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Speaker 1: I was five years old when I learned for the

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Speaker 1: first time what lifelong loyalty truly was. When my sister

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Speaker 1: Shelley would break bonds with somebody, it was in a heartbeat,

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Speaker 1: and it was for life. If you did something to

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Speaker 1: her or to somebody that she loved in any way,

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Speaker 1: if you wronged them somehow, in her eyes, that was it.

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Speaker 1: She would close that door. Now keep in mind, she

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Speaker 1: was only six. We're Catholic twins, so she's only eleven

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Speaker 1: months older than me. But you know, she was already

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Speaker 1: in first grade, so she was a woman out in

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Speaker 1: the world. So she knew things that I didn't know.

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Speaker 1: And that's one thing she would teach me. She would

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Speaker 1: look me in my face and say, we're never talking

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Speaker 1: to them again. We're done. And I would say, okay,

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Speaker 1: you know, if they hurt one of our older sisters

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Speaker 1: or said something about another member of the family, that

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Speaker 1: was it. Forever years later, somebody did something to one

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Speaker 1: of our sisters. I don't remember her, and I remember

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Speaker 1: saying that's it. I'm done for the rest of my life.

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to fool with that person. And I

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Speaker 1: was walking around saying blood is thicker than water. Blood

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Speaker 1: is thicker than water, you know, And I probably wasn't

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Speaker 1: much more than about eight at this time. Now, our

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Speaker 1: dad was not a person that you would consider a

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Speaker 1: big talker, but when he did say something, it was

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Speaker 1: worth listening to because he was either very funny, very smart,

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Speaker 1: or very loving one of those things. Well, this particular day,

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Speaker 1: as I was stomping around pontificating about how you know,

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Speaker 1: we were going to close ranks and not deal with

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Speaker 1: this person anymore, blood's thicker than water, he said to

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Speaker 1: me in his slow, deep South Georgia accent. Remember I

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Speaker 1: ain't blood related to your mama, and I'd kill for her.

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Speaker 1: I have never forgotten that, because in that moment I

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Speaker 1: realized what he was saying to me. Family can be

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Speaker 1: who you are born into, but it's also who you choose.

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Speaker 1: So friends can be family. Friends oftentimes are family. So

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Speaker 1: that was really important for me to learn from him

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Speaker 1: as early as I did. This episode today is going

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Speaker 1: to be the last episode on Melissa Wolfenberger until we

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Speaker 1: have an update for you. Now, I want to be

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Speaker 1: clear there have been no arrest. Christopher were From has

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Speaker 1: said repeatedly he had nothing to do with her disappearance

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Speaker 1: or murder. He has talked to law enforcement, he's talked

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Speaker 1: to Dateline, he's talked to her family, and he has

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Speaker 1: said things like he honestly thought that she had gone

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Speaker 1: off on her own to start a new life in California.

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Speaker 1: He thought maybe she met another man. That's why he

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Speaker 1: didn't call police. That's why he didn't contact her family.

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Speaker 1: That's why he didn't search for her. They had had

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Speaker 1: a plan to go to California. She was going to

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Speaker 1: get a fake ID together and they were going to

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Speaker 1: go off, and he thought she did that without him.

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Speaker 1: I believe there's a person of interest. I believe this

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Speaker 1: case could move forward. I believe there's enough circumstantial evidence.

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Speaker 1: But again, this case is open and it's active, and

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Speaker 1: we have to hear his denial and accept it for now.

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Speaker 1: During this series, we have showed you a little bit

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Speaker 1: of how we work our three sixty one vortex. We've

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Speaker 1: talked to Norman, Tina, Melissa's mom and sister. We've talked

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Speaker 1: to a media expert Karen Greer, canine expert Trey Sergent

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Speaker 1: with Tina's father, Carl Patten. We've spoken to the children

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Speaker 1: of Lyddy Evans who are victims of Carl Patten. We've

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Speaker 1: heard from death investigator Joe Scott Morgan, psychiatrist doctor Angie Arnold,

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Speaker 1: and today we're going to hear from the original lead detective,

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Speaker 1: Detective Calhoun. And also I asked Carl to send me

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Speaker 1: a letter for his last words on the case of

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Speaker 1: his daughter Melissa. So my husband Walt is once again

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Speaker 1: going to read the letter from Carl in a little

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Speaker 1: bit and then I'm going to let you have the

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Speaker 1: final word from someone that is in the most unique

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Speaker 1: position in this case. In my opinion, Gladys Jackson was

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Speaker 1: a victim of kral pattern and she also spoke at

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Speaker 1: the end of one of his trials, and I'm going

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Speaker 1: to take that straight from the court record, and I

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Speaker 1: think it's important because again she lived it from both sides.

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Speaker 1: This man spent in his entire adulthood making the streets safer.

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Speaker 1: Detective ab Calhoun joined the Atlanta Police Department in nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty six. Spent eight years on patrol. And let me

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Speaker 1: tell y'all something, eight years on patrol in the city

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Speaker 1: of Atlanta is like twenty five anywhere else. That's where

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Speaker 1: you learn to talk to people, interact with people, understand

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Speaker 1: that community, get an ear for the street. You know

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Speaker 1: who and what you're dealing with. There is no better

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Speaker 1: training in the world for a police officer. In nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety five, he was promoted to investigator. He was assigned

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Speaker 1: to the homicide squad. That is where he was assigned

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Speaker 1: the case of Melissager. So you get into homicide as

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Speaker 1: a young detective and you're given Melissa Wolfenburger, what is

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Speaker 1: your first gut feelings and reactions about that case.

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Speaker 2: It was fortunate that a good missing person detective was

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Speaker 2: watching and paying attention to what was going on in

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Speaker 2: the news and saw an article about an individual being

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Speaker 2: convicted of killing four people. And this individual just made

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Speaker 2: a comment, I wish you guys can be as diligent

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Speaker 2: with finding my daughters as you were with getting me.

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Speaker 2: And this detective start putting things together. Hey, we found

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Speaker 2: body parts in nineteen ninety nine over in that same

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Speaker 2: area that this individual is talking about, and a hunch

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Speaker 2: pays off until we were able to identify Melissa Wolfenbarger

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Speaker 2: after so many years and unmade, not having a clue,

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Speaker 2: and while it was a fresh homicide, now now it's

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Speaker 2: a murder investigation. It was by no means a new case.

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Speaker 2: Forty eight hours had been well passed, but the approach

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Speaker 2: was still the same. All right, what do we know?

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Speaker 2: What can we find out?

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Speaker 1: What?

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Speaker 2: You know? The approach is to say, what can we

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Speaker 2: find out about Melissa Waltenbarger? What does our victimology tell

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Speaker 2: us about her? This young lady. And that's where that's

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Speaker 2: where I started and just went from there, just like

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Speaker 2: any other homicide.

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Speaker 1: So you think, who could murder her in this fashion

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Speaker 1: and then have her husband not report her missing? You know,

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Speaker 1: who wants to hurt her to this degree when you

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Speaker 1: don't have some of the other actions that you would

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Speaker 1: suspect would have been happening. You would expect the husband

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Speaker 1: to be losing his mind that he can't find her.

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Speaker 2: And you're exactly right, you know common sense. You know

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Speaker 2: the almost twenty plus years that it's spending homicide. I

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Speaker 2: know one thing that killers do certain things certain ways.

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Speaker 2: This was not any running the mail, Okay, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to kill someone to just dump the body on the

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Speaker 2: side of the road. This was or I'm going to

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Speaker 2: rob them and do this and kill this was someone.

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Speaker 2: This was personal. This was very personal to take a

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Speaker 2: body and take the time to dismember it as that

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Speaker 2: person did, and so and that was, yeah, that's common sense.

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Speaker 2: We know, Yeah, it's not going to be this. You know.

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Speaker 2: There was some suggestion and I do remember one instance

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Speaker 2: talking when we were finally able to start communicating with

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Speaker 2: Chris about the about his wife, was you know, hey,

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Speaker 2: as far as I knew, I thought she was just

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Speaker 2: on those drugs and out there on the street and

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Speaker 2: maybe she would just you know, you know, she had

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Speaker 2: just succumbed to that. No, No one takes a person

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Speaker 2: that's maybe strung out on drugs and maybe owe them

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Speaker 2: money for a drug meaning a drug deal. No one

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Speaker 2: takes them and dismembers them to that point. That's no,

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Speaker 2: that's that's common sense. We know it doesn't happen like that. No,

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Speaker 2: So the fact that she well you may have thought that,

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Speaker 2: you know, well she just out there, strong out and

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Speaker 2: this happened to her. No, didn't happen like that. That's

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Speaker 2: that's too much. I don't think too many drug dealers

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Speaker 2: want to take that much time and effort to do that.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's definitely a clue that he didn't believe

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Speaker 1: she was coming back.

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Speaker 2: My thoughts again, it seems so focused on that as

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Speaker 2: he you know, because we use the term a person

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Speaker 2: of interest, and that term can be used and that's

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Speaker 2: not yes, that is a person of interest. As you

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Speaker 2: got dubbed deeper and deeper and deeper into this investigation,

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Speaker 2: all the pieces point towards one particular individual that as

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Speaker 2: this is the person who committed this crime. But it's

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Speaker 2: how we as investigators going to be able to prove

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Speaker 2: it and get it to the point where we can

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Speaker 2: make an arrest in.

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Speaker 1: This case, As that young detective, when you learn that

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Speaker 1: the victim's father is a convicted murderer, did you have

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Speaker 1: any pause there? Did you just say, hey, this is

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Speaker 1: really unusual. Let me look at this guy for a second.

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Speaker 2: No, again, when you go back to this is really

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Speaker 2: how the case broke a person that while he may

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Speaker 2: have been been convicted of brutally killing four people, he

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Speaker 2: still had a heart and he still had some of

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Speaker 2: the same things that we all have and these and

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Speaker 2: and as a as a true individual, he didn't say no,

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Speaker 2: I did not do it. It's I understanding. He actually

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Speaker 2: cligged to these charges and his thing was, hey, good work,

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Speaker 2: take that same work and help me out. You know,

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Speaker 2: I know I did these things, but take that same

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Speaker 2: to use that same effort. I hope that same effort

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Speaker 2: can be put forth to help us get closure. That's

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Speaker 2: all he was asking for. And so well, if that

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Speaker 2: was the case, you know, well there's some well maybe

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Speaker 2: he it was some of the stuff that he did

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Speaker 2: that got her killed. Now, no again, if it was

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Speaker 2: some of the stuff that that that got her got

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Speaker 2: her killed, wouldn't they want to send a message to him,

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Speaker 2: don't they? You know, shouldn't they be saying, hey, what

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Speaker 2: goes around comes around? There was nothing he wanted some closure,

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Speaker 2: you know, not to say, well, we're putting this guy

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Speaker 2: up here and you know, saying he's such a great person. No,

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Speaker 2: he did what he did and he's doing his time.

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Speaker 2: But you know, my role as a homicide investigator is

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Speaker 2: not to let focus on that, Well he got what

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Speaker 2: he deserved. My role is here, we have an unsolved case.

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Speaker 2: Less close it. I don't care that our father was

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Speaker 2: this I don't care that she had this status in life.

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Speaker 2: Well that status, let's try to get this case solved.

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Speaker 2: And that's been the approach from day one.

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Speaker 1: This case is like no other in history in that

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Speaker 1: you have a serial killer who had a child murdered

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Speaker 1: that's never happened, and then that serial killer reached out

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Speaker 1: to police for help in solving the daughter's case.

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Speaker 3: What you were working.

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Speaker 1: Was so unique and so unusual that you know, you

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Speaker 1: might have gone the same process, but you still had

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Speaker 1: to be uber aware that, Hey, this ain't like any others,

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Speaker 1: so I've got to do a few things maybe a

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Speaker 1: little different.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're absolutely right. I doubt it very seriously

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Speaker 2: that it's happened like that anywhere else. You know. Again,

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Speaker 2: when I think about how we learned about the Melissa

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Speaker 2: Waffenbarger case, in that we learned about it from her father,

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Speaker 2: who was convicted of these crimes, and I know there

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Speaker 2: would be others that say, well, it has something to

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Speaker 2: do with him one, or maybe he did it. Oh

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Speaker 2: you know, that's that's not the case, or he got

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Speaker 2: what he deserved. Look, I'm not the one to determine that.

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Speaker 2: I'm a person up fate. God doesn't make me the

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Speaker 2: judge of this person. You know. I sat down and

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Speaker 2: talked with Call specifically about this, and and I think

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Speaker 2: that was probably another one of the driving factors. When

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Speaker 2: you sit down and you talk with someone about a

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Speaker 2: loved one, and you you you hear it in their voice,

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Speaker 2: in their their actions, and you see them and it's

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Speaker 2: like this is genuine and it's like, you know, he

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Speaker 2: has a genuine desire to find out what happened to

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Speaker 2: his daughter in this instance, she was brutally murdered, and

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Speaker 2: he just wants to simply get some resolution to it.

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Speaker 2: He didn't get what he deserved. Any investigation of this

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Speaker 2: sort should be a reflection of the person that that

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Speaker 2: that's doing it, that's handling the case. And so what

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Speaker 2: do you do if while he got what he deserved,

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Speaker 2: and you go forward with that mindset and just close

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Speaker 2: it up? Close the case foul up with only a

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Speaker 2: few narratives of reports, and well, couldn't figure this one

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Speaker 2: out and close the case file. No, that's that's not

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Speaker 2: what we do. Our job is to investigate homicides, and

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Speaker 2: my job was and is to this day still I

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Speaker 2: feel like I still need to do it in some

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Speaker 2: way of form to help anyone, and it can. We

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Speaker 2: just picked up something that was done till it couldn't

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Speaker 2: go any further. We picked it up and went a

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Speaker 2: little bit further until we got some resolution and so

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Speaker 2: that would be That's what our hope is with the

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Speaker 2: Melissa Waffenburger case. We pick it up and let someone

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Speaker 2: else go forward with it, give resolution to a call,

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Speaker 2: and this normal.

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Speaker 1: And now my husband Walt, we'll read Carl Patten's final

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Speaker 1: letter and thoughts on this series on the murder of

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Speaker 1: Melissa Wolfenberger.

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Speaker 3: My name is Karl Patten, and I am the father

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Speaker 3: of Melissa don Patten Wolfenberger, whose case has been profiled

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Speaker 3: on Zone seven several times. I am currently being housed

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Speaker 3: in state prison for murders I committed in nineteen seventy seven,

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Speaker 3: forty six years ago, coincidentally, the same year my mother

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Speaker 3: died and Melissa was born. I have said many times

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Speaker 3: God sent me Melissa to deal with grief and heartache

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Speaker 3: of losing my mother. In other words, Melissa was a

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Speaker 3: gift from God, as all children are. She was a

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Speaker 3: special gift because she was part of me and her

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Speaker 3: mother my true soulmate and best friend. When you're a

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Speaker 3: self centered, selfish, arrogant perpetrator, as I once was and

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Speaker 3: Chris Wolfenberger is, you neither care nor think about who

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Speaker 3: you hurt. For me, all that changed when I became

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Speaker 3: a victim. All of the hurt, pain, heartache, and wondering

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Speaker 3: why my child hit me in the head like a

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Speaker 3: freight train. Then came the shame, guilt, remorse because I

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Speaker 3: had to lose my baby girl, God's gift to realize

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Speaker 3: what I had done to other families. When you kill someone,

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Speaker 3: you not only hurt that person, but everyone else that

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Speaker 3: loves that person. I have yet to forgive myself and

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Speaker 3: probably never will. Living with that guilty conscience be part

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Speaker 3: of my punishment till the day I die. So when

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Speaker 3: I ask for forgiveness, I don't expect it, only God forgives.

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Speaker 3: I do want anyone and everyone that hears this to

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Speaker 3: know that if I could undo what I did, I would.

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Speaker 3: But this is not about me. It's about getting justice

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Speaker 3: for Melissa and the truth and answers for the family

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Speaker 3: that loves and misses her. Melissa was a beautiful, smart,

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Speaker 3: loving young lady that had a bright future in front

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Speaker 3: of her to beautiful children that she loved with all

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Speaker 3: of her heart and soul. So when her husband says

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Speaker 3: she just left, I knew then he was a liar

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Speaker 3: and he had done something bad. Was nineteen ninety eight

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Speaker 3: and he is still walking around a freeman. But I

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Speaker 3: know there is no perfect murder, and I know God

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Speaker 3: says no sin will go uncovered. With new technology and

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Speaker 3: dogged efforts of Cheryl Mack, Karen Greer, d A Love,

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Speaker 3: and Detective Stein, this case will be solved and the

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Speaker 3: guilty party will get his due. As I am, may

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Speaker 3: God have mercy and forgive us both to the killer

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Speaker 3: of Dawn. Repentance is the beginning of forgiveness. So man up,

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Speaker 3: Tell your children what really happened to their mother and why,

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Speaker 3: real truth. Release them from the lie that their mother

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Speaker 3: did not want them and that she deserted them, because

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Speaker 3: everyone that new Melissa knows that is not true. To

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Speaker 3: Cheryl Mack of Zone seven, DA Love of the Atlanta

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Speaker 3: DA's Office, Karen Greer of WSTV, and Detective Stein of APD,

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Speaker 3: and everyone involved in keeping Melissa's case in the public's mind,

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Speaker 3: thank you from the bottom of my heart. God bless

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Speaker 3: with much respect. Carl twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: So we've given a final thought to Detective Calhoun and

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Speaker 1: to Carl Patten, and now I'm going to give the

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Speaker 1: final thought and the final say to Gladys Jackson. And

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Speaker 1: this again is straight out of the court documents. The

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Speaker 1: court says, well, I accept the recommendation and sentenced you

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Speaker 1: to life in the state penal system to run concurrent

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Speaker 1: with whatever sentences you are presently serving. All right, Gladys

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Speaker 1: Jackson says, excuse me, your honor. I'm the daughter of

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Speaker 1: Richard Russell Jackson, and I don't know if it's my

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Speaker 1: right or not, but it's my understanding I can say

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Speaker 1: something to mister Patten the court. Well, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: The problem was that I should have known or been

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Speaker 1: made aware that you were here, and nobody told me.

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Speaker 1: Nobody knew, Gladys Jackson, mister Bill knew. I thought, mister Bill, well,

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Speaker 1: I knew you were here, but I didn't know you

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Speaker 1: wanted to speak to him. The court all right, what

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Speaker 1: do you want? Is it something concerning the sentence, Gladys Jackson, Well,

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Speaker 1: I just I thought as the victim's daughter, I had

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Speaker 1: the right to address mister Patten. The court. Well, now

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Speaker 1: you're the daughter of the victim, Gladys Jackson, Richard Russell Jackson.

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Speaker 1: The court, Well, you have the right to address the court,

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Speaker 1: not to address the defendant. So if you want to

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Speaker 1: address the court that's fine, but if you want to

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Speaker 1: address the defendant, that would be a whole different issue.

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Speaker 1: I would rather have you talk to someone from the

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Speaker 1: victim assistant's office just to find out what it is

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Speaker 1: before I let you just have a say, Gladys Jackson. No,

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Speaker 1: that's fine. I just I didn't want to address the court,

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Speaker 1: mister Bill may and I approached just a second the court, certainly,

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Speaker 1: if you'll hold on, miss Jackson. Whereupon there was a

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Speaker 1: bench of conference, after which the following transpired. The court

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Speaker 1: all right, ma'am, if you'll come forward and give us

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Speaker 1: your name so we can put it on the record.

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Speaker 1: That's fine. State your name on the record, Gladys Jackson.

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Speaker 1: Gladys Elaine Jackson. The court, okay, now you have your opportunity, ma'am.

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Speaker 1: We have kleenices available. Gladys Jackson. I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: say that in the eyes of the law, it's a crime.

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Speaker 1: I understand what he did. Also, Fred White was another victim.

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Speaker 1: He was my stepfather. Both men were monsters. They abused

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Speaker 1: my mother from day one. People don't know the details

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Speaker 1: of this case. It doesn't make it right what happened.

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Speaker 1: But from the time I was old enough to walk

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Speaker 1: to the time Fred White died in nineteen seventy seven,

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Speaker 1: I saw nothing but blood and bruises and broken bones

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Speaker 1: of my mother. So, as far as I'm concerned, mister

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Speaker 1: Patten did me, my brother, and my mother a favor.

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Speaker 1: My mother got ten years out of her life because

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Speaker 1: of that. Fred White would have killed her at any

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Speaker 1: point in time. She got to see her only grandchild

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Speaker 1: because of that. So in my opinion, I love mister Patten.

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Speaker 1: I just want to tell him thank you for giving

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Speaker 1: my mother ten extra years of her life. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: The court all right, thank you. Whereupon the sentencing was

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Speaker 1: concluded at eleven thirty eight AM. One of the hardest

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Speaker 1: things about a cold case investigation is sometimes what you

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Speaker 1: know and what you can prove it's not the same thing.

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Speaker 1: And what I believe and what I can prove is

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Speaker 1: not the same thing. There is no doubt when I

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Speaker 1: think of Melissa Wolfenberger that she was a beautiful, young,

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Speaker 1: kind mother. She was a devoted wife, She was a

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Speaker 1: fun and adventurous sister. She was a daughter that gave

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Speaker 1: her parents nothing but pride and joy. So when you

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Speaker 1: think of this daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend to

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Speaker 1: Minny and the way her life ended. It is gut

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Speaker 1: wrenching to know that after decades, there is still a

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Speaker 1: killer walking free. So I'm going to tell you point blank,

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Speaker 1: what we know and what we can prove today may

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Speaker 1: not be what we can prove tomorrow. This case is open,

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Speaker 1: it's active, and I ain't going nowhere. I'm going to

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Speaker 1: end Zone seven the way that I always do with

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Speaker 1: a quote from somebody from my Zone seven and today's

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Speaker 1: quote comes from Shane Waters, host of Out of the

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Speaker 1: Shadows podcast, and Shane says, you never know the struggle

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Speaker 1: someone is going through. Always be kind. I'm Cheryl my

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Speaker 1: column and this is Zone seven O