Regan Douglas Wheeler, a 54-year-old White/Caucasian man, was killed at his home in Dallas, Georgia, on October 13, 2005. That morning, Wheeler had traveled to Rome, Georgia, where he regularly helped care for his mother and the family’s approximately 40-acre property following his father’s death. He spent part of the day mowing and doing work around the property before returning to his Paulding County home. Wheeler, an Army veteran, had worked for Lockheed Martin since 1984, beginning as a welder and later becoming an inspector on the flight line. He was expected to shower, change clothes and leave for work after returning home that afternoon.
The house should have been empty when Wheeler arrived. His wife worked at the same school his daughter attended, and neither was home. Investigators believe that while the family was away, one or more people broke into the residence and Wheeler unexpectedly returned while the burglary was taking place. Authorities have never been able to determine exactly what happened during the moments that followed. Investigators have considered the possibility that Wheeler realized something was wrong and attempted to return to his truck, or that he went toward the vehicle intending to retrieve something to protect himself. Before he could escape or defend himself, he was shot multiple times in his own driveway. Shell casings were later found near his body.
When Wheeler’s wife and daughter returned later that day, his truck was still parked outside, something his wife immediately found unusual. They discovered him lying near the vehicle and initially thought he might have suffered a medical emergency. They went to a neighbor for help, but Wheeler was already dead. The discovery that the home had been burglarized quickly changed the situation from an unexplained death into a homicide investigation. Paulding County investigators came to believe that Wheeler had most likely been killed because he interrupted whoever was inside the residence. A later account of the investigation also described reports of an unfamiliar blue SUV being seen in the neighborhood around the time of the shooting, although that information did not produce a definitive suspect or breakthrough.
The violence stood in sharp contrast to the life Wheeler’s family described. He was deeply involved in his church, taught Sunday school and volunteered as a chaplain with the Georgia Department of Corrections. His family said his prison ministry went beyond preaching; he tried to help inmates after their release and sometimes gave them rides home in an effort to help them rebuild their lives. He also enjoyed horses, reading and studying scripture. Investigators examined Wheeler’s background and associations as they searched for a motive, but authorities have continued to describe the apparent burglary as the leading circumstances surrounding the killing.
The investigation did at one point result in a major arrest. Dexter Ward Presnell was indicted for murder and jailed while awaiting trial after fingerprint evidence appeared to connect him to the crime scene. Federal court records later established that the fingerprint identification was wrong. While preparing the evidence for trial, the fingerprint examiner discovered the mistake, and Presnell’s murder charges were dropped after he had spent approximately 16 months in jail. Subsequent reporting on Wheeler’s case likewise noted that investigators had arrested a possible suspect but released him when the evidence proved insufficient. Presnell later filed civil claims against Paulding County, the sheriff’s department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation over the erroneous identification. No trial or conviction resulted from the case against him.
After that prosecution collapsed, investigators were again left without anyone they could charge with Wheeler’s killing. The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation continued reviewing the case, and the FBI later joined the effort. By 2020, Crime Stoppers Atlanta and the FBI had combined to offer a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, with Wheeler’s family also attempting to increase the available reward. In an April 2022 appeal for information, the sheriff’s office said investigators believed someone still possessed a crucial piece of information that could identify whoever was responsible. The agency continued to describe Wheeler’s death as an unsolved cold-case murder, with no publicly identified killer, no active murder prosecution and no conviction for the shooting.
