(Editor’s note: This story initially published on AJC.com on Jan. 9, 2018. On Tuesday, the 15-year anniversary of Regan Wheeler’s death, the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office announced the reward in the case is now at $30,000. Crime Stoppers Atlanta has put up $14,000 and the FBI has put up $16,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for killing Wheeler in 2005. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Crime Stoppers, the Paulding Sheriff’s Office or the GBI.)
As she pulled up her Paulding County driveway on the evening of Oct. 13, 2005, Paula Wheeler was surprised to see her husband’s truck still parked there.
“What’s Dad doing home?” she asked her 14-year-old daughter.
It was already dark outside, and Regan Wheeler should have left hours earlier for his second-shift job as an airplane inspector. Instead, his lifeless body was on the ground.
“I saw him lying beside the truck. I went over to him,” Paula Wheeler told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He was gone. It just seemed like such a nightmare. I just kept thinking, ‘This isn’t happening.’”
Paula Wheeler and her daughter ran to a neighbor’s house for help, believing her husband had suffered a medical emergency. The first investigators to arrive were told by dispatchers that Regan Wheeler’s truck had possibly fallen on him, causing his death. But shell casings were found nearby, telling a different story. It would be the following day before Paula Wheeler would learn the truth.
The Wheelers’ home had been burglarized, and Regan Wheeler — who volunteered as a prison chaplain — likely realized it after returning home from helping family in nearby Rome. Before he could get back into his truck, he was shot multiple times and left to die. He was 54.
The Paulding Sheriff’s Office enlisted help from the GBI, and both agencies continue to work the case. But more than 13 years later, investigators have not identified Wheeler’s killer.
“We just want it solved,” Wheeler’s son, Matthew Brooks, said. “My mom, my sister and I just want it solved.”
Brooks’ mother and Regan Wheeler divorced when he was a baby. And for many years, Brooks said, his relationship with his father was strained. The two later reconnected, and gradually their father-son bond improved. Now a father of two, Brooks regrets the lost time with his father.
“It’s too late,” he said. “I’ll never get a chance to tell him how sorry I was. And it’s not fair. It’s not fair.”
His father’s sudden death brought Brooks even closer to his stepmother and half-sister, Rachael. The grief of losing a husband and father was different than what the three had ever experienced.
“Regan was a man of great faith,” Paula Wheeler said. “He loved the Lord. He was so mindful of why he was here.”
A volunteer chaplain with the Georgia Department of Corrections, he also taught Sunday school classes.
“My dad used to go to jails and preach, and try to lead young men to God and help them out after they had been involved in drug arrests,” Brooks said.
And her father did more than just talk to troubled inmates, Rachael Wheeler said. He would do anything he could to set them on a better path.
“It wasn’t that he would just go preach on the Sundays,” Rachael Wheeler said. “He would give them a ride home when they got released.”
Her father loved to ride horses and bring his daughter along. Other times, Regan Wheeler could be found surrounded by books in a downstairs room he called his study. He wanted to continue learning and share the knowledge with others, Rachael Wheeler said.
“Grab your Bible and let me show you something,” he’d call out to his daughter.
Regan Wheeler had been in the Army and later followed his father’s footsteps and began working at Lockheed Martin as a welder in 1984. The career suited the man who enjoyed working with his hands, and he later became an inspector on the flight line.
After Wheeler’s dad died in 2001 he helped his mother tend to the family’s 40-acre property in Rome. On the day he was killed, Regan had driven to Rome in the morning to mow the lawn. He returned home to Dallas with enough time to shower and change before driving to work at Lockheed.
The house should have been empty; his daughter was at school, where his wife also worked. But investigators believe Regan Wheeler arrived home to find his home being burglarized. Maybe he was getting back in his truck to leave, or maybe he wanted to get something from the truck to defend himself. He was shot and killed before he could do either.
“It causes great concern for us that someone could take that type of action and then leave the scene,” Lt. Mike Hill with the Paulding Sheriff’s Office said.
Hill, who has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1997, was working in the narcotics division when Wheeler was killed. Now he’s the lead investigator on the case, and a Wheeler family photo on his desk is the constant reminder.
“This case has had a lot of ups and downs,” Hill said. “I think about it every morning when I wake up and every evening when I go to bed. I would give anything to have this case solved.”
Several years ago, investigators arrested a possible suspect. But he was later released because there wasn’t enough evidence against him, GBI Agent Earl Glover said. Like Hill, Glover continues to review the case file, anxious for answers.
“It is a solvable case,” Glover said. “We just need that one little piece of evidence or that one person to come forward with information.”
The CrimeStoppers Atlanta reward stands at $14,000 for information leading to an arrest or conviction of those responsible for Regan Wheeler’s death.
“All of us agree that as long as we’re employed in the positions we’re in, we’ll never give up on this case,” Hill said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 404-577-TIPS or the Paulding Sheriff’s Office at 770-443-3010.
About the Author
