Mother of Murder Victim Reveals Disturbing Past: She Once Helped Serial Killer Husband Dispose of Bodies By Sean Neumann 49

An Atlanta murder trial took an unexpected turn this week when the victim’s mother took the witness stand, sharing that she was once married to a serial killer and that she had helped him with the murders.

The shocking revelation came to light Monday when Norma Patton took the witness stand in the murder trial against her son-in-law Christopher Wolfenbarger, who is accused of killing Norma’s daughter Melissa Wolfenbarger in 1998.

Wolfenbarger’s defense team tried to poke holes in Norma’s credibility as a witness Monday, according to 11Alive.com and WSB-TV, which reported that defense attorneys questioned why the mother waited months to check on her daughter after she failed to show up on Christmas Day that year and didn’t call.

Norma told the courtroom she didn’t want to travel alone to Atlanta to check on her daughter, despite having long-held suspicions about Wolfenbarger.

But then defense attorneys asked Norma about her husband, who confessed to killing five people throughout the 1970s and died in prison in 2024. Norma told the court that her husband Carl Patton, who became known as the “Flint River Serial Killer,” was convicted after she took a plea deal for immunity in exchange for testifying against him.

“I helped him dispose of the bodies,” Norma admitted to the court.

“So you were involved?” the defense attorney asked.

“Yes,” Norma responded, according to video shared by 11Alive.

Norma also told the court she “overheard” her husband planning several of his five murders and even had a hand in planning two of them with him.

“Did you think, ‘I should get out of this house?’ “ the defense attorney asked Norma.

“No,” she responded.

“Did you think that was a red flag about your husband?” the attorney then asked.

“I loved my husband,” Norma said, noting that she didn’t “go to police” despite overhearing her husband’s plans.

Wolfenbarger’s defense attorneys began to focus on discrediting Norma as a witness after prosecutors relied on her testimony to show the jury that her daughter Melissa had allegedly suffered abuse at the hands of her husband before her 1998 disappearance, according to WSB-TV.

The outlet reported that Melissa went missing shortly after Thanksgiving that year. Investigators discovered parts of her remains in April 1999 and later in June of that year. Melissa was 21 years old at the time she disappeared.

But, according to 11Alive, Melissa’s body wasn’t identified until March 2003 when a DNA sample used to help convict her own father confirmed the remains belonged to her. It took 26 more years for DNA to connect Wolfenbarger to the crime, leading to his arrest last September, according to 11Alive and Atlanta News First.

Wolfenbarger’s trial continues this week.