Melissa Patton grows up in Locust Grove, Georgia with her parents and older sister, Tina. In high school, Melissa is head over heels for Christopher Wolfenbarger. The two quickly marry after graduating and move to Atlanta with their baby daughter Christina. When the couple welcomes a son, Joey, they settle in a duplex. Melissa works alongside her sister near the airport.
Thanksgiving Day, Melissa Wolfenbarger visits her parents, Carl and Norma Patton. Melissa is excited for the holidays and asks her mother for a very specific gift. When Melissa doesn’t even call Christmas day, Norma Patton is unsettled. Melissa doesn’t have a cell phone or a car, so Norma assumes her daughter is busy with her own family and will pick up her gifts later. When Melissa doesn’t wish her mom a happy birthday two months later, Norma Patton asks family members if anyone has seen her. Tina Patton realizes Melissa hasn’t worked a shift with her in months. Then, Melissa misses her mother's birthday.
Atlanta PD finds a severed human skull, that rolled out of a ripped trash bag in the middle of Avon Avenue. Just over a month later, four more trash bags are discovered two blocks down Avon in wooded area. Inside are a pair of legs and arms. Police cannot locate a torso. It would be more than four years before the body is identified as Melissa Wolfenbarger, and 25 years before police arrest her killer.
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