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Speaker 1: Crime Alart hourly update breaking crime news Now.

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Speaker 2: I'm Drew Nelson.

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Speaker 3: A Georgia man is indicted for murder twenty five years

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Speaker 3: after his wife's dismembered remains are found and the story

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Speaker 3: we first brought to you on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

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Speaker 3: Christopher Wolfenbarger, aged forty, was indicted on murder charges for

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Speaker 3: the death of his wife, Melissa Wolfenbarger, who disappeared from

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Speaker 3: their Atlanta home in November of nineteen ninety eight. He

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Speaker 3: had been arrested three weeks earlier after police reopened the

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Speaker 3: cold case. Melissa's body was discovered in April of ninety nine,

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Speaker 3: but remains were not identified until two thousand and three.

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Speaker 3: The victim's family members are relieved.

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Speaker 1: We have finally made He's in custody and now we

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Speaker 1: just need to get over the last hurdle and get

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Speaker 1: him convicted. In a long way twenty five years finally,

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Speaker 1: hopefully we were good justice for Melissa. She didn't deserve

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Speaker 1: what she and I hope anybody who's in a domestic

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Speaker 1: violence situation please get up.

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Speaker 2: Melissa's disappearance when unreported by her husband, her mother, Norma Patten,

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Speaker 2: who we just heard there filed a missing person's report

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Speaker 2: in early nineteen ninety nine. After not hearing from her

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Speaker 2: daughter for months. She last spoke to Melissa on Thanksgiving

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Speaker 2: Day in nineteen ninety eight. After receiving no news, Norma

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Speaker 2: and Melissa's sister Tina went to Melissa's home around Christmas.

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Speaker 2: They found it empty, with a neighbor saying Christopher had

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Speaker 2: moved everything out. Atlanta police eventually found Melissa's remain scattered

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Speaker 2: in a wooded area near her home. A skull was

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Speaker 2: first discovered on April twenty ninth of ninety nine. Weeks later,

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Speaker 2: more remains were found in garbage bags. DNA testing in

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Speaker 2: two thousand and three finally confirmed the remains belonged to Melissa,

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Speaker 2: linking her to her father, Carl Patten, who had been

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Speaker 2: arrested for other murders. Though investigators suspected foul play, it

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Speaker 2: took years to build the case. Melissa's family never stopped

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Speaker 2: pushing for answers. Sister Tina says, quote, we always knew

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Speaker 2: it was him. There's just evil in his eyes. Though

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Speaker 2: police did not release many details, they indicated domestic violence

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Speaker 2: as a possible motive. Christopher Wolfenbarger remains in custody at

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Speaker 2: the Fulton County Jail awaiting trial. Melissa was known for

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Speaker 2: her kindness and love of animals. Her family remembers her

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Speaker 2: as sweet, quiet, and always smiling. Tina says quote, she

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Speaker 2: was a loving mom with a bright future. More crime

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Speaker 2: and justice news after this. A man in Indiana is

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Speaker 2: convicted of three murders from twenty twenty one using a

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Speaker 2: modified handgun that acted like a machine gun. Caden Smith,

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Speaker 2: now nineteen, was found guilty for killing three people when

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Speaker 2: he was just sixteen. A jury convicted him of three

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Speaker 2: counts of murder, felony murder, robbery, possession of a machine gun,

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Speaker 2: and several other charges. This decision comes three weeks after

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Speaker 2: his arrest following a long investigation by the Marion County

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Speaker 2: Prosecutor's office. The case stems from an incident October twelfth

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Speaker 2: of twenty twenty one. Police found the bodies of Abdullah Mubarik,

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Speaker 2: aged seventeen, Joseph Thomas eighteen, and Michael James twenty two

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Speaker 2: in a grassy area near Indianapolis. They all had gunshot wounds.

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Speaker 2: Stigators found spent shellcasings nearby witnesses and phone records led

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Speaker 2: police to Smith, who was charged with luring the victims

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Speaker 2: to the location to show them how a glock switch worked.

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Speaker 2: It turns a handgun into a machine gun. Then Smith

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Speaker 2: used the gun to kill them and steal from them.

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Speaker 2: Smith's trial face delays after a judge ruled some evidence

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Speaker 2: was obtained without a proper warrant. Smith was released with

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Speaker 2: a GPS monitor on his ankle, but who was later

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Speaker 2: re arrested for violating his release terms during trial. Smith

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Speaker 2: was also convicted of possessing methamphetamine, marijuana, and illegally possessing firearms.

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Speaker 2: Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Meres spoke on the verdict, quote,

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Speaker 2: it was a long and challenging road for these families,

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Speaker 2: but thanks to the commitment of investigators and prosecutors, justice

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Speaker 2: has been secured for Abdullah, Joseph, and Michael and their families.

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Speaker 2: Smith will be sentenced at a later date and is

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Speaker 2: likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.

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Speaker 2: A young woman vanishes from Native American land in Montana

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Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen, and her family continues to search for answers.

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Speaker 2: Ashley Louring heavy Runner was twenty college student from the

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Speaker 2: Blackfeet Indian reservation. She was last seen June fifth of

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Speaker 2: twenty seventeen at a party on the reservation. The website

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Speaker 2: Hugh and Cry reports Ashley texted her sister Kimberly, asking

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Speaker 2: for money on June sixth. Kimberly, who was in Morocco

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Speaker 2: at the time, couldn't send the money and asked if

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Speaker 2: Ashley was okay. Ashley said she was, but she never

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Speaker 2: contacted her family again. Someone later reported seeing a young

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Speaker 2: woman running from a vehicle on the Highway eighty nine,

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Speaker 2: but a search of the area turned up nothing. Frustrated

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Speaker 2: with the lack of official action, Kimberly took the investigation

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Speaker 2: into her own hands. She has conducted more than one

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty searches since Ashley's disappearance. Quote. If me

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Speaker 2: and my family didn't search for Ashley, I don't think

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Speaker 2: anybody would be looking for her. Ashley had been going

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Speaker 2: through a tough time before she went missing. She was

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Speaker 2: grieving the death of her grandfather and dealing with a breakup.

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Speaker 2: She started experimenting with drugs and spending time with an

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Speaker 2: older crowd, including a man by the name of Sam McDonald.

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Speaker 2: He was one of the last people known to have

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Speaker 2: seen Ashley. He said she left with a man named

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Speaker 2: Paul Valenzuela, better known as v Dog. Valenzuela, who has

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Speaker 2: a criminal record, was married to Ashley's cousin, Toshina running Crane.

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Speaker 2: Toshina later told investigators that Paul had given Ashley a

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Speaker 2: ride to another town, but when confronted, Paul denied this,

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Speaker 2: claiming Toshina was mistaken. During a search of McDonald's property,

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Speaker 2: a gray sweater and a pair of red stained boots

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Speaker 2: were found that appeared to be Ashley's size. The items

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Speaker 2: were given to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but they

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Speaker 2: were misplaced and not tested. The FBI later recovered the items,

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Speaker 2: but the results have never been released. Ashley Loring heavy

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Speaker 2: Runner would be twenty seven today. She is a Native

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Speaker 2: American with dark hair, dark eyes, five two ninety pounds

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Speaker 2: when she disappeared. She has a check mark shaped scar

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Speaker 2: on one of her hands. If you have any information

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Speaker 2: that could lead to Ashley Loring Heavy Runner's recovery, call

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Speaker 2: eight hundred, call FBI, or go to Tips dot FBI

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Speaker 2: dot CoV For the latest crime and justice news, follow

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Speaker 2: the Crime Alert hourly update on your favorite podcast app

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Speaker 2: With this crime Alert, I'm Drew Nelson,