Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Christopher Wolfenbarger Found Not Guilty of Dismembering Wife | Crime Alert 6AM 08.25.25
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Crime Alart hourly update, breaking crime news now Nancy.
- 0:04Speaker 2: In a shocking turn of events, Christopher Wolfenberger was acquitted
- 0:08Speaker 2: of the murder of his wife, Melissa after jursen Fulton County,
- 0:12Speaker 2: Georgia reached their verdict in just two hours. Count one
- 0:16Speaker 2: we the jury find to the defendant not guilty this.
- 0:20Speaker 3: Twenty second day of August twenty twenty five.
- 0:24Speaker 2: Wolfenbarger had been charged with her murder last year, following
- 0:27Speaker 2: the efforts of a task force that believed they had
- 0:30Speaker 2: sufficient evidence to secure conviction. The victim's family last communicated
- 0:35Speaker 2: with her on Thanksgiving in nineteen ninety eight, but concerns
- 0:38Speaker 2: heightened when she failed to contact her mother on her
- 0:41Speaker 2: birthday a few months later. In April nineteen ninety nine,
- 0:45Speaker 2: investigators discovered a severed head in a black trash bag
- 0:49Speaker 2: at mister Wolfenbarger's workplace in Atlanta, and additional remains were
- 0:54Speaker 2: found a month later. Unfortunately, these remains were initially misidentified
- 0:59Speaker 2: as belonging to to another missing person and were not
- 1:02Speaker 2: confirmed to be Melissa's until two thousand and three, following
- 1:06Speaker 2: the arrest of her father, Carl Patten, for a series
- 1:09Speaker 2: of murders known as the Flint River murders from the
- 1:12Speaker 2: nineteen seventies. Mister Patten has since died in prison. Authorities
- 1:17Speaker 2: believed that the murder occurred sometime between December tenth, nineteen
- 1:21Speaker 2: ninety eight, and April twenty nine, nineteen ninety nine. When interrogated,
- 1:25Speaker 2: Christopher Wolfenberger maintained he was innocent, saying he believed his
- 1:30Speaker 2: wife had relocated to California to start over. In an
- 1:34Speaker 2: interview in twenty twenty one with Dateline, he said, yes,
- 1:37Speaker 2: I have a criminal history, but I'm not a murderer. Prosecutors, however,
- 1:42Speaker 2: contended that he had killed her due to their tumultuous relationship.
- 1:46Speaker 2: A family member revealed that during the summer before Melissa's disappearance,
- 1:50Speaker 2: Christopher allegedly assaulted her and dragged her down a sidewalk
- 1:54Speaker 2: by her hair. With this not guilty verdict, Wolfenbarger avoided
- 1:59Speaker 2: a potential life life in prison sentence.
- 2:02Speaker 1: Nicole, thank you more Crimate Justice news.
- 2:05Speaker 2: After this, a mother and stepfather of an eleven year
- 2:12Speaker 2: old girl in Oklahoma faced felony child neglect charges after
- 2:16Speaker 2: their daughter gave birth at home. Local news reports from
- 2:20Speaker 2: KOTV indicate that thirty four year old Dustin Walker and
- 2:24Speaker 2: thirty three year old Sherry Walker are accused of neglecting
- 2:28Speaker 2: to provide necessary supervision and medical care for the girl
- 2:32Speaker 2: following the birth of a full term baby on August
- 2:35Speaker 2: sixteen in Muscogee. Muscogee County Assistant District Attorney Janet Hudson
- 2:41Speaker 2: said that the couple claimed they were unaware of their
- 2:43Speaker 2: daughter's pregnancy until she gave birth, despite court documents suggesting
- 2:48Speaker 2: she was thirty six weeks long. Investigators revealed in the
- 2:52Speaker 2: court documents that the girl had not seen a doctor
- 2:55Speaker 2: in over a year and had received no prenatal care.
- 2:58Speaker 2: Hudson reported to HEJRH that the authorities became aware of
- 3:02Speaker 2: the situation when the girl was admitted to the hospital
- 3:06Speaker 2: post delivery.
- 3:07Speaker 3: I was horror strict to find out that it's an
- 3:10Speaker 3: eleven year old little girl who's given birth and that
- 3:14Speaker 3: she had no medical care and she had no one
- 3:16Speaker 3: to be with her. To our understanding, the child had
- 3:19Speaker 3: not seen a doctor in over one year.
- 3:21Speaker 2: The district attorney mentioned that further charges against the parents
- 3:24Speaker 2: are likely and they are currently awaiting paternity results to
- 3:28Speaker 2: identify the baby's father. This child has been through a
- 3:31Speaker 2: traumatic experience. Hudson expressed, not only has she been pregnant,
- 3:36Speaker 2: but she also gave birth at home without medical existence.
- 3:39Speaker 2: The situation will impact her the rest of her life.
- 3:43Speaker 2: Hudson added that the girl and possibly other children in
- 3:46Speaker 2: the household might have been homeschooled. Currently, both guardians are
- 3:50Speaker 2: being held at the Muscogee County Jail, each with a
- 3:53Speaker 2: bond set at one hundred thousand dollars. Hudson indicated that
- 3:57Speaker 2: she would likely be filing additional charges soon. The eleven
- 4:01Speaker 2: year old's grandmother, identified by khrh as Michelle, defended the couple, saying,
- 4:07Speaker 2: I want people to understand they were not aware of
- 4:10Speaker 2: what was happening. None of us knew she was pregnant.
- 4:13Speaker 2: They've turned my daughter and son in law into monsters,
- 4:16Speaker 2: but they are not, she asserted, emphasizing their love for
- 4:19Speaker 2: their children and expressing hope to reunite with her grandchildren.
- 4:23Speaker 2: The couple is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday,
- 4:26Speaker 2: September three. Hudson urged the public to be aware of
- 4:29Speaker 2: the resources available for reporting suspected child neglect. If you
- 4:34Speaker 2: notice anything that might indicate abuse or neglect, please reach
- 4:38Speaker 2: out to law enforcement.
- 4:39Speaker 1: She advised. Ayvonne Mullikin lives in Prescott Valley, Arizona, with
- 4:43Speaker 1: her two dogs. She often talks on the phone with
- 4:45Speaker 1: her daughter, who lives out of state. After two days
- 4:49Speaker 1: of Yvonne not answering calls, the daughter asks for a
- 4:52Speaker 1: welfare check. Prescott Valley PD finds no one home and
- 4:56Speaker 1: Devon's car missing. Three weeks later, her car cars found
- 5:00Speaker 1: abandoned in a remote area fifty miles away. She left
- 5:05Speaker 1: a note on the car that she had called for
- 5:07Speaker 1: roadside assistance and listed a repair shop to which should
- 5:10Speaker 1: like to have the car towed. Not far from the car,
- 5:14Speaker 1: police find two dog leashes belonging to Vonn no sign
- 5:19Speaker 1: of the dogs. Yvonne Mullikan sixty six five five, one
- 5:24Speaker 1: hundred and seventy pounds, shoulder length, brown hair, green eyes.
- 5:29Speaker 1: If you have info on Yvonne Mullikan, now missing several weeks,
- 5:34Speaker 1: please call Prescott Valley, Arizona PD nine two eight seven
- 5:38Speaker 1: seven two nine two sixty seven. For the latest crime
- 5:42Speaker 1: injustice news, go to crimeonline dot com and please join
- 5:45Speaker 1: us for our daily podcast, Crime Stories, where we do
- 5:48Speaker 1: our best to find missing people, especially children, and help
- 5:52Speaker 1: solve unsolved homicides with this crime alert. I'm Nancy Grace