MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — Over 30 years ago, a 23-year-old Georgia woman disappeared -- never to be seen alive again.
The woman was Gordon County resident Mary Willfong, and her body was found in Monroe County near I-75 by deer hunters in November 1989. An autopsy would later determine she had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
The murder of the youthful brunette became a mystery for decades.
There was no resolution for the family. No closure for loved ones. And an open case file sat cold -- haunting law enforcement for years to come.
But now, in 2024, a resolution has come with a conviction.
Towaliga Circuit District Attorney Jonathan Adams and Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman announced this week that the accused killer in the case, Larry Richard Padgett, entered a plea and has been sentenced to life in prison.
According to a release by the district attorney's office, Padgett strangled Willfong to death in Ringgold, Georgia, and then transported her body to Monroe County, where local hunters found it.
11Alive previously reported that Willfong's last known location was Forest Park. She had been seen at a farmer's market getting into a tractor-trailer with a white man. At the time, a number of suspects were interviewed and given DNA samples, but none matched.
So, the case went cold.
But then, in 2019, a Monroe County Sheriff's Office investigator took original evidence and re-submitted it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab, hoping advanced technology would gleam a new perspective. The evidence was also sent to Miami, Florida, for a genealogy trace.
The renewed investigation then led to a suspect in Indiana, according to previous 11Alive reporting. With assistance from authorities there, more DNA evidence was collected and matched to DNA taken from Willfong in 1989.
Due to a DNA match and other evidence, law enforcement was able to arrest Padgett as the murder suspect last year in 2023. He was 59 at the time. Padgett was then indicted by a grand jury on May 8, 2023, on counts of malice and felony murder.
Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman said the agency is grateful to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and the Washington, Indiana Police Department for helping solve the case.
"This is an example of different law enforcement agencies working together for the goal of solving a cold case and speaking for the victim," Freeman said.
Overall, District Attorney Jonathan Adams said cold cases are some of the most difficult cases for a community.
"They are hard for the victim's family to get resolution, they are hard for law enforcement to prove, and they are hard for the prosecutors to convict," Adams stated. "However, due to the tireless efforts of many people, our community and the victim's family finally have long overdue justice in this senseless death."
