Host - Heather (2:07)

Truly. Well, without further ado, let's just dive right into this one.

Host - Heath (2:11)

Alright guys, this is episode 553 of Going West. So let's get into it.

Host - Heather (2:52)

In late 1998, a 21 year old mother vanished from Atlanta after a phone call home on Thanksgiving Day. Months later, her remains were found scattered between multiple garbage bags near her home. But it wasn't until years later that the remains were linked to a local missing woman. When her cold case was reopened as a homicide investigation. Police were shocked to discover that her father was a serial killer. And even more perplexed when it appeared that someone else might have murdered Her. This is the murder of Melissa Wolfenbarger. Melissa Dawn Patton was born on September 9, 1977, outside of Atlanta, Georgia, to parents Norma and Carl Patton. And there she grew up alongside a sister seven years her senior named Tina. Melissa is remembered as quiet and sweet, almost to a fault. Like her family claims that she was naive and far too trusting of others. But Tina swore that she would always look out for her sister, saying she knew she could call me anytime she needed me. I wanted to be able to protect her. I wish she had called me. But that call never came. When Melissa started dating her high school boyfriend, Chris Wolfenbarger, we have. He and I watched so many freaking videos.

Host - Heath (4:36)

We saw literally so many different people say Wolfenbarger a crazy amount of different.

Host - Heather (4:43)

Ways to the point where we just started laughing. We're like, where did that pronunciation come from? So we're going with Wolfenbarger today. That feels like the. The most accurate. So when Melissa started dating him, she kind of began adopting his more rebellious behaviors, like sneaking out and drinking and getting into trouble with the law, which was behavior that her family blamed on Chris's influence.

Host - Heath (5:06)

Well, we're gonna talk about how it might not have just only been Chris's influence.

Host - Heather (5:11)

Yeah. A little more about Melissa's family later. So Melissa married Chris right out of high school when she was still 17, and the pair quickly had two kids together. A daughter named Christina and a son named Joseph, whom they called Joey. They moved into a duplex on Brookline street in southwest Atlanta and managed to make enough to get by. Melissa was waiting tables at a Waffle House, and Chris was working for a local glass and mirror company. Melissa was last seen in November of 1998, but wasn't reported missing until a year later. But going back to when she went missing first. So on Thursday, November 26, 1998, which was Thanksgiving Day, Melissa chatted with her mom, Norma on the phone, making plans to spend Christmas together the following month. But Norma, after this conversation, never heard from or saw her daughter again. So even though she had said that she wanted to see her at Christmas, the holidays passed with no word from Melissa. So her family drove to Melissa and Chris home in Atlanta from theirs in Locust Grove, Georgia, which is only about 40 minutes away. When the Pattons arrived, they were stunned to find that the couple and their kids had moved out of their home with no word as to where they had gone. So that was really strange, especially when it was coupled with the fact that Melissa was already MIA and now she's not Even living in the same house. But according to neighbors, Chris had abruptly moved the family out in the week between Christmas and New Year's in and no one seemed to have seen or heard from 21 year old Melissa. Though her family was of course alarmed by this, to drive to her freaking house, they held off on reporting her missing just yet, hoping that she would check in on her own accord. You know, she's an adult, a young one, but still she was a wife, she's a mom. And they really didn't have any clues that pointed to her being in danger. But when Norma's birthday came and went on February 24, 1999, Norma knew that something was up with her daughter Melissa, saying sadly, there was no call, no card, no visit, nothing. That just wasn't her. She was my baby girl, so I knew something was wrong. With no way to contact her husband Chris, because they didn't know where he went, Melissa's parents and sister began their own investigation, determined to figure out what happened to Melissa. So they got in contact with the glass company that Chris was working for, which they knew was called Action Glass and Mirror, but were surprised to find out that Chris had been fired months prior after stealing a reciprocating saw, which is like a handheld single blade saw from this company, and that he no longer works there.

Host - Heath (8:20)

I mean, those two things coupled together, the fact that he stole this reciprocating saw and the fact that his wife is now missing, yeah, I'm going to say that's pretty suspicious.

Host - Heather (8:30)

For real. So he had been terminated in February of 1999. That is obviously the same month of Melissa's mom's birthday and about a month to two months after Melissa was last seen. So we don't know exactly when the saw was stolen, but yeah, it was around the same time she disappeared. So that's pretty freaking weird. Now, Chris later called the theft of the saw a misunderstanding, of course, and maintained that his termination was not his fault. But this left the Patton's, Melissa's family with another mystery. Where was their son in law and where were their grandkids? Because they're showing up at his job and they're like, oh yeah, we fired that guy.

Host - Heath (9:13)

Yeah.

Host - Heather (9:13)

So now they still don't know where he is.

Host - Heath (9:15)

So not only were they not even living in that house anymore, but he also wasn't working for that company anymore. So he could literally be anywhere and.

Host - Heather (9:23)

Working any job and nobody's reaching out to the patents. They could be anywhere like you're saying. So her family went to the police to file a report. But with no sign of foul play, the police discouraged them from doing so. And that is why Melissa wasn't officially reported missing Until January of 2000, over a year after she was last seen.

Host - Heath (9:49)

I mean, I find it pretty wild that the police were like, yeah, this really isn't a big deal. I don't think you should report her missing. It's like, and then it took an entire year of not hearing from Melissa for an official police report to go through.

Host - Heather (10:03)

I mean, I feel like at the very least, accept the report and do a little digging. I do get it in the sense that she's married and she has kids and she's probably just off with her husband like a 21 year old is allowed to be doing. And she's allowed to cut off contact with her family. But obviously hindsight's 2020 here and if her family is concerned, you know, take the report.

Host - Heath (10:25)

So, yeah, unfortunately it took a year for police to take her disappearance seriously. And when they were finally able to find Chris, and when he was questioned, he claimed that Melissa left their home and never returned, wanting to start her new life in California and leave her burdens, AKA her husband and children behind. Originally, Melissa and Chris had wanted to go to California to start their life over together with their kids. But Christopher claimed that he assumed she had gotten tired of waiting and carried out their plan on her own. He believed that she had been paving the way for her escape for months, accusing her of taking on double shifts at the Waffle House that she worked at, which would sometimes make her so tired that she would get a motel room for the night. According to Chris, she had also created multiple fake IDs in order to create a new identity on the West Coast. So he's kind of painting this detailed picture of her running away at this point. But when he was interviewed by the police, he also mentioned casually that they had gotten into a fight and that she had left on foot, unceremoniously walking out of their home on Brookline and never returning. And this is obviously very strange because she's leaving behind their two year old and their three year old in the care of Kris and she just doesn't come back.

Host - Heather (11:48)

Yeah. And the fact that he's saying she went to California, but she left like you're saying, on foot during an argument, not taking any of her things.

Host - Heath (11:56)

Yeah, she didn't take her clothes, she didn't take her belongings, just left. Well, Chris said in an interview later, we're not talking about one day she was there and the next she wasn't. I just figured she'd come back when she was able to. He vehemently denied knowing anything more about her whereabouts or having anything to do with her disappearance, explaining, quote, I'm not denying I have a criminal history. We were, you know, like Bonnie and Clyde, just small time criminals. But we didn't do anything bad bad. We were just trying to build a better life in California. California was the dream. That's the reason I didn't report her missing. She wanted to get away from her parents and from this place, so she had to become someone else. I just thought that she'd come back when things settled down. But his simple explanation was not enough for her family. Who knew that Melissa would never have left her children behind, especially not so suddenly like this. And when detectives asked Chris why he hadn't reported her disappearance himself, he just claimed that he assumed she wanted an escape and that he was trying to give her space and assumed that she would come back for him when she was ready.

Host - Heather (13:08)

Well, this is also kind of weird because they have kids, so, you know.

Host - Heath (13:12)

It'S not like they're just dating and she's just deciding, oh, I think I need a little bit of space. Like you're married and you have kids and you live in the same home.

Host - Heather (13:19)

Yeah. Because even if he didn't argue this, but let's say he said, oh, she hates having kids and she doesn't want to be a mom anymore, like now Chris is left on his own to raise the kids. So that's like a big job. So you would imagine he would have at the very least been like, hey, like, I need help over here, wife.

Host - Heath (13:36)

Yeah. But as we're also going to get into, Chris really didn't even raise the kids.

Host - Heather (13:41)

No, that's actually why I'm bringing it up, you know, because it's like, it's not like he's like, ah, finally I get the kids to myself. Like, this is not seemingly a job that he even wants, but sorry to get ahead of myself. So Chris put forward this kind of soft spoken Persona. He tried to project this air of concern a little bit surrounding what happened to his wife, being like, oh, like I was just supporting her and I don't know where she is. But he wasn't telling the whole story because in the months leading up to her disappearance, 21 year old Melissa had filed a restraining order against Chris. And at one point, she'd even left their home to stay with her sister Tina because she hadn't felt safe. And in one retaliation Chris filed charges against her as well. There's a lot of turmoil here that Chris is kind of glazing over, and other people obviously knew this as well. Their relationship is remembered by Melissa's family as volatile and sometimes violent. Her sister Tina, recalled spotting bruises on Melissa after their arguments. And her mom, Norma, recalled, quote, it's always been a domestic violence issue from day one. She had already left because of his abuse. I think she went back to him, but at one point said, I'm gonna call mom and I'm going home. And maybe that's when he lost it. Now, eventually, after she left and went to her sister's house and was staying with family for a bit, Melissa did return to him. And whether this was to officially leave him or to give him another chance, we may never know, because a short while later, she disappeared. Unable to care for his children himself, as Heath and I were just kinda hinting to, Chris moved in with his uncle and sent Christina and Joey, his kids, to live with his mom. But this was not the first time a tragedy had befallen the Patton family, because things are about to get wild.

Host - Heath (15:42)

Yeah, this is where it takes the most dramatic turn I've ever seen.

Host - Heather (15:45)

This is like the bit in the beginning when I said, there's something kind of new in this case. It's this angle of the story. So years earlier, a string of brutal unsolved murders could be traced back to the Patton family as well. But they weren't the victims. They were the perpetrators. When Melissa was just weeks old, like she was an infant baby, her dad, Karl Patton, became involved in a quadruple homicide that haunted a small community for decades. On December 20, 1977. So two decades before Melissa vanished, two duck hunters discovered the badly decomposed naked body of a woman with her head wrapped in a white plastic bag floating in the Flint river in Fayette County, Georgia. So they immediately reported what they had found to police. And police determined that the woman had most likely been there for about two months at this point due to the advanced state of decay, which was unfortunate because it would lead to many difficulties in identifying her. While deputies in the Clayton County Sheriff's Department were there investigating the discovery of the remains, a shocking development presented itself. One of the deputies spotted another body floating just down the river, Right?

Host - Heath (17:12)

So they're there on the banks of this river. They see this woman wrapped in plastic, the remains of a woman wrapped in plastic in her head, wrapped in plastic in that river. And then all of a sudden, a few moments later, they're looking down the river. And they're like, shit, there's another one down there.

Host - Heather (17:29)

And I hate to say this, but that, I mean, it really sounds like such an eerie sight. Like you're. It's winter. You see one woman's, a nude woman's body, just her head is wrapped in plastic. And then shortly down that river, there's another body. And this one was concealed in a sleeping bag and had been dropped there more recently, likely actually in the two to three days prior to its discovery. So we have one body in this very area that's been there for a couple months and one that's brand new.

Host - Heath (18:00)

But what's really interesting here is that because of the way the river is and where the two bodies were found, two different law enforcement agencies had to work on these cases together because one was in one county and the other was in a different county.

Host - Heather (18:17)

Yeah, it's. That's such an interesting piece of this. We've got Fayette county and Clayton county, and it's just down the river, but two different jurisdictions here, two different investigations. But like Heath is saying, you know, they are working together, so they're really fearing that they've kind of stumbled upon a dumping ground for a serial killer.

Host - Heath (18:37)

Well, unlike the first body, this body was clever. Clothed, but the groin of her pants had been cut out, leading investigators to believe that she had been sexually assaulted either before or possibly and disgustingly after her death, she had been shot in the abdomen once and the leg twice, and was then tied to a cinder block and then dropped into the water.

Host - Heather (18:59)

God, so grim.

Host - Heath (19:01)

Well, based on a missing persons report filed in Fayette county, they determined the woman to be 31 year old Liddy Evans, a divorcee and a mother of four. At the time, she was living with her boyfriend, who was a firefighter named Joe Cleveland in DeKalb County, Georgia. And according to reports from the couple's family and friends, they were planning on heading out on a camping trip to Panama city, Florida on December 17, 1977, which happened to be the last day that Liddy was seen. No one had heard from her since. And though investigators initially suspected Joe's involvement, they discovered that he was missing as well. And remember, Liddy was last seen on December 17th, and they're finding her remains on the 20th. So just three days later.

Host - Heather (19:51)

So they did get it right that she had been there for two to three days?

Host - Heath (19:54)

Yes, they did. The first body found in Flint river was a little bit harder to identify, but based on her dental records, investigators were able to link the remains to the missing persons report filed for 45 year old Betty Jo Efflin, who had been reported missing by her daughter Linda. Now, according to Linda, Betty Jo had recently begun running with a pretty rough crowd known for their proximity to drug use, drug smuggling and crime. And this was all pretty new for her mother. But in the months preceding her death, Betty Jo had taken up with a career criminal named Fred Wyatt, whom Linda believed was pretty abusive. 45 year old Fred was a truck driver and a drug trafficker who had recently come off of a 10 year prison stint for robbery. And he had a slew of other crimes under his belt as well. He was also still in a relationship with his live in girlfriend, who is a woman that he referred to as his common law wife, a woman named Marie Jackson.

Host - Heather (20:57)

We know we're throwing a lot of names at you, but it will all.

Host - Heath (21:00)

It will all start to make sense once, once we start making the connections between all of them.

Host - Heather (21:04)

But remember, the first body that was found, whose head was wrapped in plastic is Betty Jo Flyn. The second body that was found just shortly after her, this is all happening on December 20, 1977, was a woman named Liddy Evans. So we've got Betty Jo and we've got Liddy. But remember as well, Liddy's boyfriend Joe is missing.

Host - Heath (21:30)

Yes, Joe Cleveland.

Host - Heather (21:32)

So going back to Betty Jo as well, the second victim, she is dating this career criminal, Fred, who is also still in a relationship with another woman named Marie Jackson. So let's talk about them for a second. So Fred had met Marie when he was released from his prison stint five years prior. And Marie and her husband, Richard Jackson, who was friends with Fred, offered him a place to stay. Within months, Richard was dead, the result of five bullet wounds in an unsolved murder. And Fred was then dating Marie, the wife of Richard, and then moving her into a trailer in rural Butts County, Georgia, which is southeast of Atlanta. But in 1977, Fred met Betty Jo Elflin and quickly became enamored with her, deciding that he wanted to ditch Marie and start over. So it seems like he killed, I mean, we can say he potentially killed Richard so that he could be with Marie. And now he's kind of getting over Marie after meeting Betty Joe. Now he wants Betty Jo so much so that he married Betty Jo almost immediately, whereas he never married Maria at all. So it seems like he was really into Betty Jo. But not even two months into their marriage did Betty Jo go missing with her husband Fred, returning to the house and finding it ransacked. So Fred Called Betty Jo's daughter Linda, the one who reported her missing, to ask if she had seen or heard from Betty Jo, and Linda said that she hadn't. So that's when she reported her mother missing in October of 1977. So naturally, based on his criminal history, Fred was virtually the only person of interest in the case of Betty Jo's disappearance after her body was found a couple months later.

Host - Heath (23:29)

But then comes another shock in this story.

Host - Heather (23:31)

Yes, because he actually died. Fred died in a car accident before he could figure out what happened to his new wife. But this wasn't some accidental crash. In what appeared at first glance to be a tragic accident, his car hit a moving train in Clayton county, Georgia, on November 12, 1977. So just weeks after Betty Jo went missing and a little over a month before her body was found. But when investigators took a closer look at his car, they found that the driver's seat was pulled so far up that his body would not have even allowed him to get behind the wheel. So it's like somebody had essentially, by the looks of it, at this point, put his body in the car and, like, leaned his body all the way up against the wheel and probably then the gas pedal, right?

Host - Heath (24:25)

Yeah, exactly.

Host - Heather (24:26)

Now, the medical examiner quickly found a disturbing detail that had been missing, because at first they're saying, oh, his car was hit by a train and he died. And then after Betty Jo's body was found, they actually exhumed Fred's body and took a closer look, and that is when a medical examiner found a bullet hole behind his ear. Which is crazy, because if Betty Jo didn't go missing, they would have just written his death off as an accidental car crash. That's freaking nuts.

Host - Heath (24:56)

And there would have been, you know, less connections made here. So now we have the fact that, of course, Betty Jo was murdered, and now we now know that Fred was also murdered. So this couple was murdered.

Host - Heather (25:09)

Yeah. So who is trying to take him out? Well, this is when suspicion turned toward Carl Patton, Melissa Wolfenbarger's dad, who was Fred Wyatt's nephew.

Host - Heath (25:20)

So that's where the connection comes in.

Host - Heather (25:23)

This isn't confusing. So it's like Carl. So Fred, the guy who's killed in this accident, his nephew is Carl Patton. Right. So Carl was actually assisting his uncle Fred in that illegal activity that he was involved in in exchange for a cut of the profits. Really good uncle here. But at this point in time, outside of his criminal enterprise, Carl Patton was supposedly a devoted father and husband to his little daughters, Melissa and Tina, Because Remember, Melissa is only weeks old when the bodies of Liddy and Betty Jo were found. So when these murders were happening.

Host - Heath (26:01)

Yes. So again, now that we know that Betty Jo and Fred were murdered, let's go back to Liddy Evans and Joe Cleveland. So on the day that Liddy Evans and Joe Cleveland were last seen. So this was December 17, 1977. Now, we knew that this couple was supposed to be going on this camping trip, but guess who they were going on this camping trip with? Well, it was Norma and Carl Patton. Carl happened to be Joe's childhood best friend, and the couples were very, very close. I mean, they frequently headed out on double dates together. You know, they spent a lot of time together. So detectives were beginning to put the pieces together. And all of them seemed to point towards Carl's involvement. Thus, his car was searched. And guess what they found inside? Well, they found blood inside the trunk. So the Fayette County Sheriff's Office obtained a search warrant for the house. And inside, they found a sleeping bag that was a precise match for the one that Liddy was found concealed in inside Flint river, or when she was found in Flint River. Also found was two shells of.38 caliber bullets, which matched the two deadly gunshot wounds that Liddy had sustained, as well as a seat cushion with blood on it was found. And although testing on blood was pretty limited at this time, the blood could be tested for its type, which matched that of Liddy's. However, with tests being so lacking back in the day, forensic experts didn't believe that the blood type actually did match Liddy's. And with the evidence being purely circumstantial here, investigators were forced to wait and just hope that more evidence would present itself. The Clayton County Sheriff's Office then came to the rescue with their own search warrant and again arrived at the Patton's house to conduct their own investigation. But the crazy thing here is that Linda, again, this is Betty Jo's daughter, accompanied the police on this subsequent search. And inside the Patton's home, Linda was shocked to find that their entire bedroom set was furniture that had been stolen from Betty Jo. They also had found a set of Betty Jo's lamps, some of her jewelry and dishes. And Linda even recovered a photo album with pictures of her family inside.

Host - Heather (28:28)

You can't make this shit up.

Host - Heath (28:30)

So they literally just stole everything from Betty Jo's house after she was murdered. Now, this was consistent with a witness statement from months prior, because just one week after Fred's funeral, neighbors tipped off the police that Carl and Joe Cleveland had rented a Moving truck. And they basically just cleaned out Betty Jo and Fred's house, knowing that they would no longer have any use for their furniture or their belongings.

Host - Heather (28:56)

Because they killed them.

Host - Heath (28:57)

Yeah, because they're dead at this point. Well, when Linda spotted Norma wearing a sweater vest that had belonged to her mother, she absolutely snapped, and she actually tried to attack Norma. About this I understand.

Host - Heather (29:10)

I mean, imagine you just find that your mom has been murdered. The police are investigating a house that you are with them or you're present for, and you see a woman wearing your mom's sweater, and you're like, you killed my mom. And you're wearing her clothes.

Host - Heath (29:26)

Insane.

Host - Heather (29:28)

Well, four months after Liddy and Betty Jo were pulled from the river, Joe Cleveland, remember that was Liddy's boyfriend, surfaced in another river about 60 miles, or 96 kilometers away that was in the Okamogee River. Well, like Liddy, he had been wrapped in a sleeping bag and then in chains, which were tied to cinder blocks.

Host - Heath (29:53)

So it seems like there's, you know, we've got three bodies that were found in two different rivers, and then we've also got the fact that Fred was apparently, you know, hit by this train, but then they found the bullet hole behind his ear. So all these people are murdered, and it seems like there's all these, like, criminal empire hits taking place here.

Host - Heather (30:14)

Right. But don't think that Joe Cleveland is innocent, because he's not.

Host - Heath (30:19)

No, he is not.

Host - Heather (30:20)

But here is what happened to Joe. So he had been shot once in the head with the same gun that had murdered his girlfriend, Liddy. And his blood type matched that of the type found in Carl's truck. So, remember, it was not a match to Liddy, but it is a match to Joe. So, again, though, all tying back to the patents. Well, unfortunately, prosecutors felt that even with the overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence, because it really does feel like there's a lot here, a conviction would be very hard to achieve. So they just had to sit on this mountain of evidence and were forced to release the couple from custody and let the case grow cold. Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson remembered. He was cool as a cucumber. It made me sick. Though the identity of the murderers was an open secret in the community, Norma and Carl Patton managed to stay mostly out of trouble and away from the spotlight for the duration of their daughter's childhood.

Host - Heath (31:21)

Yeah, basically, in that. In that county, everybody pretty much knew who was responsible for those murders, but there was just nothing they could do.

Host - Heather (31:29)

About it, which is insane. It's four Murders like four people are murdered.

Host - Heath (31:33)

Yeah.

Host - Heather (31:33)

And it feels like. Oh, my God. Hello. Obviously, Norma and Carl Patton did it, and they just get to live on their lives and raise their two daughters. But I will say, Carl was arrested a handful of times on different petty charges. He even served one prison sentence because.

Host - Heath (31:50)

Of course, he couldn't fully stay out of trouble.

Host - Heather (31:52)

Exactly. But even so, they mostly enjoyed freedom and again raised their two young daughters in peace. Well, 25 years passed until finally a dogged detective decided to take up the case again and test the evidence again. This time taking advantage of all the advancements made since the original investigation. In 2002, four years after Melissa went missing, the cushion removed from the patent home, which was believed to contain Liddy's blood, was tested again, and this time it was confirmed to be hers. So when an arrest warrant was issued for Carl Patton, his wife Norma agreed to testify against him and offered up her statement immediately.

Host - Heath (32:39)

She folded.

Host - Heather (32:40)

Thank you, husband.

Host - Heath (32:41)

Yeah, she folded so quick she's folding.

Host - Heather (32:43)

But she's not innocent here. So, according to Norma, Carl's Uncle Fred was a bully who ruthlessly beat and intimidated his nephew Carl. And Carl felt that Fred wasn't paying out enough for all of his help with the illegal marijuana smuggling business. Carl also claimed that he had been exceedingly close with Fred's ex girlfriend, Marie, whom obviously he would have seen as an aunt or even actually a mother figure. So he was enraged for Marie when Fred left her for Betty Jo and he sought revenge on his uncle. And I want to mention, because we haven't said it yet, for some reason, sorry. Carl was about 27 when all this was happening. So he, you know, he's an adult man who has an adult man uncle.

Host - Heath (33:29)

Yeah. So it seems like there was more than one motivator here. You know, he's pissed off that Uncle Fred is stepping out on Aunt Marie, but he's also not getting his cut from this illegal business that Uncle Fred is running. Now, according to Norma, In October of 1977, Carl tapped his friend Joe to help him take out his uncle. But when they arrived at Fred's home, Fred was out driving for his route and he wouldn't be back for days. So instead they went inside and they chatted with Betty Jo for a while. But Carl then got fed up with how adoringly she spoke of his uncle when Fred had just jilted Marie again, who he kinda saw as like a mother figure so that Betty Jo could take her place. So sensing this and wanting to do right by his friend and to Also get in on the business. Joe snapped and shot her dead in her home. He and Carl then cleaned it up and quickly papered over the crime. They drove her body away from the scene of the crime in her own car and dropped her off of a bridge and into the Flint river below. A month later, Carl met up with his uncle to drink beer and to shoot some rounds in a nearby open field. And Fred confronted him about the disappearance of his now wife, Betty Jo.

Host - Heather (34:46)

Yeah. Cause when. Cause he was gone when Betty Jo went missing. And like I said earlier, he came back and the house was ransacked, and he actually didn't know what happened.

Host - Heath (34:55)

Well, it does seem like Fred might have had his own suspicions about Carl, because Carl later claimed that he believed that his uncle was going to kill him if he didn't shoot first. So Carl did. Carl and Joe then staged the car crash, placing Fred in the front seat and coaxing the car into the train until they collided. With a heavy conscience, Joe then admitted to his girlfriend Liddy, what he had done, and she became terrified of Carl and the power that he wielded. And then she confided in a few people close to her about what her boyfriend had been up to. But this was ultimately what caused her demise, because Carl, of course, heard that she had been telling people around town what had happened, and he needed to keep her quiet.

Host - Heather (35:41)

It's actually crazy that all of these murders happen because one person was murdered and then, oh, well, now they know, so they have to die. But then they know, so they have to die, too. That's literally what this is.

Host - Heath (35:51)

Yeah, it's like digging a hole of murder. Like a snowball of murder rolling down a hill.

Host - Heather (35:56)

Yeah, because also, after this happened, obviously, Norma and Carl are getting wind that Liddy is telling people that Joe and Carl killed Betty Jo and they killed Fred. So they invite Joe and Liddy over to their house, and Carl shot them both dead in their living room.

Host - Heath (36:18)

Yeah. He's like, I'm not gonna take any chances. You guys have been telling people some things. You're dead.

Host - Heather (36:24)

And though Norma claimed that she had not known that was coming, she said, I didn't know he was inviting them here to kill them. She did help her husband drag the bodies out to the camper in their backyard.

Host - Heath (36:38)

Yeah.

Host - Heather (36:38)

And get this. While she cleaned up the blood inside the mess of two fatal gunshot wounds, Carl sexually assaulted Liddy's body, which he apparently saw as revenge because he believed it was her fault that he had to kill his best friend. Like, that is a different Level of deranged. You are sexually assaulting a dead body. The. The dead body of your best friend's girlfriend while your wife is cleaning up for you inside. Like, it is sick.

Host - Heath (37:10)

Yeah, this guy is a delusional monster.

Host - Heather (37:13)

Yeah, this is beyond. So after the confirmation of the presence of Liddy's blood and the fact that Norma was willing to cooperate to win her immunity, Carl was officially arrested on February 23, 2003. Meanwhile, in his interrogation, he initially declined to speak with investigators and denied any knowledge of the crime. He has plead in the fifth, but when faced with the overwhelming evidence, as well as Norma's confession and finger pointing, he folded and admitted guilt in hopes of avoiding the death penalty. Carl then attempted to point the finger at Marie Jackson, who, remember, is Fred's former girlfriend, his aunt, essentially claiming that before she was even dating Fred, she had asked Carl to kill for her, alleging that her husband, Richard Jackson, was abusive.

Host - Heath (38:07)

So who actually killed Richard? Was it Carl, or was it Fred? Because we know that Richard was murdered.

Host - Heather (38:13)

Well, apparently, Carl did agree to kill Richard and brought his buddy Joe Cleveland with him, and they shot Richard five times. So earlier, we had kind of hinted that it seemed to people that Fred was behind that murder so that he could be with Marie. It was actually Carl all along. And Carl is a killer.

Host - Heath (38:35)

Yeah, he's a psychopath.

Host - Heather (38:37)

So here's exactly what happened with Richard. On March 9, 1973, while out driving with Carl, Carl pulled a gun on Richard, and then Joe ambushed him from behind where he was following in his car. After his death, Marie then split his life insurance money with Carl. So Marie was very much in cahoots. There's a lot of bad people in.

Host - Heath (38:59)

This story, but, I mean, yeah, it really is just like this web of criminals.

Host - Heather (39:04)

While Marie Jackson died of cancer in 1998, the same year that Melissa Wolfenbarger went missing. But she never, of course, then served any time for her involvement in Richard's murder. Carl justified his actions by claiming that he only killed those who were truly deserving of their fate, people who had wronged his family, and that none of these people were random, innocent victims. After his arrest, Carl begged the police officer who had been so devoted to putting him behind bars, who was Fayette County Sheriff's Department Major Bruce Jordan, to find his daughter. Because at this point, we have no idea what happened to Melissa.

Host - Heath (39:47)

So he's like. He's like, literally, hey, I. I guess while I'm here, you know, I'm. I'm already here. So can you.

Host - Heather (39:54)

Can you guys help well, Bruce recalled, quote, carl asked me to put the same effort into finding his daughter that I put into finding him. He was technically a person of interest in Melissa's disappearance as well. Again, that's why I said earlier in this episode, we've not seen anything like this where a woman goes missing and somebody in her family is actually kind of a serial killer. And they're not involved in what this new case is. They're not involved in what happened to them. Because although he was originally thought to be involved, maybe Tina, who is Melissa's sister, said, quote, dad loved us. He was devastated, just like us. He broke down and cried. When you finally take a break from diving into some of these intense cases, there's nothing better than relaxing with a glass of wine that you can count on. That's why we want to share Riva de la Rosa, an Italian white wine brand that's elegant, refreshing and easy to enjoy.

Host - Heath (41:14)

Each glass of Riva Della Rosa feels like being transported to Italy. Bright, refreshing and completely effortless.

Host - Heather (41:22)

They have two standout wines that we think you guys will love. Vermentino, which is crisp, vibrant and smooth, and Gavi, which is bright, kind of flirty and just the right touch of elegance.

Host - Heath (41:36)

And the best part is that every bottle has a screw cap so it's easy to open anywhere, anytime.

Host - Heather (41:42)

No corkscrew requ Enjoy quality wine that pairs perfectly with a quiet dinner this fall or winter time with friends or simply winding down after a long day. Which is exactly what Heath and I did this weekend with a bottle of Vermentino. We made this beautiful fall fettuccine. It paired so well. It was so delicious. We had the whole bottle over dinner and we had just great conversation. You guys would love this wine.

Host - Heath (42:08)

Bring a little taste of Italy to your next wine night. Check out rivadellarosawine.com to find a bottle near you.

Host - Heather (42:15)

Disclaimer must be 21 + please drink responsibly.

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Host - Heath (44:34)

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Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com goingwest go to shopify.com goingwest shopify.com Going on March 8th of 2003, Carl pleaded guilty to his charges. And after three separate trials, one for the murders of Betty Jo Flyn and Fred Wyatt, one for the murders of Liddy Evans and Joe Cleveland, and then one for the murder of Richard Jackson, he was handed for five consecutive life sentences in prison.

Host - Heather (48:19)

It's crazy to go from he's living free, you know, we, we kind of know he did it, but he's a free man for years and years. And now, bam, five life sentences.

Host - Heath (48:30)

Yep, you're done. Well, Linda Delaney again, this is Betty Jo F's daughter recalled crying in the courtroom with Liddy's four Children and Joe's two daughters. But that Norma seemed completely unaffected. Despite having a member of her own family who may have been murdered, Linda recalled, she didn't shed a tear. It was like she was talking about something that she had seen on TV or read out of a book. Well, for her assistance in the case, Norma was sentenced to only a year of probation and $1,000 fine. So she really kinda got a slap on the wrist here. But the family would remain in the news When a shocking development in Melissa's case came along the very same month as Carl's guilty plea.

Host - Heather (49:17)

Crazy timing.

Host - Heath (49:18)

Yeah. It's just insane how that lined up. While remains that had been sitting in a Fulton county, Georgia, morgue waiting to be identified, were finally linked to Melissa Wolfenbarger in March of 2003. The first set of remains, which were found in a plastic trash bag and contained the decapitated head and a sun bleached skull, were found back on April 29, 1999, only about five months after she disappeared. So that's kind of crazy, the fact that nobody knew where the hell Melissa was, but her remains were actually just in a morgue, and they just simply couldn't identify her. Yeah.

Host - Heather (49:56)

For four years. And I wonder how much more time would have passed if her dad had not been arrested for those murders and if he hadn't have pushed and said, hey, like, put more attention into my daughter's case.

Host - Heath (50:09)

I mean, it's honestly, truly crazy here. So her remains had been discarded on the side of a road near the intersection of Hartford place and Avon avenue in southwest Atlanta, which happened to be just down the street from where Chris was working at the time, Again at Action glass and mirror. It was initially misidentified as a man's skull, which delayed the positive identification. But two months later, on June 3, 1999, more remains would be found not far from the first set. And they were also wrapped in black plastic bags. This time, they were recovered from a wooded area near the home that Melissa and Chris used to share. These remains, which were split between four bags, contained the rest of Melissa's body, Aside from her torso, which has, by the way, never been found. And there is some speculation as to why this is. One possible explanation for this is that Melissa was pregnant and that Chris wanted to keep that fact from being discovered, so he disposed of her torso somewhere where he knew it would never be found, Such as a dump or possibly a body of water. And I just want to say that a doctor never confirmed that she was, in fact, pregnant, but she Actually confided this to her mother before her death. So it seems like Norma may have known that Melissa was pregnant. And it also came out that she and one of her friends from. Or coworkers, I should say, from Waffle House, had been engaged in a sexual relationship because she was so miserable at home with Kris. So maybe the baby even belonged to somebody else and Chris was just angry at her for this.

Host - Heather (51:53)

Yeah, lots of, like, potential motive within that. But then it's so hard because we don't have her torso, so we don't really know if she was pregnant. But if her mom says that she said she was. I mean, I don't know how much I trust Norma in general, but that's what she said.

Host - Heath (52:07)

I mean, you can kind of put two and two together here.

Host - Heather (52:09)

Well, soon. Dental records finally helped identify Melissa's remains. Her autopsy concluded that her head had been severed with a saw. And what did Chris steal from his work around the time of her disappearance?

Host - Heath (52:26)

A reciprocating saw.

Host - Heather (52:28)

Yup. But due to the passage of time and obviously the. The remains that were missing, her cause of death was listed as undetermined and simply classified as homicidal violence. Now, obviously, at this point, everybody knows Melissa's dad is a horrific murderer, so authorities announced that Carl Patton was not considered a suspect in his daughter's death.

Host - Heath (52:51)

Death.

Host - Heather (52:51)

Just to kind of clear the slate there, because I'm sure a lot of people were wondering. There were probably a lot of rumors and speculations kind of swirling around.

Host - Heath (52:59)

Of course, if he's, you know, murdered other people, it's easy to make that connection, but it just didn't seem like it was true.

Host - Heather (53:05)

Yeah. And, you know, Carl is. I just want to say, during his whole trial, he never showed an ounce of pity or remorse for his victims. He seemed to pretty, you know, even tempered throughout the trial. Yeah, pretty unaffected. But he did cry at the news about the discovery of his daughter's remains and seemed genuinely distraught over her loss, which makes sense. That's his daughter. But it is just a little bit ironic. Well, Chris, by comparison, seemed disinterested and unaffected by the discovery of her remains. Remember, this is only less than a handful of years after his wife went missing, so he should be affected. Well, he maintained his innocence, saying, quote, yeah, I have a criminal history, but I'm not a murderer. On March 17, 2003, he was finally detained for a parole violation, and authorities announced that it was not yet related to Melissa's death. But honestly, they probably were trying to detain him in hopes of building a case against him in Melissa's case. But the police were forced to release him when they couldn't build any more of a case against him. Then, like the five murders preceding hers, Melissa's case went cold again. Now I want to give a little update on her daughter, Christina. So she had become mostly. And her brother, of course, had become mostly disconnected from the family while they were living in Locust Grove, Georgia, with their paternal grandmother. So obviously throughout their upbringing, they're wondering what exactly happened to their mom, Especially after the remains were found. They were still very young, so it wasn't until many years later that they could really grasp the full situation. And of course, you know, they really don't have a relationship with Chris because, like we said earlier, he just dumped his kids on his mom and kind of left.

Host - Heath (55:06)

Yeah. So they basically no longer knew who he was, really.

Host - Heather (55:09)

Yeah, I mean, he was completely gone from their lives. Christina remembered, I called him Chris because that's what everyone called him. I didn't realize he was our father. I still don't really think of him as my father. But when he eventually decided to rejoin the family, he kept up his story that he didn't know where Melissa was or what happened to her. After years of unanswered questions, Christina finally came to the conclusion that her dad was lying, saying, I didn't know her, but she's my mom, and I know she would have never walked out without us. I'm a mom now, and I can't imagine doing that to my child. I'd asked my dad, and he would tell me a different story every time or he would get mad. It just didn't make any sense. So I started investigating on my own. So, like I said, it took years for her to really fully realize what happened to her mom. And this is happening as she's a teenager. So at this point, you know, obviously this is before she's a mother, but she finally reconnected with her mom, Melissa's side of the family, who had not seen her, of course, since she was a toddler. Now, when I say this, of course, I mean Norma and Tina because Carl is in prison, Christina recalled, quote, I had so many questions and my own theories about what happened. Turns out theirs were the same as mine.

Host - Heath (56:34)

So jumping kinda forward here, Chris was finally arrested on August 6, 2024, and found inside of his home in Griffin, Georgia, hiding behind his dryer. After Chris most recent arrest, Melissa's mom, Norma, announced in a press conference, we have finally made it, and he's in custody. My Last words to her were, I love you, and you know where I am if you need me. And then Tina echoed this by saying, it's been a long wait, 25 years, but finally, hopefully, we will get justice for Melissa. She didn't deserve what she got, and I hope anybody who is in a domestic violence situation, please get out. So, Chris trial began on August 14th of 2025 and came to a close on August 22nd. And unfortunately, it had a pretty anticlimactic conclusion. After three hours of deliberation, the jury reached the consensus that he was not guilty, citing that there was just not enough evidence to convict, because basically the prosecution seemed to have a very thin amount of circumstantial evidence here, and they kinda just hoped that the jury would be comfortable convicting Chris despite there being some reasonable doubt. Deputy District Attorney Vincent Fawcett said that despite the horrors committed by Melissa's father, he was actually the reason for the renewed interest in the case. He said what triggered the identification ultimately is the arrest of Melissa Wolfenbarger's father. But Chris defense attorney Don Samuel acknowledged that the prosecution choosing to move forward with the case was unheard of, as the DNA found on the bags containing Melissa's remains did not match the DNA sample that Chris offered up. So Don actually maintained that Carl Patton was the one that killed his daughter and not Chris Wolfenbarger, saying, there is no evidence of these charges in this case. And that's why we will ask you at the end of the case to return a verdict of not guilty.

Host - Heather (58:44)

One Detective Jerrion Shefford, was asked what evidence the prosecution had that would ensure a conviction. And he said cryptically, I want to protect the integrity of the case going forward, so I can't disclose certain evidence. But we look at everything when it comes to a cold case. But Melissa's family had made up their minds. Tina said staunchly, quote, from day one, we knew it was Christopher. There was never, ever any doubt in our minds who did this. Despite mixed feelings about her in the courtroom, Norma testified against her son in law, claiming that she had long held suspicions about his responsibility for her daughter's death. But Chris's attorneys were quick to ask Norma why she waited so long to track her daughter down after missing their plans to, of course, celebrate Christmas together. And Norma claimed that she wanted to drive to Atlanta that day to check on her daughter, like, right away, but that she was fearful of driving alone. So she waited until she and her family could go together. So that kind of goes in tandem with the defense's belief that it was Carl is like, oh, did you not report her missing and go looking for her because you killed her or you were a part of covering up her murder?

Host - Heath (60:01)

Yeah. You already knew exactly what happened to her. I mean, waiting an entire year to file a missing persons report for your daughter, kind of crazy.

Host - Heather (60:10)

But they did try in February, remember, after she missed her birthday. So it's like. But it still was a couple months. And, yeah, you could say, well, she's an adult and she has a family of her own, so she can go off like that. But it definitely was something that the defense was more than happy to latch onto, of course. But no charges for Melissa's murder were ever brought down on her father, Carl Patton. And he died on December 16, 2024, at the age of 75, never learning the fate of what happened with the trial with Chris. And although it does seem very likely that Chris is responsible, as of this past August of 2025, Chris is a free man. And officially, Melissa's case remains unsolved. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going Wild.

Host - Heath (61:10)

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this insane story. I can't believe how many twists and turns this case really took.

Host - Heather (61:18)

Yeah. And so many murders. I'm just. I. I honestly am shocked that they didn't have enough evidence to convict anybody. Like, I. I would understand if Melissa's remains were never found, and I also understand that the whole of her was not found. But I just. There's certain details I can't give up. Like the reciprocating saw, that crystal from his work, the fact that her remains were mutilated. Because when we look at Carl Patton, that was not his M.O. for the murders. He didn't mutilate any of his victims. He wrapped him up and he threw him in the river, pretty much.

Host - Heath (61:50)

Yeah. I will say, though, that there is somewhat of a silver lining here, because those other five murders were solved and Carl did spend the rest of his days in prison.

Host - Heather (62:00)

Well, I guess we'll see what will happen with this case. But unless, you know, a bunch of new evidence surfaces, which I don't really know how it would at this point, after this much time, this might remain a cold case. Hopefully not. We'll let you know if anything else happens with it. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. And again, a big shout out to Michaela, Lisa, and Carol for recommending it.

Host - Heath (62:23)

And don't forget to head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram at goingwest podcast. We're also on Facebook so that you can check out the photos from this case.

Host - Heather (62:32)

Yes, and if you have a case that you want to recommend these, the only place we're really going to see it is on our email. So email us goingwestpodcastmail.com alright guys, so.

Host - Heath (62:42)

For everybody out there in the world.

Host - Heather (62:43)

Don'T be a stranger.

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