Sheriff: 18-year-old murder case likely started as bar fight

Douglas County officials believe they’ve solved a cold case that left a man dead in his car on the side of the road.

Charles Richard Kilpatrick faces murder and aggravated assault charges after Joseph Henry Wilder was found dead in his car from a gunshot wound along I-20 nearly 20 years ago, Douglas County spokesman Lt. Glenn Daniel said Tuesday in a news release.

Wilder was traveling westbound near Weigh Station on Aug. 7, 1998, when he crossed Kilpatrick’s path, according to the release. He was later found dead in his SUV.

Officials told Channel 2 Action News the men likely got into a fight at a bar that ended in the deadly shooting.

“They pulled over onto the side of the road and Kilpatrick got out his vehicle and walked back to Wilder’s (car) and shot six, or seven or eight times,” Douglas County Sheriff Phil D. Miller said at a news conference.

Several witness accounts described the alleged shooter, but the case went cold when no leads developed, Daniel.

The case was re-opened in 2015 when investigators got new information, with witnesses identifying Kilpatrick as the alleged shooter.