A former Virginia state trooper allegedly kidnapped a California teenage woman he had been catfishing on-line — after murdering her household, in accordance with police.
Authorities say Austin Lee Edwards, 28, drove greater than 2,500 miles throughout the nation to Riverside to fulfill the teenager Friday.
Edwards then allegedly killed the woman’s grandparents and mother, set hearth to their dwelling, and took off with the sufferer.
Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division tracked down Edwards and fatally shot him later that day throughout a shootout, in accordance with legislation enforcement.
The juvenile sufferer who was discovered with Edwards was unhurt and brought into protecting custody by the Riverside County Division of Public Social Providers.
Edwards, from North Chesterfield, Virginia, met the woman on-line and obtained her private data by passing himself off as another person, in a apply generally often known as “catfishing,” the Riverside Police Division stated in a press launch.
It's unclear how lengthy the 2 had been speaking.
The stunning incident started unfolding simply after 11 a.m. Friday when police in Riverside bought a name for a welfare examine regarding a younger lady who “appeared distressed” when getting right into a pink Kia Soul within the 11200 block of Value Courtroom.
Whereas officers had been responding, dispatchers had been then alerted to smoke and a attainable hearth a number of homes away from the place police had been referred to as for the welfare examine.
The Riverside Hearth Division found three adults mendacity within the entrance entryway and took them exterior, the place first responders “decided they had been victims of an obvious murder,” police stated.
Investigators later decided that the younger lady described within the preliminary welfare name had lived on the home the place the three folks had been discovered useless, police stated.
The our bodies discovered within the scorched Riverside dwelling had been recognized because the kidnapped teen’s grandparents and mom — Mark Winek, 69, his spouse, Sharie Winek, 65, and their 38-year-old daughter Brooke Winek.
Police haven't revealed their causes of dying as of Monday however they consider Edwards traveled throughout the nation, parked his automobile in a neighbor’s driveway, walked to the teenager’s dwelling and killed her household earlier than leaving with the woman.
The reason for the fireplace was underneath investigation, nevertheless it appeared to have been “deliberately ignited,” police stated. It's unclear if the grandparents and mom had been killed earlier than the fireplace was allegedly set.
Riverside authorities distributed an outline of Edwards’ automobile to legislation enforcement businesses and several other hours later police positioned the automobile with Edwards and the teenager in Kelso in San Bernardino County.
Edwards fired gunshots and was killed by deputies who returned hearth, police stated.
Edwards was employed by the Virginia State Police and entered the police academy on July 6, 2021. He graduated as a trooper on Jan. 21, 2022, and was assigned to Henrico County throughout the company’s Richmond Division till his resignation on Oct. 28.
Edwards additionally labored for the Washington County Sheriff’s Division in Virginia, authorities in California stated.
Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez referred to as the case “yet one more horrific reminder of the predators present on-line who prey on our kids.”
Throughout a vigil held Saturday, pals and neighbors described the Wineks as a caring and loving household who had been deeply concerned of their neighborhood.
“You'll be able to’t ask for a greater good friend than Mark,” Ron Smith, Mark Winek’s good friend of 30 years, advised the Mercury Information. “There’s going to be a gap in my coronary heart that’s going to be onerous to fill.”
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