$30K reward offered in Paulding County cold case murder

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. - It was October 13, 2005, when Regan Wheeler's body was discovered by his wife and daughter in the front yard of their Paulding County home near Dallas. Paulding County investigator Sgt. Ashley Henson said Wheeler was shot several times in his driveway.

"What we believe happened is that he came home and interrupted a burglary at his home and was ultimately murdered as a result of that. It wasn't like he was out doing things wrong, he was doing things right and was brutally murdered in his own driveway," said Sgt. Henson, who was one of the first K-9 deputies to respond to the crime that unfolded in the middle of the day.

Sgt. Henson told FOX 5's Portia Bruner many leads have come in over the years, but nothing strong enough to lead detectives to the gunman who left a beloved husband and father dead.

"Regan was a fine, Christian upstanding man. He was a chaplain to inmates. From the stories about him from his wife and daughter and son, he was a great person and he was not living a high-risk lifestyle, he was a good, hardworking upstanding man and was brutally murdered," said Henson.

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Authorities hope news of a $14,000 reward from Crime Stoppers Atlanta, beefed up by an additional $16,000 from the FBI will compel someone to come forward.

"Thirty thousand dollars is a lot of money and we want to give it to somebody, but we need some information so we can make an arrest and get a conviction. We're looking for that one person who, maybe they had a troubled past or maybe they were doing things that they aren't doing today, but we think somebody has a key piece of information maybe they saw something, heard something or witnessed something.  We just hope it weighs heavy on their heart and they come forward," said Sgt. Henson.

If you have any information about this cold case murder, you can make an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-tips, the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division at 770-443-3015 or the GBI Region One Office at (706) 624-1424.

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