat
in prison. So I can find no other case in
history where a murderer had a loved one in their

(03:42):
family murdered, who asked law enforcement for help, who asked
a nonprofit for help, who then went to the prosecutor
for help. Carl Patton can't be on the podcast. He
has no access to a computer with headphones or a
cell phone, and he's not allowed outside visitors that are

(04:03):
not family members. I made a formal request to the
Department of Corrections to meet with him, and I was denied.
Carl will speak to us today the only way that
he can. Through letters. Through the years, Carl and I
have communicated about his life growing up, when he was
a little boy. I've asked him intimate questions about his family,

(04:27):
his crimes, his incarceration, and his fight for justice for Melissa. Today,
you're going to be able to hear his answers to
my questions. Today we get to go inside Dodge State
Prison the only way we can and talk to Carl Patton.
We spoke to Normal Patton, who admitted that she helped

(04:52):
Carl dispose of bodies in the Flint River. First time
I ever met her. She sat down with me and
she said, my daughter was beheaded in Atlanta. Will you
help me? Absolutely, I offered to help her. I asked
her to meet me in my office at the college,
and she did. Before we started to talk about Melissa,
she told me straight out, I need to tell you

(05:13):
something before you truly agree to help me. And she said,
my husband is in prison for murder and I helped him,
but we had a deal so I didn't go to prison.
That was a shocking statement. I didn't know her past
prior to her meeting with me. I didn't know anything

(05:35):
about Carl Patton. I had heard of the Flint River murders,
but only cursory. But here's the deal. In my business
in the real world at the police department, we don't
get to pick and choose who we help and who
we don't. If there is a victim of crime, we
helped that person, period. So Carl's passed enormous path was

(06:01):
not going to determine from helping Melissa, because the bottom
line is, the sins of the father have nothing to
do with what happened to Melissa. She was an innocent,
twenty one year old young wife and mother that did
not deserve to have her arms and legs and head

(06:21):
cut off from her body and discarded in trash bags
like she was garbage. Her children deserved better, her family
deserved better. And I also want to be very clear,
Carl Patton did what he did. He deserves to be
in prison. In two thousand and three, Carl Millard Patton

(06:46):
Junior was arrested. He was later convicted of the nineteen
seventy seven murders of Fred White, Lyddy Matthews Evans, and
evans boyfriend Joe Cleveland. He has never denied that to me.
He has never misrepresented the facts to me that I know.

(07:07):
Of every question that I have ever asked him, he
has answered, sometimes more than once let's talk a little
bit about the timeline to catch you up. November the ninth,
nineteen ninety eight, Melissa was last seen by her mom
December nineteen ninety eight. Melissa's husband states that's the last

(07:29):
time he ever saw her. He saw her walking down
the streets. She said she was headed off and he
never saw her again, and he just thought she moved
to California without him. Keep in mind, Melissa I had
no car, no phone, no money, no luggage with her,
and she left behind her two small children. Between October

(07:50):
nineteen ninety eight in February of nineteen ninety nine. Her
husband worked at a place called Action Class. He never
reports her missing. He never calls her family and says,
will you help me look for her? Have you heard
from her? Is she with y'all? He never tries to
find her. He never tries to make sure the children

(08:13):
can see her and visit with her and be co
parented by her. As a matter of fact, the house
they were living in together he moved out of. He
moved to a different city in South Georgia, and did
so using an assumed name. April twenty ninth, nineteen ninety nine,

(08:34):
a severed skull is found in the middle of Avon
Avenue June third, nineteen ninety nine. Arms and legs are
found in four additional trashbags in the same area. November
of nineteen ninety nine, Melissa's mom, Norma, officially reports her missing. Now,
y'all remember from the other episode, she tried to get

(08:56):
her hometown in Henry County to take a report. They said,
Melissa doesn't live here. She's a grown, married woman. She
can walk out of her life if she wants to.
We have no evidence of a crime. Norma reaches out
to the Atlanta Police Department, who rode by to do
a welfare check. There was nobody there, no blood, no
broken glass, the door wasn't kicked in. They basically gave

(09:19):
her the same speech. She's a grown woman, she's married,
husband hasn't reported her. She can take a powder if
she wants to. When Carl is arrested for the nineteen
seventy seven murders, Detective Bruce Jordan is the one that
arrested him, and Norma and Carl had a lot of
conversations about, well, if he called Carl after twenty five years,

(09:42):
he must be pretty good at his job and maybe
we should ask him to help find Melissa, because at
this point she's still a missing person. So Norma goes
to Bruce Jordan with Carl's blessing and encouragement, to say,
will you help find our daughter? And to his credit,
he said yes, and he's the one that discovered the

(10:05):
severed head was just feet from where her husband worked
at Action Glass on March fourteenth, two thousand and three.
The remains are identified as Melissa Wolfenburger. Tragically, law enforcement
lost four years that they could have been investigating a homicide. Obviously,

(10:31):
Carl Patton cannot speak for himself on this podcast, so
Walt McCollum, my husband has agreed to read Carl's letters
so that it's going to be real clear that Carl
is speaking when you hear a male voice. And I
also want to be very clear that Christopher Wolfenberger has

(10:51):
denied any involvement in Melissa's murder. June sixteenth, twenty twenty one,
Miss Cheryl, I would like to correct something you said
in your letter. You said Chris knew that I'd kill
him if I ever got out. Norman made me promise

(11:11):
I wouldn't not out for forgiveness but for the sake
of the children and Melissa's grandson and the fact that
I would be back in prison. Cheryl Chris is not
worth me being separated from my family one more minute plus.
I really did not understand the hurt and grief I

(11:36):
caused with my actions until we lost Melissa. I never
want to cause anyone that type of pain ever again,
and I pray God has or will forgive me for
my sins and actions. April twenty first, twenty twenty two.

(11:58):
I am anxious about the evidence that has been found.
My main focus is on the bags Melissa's body was
placed in. We both know it would be hard to
tie knots, especially in plastic bags, without leaving trace evidence
of some sort. Whenever murder occurs, some kind of evidence

(12:22):
is left. No matter how careful the killer is, evidence
will be there. It may be overlooked, but that does
not mean it's not there. There is no perfect crime.
PS told Norma and Tena May, I was glad you

(12:43):
and miss Adrian were never after me when I was
doing wrong. Thank God, I am not that man any longer.
July twenty second, twenty twenty one. Melissa Dawn was my
baby girl who carried my heart the first time I
held her. She was a happy, beautiful young lady, made

(13:08):
good grades in schools, was an rotc and had the
bright future in front of her. All that changed when
she met Chris Wolfenburger. He had an unhealthy influence on her.
She changed, and not for the better. She started sneaking
out at night to meet him and do god knows what.

(13:30):
He even talked her into stealing my car twice. She
and Chris had planned to run away to California, his idea.
After Melissa became pregnant and had Christina. Chris done everything
he could to keep Melissa and Christina away from me
and Norma. Now she had to sneak away from him,

(13:55):
not sneak to meet him. Only time we ever got
to see Melissa and Christina was when Chris was at work.
Melissa told us she'd be in big trouble if he
found out she had often had bruises on her arms
and neck. Norman and I tried to tell her it

(14:18):
was an unsafe and unhealthy relationship, but she was in
love and wouldn't listen. When Melissa didn't show up at
Christmas to get her gifts, and then we couldn't locate her.
I knew in my mind and heart Chris had done
something to Melissa. September sixteenth, twenty twenty two, Miss Cheryl,

(14:45):
thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule
to write and continue to keep me informed on Melissa's case.
Last week was a rough one. Melissa would have turned
forty five on Friday. Your letters are greatly appreciated. They
continue to reassure me that someone other than my family

(15:07):
is concerned in seeking justice for her. Thank you for
your effort and determination on Melissa's behalf. My family and
I owe a great debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid.
October eleventh, twenty twenty two. How do you kill the

(15:28):
mother of your two children and then look at those
children in the eye and say your mother deserted you
because she didn't want you. Then, when it's proven this
mother is dead and they want us to visit the grave,
you take them to a different location and claim someone

(15:49):
must have moved her. Miss Cheryl, I have told you
I had to lose Melissa and feel the pain to
really realize the damage and harm I caused people I
did not know. Please tell me who does Chris have
to lose to realize the hurt, heartache, and anguish his

(16:12):
actions caused. A guilty conscience is a hell on earth
that continues to punish and convict, and I deal with
it every day. I pray that one day soon Chris
will get a conscience and see the wrong he has done.
I wish Chris had killed me instead of Melissa. That way,

(16:36):
I wouldn't have to live with the guilt of knowing
I was not there to protect her every time I
look at her picture. Pain is the price you pay
for loving your children. So deeply want you to know
my family and I appreciate your efforts in Melissa's case

(16:57):
and keeping us in the loop. Chris Wolfenburger has gotten
away with his crime long enough, and for the first
time in a long time, I believe he will get
his due very soon. Also pleased to see the investigating
agents agree with me that there is only one suspect

(17:20):
in this case, Chris Wolfenburger. Have read the geographic profile
several times and for most part I agree ninety five.
I want you to know in my heart, killer does
not describe me. Loving, protective father, husband and provider describes

(17:43):
me and I pray you will see that as well.
I'm willing to do anything to help bring Melissa's killer
to justice. I have only two goals left in my life.
One is justice for Melissa. In getting back home to
my family, to hear my children's laughter, and to wake

(18:06):
up next to my wife one more time. This is
my dream. When I was first reviewing the entire case file,
so much good work had been done once they knew
they had a murder. Some real stellar work, as a

(18:27):
matter of fact, was done. But one thing that I
saw that was missing was a geographical profile. Now, if
you are not familiar with that term, it's really an
extraordinary and just super cool tool for law enforcement. They
take all the locations that are connected to either a
crime or a series of crimes, and they try to

(18:48):
determine the most probable area where an offender lives, and
this map shows a location that is most likely where
the offender's bay. He says that base is either his
home or his work. In other words, this place is
somewhere that he knows intimately, he feels safe, he feels protected,

(19:12):
he feels like he could work from there very easily.
And then it analyzes locations that are connected to the
crime to determine most likely, yes, this is the person
that picked this disposal site. It's most likely where this
person traveled the route that they took after they committed

(19:33):
the crime. So if you have somebody that leaves their home,
interacts with a victim, murders that victim, and then dumps
their body somewhere, the geographical profile when they know the
body disposal site and where the victim was last seen,
then they work backwards to show this most likely is

(19:54):
the area where the perpetrator lived or worked. So some
of the things that used to get this information into
their analysis, into their mapping, they will look at again,
where did this crime end. Is the victim found outdoors

(20:14):
in abandoned building, in their home, on a street somewhere.
Then they're going to work backwards to say where were
they last seen. They're going to utilize witness statements, law
enforcement reports and get that exact address of where they
were last seen. Well, now you've got two critical addresses,

(20:34):
where the body was located and where the victim was
last seen. They also add things from the victim's life,
where the victim went to school, where the victim worked,
because again, where did this killer and victim first intersect,
they can try to predict that when they're looking at
this map, there's going to be some hot zones where,
perhaps you know, the victim is crossing into where the

(20:58):
perpetrator may live. Maybe she passes where he works every
day to go to her job or her school, or
her church or whatever it is that she's headed toward.
So in the case of Melissa, again we have her
most likely being killed at one location, being transported and
then being discarded at another. And then we have some

(21:21):
principal elements that somebody would want to look at. Where
did she live, where did she work, where were her parents,
her siblings, etc. So we were extremely fortunate that we
had somebody come forward to say, yes, I will help you.
And Douglas McGregor, who is in Canada, who is a

(21:43):
geographical profiler. Y'all, he's a freaking wizard. And I tell
this story a lot of times so that people really
understand when somebody is truly gifted in their expertise. And
this is the situation with Douglas. We had a series
of crimes in Atlanta not too long ago, and as
soon as I started hearing about them, they were oddly familiar,

(22:08):
kind of like a deja voo thing, and I'm like,
why does this sound like I've heard this before, even
though it was crimes that were unfolded. And I even
reached out to David Quinn, who was the detective on
the crimes that I was remembering, and even asked them,
doesn't this sound like your case? Could this be a copycat?

(22:28):
He said, they sound real similar to me, and yeah,
I mean it could be a copycat. So I contacted
Douglas and in real time and real quick, he did
a profile and he said, no, this is a stranger.
He has no idea of the other crimes you're talking about,
and he's going to strike in this general area always,

(22:49):
and everything that he sent me I sent to the
sergeant over the case, and it turned out he was
absolutely right. I asked him if he would possibly look
at Melissa Wolfenberger's case and he said absolutely, and he
generated a report for the police and the prosecutor, and again,

(23:10):
stellar work, just peerless, the really cool thing on Melissa's
case that had never been done before. So it was
just one more thing that we could give to investigators
into the DA's office to say, look, it's not just
us telling you there's an analysis that's being done by
an expert's going to show you the same thing. We're

(23:30):
going to wrap up this episode with one final letter
from Carl November third, twenty twenty two. In your last letter,
you also asked very pointed questions about my past family
norma parents, children, in crimes, things that are usually off limits. However,

(23:54):
I'm going to try to answer them as honestly as
I can. So I always started the beginning. My mother
my father lived through the Great Depression and know what
it meant to work hard and still do without. My
dad used to tell me when he needed a new
pair of shoes, all he had to do was put

(24:17):
a piece of cardboard in the bottom of the old ones.
Was his second son and only one of my mother,
who was thirty six years old when I came along.
Mom was the oldest girl of eight and had to
help watch after her other brothers and sisters. She always

(24:38):
dreamed of having her own children, but I came late
in their lives. Family rumor says she found out she
was pregnant, she ran around yellowing I got me a
hot shot, and that's where I got my nickname and
nothing to do with my criminal activities. Mom and Dad

(24:58):
always made sure I knew I was loved, wanted, and protected.
Growing up, I'd like to play football and fish did
not like school. My mother was always my safety blanket
and my best friend. That's why it hurts now to
know I disappointed her sometimes, and another reason I'm trying

(25:22):
now to be a better person. Family loyalty started with
my grandfather. He always said family first, and to be
true to your word and your friends. He taught my mother,
and she taught me. Now I try to pass that

(25:42):
on to my children. All my mother ever wanted was
for me to go to church, get educated, own my
own home, and have grandchildren. She loved Norma, and the
happiest I ever saw my mother was when Norma gave
birth to our first daughter. After Tina May was born,

(26:05):
Norman could do no wrong. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
When I was young and growing up, we lived in
College Park. My grandfather, Patton, lived on Main Street in
a two story, three bedroom mansion he built from a
two room shack. He was a master carpenter. Long about

(26:27):
nineteen sixty one, we moved to Ellenwood, east of Forest Park.
Mom had rented four hundred and six acres of land
and a two bedroom house for sixty dollars a month.
No heat, used coal heaters in a fireplace to stay warm.
Where I owned my hunting skills and my mom bought

(26:50):
my first house. There I met the Wade sisters, Donna
and Teresa. The three of us rode horses every day
after school. We all attended Jonesboro Junior High School, where
I made some lifelong friendships. My happiest days had begun.

(27:11):
Teresa Wade introduces me to my future. There she was
dark complexion, pretty smile, brown eyes, and gray hair. Not
a lot of gray hair, but enough to be interesting
at fifteen years old. There she stood my soul mate,
lifelong partner, best friend, lover, mother, rock of my future family. Norma.

(27:38):
Did the ADA and the media and myself reach out
to a killer to try to help solve Melissa's case? Yes,
and in this case that killer just happens to be
her father. But he has part of the victimology, he
has an understanding of part of the suspectology. And again
we are not arguing whether or not Carl Patton and

(28:00):
It's guilty, whether or not he's a serial killer. Whether
or not he deserves to be in prison, there's no
argument there. I'm going to end Zone seven, like I
always do, by quoting somebody from my Zone seven. Tonight's
quote comes from Jim Wrapping, former United States Secret Service agent,

(28:22):
and he says, never look down at anyone unless extending
a hand to pick them back up. And I think
that is so applicable to Melissa's case. I'm Cheryl McCollum
and this is Zone seven. I am often asked if

(28:54):
Melissa's murderer was some type of retribution for Carl's murders.
Join us next week as we talk exclusively to the
children of Lyddy Evans. The children have an opportunity to
honor their mother, and we have an opportunity to look
at Karl's crimes and see if they factor in to

(29:14):
the murder of Elissa Woffenberger.

All Episodes

Melissa Wolfenbarger: Letters From Carl Patton | Part 4

Episode Transcript

Host

Sheryl McCollum

Popular Podcasts

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2

Dateline NBC

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Melissa Wolfenbarger: Letters From Carl Patton | Part 4