She was 15. He advised her he was 17, just some months shy of 18. They met on Instagram in the course of the summer season of 2022.
The lady, who lived along with her mom, youthful sister and grandparents in Riverside, saved their “relationship” a secret from her household. They’d ship messages by means of Instagram and discuss over Discord, an prompt messaging platform that permits voice calls.
He showered her with presents, sending her jewellery, groceries, cash and present playing cards. He paid for her UberEats and DoorDash deliveries and helped her purchase birthday presents for her pals, telling her he had an excellent job that would pay for it.
However then he obtained clingy — pushy, even. He was pressuring her to ship nude pictures, which made her uncomfortable. Proper after Halloween, she broke up with him.
She blocked him on Instagram, however he nonetheless discovered a option to ship her a suicide letter.
In actuality, the “boy” she had been speaking to was a 28-year-old sheriff’s deputy from Virginia named Austin Lee Edwards. And on Black Friday, just a few weeks after the teenager broke up with him, he drove to her house in Riverside and killed her mom, Brooke Winek, 38, and her grandparents, Mark Winek, 69, and Sharie Winek, 65. He set fireplace to their home earlier than kidnapping the teenager at gunpoint. After getting right into a shootout with police, Edwards shot himself along with his service weapon and died, in line with police. The teenager was bodily unhurt.
New, grisly particulars about the incident at the moment are coming to mild by means of a federal lawsuit that the now-16-year-old and her foster mom filed Friday towards Edwards’ property; the Washington County Sheriff’s Workplace in Virginia, which employed him on the time of the killings; Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis; and Det. William Smarr, the investigator who reviewed Edwards’ employment software on the company.
The lawsuit alleges violation of her 4th Modification rights, false imprisonment, negligent hiring, assault and battery, amongst different prices. Scott Perry, the teenager’s legal professional, mentioned the damages quantity to at the least $50 million.
The submitting is the second swimsuit by a member of the Winek household towards the Sheriff’s workplace — Mychelle Blandin, Mark and Sharie Winek’s surviving daughter, filed a lawsuit final 12 months, alleging negligent hiring practices and looking for greater than $100 million in damages. The lawsuits hinge partially on reporting by The Occasions that detailed how police employed Edwards regardless of his troubling psychological well being historical past.
In February 2016, Edwards was detained by Abingdon police in Virginia after he lower himself and threatened to kill himself and his father, who advised police the incident was spurred by Edwards’ issues along with his girlfriend, The Occasions reported. The incident prompted two custody orders, Edwards’ keep at a psychiatric facility and a courtroom’s revocation of his gun rights, which had been by no means restored.
Mychelle Blandin appears to be like at pictures of her mother, dad and sister, who had been victims of a triple murder in Riverside that authorities say started with a “catfishing” case involving Blandin’s niece.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
Perry is arguing that Edwards ought to by no means have been employed and that the sheriff’s workplace didn’t interview most of Edwards’ references or conduct a correct background verify. If they’d, they might have found the psychological well being orders, the lawsuit claims.
“The Washington County’s Sheriff’s workplace gave Austin Lee Edwards a gun, a badge and cloaked him with the authority of the legislation,” Perry mentioned in a press release. “He used these items to achieve entry to the Winek house and commit these atrocities. We are going to show that an satisfactory investigation of Edwards’ background would have prevented this tragedy.”
{The teenager} and her foster mum or dad declined interviews for this story. The Washington County Sheriff’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark.
In accordance with The Occasions’ evaluation of Edwards’ personnel file, which incorporates his employment software, Smarr selected to not interview Edwards’ father, who was listed as a reference, due to their “shut familial relationship,” the detective wrote. Smarr spoke with Edwards’ earlier employer at Lowe’s, however he couldn’t pay money for two of Edwards’ private references or his two neighbors.
Smarr additionally sought background info from the Virginia State Police, the place Edwards had been employed for 9 months earlier than resigning and making use of to Washington County. However Smarr was rebuffed by a sergeant there, who mentioned he wasn’t snug answering whether or not Edwards had gotten in any hassle, been reprimanded or been subjected to an inner investigation.
Along with Smarr, the lieutenant and captain of the Washington County Sheriff’s legal investigation division signed off on Edwards’ employment software, as did its personnel director and chief deputy, in line with the file.
“Edwards has no legal historical past or civil points, previous and present employers communicate positively of him, in addition to his references,” Smarr wrote. “It’s my perception that Edwards is hirable.”
The latest lawsuit additionally solutions some lingering questions in regards to the crime, together with how Edwards met {the teenager}, why he determined to kill her household, and the place he deliberate to take the teenager after kidnapping her. Right here is an account of what transpired throughout that fateful Thanksgiving vacation weekend, taken from the lawsuit and former reporting by The Occasions.
{The teenager} celebrated Thanksgiving 2022 along with her mom, her youthful sister and her mom’s boyfriend at Golden Corral. Afterward, they went to the Moreno Valley house the place her mom’s boyfriend lived and stayed there in a single day.
The subsequent day, Brooke Winek and her daughters went to Starbucks, planning to go Black Friday purchasing with Brooke’s boyfriend. After they obtained again to the house, Brooke obtained a name from her mom, Sharie, who advised her to take the decision off speakerphone as a result of they wanted to talk about one thing critical.
Undated handout photograph of 28-year-old Austin Lee Edwards of North Chesterfield, Va.
(Riverside Police Dept.)
The Occasions reported final 12 months that Edwards gained entry to Sharie and Mark Winek’s house on Value Court docket by pretending he was a detective conducting an investigation involving {the teenager}. After stepping into the Wineks’ house, Edwards advised Sharie to name Brooke and inform her that she and {the teenager} wanted to come back to the home so he may ask them some questions.
To be able to hold the “investigation” from her daughters, Brooke advised them there was one thing flawed with their telephones and that they wanted to return to their house on Value Court docket to get them mounted. Brooke then dropped off her youthful daughter with Brooke’s sister, Blandin, earlier than heading over to Value Court docket.
The teenager recalled that, as soon as they obtained to the home, Brooke put her keys in her purse and advised her to attend within the automobile whereas she went inside. The teenager observed that she didn’t see her mom’s canine within the window, which was uncommon as a result of the canine at all times perched there each time folks visited the house.
After ready for some time, the teenager determined to enter the home. As she opened the display door, Edwards grabbed her by the hair and pulled her inside.
Within the second, she thought the person grabbing her was the phone repairman. She didn’t notice it was the person who had catfished her.
Then she noticed the our bodies of her grandmother close to the entryway, her grandfather subsequent to the steps and her mom mendacity on the hardwood flooring. She noticed the baggage over their heads, taped to their necks. Their legs and arms had been sure with duct tape.
The teenager began to scream.
Edwards was sporting a gold police badge on his belt within the form of a star. As she yelled, he pointed a handgun, which additionally had a star engraved on it, at her.
“Cease screaming,” he mentioned.
She acknowledged his voice. It was the “boy” she had met on-line, whom she had been speaking to for months.
“Are you going to harm me?” she requested.
“I’ll in the event you hold screaming,” he replied.
Edwards grabbed the teenager and pulled her by means of the home, dousing every part with gasoline from a canister he introduced with him and lighting the rooms on fireplace. He additionally opened the home windows and doorways so the flames would unfold. Then he took the lady exterior and compelled her into the backseat of his crimson Kia Soul.
Household photograph of slain victims Brooke Winek, 38, and her dad and mom Sharie Winek, 65, and Mark Winek, 69.
(Winek Household Photographs / Los Angeles Occasions)
In the meantime, the Wineks’ next-door neighbor noticed the home on fireplace and known as 911. One other neighbor, whose driveway Edwards had parked in, additionally known as the police. She phoned the authorities once more when she noticed Edwards pressure the teenager into his automobile.
After rushing away, Edwards advised the teenager to faux that she was his daughter if anybody requested. He mentioned he was going to take her again to Virginia. When the lady requested why he killed her household, he mentioned that if he didn’t, they might “report it” and he wouldn’t have sufficient time to flee.
Edwards additionally mentioned he was a police officer and that companies “must do higher backgrounds” as a result of he “lied” in the course of the hiring course of. As he continued to drive towards his eventual vacation spot of Saltville, Va., the place he had not too long ago bought a house and blacked out the home windows, he saved his hand on his gun. Within the automobile with them was additionally the big, bloody knife he used to stab Brooke.
They made two pitstops in the course of the drive to make use of the restroom, however Edwards by no means let go of the teenager’s hand. Additionally they made a cease so Edwards may clear the blood off himself. He advised the lady that they wouldn’t cease for meals till they left California and that they might drive to Virginia by means of Las Vegas, New Mexico and Texas. She must keep within the backseat, he mentioned, till they obtained her a change of garments.
The Riverside Police Division recognized Edwards by means of interviews with neighbors, who supplied descriptions of his automobile and video footage from safety cameras. Police decided that he was within the Mojave Desert and alerted San Bernardino County authorities, who chased after his Kia Soul.
Through the pursuit, Edwards fired his gun by means of the again window of the automobile, inflicting the Kia to fill with smoke. The gasoline canister, which Edwards had positioned within the backseat with the teenager, splashed her with gasoline.
Edwards’ Kia drifted off the street and obtained caught on some rocks underneath a bridge, enabling the police vehicles to catch up.
As legislation enforcement closed in, Edwards advised the teenager to get out of the automobile.
With nowhere else left to go, he turned his service weapon on himself and pulled the set off.
