Horse trainer Charles Shriner killed by worker Brian Whiting

Douglas County, Georgia, a rural area 20 miles west of Atlanta, is dotted with green hills and storied horse farms.

At one of these ranches, investigators worked the mysterious case of a missing horse trainer that began with a 911 call on Friday, March 18, 1994.

The caller sounded desperate. “His boss, Charles 'Chuck' Shriner, was missing,” David McDade, a former Douglas County district attorney, said in the episode “Homicide on the Ranch.” The Real Atlanta MurdersBroadcast on Saturdays at 9/8 p.m Oxygen.

Richard Brian Whiting, who called police, was a friend of Shriner's and an employee living on the 70-acre property.

He told authorities that “Chuck went out the back door around midnight,” said Scott Cosper, a retired Douglas County police officer.

Shriner, who Whiting said was in socks at the time, was nowhere to be found Friday morning.

Search parties not only searched area hospitals and prisons, but also Shriner property and buildings. They found no signs of crime in the house or Shriner's truck. They didn't find Shriner either.

Chuck Shriner's friends speak out

Chuck's friends interviewed by law enforcement described him as “the type of person that a lot of people were attracted to,” McDade said.

They agreed that his mid-air disappearance was completely out of character. His life and his future were on the ranch.

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Chuck's inner circle told authorities that he wanted to turn his love of horses into a golden opportunity with the Summer Olympics, held two years later in 1996 in Atlanta.

“In his mind, he could rent the stables to a county and make a lot of money to finance the place,” said Jon Agnese of Douglasville.

Interesting people appear

After her return, Lori was questioned. The interview resulted in a ranch employee being fired. “He didn't work hard enough and Chuck told him he had to go,” said Bill Torpy, a Atlanta Journal Constitution Reporter.

Investigators learned that the day before Shriner's disappearance, there was an altercation between him and the fired ranch employee. The former employee told authorities that this was due to a dispute over his desire to claim income taxes.

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The heated argument escalated when Whiting, Shriner's right-hand man, intervened and chased the man with an axe, they say The Real Atlanta Murders. The fired employee fled in his vehicle.

“It left me with questions and doubts about Brian,” said Donna Foster, a retired sergeant with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

The laid-off ranch hand's information about his whereabouts at the time of Shriner's disappearance was verified and confirmed.

Clues from Chuck Shriner's finances and his ranch

Intrigued by Shriner's argument based on tax returns, investigators focused on his financial situation.

“There was no life insurance for Chuck Shriner or his wife Lori,” said Eddie Herman, a retired Cobb County homicide detective.

Officers learned that Lori had no financial motive for her husband's death – and that Shriner wasn't particularly good with money The Real Atlanta Murders.

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Desperate to solve the case, police launched a more thorough search of the Shriner farm using cadaver dogs, helicopters and divers. Officers found nothing to convince them Shriner was not on his property.

After a few days of investigation, the investigators strongly suspected that there was foul play. They used the media to ask the public for information.

Police are focusing on Brian Whiting

The media frenzy paid off the following day when a former ranch employee said he saw Whiting and Lori kissing in the barn in December.

“He said there was an affair between Lori and Brian that had been going on for weeks, if not months,” Torpy said The Real Atlanta Murders.

Police immediately shifted gears and focused on Whiting. “When we look at the motive for a crime, lust can be an incredibly motivating factor,” McDade said.

Lori Shriner questioned over affair

Questioned by police about her affair with Whiting, Lori admitted to having sex with him after finding out Shriner had cheated on her. “I don’t know if I did it out of malice,” she said in the recorded interview.

She claimed she called off the affair, adding that “Whiting was obsessed with her,” Herman said. “He didn’t want to let it go, so he kept pursuing her.”

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Lori told officers she was “100% sure” she was pregnant with Shriner’s baby. “I became pregnant sometime in late September when I was not having sex with Brian,” she told investigators.

Investigators took her claims with caution. The tipster reported seeing her kissing Whiting three months later, in December. But she insisted she had no plans to leave her husband.

“She made it clear to us that Chuck was her life, her world, and that she would do anything to find him,” McDade said.

Chuck Shriner's house was searched again

Whiting admitted to having an affair with Lori but insisted he had nothing to do with Shriner's disappearance. When he hired a lawyer, authorities discovered he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for a probation violation.

Whiting was taken into custody for this offense. While he was in custody, police searched Shriner's home again to take a closer look. This time they discovered a trail of blood in the cave that had been covered up.

“There was a lot of blood in the carpet, under the upholstery and on the subfloor,” Cosper said. “I knew I had a murder.”

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Investigators found a bloody ax in the garage, which led them to a theory about what happened to him. “Shriner was apparently attacked and killed, most likely while he was sleeping on a sofa on the first floor of the house,” McDade said.

Police believed Shriner was attacked in the cave and then dragged to his truck.

Brian Whiting arrested for murder

As they looked deeper into the case, police cleared Lori as a suspect. They intensified their search in Douglas County. On June 11, 1994, a body was found nine miles from Shriner's ranch on a farm in Cobb County, Georgia.

Police learned Whiting had previously worked at the property. The badly decomposed body, which was wrapped in a tarp, was identified as Shriner's through dental records.

“His skull was caved in by a very heavy, blunt object,” McDade said.

Whiting was charged with murder. His trial began in August 1995. On September 14 of that year he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Learn more about the case in the episode “Homicide on the Ranch.” The Real Atlanta MurdersBroadcast on Saturdays at 9/8 p.m Oxygen.