Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Edward
Wayne EDWARDS
Classification: Serial
killer
Characteristics:
To
collect insurance money - Rape - Motive unknown
Number of victims: 5
Date of murders: 1977 / 1980 / 1996
Date of arrest:
July 30, 2009
Date of birth: June 14, 1933
Victims profile:
Billy Lavaco, 21, and Judy Straub, 18 / Tim Hack, 19, and Kelly
Drew, 19 / Dannie Boy Edwards, 25
Method of murder:
Shooting - Strangulation
Location: Ohio/Wisconsin, USA
Status:
Sentenced to death in Ohio on March 8, 2011. Sentenced to life in
prison in Wisconsin. Died in prison on April 7, 2011
Edward Wayne Edwards (June 14, 1933 – April
7, 2011)
was a convicted American
serial killer. Edwards escaped from jail in
Akron, Ohio in 1955 by pushing past a guard and fled across the
country, holding up gas stations for money.
He never wore a mask
because he wanted to be famous. In 1961, he landed on the
FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He eventually was captured
in
Atlanta - arrested January 20, 1962. Between 1977 and 1996 he
murdered 5 people.
Background
Edwards was born in Akron, Ohio; he grew up
primarily as an orphan after witnessing the suicide of his mother.
Edwards was abused, both physically and emotionally in this orphanage,
which contributed to his criminal behaviour. He joined the US Marines
for a brief time, and soon after went back to his criminal lifestyle.
He traveled frequently during his 20s and 30s doing odd jobs, such as
working as a ship docker, vacuum retailer, and handyman. He lived most
of his life, when not incarcerated, in Louisville, Kentucky.
Murders
He murdered 5 people in Wisconsin and Ohio. Two in
1977, two in 1980, and one in 1996. Tracing his life, Edward Edwards
has been placed (within days) in US cities where unsolved murders have
occurred. These cities include the following: Portland, OR (1960
double homicide), Great Falls, MT (1956 double homicide), and San
Francisco, CA (1968-1970). It is thought by some investigators that
Edwards is responsible for some of the most notorious unsolved murders
in the US, such as the Zodiac killings, West Memphis Three, and the
murder of Jon Benet Ramsey.
He was arrested in 2009.
Death
He died at the Corrections Medical Center of
Columbus, Ohio on April 7, 2011.
Convicted serial killer Edward Edwards dies in
prison, avoiding execution
By Michael Sangiacomo, The Plain Dealer
Sunday, April 10, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Convicted serial killer Edward
Edwards cheated the hangman.
The man who confessed to killing his foster son and
two young couples over the course of 21 years died late Thursday night
in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's Medical
Center in Columbus of natural causes. Edwards, 77, was to have been
executed by lethal injection Aug. 31.
Edwards used a wheelchair and had several major
medical problems, including diabetes and other illnesses.
A three-judge panel in Geauga County sentenced
Edwards on March 8 to be executed for the 1996 murder of his last
victim, Dannie Boy Edwards, 25, the foster child who regarded Edwards
as family. As proof of his love, the boy legally changed his name from
Dannie Law Gloeckner to the nickname "Dannie Boy" and adopted Edwards'
last name as his own.
Edwards persuaded the boy to go AWOL from the Army
in May 1996 and to return home to Troy Township. Under the ruse of
arranging a way to elude the Army, Edwards took Dannie Boy to the
woods near the house, where he fired two gunshots to the boy's face.
His motive was to collect Dannie Boy's $250,000 insurance.
Skeletal remains, later identified as Dannie Boy,
were found by a hunter in a shallow grave just behind Troy Cemetery,
less than a mile from Edwards' Troy Township home. At the time,
Edwards was questioned about Dannie Boy's murder, but no charges were
filed.
When he appeared in court last month, Edwards
seemed content, even bored with the proceedings. He repeatedly said he
welcomed the death penalty and would not appeal the sentence to die by
lethal injection on Aug. 31.
Dannie Boy's half-sister, Jai-Dean Copley of Garden
City, S.C., said Friday that she was relieved that the man who
murdered her brother was dead.
"I feel like if we murdered him we would have been
as bad as he was," she said. "It would have been suicide by the
justice system. I know my brother would not have wanted him to be
executed and neither did I."
Copley said that she and her brother went into
foster care when their father fell on hard times. She said Dannie Boy
moved in with Edwards and his wife in 1994 but lived with her for a
while before joining the Army shortly before his death.
At the sentencing, Copley urged the judges to deny
Edwards' request for a quick death.
"Do not give this man what he wants. He's taken and
taken his entire life." During a break in the proceedings, Copley
said, "The worst hell for him would be life in prison."
As it turned out, life in prison was less than a
month.
Last year, Edwards was sentenced in Summit County
court to life in prison for the 1977 murders of Billy Lavaco, 21, of
Doylestown, and Judy Straub, 18, of Sterling. Their bodies were found
Aug. 8, 1977, in Silver Creek Park in Norton.
Both had been shot in the neck with a shotgun.
Edwards lived in Doylestown from 1974 to 1978.
When told last year of Edwards' confession,
Lavaco's older brother, Tom Lavaco, 62, of Wooster, was relieved that
justice was done. He said a day has not passed that he did not think
of his younger brother.
Edwards also admitted to the 1980 slayings of Tim
Hack and Kelly Drew, both 19, in Wisconsin. For those two murders he
was sentenced to life in prison as well.
Their bodies were found after they attended a
wedding reception at a hall where Edwards worked as a handyman. Drew
was raped and strangled. Hack was stabbed to death. Edwards was
working in the area at the time. He never explained why he murdered
the couple.
Edwards was living in Kentucky, where he moved with
his wife in 2000, when DNA evidence linked him to the Wisconsin
murders.
When confronted by police, Edwards started talking
and didn't stop until he confessed to the five murders.
Edward Wayne Edwards: A timeline of his life
June 14, 1933: Born in Akron, Ohio.
December 1935: Mother committed suicide.
1940: Sent to orphanage in Parma, Ohio.
1948: Sent to reform school in Pennsylvania.
1950: Returned to Akron, started committing
burglaries; left juvenile detention to join the Marines; went AWOL
from Camp LeJeune, N.C.; arrested in Jacksonville, Fla.; dishonorably
discharged from the Marines.
April 1952: Sentenced to a federal reformatory in
Chillicothe, Ohio, for two years for impersonating a Marine and
interstate transportation of a stolen car.
April 1955: Broke out of Akron jail while being
held on burglary charges.
1956: Caught in Montana after a series of armed
robberies, sentenced to penitentiary in Deer Lodge.
July 1959: Released in Montana, taken to Portland
to stand trial for two armed robberies in 1956, sentenced to five
years of probation.
1960: Broke out of jail in Portland, where he'd
been arrested for turning in a false fire alarm. Questioned in
connection with a double murder of a young couple. Traced to Colorado,
where he cashed some checks on a Portland Bowling Club of which he was
a member.
Nov. 10, 1961: Added to FBI's 10 Most Wanted
fugitives list. A federal warrant charged him with unlawful interstate
flight to avoid confinement after a robbery conviction.
Jan. 20, 1962: Captured in Atlanta with wife,
Marlene.
May 18 1962: Sentenced to 16 years in Leavenworth
Federal Penitentiary.
1967: Transferred to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
in Pennsylvania; paroled from federal prison.
1971-1973: Touring as a speaker on prison reform,
published book on his rehabilitation
September 1980: Left Wisconsin after being
questioned about the Hack/Drew murders.
December 1982: Incarcerated in Pennsylvania prison
for arson.
July 1986: Released from Pennsylvania prison.
July 30, 2009: Arrested in Louisville, Ky., for
1980 murders of Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew.
June 9, 2010: Pleaded guilty to Hack and drew
murders and agreed to plead guilty to two 1977 Ohio murders.
Madison.com
Serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards sentenced to
death in Geauga County slaying
By Michael Sangiocomo - The Plain Dealer
March 8, 2011
CHARDON, Ohio -- Serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards
was sentenced Tuesday to death by lethal injection for the killing of
his foster son, Dannie Boy.
A three-judge panel in Geauga County Common Pleas
Court issued the sentence after Edwards declined to present any
evidence in his defense or ask for mercy. He had pleaded guilty to
aggravated murder and robbery earlier in the day.
Edwards, 77, has admitted killing five people in
Ohio and Wisconsin.
He sat stoically in a wheelchair during the
day-long proceedings in Chardon. He said he did not want his sentence
appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. He had previously said he welcomes
the death penalty.
Edwards made no apologies and offered no
explanations for why he fired two gunshots into his foster son in May
1996. Hunters found the body near Edwards' Troy Township home.
Investigators said Edwards killed his foster son to
collect on a $250,000 life insurance policy.
The victim's half-sister, Jai-Dean Copley of Garden
City S.C., asked the judges during the hearing to spare Edwards' life.
"It's what my brother would want," she said. "Do
not give this man (Edwards) what he wants. He's taken and taken his
entire life."
Copley said during a break in the proceedings that
"the worst hell for him would be life in prison."
Last year, Edwards was sentenced in Summit County
court to life in prison for the 1977 murders of Billy Lavaco, 21, of
Doylestown, and Judy Straub, 18, of Sterling. Their bodies were found
Aug. 8, 1977, in Silver Creek Park in Norton. Both were shot in the
neck with a shotgun. Edwards lived in Doylestown from 1974 to 1978.
He also admitted to the 1980 slayings of Tim Hack
and Kelly Drew, both 19, in Wisconsin. Their bodies were found after
they attended a wedding reception at a hall where Edwards worked as a
handyman. She was raped and strangled. Hack was stabbed.
Edwards was living in Kentucky when DNA evidence
linked him to the Wisconsin murders. He pleaded guilty, then contacted
Ohio investigators about the other cases.
Edwards lawyer declined to answer questions after
the hearing about his client's crimes.
"Mr. Edwards has nothing to say," attorney Greg
Meyers said. "A man should not be measured by his worst deed."
Edwards has diabetes and other illnesses but his
health has improved since he has been locked up. He has lost weight
since his earlier court appearances and no longer requires and oxygen
mask.
Copley said that she and her half-brother went into
foster care when their father fell on hard times.
"Our father fell into the bottle and couldn't get
out," she said. "But he was a good man."
Dannie Boy Edwards moved in with Edwards and his
wife in 1994, and he changed his name from Dannie Law Gloeckner.
Investigators said Dannie Boy admired Edwards and considered him a
father figure.
Geauga County Common Pleas Judges Forrest Burt and
David Fuhry and Visiting judge Walter Wyatt McKay accepted Edwards'
guilty plea and sentenced him.
Motivational Speaker Admits to Gruesome
'Sweetheart Slayings'
Edward Edwards Confessed to Killing 2 Young Couples
KTLA News
June 10, 2010
JEFFERSON, Wis. -- A young Edward Edwards once told
a nun he wanted to be crook.
After a stint on the FBI's Most Wanted List and
time in prison, he said he wanted to be reformed.
Instead, he now says, he became a murderer.
The ailing 76-year-old former con man, who once
described himself as a cross between John Dillinger and Don Juan,
admitted from his wheelchair Wednesday to killing a young Wisconsin
couple in 1980.
Edwards also agreed to plead guilty Friday to
fatally shooting a young Ohio couple in 1977.
He was being transported Thursday to Summit County,
Ohio, where he was to enter his guilty pleas in court on Friday.
All four slayings came years after Edwards claimed
to have turned his life around and started talking to others about
avoiding a life of crime.
"It's just one more step on the way to hell for
him," Patrick Hack, brother of 19-year-old victim Tim Hack, said of
Edwards' confessions.
Edwards, of Louisville, Ky., was arrested last July
after DNA connected him to the deaths of Hack and his 19-year-old
girlfriend, Kelly Drew.
The couple disappeared from a Wisconsin wedding
reception in August 1980.
Their bodies were found weeks later in the woods.
Investigators believe Hack was stabbed and Drew
strangled. Drew's clothes and underwear were slashed to ribbons.
In April, Edwards confessed to Ohio authorities
that he also shot Bill Lavaco, 21, of Doylestown and Judith Straub,
18, of Sterling in the neck at close range and left their bodies in a
park in August 1977.
His attorney, Jeffrey De La Rosa, said he didn't
know if more details ever would become known. Patrick Hack said he
didn't need to hear more.
"If he told you something, would you believe him?"
he said.
Born in Akron, Ohio, in 1933, Edwards wrote in his
1972 autobiography "Metamorphosis of a Criminal" that he spent his
early years being beaten by nuns in an orphanage.
When a nun asked him what he wanted to be, he told
her, "'Sister, I'm gonna be a crook, and I'm gonna be a good one."
Ruggedly handsome and just as cunning, he traveled
the country in the 1950s, hitchhiking, forging checks and having sex.
According to his book, he escaped from jail in
Akron in 1955 by pushing past a guard and fled across the country,
holding up gas stations for money. He never wore a mask because he
wanted to be famous.
In 1961 he landed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted
Fugitives List. He eventually was captured in Atlanta.
He said a guard at the federal prison in
Leavenworth, Kan., turned his life around. When paroled in 1967, he
remade himself into an inspirational speaker and eventually married.
In 1980, he began working as a handyman at the
reception hall where Hack and Drew were last seen. Investigators
questioned him shortly after the couple disappeared, and he abruptly
left the state.
He drifted to Pennsylvania where he burned down a
rented house and in 1982 was sentenced to more than 2 years in prison
for arson.
His movements in the 1990s remain a mystery. Police
in Louisville said he moved into a trailer park on the outskirts of
town in 2000.
A woman who answered the phone at the trailer home
Wednesday declined to comment and hung up without identifying herself.
Wisconsin investigators submitted DNA taken from
semen found on Drew's pants to state analysts in 2007.
They matched it to DNA from Edwards in June 2009.
Police have not said what led them to obtain DNA
from him.
Edwards suffers from diabetes, is confined to a
wheelchair and often showed up at court hearings hooked to an oxygen
tank.
He's been getting medical treatment at a state
prison in Waupun.
A grand jury in Ohio indicted Edwards Wednesday on
two counts of aggravated murder in Lavaco and Straub's deaths.
He signed a deal agreeing to plead guilty to all
four homicides and entered his plea to Hack and Drew's deaths in a
Wisconsin courtroom.
Ohio prosecutors plan to seek two consecutive life
sentences.
He'll then be sentenced for the Hack and Drew
homicides in Wisconsin, where he faces two mandatory life sentences.
Then he goes back to Ohio to start serving his
time.
De La Rosa said Edwards signed the agreement to
spare his wife, his family and the victims' families from sitting
through a trial. Drew's brother, Mike Drew, said he was surprised but
glad.
"I was hoping it would come to this," Mike Drew
said.
