By now we’d be stunned in case you hadn’t heard this story… however one element appears to have fallen by way of the cracks.
To catch anybody up who hasn’t heard the surprising story already, right here’s what authorities put collectively within the aftermath. A former state trooper named Austin Lee Edwards was catfishing an underage woman, getting nearer and nearer to the 15-year-old on the web by posing as a teen himself. Finally the 28-year-old obtained the younger girl’s deal with — whether or not she gave it to him or he discovered it another method has but to be revealed. However he used that information to drive throughout the nation from his residence in Virginia to Riverside, California so he might meet her in individual.
It’s unclear if Edwards’ intentions have been all the time violent, however that’s the way it ended up. He tied up and gagged her mom, Brooke Winek, and her grandparents, Mark and Sheri Winek, earlier than killing them and setting their home on hearth. Then he took off with the teenager. Fortunately just a few hours later somebody seen a younger woman apparently in misery with an older man and known as the police. Edwards reportedly began a shootout with cops when approached and was killed. The poor woman was reportedly unhurt bodily — although her life has been ceaselessly destroyed by the net dalliance.
OK, in order that’s the story we already knew. What we’re now listening to is that this former state trooper was nonetheless in legislation enforcement in spite of everything.
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The impression many retailers gave early on was that he had previously been employed as a police officer. However in keeping with KTLA, Edwards had really simply been employed by the Washington County Sheriff’s Workplace! Whereas his time as a state trooper was over, he had simply been employed on as a deputy on November 16 — that’s simply NINE DAYS earlier than the killings. We’d guess not more than per week earlier than he began his cross-country drive.
This wasn’t some washout who couldn’t hack it as a cop. This was a cop who did this.
One would possibly marvel how the hell a man able to doing this could possibly be allowed to hitch the power. Effectively, because it seems they’d no concept what sort of man this was they have been hiring. Zero. Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller advised the outlet Edwards handed all “bodily, psychological and written testing, in addition to a lie-detector check.”
How disturbing is that? What are these checks if they will’t weed out would-be little one molesters, murderers, and arsonists? They couldn’t inform this man needs to be behind bars, not behind a badge.
Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis agreed this was an enormous error, saying:
“It’s surprising and unhappy to all the legislation enforcement neighborhood that such an evil and depraved individual might infiltrate legislation enforcement whereas concealing his true identification as a pc predator and assassin.”
The query is, was this man Edwards some sort of genius, capable of slip by way of undetected? As a result of it positive doesn’t appear to be it primarily based on his reckless rampage in California. It appears extra like there’s simply an enormous drawback with the way in which potential law enforcement officials are examined, doesn’t it?
See extra on the unfolding case (beneath):
[Image via Virginia State Police/ABC7/YouTube.]
