US – A murderous ‘catfish’ police officer ordered a teenager to pretend to be his daughter after he brutally killed her mother and grandparents, a shocking lawsuit has claimed.
The Case of Triple Homicide
Chilling new details have emerged over the grisly triple homicide of a California family in 2022, where Virginia sheriff’s deputy Austin Lee Edwards murdered the family of a teen girl he met online before turning the gun on himself.
The victims, Brooke Winek, 38, the unnamed girl’s mother, and her grandparents Mark and Sharie Winek, 69 and 65 respectively, were stabbed and suffocated by the officer before he doused their home in gasoline.
The Trick he Played
According to a new lawsuit filed by the teen, he then abducted his ex-online ‘girlfriend‘ and ordered her to pretend to be his daughter on a cross-country getaway drive, according to the LA Times.
He hid his Criminal History to Join Police
The officer also allegedly admitted to lying about his disturbing criminal history when becoming a cop and said they ‘need to do better backgrounds’.
The girl Launched a Negligent Lawsuit
The lawsuit is seeking more than $50 million, claiming the tragedy could have been prevented if Edwards’ hiring process had been carried out properly.
The teen’s lawsuit is filed against the Edwards’ former employer, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the sheriff and the investigator who reviewed his employment application.
It is the second such lawsuit filed in as many months, after a member of the Winek family launched a suit in December also alleging negligent hiring practices and seeking upwards of $100 million in damages.
Details of the Saga
The twisted saga began in the summer of 2022, when Edwards, 28, who was living in Virginia, began talking to the California 15-year-old online.
He claimed he was 17, showered her with gifts, money, jewelry and food deliveries, and the two carried out an online relationship for several months – until the tryst turned ugly.
Edwards pressured her to send him nude photographs, and she broke up with him shortly after Halloween. Despite blocking the creepy catfisher on Instagram, he found her address and sent a twisted suicide letter.
Details of his Past Crime
He had previously been arrested in February 2016 after cutting himself and threatening to kill his father, who told investigators the episode was triggered by issues with his girlfriend at the time.
While he was slapped with two custody orders, a stay at a psychiatric facility and the revocation of his gun rights, the arrest didn’t prevent the Washington County Sheriff’s Office from hiring him three years later.
What Police Could Have Done
The teen’s attorney, Scott Perry, told the LA Times that Edwards’ past went undetected because the hiring officers allegedly failed to interview most of his references or carry out a proper background check.
One of those references was Edwards’ father, who was never called about his son as he was reportedly deemed too close to the applicant to give a fair review.
If they had, the mental health orders and revocation of his gun rights would have instantly stopped him from becoming a cop, the lawsuit claims.
‘The Washington County’s Sheriff’s office gave Austin Lee Edwards a gun, a badge and cloaked him with the authority of the law,’ Perry said in a statement.
‘He used these things to gain access to the Winek home and commit these atrocities. We will prove that an adequate investigation of Edwards’ background would have prevented this tragedy.’
After the teen broke up with Edwards, he shortly thereafter drove from his home in Virginia to track her down in Riverside, California, with sickening new details in the lawsuit claiming he used his status as a police office to carry out the crime.
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The teen had spent the night before with her younger sister, mother and mother’s boyfriend at his apartment, and was not at home when Edwards pulled up to the home they shared with her grandparents.
How he Convinced the Grandparents
He allegedly told the grandparents that he was investigating a case involving the girl, and told them to call the teen’s mother, Brooke, and hurry her back to the home.
Brooke went inside while leaving her daughter in the car, before the teen grew suspicious when she didn’t see her mom’s dog in the window, where it would sit anytime anyone was in the house.
She eventually decided to enter the home, but was quickly grabbed by the hair by Edwards as soon as she opened the door – before she saw the horror inside.
The girl’s mother had her throat slit and died from a stab wound to her spinal cord, and both grandparents were hogtied with bags over their heads, the lawsuit said.
Coroner’s Report
Their coroner’s report said they died from asphyxiation. One of them was still moving when the ex-trooper set the house on fire, according to the kidnapped girl.
As she began screaming, the sheriff’s deputy barked at her to stop – which was the moment she says she recognized his voice as the man who catfished her months prior.
‘Are you going to hurt me?’ she asked.
‘I will if you keep screaming,’ he responded.
With a handgun pointed at her, he dragged the girl around her home while wielding a gas canister. Edwards systematically doused each room in gasoline and lit them on fire, opening windows and doors to spread the flames.
Statements From Witnesses
He hauled her out to his red Kia Soul and put he in the backseat, which was witnessed by a neighbor who reported it to 911. Another neighbor also called emergency services after seeing the home engulfed in flames.
The new lawsuit claims that when they sped away, Edwards ordered her to pretend to be his daughter if anyone asked, and said he was taking her back to Virginia with him.
He drove with a gun pointed at her, and told her that her family had to die because they would have ‘reported it’, preventing him from making a quick getaway.
The girl’s lawsuit alleges that he told her inside the car that he was a police officer, but agencies ‘need to do better backgrounds’ because he ‘lied’ on his application.
Edwards detailed his plan to drive her through a number of states before keeping her at his recently purchased Virginia home, which he had modified with blacked out windows.
How Abduction Turned Into Police Chase
At the same moment, the Riverside Police Department was tracking Edwards through surveillance footage and found he was in the Mojave Desert, leading San Bernadino County deputies to race after him.
The abduction turned into a frantic desert police chase, during which Edwards fired his gun past the girl in the backseat, while she was doused in gasoline by the gas canister on the seat next to her.
Police Caught up with him
At one point during the pursuit, Edwards’ Kia Soul went off road and got stuck on rocks under a bridge, allowing the police to quickly catch up to him and the teen.
Then Shot Himself
As law enforcement closed in, Edwards took out his police-issued weapon and shot himself in the head.
While the girl was physically unharmed, the harrowing experience alleged in the lawsuit led her to ultimately file against the police department that hired Edwards.
Perry said the lawsuit will seek damages of at least $50 million, arguing the ordeal could have been easily prevented had his references been checked or a background check been carried out.
