Court officials have canceled a Tuesday plea hearing for a Georgia man accused of murdering his wife, who was found decapitated more than 25 years ago.
According to AJC, Fulton County Superior Court had planned a morning hearing for Christopher Wolfenbarger, but records show it has not been rescheduled. Wolfenbarger is accused of murdering his wife, Melissa Wolfenbarge, in 1998.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, police booked Wolfenbarger into the Fulton jail on a murder charge last month in connection with the death of Melissa, a 21-year-old mother of two who vanished in 1998. Atlanta police announced his arrest during a news conference in August but did not reveal what new evidence had surfaced.
Wolfenbarger was a person of interest from the start, according to Detective Jarion Shepard.
Melissa Wolfenbarger’s family last heard from her on Thanksgiving 1998, when she called from her husband’s grandparents’ home, according to a police report at the time.
Months passed without any word from Melissa. Then, in 1999, investigators found a human head, soaked in bleach in a black trash bag, off of Avon Avenue in Atlanta, The head was in an area behind a glass company where Christopher Wolfenbarger once worked.
Police said he didn’t report his wife missing until 2000, claiming that he last saw her
“Innocent men don’t move and change their name while their wife is missing. Innocent men don’t fail to tell his children their mother did not abandon you, she was killed,” Atlanta’s Cold Case Investigative Research Institute founder, Sheryl McCollum, who played an integral role in the case, told CrimeOnline.
“An innocent man doesn’t fail to tell the police who he believes murdered his wife. An innocent man does not change his story over and over for 25 years. An innocent man when the police come to his house doesn’t hide behind the dyer – but a guilty man does!”
Police did not reveal the specific evidence that ultimately led to the arrest, but Detective Jarion Shepard stated that Christopher Wolfenbarger had been a person of interest from the start.
“The family is so relieved that Christopher was finally arrested and are so very grateful to everyone that has helped us get Melissa’s story in the.public eye. Now we are just waiting for trial to start so he can be convicted and Melissa to finally get justice,” Melissa’s sister, Tina Patton, told CrimeOnline.
“Hopefully all the mistakes made in her case will never happen in anyone else’s and her story will help the police to do better and also get DV victims away from the abuser.”
Christopher Wolfenbarger remains behind bars without bail.
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[Feature Photo: Handout]
