RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KERO) — A Riverside family was killed and their home was set on fire by a former cop from Virginia on Friday, November 25th. The former officer drove across the country looking for the 15-year-old girl he allegedly met online.
Police say it all began 2,500 miles away with Virginia police officer and former state trooper Austin Lee Edwards. The 28-year-old allegedly posed as someone else and lured the girl into an online relationship, a scheme known as catfishing. Police believe Edwards traveled across the country to the home of the girl's grandparents, killing the couple and the girl's mother before setting the house on fire.
"We had a grandmother, grandfather, and a mother of this teen murdered by this suspect who traveled from across the country for most likely would be the sexual exploitation of this teenager," said Officer Ryan Railsback of the Riverside Police Department.
Police responded to a call about a distressed girl rushing away with a man in a red KIA SUV. A sheriff's chopper tracked the car before Edwards allegedly led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a shootout with a SWAT team in the Mojave Desert. Edwards was killed and the teenage girl was rescued unharmed.
Police say this is a painful reminder to parents that they must try to be aware of who their kids are talking with online.
