Carl Patton

Carl Millard Patton Jr. (1949 – December 16, 2024) was an American serial killer who committed five murders across Georgia from 1973 to 1977 with multiple accomplices. Via DNA testing in 2003, he was arrested for the murders, subsequently pleading guilty and given a life sentence.

Biography Little is known of Patton's background. Born in 1949, he spent most of his life in Georgia, having lived in DeKalb, Clayton and Henry counties. In 1968, he married a woman named Norma, with whom he would have two daughters - one in 1970, and another in 1977.

In the 1970s, Patton learned a number of trades in the construction industry, working in the field until his final arrest. In mid-1983, he was arrested for felony theft and convicted of the charge in November, receiving a year of imprisonment as a consequence. He did not serve the sentence in full, as Patton was granted parole and released on May 2, 1984. He is not known to have committed any crimes after this, and no criminal charges were filed against him until his 2003 arrest.

In late 1998, Patton's youngest daughter, 21-year-old Melissa Wolfenbarger, went missing in Atlanta. On April 29, 1999, her severed head was found wrapped up in a garbage bag in a dumpster near her home. On June 3, her dismembered remains were found in black trash bags in another dumpster, but her torso was never found.

Exposure By early 2003, Patton and his wife had moved to Locust Grove, where he worked as a roofer. On February 23 of that year, Patton was arrested for the murder of 31-year-old Liddie Matthew Evans, who had been murdered in December 1977, after a DNA match linked him to the crime scene. Minutes after his arrest, Norma Patton told the officers that she was willing to testify against her husband in exchange for immunity from prosecution. The DeKalb County Prosecutor's Office made a plea deal with her in which they would drop all accessory to murder charges, in exchange for Norma revealing that her husband and a friend of his, firefighter Joe Cleveland, were responsible for several murders dating back to late 1977.

According to her testimony, on November 12, 1977, Carl and Cleveland shot and killed the former's uncle, 45-year-old Fred Wyatt, as well as Wyatt's roommate, 45-year-old Betty Jo Ephlin. The couple then dragged the bodies out of the house and placed them in a van, after which Norma washed off the blood from the crime scene and destroyed other incriminating evidence. He still remained a suspect in the case, and after the cold case was reopened and the DNA tested in 2002, it came back with a positive match. She claimed that Marie wanted this to be done because her husband was cheating on her with Ephlin, promising to pay Carl $15,000 in exchange. In that case, Norma Patton pleaded guilty and received 12 months probation and a $1,000 fine. On March 15, Carl pleaded guilty to their murders as well, receiving two additional life terms.

Admission to additional murder A month after his trials ended, Patton unexpectedly confessed to a fifth murder: that of Richard Russell Jackson - Marie Jackson Wyatt's first husband - who was shot and killed in Henry County on March 9, 1973. He claimed that he had been paid by Marie to carry out this murder, which he committed with the help of Joe Cleveland. Following his confession, Patton was extradited to Henry County to stand trial for this case. Patton then pulled out a .22-caliber pistol and aimed it at Jackson, who fiercely resisted and managed to exit the vehicle. He attempted to flee from the men, but Patton and Cleveland caught up to him and gunned him down. Wolfenbarger's husband, Christopher, was arrested for Melissa's murder in August 2024. He claims that he had always thought his wife had left him of her own volition, and continues to maintain that he is innocent.

Patton died in prison in 2024.