Case Info
Courthouse: Fulton County, Georgia
Charges:
- Malice Murder – Not Guilty
- Felony Murder – Judgement Acquittal
- Verdict Rendered: 22nd August 2025
Judge: Rachel Krause
Prosecutor: ADA Vincent Faucette, ADA Brian Trepanier
Defense Attorneys: Donald Samuels, Joel McDurmon
Victim: Melissa Wolfenbarger (Deceased)
Opening statements
Prosecution – ADA Faucet
The state theorise that Christopher had murdered and dismembered Melissa his ex wife because there was a human head found at his place of work. They theorised that Christopher was abusive towards Melissa and she had applied for a protective order against Christopher. They said that this was a case of domestic violence and theorised that there was an accident at waffle house where Chris made her cry. They theorised that she was last seen in March or April 1999 and a saw was missing from Chris’s place of work and Chris was the last with the saw.
Defence – Joel McDurmon
The defence theorised that Christopher had every right to assume that she had because Melissa never came back, that she had likely moved on. They theorised that the parents never reported her missing despite their concerns about Melissa going missing. They theorised that Melissa came from an unkempt, violent family with criminal history and the people they knew were criminals and could have been responsible for her murder. They theorised that Eric Jackson was knew one of the victims of her fathers murders and was close with the family.
Today’s Witnesses:
- Witness #1 – George McEachern
- Witness #2 – Dale Kelley – Retired Police Officer
- Witness #3 – Tina Miller – Former Atlanta Police Officer
- Witness #4 – Tina-Mae Patton – Sister of Victim
Witness #1 – State Witness – George McEachern – Neighbour
Direct Exam
- He testifies to seeing a head and says that his training in science had helped him recognise the head.
- He testifies to taking a stick and moving it to the corner so that he could keep it in tact. He didnt want a vehicle running over it. He says he called 911 when this happened.
Cross Exam
- He testifies someone came to his house and found another body part and needed to get more info to match the head to the other body part.
No redirect exam
Witness #2 – State Witness – Dale Kelley – Retired Police Officer
Direct Exam
- He testifies to being a lead detective in this particular case.
- He testifies that the skull was located on the side of the roadway.
- He testifies that the decomposition of the head they could not determine the sex. He also says they didnt locate the torso at the time as this would have aided them with a profile.
- He testifies to what can destroy DNA based on his experience and says that bleach was one of the ways to destroy it.
Cross Exam
- He testifies that there was likely a dog due to a VHS recording of a dog dragging a bag out of the woods. He also says that some reports missing out the file. It seems that he is likely going to argue a Brady violation that they had this evidence
- An instruction was given to disregard the testimony about the dog
- He testifies that there was no bleach in the bag only fluids.
Redirect Exam – Nothing Of Note.
Witness #3 – State Witness – Tina Miller – Former Atlanta Police Officer
Direct Exam
- She testifies to often being tasked to recover missing persons.
- She testifies to seeing a skull on the road with a stick near it and a thrash bag near the skull.
- It was highlighted that the initial call was 29th April 1999.
- She testifies that she observed the bone structure of the skull that was found, but she cant recall specifically what sort of damage it was.
- She testified to finding a thrash bag which had mouldy clothes after the Kadaver dogs had led them to the bag. She said that it was thigh she found and she was sure it was the female leg. She also says it wasnt far from where the skull was found.
- She testified that the skull was decomposed
- Testifies to a dog finding and locating the thigh that the dog hit on. Says she believed it was in a bag not when they found it. The thigh was no longer found in the bag anymore.
- She testified that the skull was listed as a white male but she didnt agree with that but trusted the expert.
Cross Exam
The defence received materials that needed examining and they didnt do the cross examination just yet.
- She testifies they also found dog remains out of the bag also.
- She testified that at the time, it appears that there was a nearby bag by the thigh that was recovered and it seemed like an animal had ripped through the bag.
Redirect Exam
- She testified to their positions when they attended the scene where they found the remains [4:38:30]
Witness #4 – State Witness – Tina-Mae Patton – Sister of Victim
Direct Exam
- She testified that when she was working at Wafflehouse with Melissa, Christopher would stare at her. She says that there was a confrontation between Christopher and Troy.
- She testified to what caused the altercation between Chris and Troy and it was because of noticing red marks and a handprint around Melissa’s throat and she asked if Christopher did that to her and she said that she shouldnt do anything, it will make things worse.
- This aids the state’s theory regarding the domestic violence in the relationship. [My Thoughts]
- She describes of another incident of suspected domestic violence between Christopher and Melissa, this was before March 1998.
- She explained the first concern she had for Melissa in February 1999 due to her not speaking to her mom on her birthday and her dad went into the Wafflehouse asking where she was.
Cross Exam
- The defence highlighted that she spoke to someone at Brookline reporting it to a detective Calhoun
- The defence highlighted her dad was saying he would kill for her however it was sustained.
- The defence highlighted the instances she said that she was doing everything to find Melissa.
- The defence highlighted that Melissa didnt have custody of her kids but told the court that she went to see Melissa and her kids in Brookline.
- The defence highlighted the differences in her story from 25 years ago in regards to the choking incident where she had told the investigators in 2000 that Melissa told her it was Chris and not what she is presented now.
Redirect Exam
Not much to glean from the redirect except her testifying that she is only trying to testify to the best of her recollection.
Court adjourned for the day!
Downloadable Timeline Of Events For This Trial, Availbale Online (PDF): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lUpmmlHHWRQzd65-ajqogjaGV3Ljpm7m/view?usp=drive_link
Hope you are now caught up with the substance of what happened in court on Day 1.
Thanks for reading xo
Sources:
Trial Footage, Available on Youtube via Law & Crime Trials, Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfJexjSrwe0
All court filings pertaining to the trial courtesy of @Happily_Angry_Lawyer aka Jim Robichaud, Available online, PDFs: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uXAurgwIdxLj5vum-hnMkvv9ZnDSZV_M
