This is the reason parents warn their teenagers not to get involved with strangers online.
An online conversation in which a 28-year-old man presented himself as a 17-year-old, turned deadly after a Virginia sheriff’s deputy traveled all the way to California in his car and murdered three family members of a 15-year-old teenage girl he had been chatting with online, set their house on fire, and then kidnapped the girl.
Austin Lee Edwards, 28, an ex-trooper with the Virginia State Police, was working for the Washington County Sheriff’s office when he committed the heinous murders and then drove off with the teenager on Friday, November 25, 2022.
The Riverside Police Department received a 911 call in the morning requesting they do a welfare check after a teenager was seen unwillingly getting into a car with a stranger.
When the police responded to the scene, they received another 911 call about a fire at a nearby home. Fire officials rushed to the house fire and found three bodies. Police determined they had been the victims of a homicide.
The murder victims were identified as Mark Winek, 69, his wife Sharie Winek, 65, and their daughter, Brooke Winek, 38. The man who kidnapped the teenager was identified as Austin Lee Edwards.
Police tracked down Edwards’ car several hours later and found him driving around San Bernardino County with the girl. When the police encountered him, Edwards started shooting, and the deputies returned fire. Edwards died of a self-inflicted gunshot.
The kidnapped girl was not hurt in the gunfight or previously, and she was placed into the protective custody of a social services agency.
The Riverside Police Department released a statement saying that it appears the kidnapper/killer and the teenager had met online and developed a relationship. Edwards had “catfished” the teenager into a relationship under a false identity and had traveled from Virginia to California to meet her. When he entered the teen’s house, it is unknown what happened that caused him to kill the girl’s family and abduct her.
Edward, whose home is in North Chesterfield, traveled over 2,500 miles to Riverside to meet the girl.
In a statement released by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Blake Andis expressed his anger and shock that such a person could conceal his true identity as a murderer and gain employment in the department. He consoled the family and friends of the murder victims.
He said that the department had contacted all the man’s references and had not received any negative information about him.
The police have not yet released what happened in the house and what caused the fire, but it appears it was set deliberately. They also stated that they do not see any reason to think the girl was complicit in the crimes.