Austin Lee Edwards: 'CATFISH' murderer covered windows of $80k house purchased days before killing family
SALTVILLE, VIRGINIA: Austin Lee Edwards, a Virginia State Trooper, murdered a 15-year-old girl's mother and grandparents on Friday, November 25, after catfishing her by pretending to be a 17-year-old boy online. With more details emerging, it seemed Edwards, 28, had more sinister plans for the girl.
According to TMZ, Edwards purchased a new home on November 14, less than two weeks before he left for southern California to carry out his horrible murders. One of Edwards' first actions after moving into the home was to tint the windows, according to the 'catfish' murderer's new neighbors, who spoke to the portal. He used car tint to completely black out the windows of an $80,000 house in rural Virginia that he recently bought. The house is a two-bedroom, one-bathroom residence in Saltville, a town with a population of fewer than 2,000. The previous owner, according to records, was an aging woman who passed away in 2019. A neighbor claims that Edwards, a resident of North Chesterfield, Virginia, informed them of his desire to leave Richmond and relocate to a more rural area.
READ MORE
Delphi murders: Prosecutors say Richard Allen may not have acted alone, defense says 'wrong guy'
Fortunately, Edwards' attempt to transport the 15-year-old from California to Virginia failed. The girl, who is from Riverside, California, was saved and is receiving trauma therapy, according to family members and law enforcement, who shared this news during a press conference on Wednesday, November 30. Following a 911 call from one of the grandparents' neighbors, Edwards was later involved in a police chase and a shootout, during which he was fatally shot. Police claim that Edwards met the girl online and used a fake identity to 'catfish' her for personal information.
Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez claimed that Edwards killed himself after being approached by deputies from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office in the Mojave Desert, according to the OC Register. Edwards was shot once before he died.
Gonzalez continued by saying that the length of time he has been in communication with the 15-year-old is still being determined by detectives. He claimed that the girl stopped talking to Edwards after he asked her for sexual images. Detectives are still attempting to pinpoint the exact time of this incident and whether Edwards murdered the girl's family in retaliation.
The sheriff's office is also attempting to determine how Edwards was able to pinpoint the young girl's residence. Officials said they don't know if this was the girl's first time meeting Edwards in person or if she knew he was visiting California. "This is still ongoing. This is going to be a lengthy investigation," Gonzalez stated.