By Bob Walsh
Austin Lee Edwards
A little more info has filtered out into the media regarding the death of Virginia peace officer Austin Lee Edwards, 28, in Riverside County CA and the murders of the family of a 15-year old girl on November 25.
At the time of the murders and Edwards' death Edwards was a deputy with the Washington County Sheriff's Office. He had previously been a trooper with the Virginia state police. He died by suicide during a shootout with the San Bernardino County S.O. He shot himself with his service weapon.
Deputy Edwards had been "catfishing" the 15-year old girl and was pretending to be a 17-year old boy on line. He attempted to coerce the young lady into sending nude photos of herself to him. It seems that was unsuccessful. Deputy Edwards then drove to Riverside county and apparently murdered the girl's mother and grandparents and set fire to the family home. He then kidnapped the girl. She was rescued after his suicide.
His agency asserts there was no warning signs of any issue with him. However, in 2016 he had been detained for psych eval after threatening to murder his father and kill himself. This was all before he signed on with the Virginia state troopers. The troopers assert that some unspecified human error caused this information to not be discovered during the hiring process.
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