Man Charged With Killing Ex-Wife Found Dead In Jail Cell

GILMER COUNTY, GA — The Ellijay man who was arrested and charged with killing his ex-wife has been found dead at the Gilmer County Detention Center. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said 72-year-old Charles Michael Patrick was found hanging in an isolation cell around 10 p.m. Friday, April 27.

Patrick, who was being held at the jail following his arrest on Thursday, was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy will be held Monday at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner's Office, the agency added.

Patrick, whom the GBI said was a registered sex offender, was charged with killing Drusilla Patrick, 68, after her remains were recovered at the home of her ex-husband. The investigation into her death began when the Gilmer County Sheriff's Office asked the GBI to help them investigate a report of a missing person. According to the GBI, a federal probation officer supervising Charles Patrick "became concerned about the whereabouts of his wife," Drusilla Patrick.

The probation officer received information that Patrick re-married unexpectedly and when he asked the suspect about his so-called wife, his questions were met with "conflicting statements," the GBI added.

The probation officer compared information that a GCSO Sex Offender Compliance officer received about Patrick and found there were more details that didn't add up. GBI agents and Gilmer County sheriff's detectives began investigating and learned Drusilla Patrick was last seen alive between December 2016 and January 2017.

An autopsy conducted Friday confirmed the remains to be that of Drusilla Patrick. Charles Patrick became a registered sex offender upon his conviction in 2009 for having obscene telephone contact with a child under the age of 14, according to a search of the GBI's Sex Offender Registry.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here)

Images via Gilmer County Sheriff's Office/Facebook