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Mack Ray
EDWARDS |
Mack
Ray Edwards
Mack
Ray Edwards mugshot arrest
Search underway for victim of
serial killer Mack Ray Edwards
October 6, 2008.
Mammoth Lakes Sgt. Paul Dostie, left, and forensic anthropologist
Dan Larson from Cal State Long Beach join several dozen local, state
and federal authorities and other forensic scientists in the search
for the remains of 16-year-old Roger Dale Madison.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Larson uses a probe to dig up dirt in an area
beside what are now the southbound lanes of 23 Freeway at the Tierra
Rejada Road exit. The effort is expected to take anywhere from days to
a week or more to complete.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Law enforcement agencies band together in hopes
of bringing closure
for Madison’s surviving
family members.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Caltrans officials Christina Ruano and Doug
Failing look at the pictures of missing people possibly killed by Mack
Ray Edwards. Edwards, who killed himself in prison years ago,
confessed in 1970 to killing six children. He later told a jailer the
real number was closer to two dozen.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Sherry Barlow, 50 and her daughter Rebekah
Kelton, 19, flew from McAlester, Oklahoma to California on Oct. 9 to
visit the site where authorities are searching for the body of her
brother, Roger Dale Madison, who has was killed in 1968. Barlow says
she is grateful for everything that's being done whether they find
Roger's body or not.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The search continued as
authorities watch while a large excavator digs down to approximately
19-20 feet
looking for remains of 16-year-old murder victim Roger Dale
Madison.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Sgt. Paul Dostie, of the Mammoth Lakes Police
Department, gives a drink of water to
his Black Lab "Buster"
after
they look for signs in the hole as the search continued.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Police continue to excavate along the Tierra
Rejada Road exit ramp
to the South
bound 23 freeway in Moorpark.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Known Victims
Edwards was convicted of the murders of three children:
* Stella Darlene Nolan, age 8, of Compton, who
disappeared June 20, 1953.
* Gary Rochet, age 16, of Granada Hills, who was found after having been
shot to death on November 26, 1968.
* Donald Allen Todd, age 13, of Pacoima, who disappeared May 16, 1969.
Edwards confessed to three additional killings. Because
the bodies of the victims were not recovered,
he was never officially
charged with these murders:
* Don Baker, 13, and Brenda Howell, age 11, of Azusa, who
disappeared August 6, 1956.
Howell was Edwards' sister-in-law.
* Roger Madison, 16, of Sylmar, disappeared December 16, 1968.
Possible Victims
Edwards may have committed other murders, but his own
account was inconsistent: while in prison he claimed to have killed 18
children, but in an interview with the Los Angeles Times he said the
number was only six. The 12-year span between Baker's and Howell's
disappearances and Rochet's shooting has led investigators to suspect
Edwards may have claimed more victims in between.
As of March 2007, the Los Angeles Police Department is
investigating the possibility of Edwards' involvement in the
disappearance of Tommy Bowman, 8, of Redondo Beach, who disappeared in
Pasadena on March 23, 1957. Author Weston DeWalt was researching the
Bowman disappearance when he noticed the similarity between a photo of
Edwards and a sketch of Bowman's abductor. DeWalt was later shown a
letter from Edwards to his wife in which Edwards states that he "left
out" Tommy Bowman from his confession to police.
Edwards is also considered a suspect in the
disappearances of Bruce Kremen of Granada Hills and Karen Lynn Tompkins
and Dorothy Gale Brown of Torrance.
Bruce
Kremen, 6, disappeared from a YMCA
camp in Angeles National Forest on July 12, 1960.
 
Karen Lynn
Tompkins, 11,
disappeared on August 18, 1961.
Dorothy Gale
Brown, also 11, disappeared on July 3,
1962. She had been molested and drowned.
Her body was recovered from the
ocean off of Marina Del Rey.
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