Former Virginia policeman 'catfishes' teen girl, travels to California and murders her mother and grandparents, kidnaps teen, dies in police shootout.

[essentialsaltes]

Virginia man accused of ‘catfishing’ teen before killing her family, police say​

A former Virginia police officer, believed to have murdered a teenager’s family in Riverside, California after “catfishing” her online, was killed in a shootout while trying to flee authorities, the city’s police department said in a news release.

The man [who kidnapped the teen] was eventually identified as Austin Lee Edwards, 28, of North Chesterfield, Virginia, according to the release.

Detectives said they believe Edwards had met the teen through the common form of online deception known as “catfishing,” where someone pretends to be a different person than they actually are.

According to police, Edwards had developed an online relationship with the teen and obtained her personal information. He then traveled from Virginia to Riverside, where he parked his vehicle in a neighbor’s driveway and walked to the teen’s home, the release stated. At some point, authorities believe Edwards murdered the teen’s grandfather, grandmother and mother before walking back to his vehicle with the teen and leaving.

 

[Brihaha]

This story is just horrific to me. I recall when we first got the internet with AOL and Compuserve dial up. Our two daughters were just entering their teens and I enforced the parental controls to prevent this kind of danger from happening to them. We argued almost daily about them only getting an hour online each day. And we argued about us parents getting emails informing us about the people they befriended online. It would have been much easier to cave in to our children and allow them to do what they wanted. But as parents we understood the responsibility we had to keep them from harm.

This poor girl is now traumatized for life. Kids just can't fathom how insidious people can be. Or how the internet can enable their evil to perpetuate. Stories like this really touch me deeply because this can happen to anyone nowadays.

 

[Michie]

This story is just horrific to me. I recall when we first got the internet with AOL and Compuserve dial up. Our two daughters were just entering their teens and I enforced the parental controls to prevent this kind of danger from happening to them. We argued almost daily about them only getting an hour online each day. And we argued about us parents getting emails informing us about the people they befriended online. It would have been much easier to cave in to our children and allow them to do what they wanted. But as parents we understood the responsibility we had to keep them from harm.

This poor girl is now traumatized for life. Kids just can't fathom how insidious people can be. Or how the internet can enable their evil to perpetuate. Stories like this really touch me deeply because this can happen to anyone nowadays.

Really shocking. Sadly people seem to be desensitized to it. These types of incidents barely get comments anymore unless it has some sort of political or anti-Christian bent to it.

 

[Brihaha]

Really shocking. Sadly people seem to be desensitized to it. These types of incidents barely get comments anymore unless it has some sort of political or anti-Christian bent to it.

I have noticed that too. It must be a defense mechanism to detach ourselves from all the violence in which we are constantly subjected. You are right to about the polarization too. Many people don't pay attention unless they can score some political points or use the violence as evidence of their preferred narrative being true. I even notice those tendencies in myself and struggle to keep an open mind occasionally. I think I'm glad I was born in 68 and am over the hill now. I don't think this society is sustainable as it is now.

 

[essentialsaltes]

‘Catfishing’ Virginia cop who killed California family was detained on psych evaluation in 2016 after violent threats and self-harm​

The Virginia police officer who “catfished” a 15-year-old California girl online and killed her mother and grandparents was detained for psychiatric evaluation in 2016 after threatening to kill himself and his father and experiencing relationship troubles with his girlfriend, according to a police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

When police arrived around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 8, 2016, they found that the home had a “large presence of blood inside” [from a self-inflicted cut on in his hand]. Edwards continued to resist authorities, refusing to let EMTs treat his injury and continuing to try to escape his father, according to the report.

Because of the suicidal and homicidal statements, an emergency custody order was issued, under which Edwards was transported to a local hospital, where medical professionals assessed whether he met the requirements for a temporary detention order, according to the report. A TDO, which allows law enforcement to take someone into custody and transport them for mental health evaluation or care if the person is unwilling to do so, was issued.

 

[essentialsaltes]

‘Catfishing’ Virginia cop who killed California family was detained on psych evaluation in 2016 after violent threats and self-harm​

Probably not really relevant to the murders in the OP, but...

Virginia police blame ‘human error’ in hiring of cop who later killed 3 in California​

Virginia State Police now blame “human error” for the agency’s hiring of Austin Lee Edwards, the cop who killed the grandparents and mother of a 15-year-old California girl he “catfished” online.

“Human error resulted in an incomplete database query during Edwards’ hiring process,” Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said in a news release Wednesday.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Co-workers of cop who killed 3 in California took items from his home before official search​

Co-workers of Austin Lee Edwards, the Virginia deputy who killed the grandparents and mother of a 15-year-old Riverside girl he “catfished” online, removed a sheriff’s truck and a black trash bag from Edwards’ property the night before it was officially searched, according to a witness and a video reviewed by The Times.

Two deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the law enforcement agency that employed Edwards immediately before his death, arrived at the white Cape Cod-style home with blacked-out windows late on Nov. 25, the day of the killings.

The Smyth County (Va.) Sheriff’s Office executed the official search warrant on the house, according to Railsback.

It was not immediately clear whether the Washington County Sheriff’s Office had a warrant for Edwards’ property, but legal experts say there are few — if any — legitimate reasons for law enforcement officers from a different county to go onto a property before an official search.

“This is strange right off the bat because Washington County doesn’t have jurisdiction to do anything in Smyth County,” said Yancey Ellis, a partner in Carmichael, Ellis & Brock, a criminal defense firm in Alexandria, Va.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Austin Lee Edwards, the now-deceased cop who “catfished” a 15-year-old Riverside girl and killed her grandparents and mother last month, disclosed during his application to become a Virginia state trooper that he had voluntarily checked himself into a mental health facility several years earlier, according to records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

The Virginia State Police hired him anyway.

[State police's earlier description of 'human error' appears to have been 'human butt covering']

 

[keith99]

‘Catfishing’ Virginia cop who killed California family was detained on psych evaluation in 2016 after violent threats and self-harm​

The Virginia police officer who “catfished” a 15-year-old California girl online and killed her mother and grandparents was detained for psychiatric evaluation in 2016 after threatening to kill himself and his father and experiencing relationship troubles with his girlfriend, according to a police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

When police arrived around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 8, 2016, they found that the home had a “large presence of blood inside” [from a self-inflicted cut on in his hand]. Edwards continued to resist authorities, refusing to let EMTs treat his injury and continuing to try to escape his father, according to the report.

Because of the suicidal and homicidal statements, an emergency custody order was issued, under which Edwards was transported to a local hospital, where medical professionals assessed whether he met the requirements for a temporary detention order, according to the report. A TDO, which allows law enforcement to take someone into custody and transport them for mental health evaluation or care if the person is unwilling to do so, was issued.

This little bit from the same article pushes the story to something I find to be much more frightening than the original disturbing story:

Edwards, 28, a former Virginia state cop who in November joined the sheriff’s office in Washington County, Va., as a deputy

There should be no way he could pass a background check to become a police officer.

 

[essentialsaltes]

There should be no way he could pass a background check to become a police officer.

Well, we'll definitely get to the bottom of things now.

Agreement with watchdog agency allows Virginia State Police to investigate itself​

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Late last year, with the Virginia State Police under scrutiny after authorities said a former trooper kidnapped a 15-year-old California girl and killed three members of her family, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he had requested a full investigation by the state’s watchdog agency.

 

[keith99]

Well, we'll definitely get to the bottom of things now.

Agreement with watchdog agency allows Virginia State Police to investigate itself​

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Late last year, with the Virginia State Police under scrutiny after authorities said a former trooper kidnapped a 15-year-old California girl and killed three members of her family, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he had requested a full investigation by the state’s watchdog agency.

Rather disturbing. Since few will bother to read your link I'm going to point out a couple of things.

On his application for the state police he disclosed he had checked himself into a mantal hospital. He then failed the required evaluation.

After leaving the state police he got another police job in Virginia. Guess they messed up too.

The good news is that there are multiple civil lawsuits being filed. Hopefully some truth will come out because of them.

 

[Pommer]

Rather disturbing. Since few will bother to read your link I'm going to point out a couple of things.

On his application for the state police he disclosed he had checked himself into a mantal hospital. He then failed the required evaluation.

After leaving the state police he got another police job in Virginia. Guess they messed up too.

The good news is that there are multiple civil lawsuits being filed. Hopefully some truth will come out because of them.

I’m very sure that with retirements and a resignation or two, here-or-there, the State Police there in Virginia, will be able to successfully cover enough posteriors, while mollifying the hoi polloi.

 

[essentialsaltes]

This was not a happy story to begin with.

Mychelle Blandin was getting ready to buy Christmas lights when her mother called in a panic. She was speaking too fast for Blandin to understand. Blandin asked her mother to take a breath and start again.

In a shaky voice, Sharie Winek explained that a detective had shown up at her home in Riverside. He needed to speak to her 15-year-old granddaughter [Mychelle's niece]. It was urgent.

His request was odd. It was around 9 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. Why did the detective need to speak with them immediately?

Blandin called her mother to say Brooke [her sister] and the 15-year-old were on their way to [the house]. [Brooke had dropped off her other daughter at Blandin's house before going to meet the detective.]

Again, her mom’s voice was trembling and her words ran together. Once more, Blandin told her mother to take a breath and start over.

The detective, she told Blandin, had pictures of the inside of the house.

She didn’t want him to take the teen away.

The detective took the phone from Blandin’s mother and placed it to his ear.

“I’m here with your mom,” he said. “She is kind of being anxious and freaking out.”

“My mother wants to be cooperative.”

--

During the slayings, Blandin’s 15-year-old niece had gotten too warm in her mother’s car and wondered what was taking so long. She left her shoes in the car and walked barefoot inside the house. Her grandmother, Sharie, was still moving.