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Ed Edwards was an Ohio serial killer who was convicted of five murders. Before getting caught, Edwards was on the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives list. He confessed to killing his foster son and two young couples for over two decades. Over the years after he was convicted, many people have also been suspecting that Ed Edwards was indeed the Zodiac Killer, who was also known to have committed 5 murders, according to The U.S. Sun.
On August 8, 1977, the bodies of 21-year-old Billy Lavaco and 18-year-old Judy Straub were found in Silver Creek Park in Norton. The victims had been shot in the neck. They were reportedly shot point-blank with a 20-gauge shotgun, CNN reported. Edward Edwards admitted to the crime while in custody after he was arrested for other killings.
Three years later, Tim Hack and Kelly Drew, who were both 19 years old, were found dead in a Wisconsin cornfield, Cleveland 19 reported. They were found after disappearing from a wedding reception on August 9, 1980. Tim Hack was stabbed to death. Kelly Drew was raped and strangled. These were important crimes that led to Ed Edwards getting caught.
The wedding reception was to be held at Concord House, a dance house in Sullivan, west of Milwaukee. Tim Hack’s car was found parked outside the venue. Five days after the couple went missing, Kelly Drew’s pants and underwear were found shredded on the road, a little away from Concord’s house. Edwards was reportedly a handyman in a building adjacent to the wedding hall. Edwards’ DNA matched the semen sample found in Drew’s underwear, NBC News reported.
When did the Ohio serial killer kill his foster son Dannie Boy?
Edward Edwards’ final known murder was that of his son Dannie Boy in 1996. He reportedly adopted Edwards’ last name out of his respect for his foster father.
Dannie Boy was 25 years old and reportedly considered Edward Edwards as family when he was killed. His foster father reportedly convinced Dannie to return to their Truy Township home from the army in May 1996. He claimed he would help the boy escape the army and avoid contact. He then took Dannie Boy into the nearby woods and shot him in the face, leading to his death. The serial killer allegedly wished to collect Boy’s $250,000 insurance amount, according to Cleveland.com.
A hunter who promptly reported them then found Dannie Boy’s skeletal remains. They were only found less than a mile away from Edward Edwards’ Try Township home, in a shallow grave behind a cemetery. Although an investigation into the remains included an interrogation of the serial killer too, no charges were filed against him at that time. He was taken into custody in July 2009 after his daughter, April Balascio, told authorities of her suspicions that her father might be a killer.
Balascio was one of Edwards’ five children and was reportedly always doubtful about her father’s past. According to People Magazine, he claimed to be completely reformed after meeting Balascio’s mother. He gave off an image of a happy family man, which delayed his arrest to quite an extent. She also found out that it was her father who was the reason for her mother’s hospitalization before she died.
How much prison time did Edward Edwards get?
Ed Edwards was reportedly given a sentence of life in prison when he was convicted of the murder of the two couples. However, on March 8, 2011, after he was found guilty of killing his foster son, he was sentenced to death. The serial killer was supposed to be executed on August 31, 2011, by lethal injection. However, he died of natural causes at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s Medical Center in Columbus. By then, he was reportedly in a wheelchair and suffered from diabetes, among other illnesses. He was 77 at the time of death, Cleveland.com reported.
The murders of Kelly Drew and Tim Hack came to be known as the Sweetheart Murders. John Edwards was another one of his children who helped get his father caught for his many crimes. Investigators spoke to his co-workers, who claimed that he was a short-tempered man who they believed was abusive towards his family members. He also reportedly fled the area he lived in after every murder he committed, taking his family with him.
According to Oxygen, his troubled past of growing up in an orphanage and his early stints with crime were a major clue for investigators who narrowed down on him. The Ohio serial killer was reportedly arrested once before in 1962 and spent 5 years behind bars. This was because of his involvement in an armed bank robbery.
It Was Him: The Many Murders of Ed Edwards is a true-crime documentary that includes accounts from FBI agents and the convicted serial killer’s family. It draws parallels between the killing patterns and crimes of the Zodiac Killer, Ed Edwards, and the Black Dahlia.
