CATFISH Drives Cross-Country to Murder Family & 'ROMANCE' Teen Girl
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
3.9 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2022
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Austin Lee Edwards poses as a 17-year-old boy to talk online with a 15-year-old girl. He then drives across the country to her Riverside home when she stops responding. Edwards parks in a neighbor's driveway and goes inside the Winek home. Edwards kills the girl's mother and grandparents, sets the home on fire, and leaves with the girl.
A neighbor calls police after noticing Edwards leading the girl, who "appeared distressed," into his car. Another neighbor also calls 911 after seeing flames coming from the home. When police arrive, Edwards and the girl are gone. Brooke, Sherie, and Mark Winek's bodies are found inside the home; Brooke Winek's other daughter is not home.
Police get Edward's license plate from cameras in Winek's neighborhood and track him into the Mojave Desert. A helicopter spots the car and cops pursue Edwards, who fires at the officers. Edwards turns the gun on himself and crashes the car. The girl was unharmed during the kidnapping and is now in protective custody.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Darryl Cohen - Former Assistant District Attorney, Fulton County, Georgia, Defense Attorney, Cohen, Cooper, Estep, & Allen, LLC, CCEAlaw.com
- Dr. Scott A. Johnson - Forensic Psychologist (Minnesota), 32 years specializing in addressing sexual predators, Author: "When “I Love You” Turns Violent" and "Physical Abusers & Sexual Offenders"
- Dr. Tim Gallagher - Medical Examiner State of Florida; Lecturer: University of Florida Medical School Forensic Medicine; Founder/Host: International Forensic Medicine Death Investigation Conference
- Detective Rich Wistocki: Child crime expert, president of BeSure Consulting for 30 years, decorated member of Law Enforcement, 23-year SWAT team member; Formed the Will County Illinois States Attorney’s High Technology Crimes Unit that made over 90 sexual predator arrests in its first 3 ½ years.
- Titania Jordan - Chief Parenting/Marketing Officer, Bark Technologies, Author: "Parenting In A Tech World;" Instagram/Twitter: @TitaniaJordan, @BarkTechnologies
- Kristen Quon - reporter WCYB, @WCYB_Quon
- Dave Mack - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Cheryl McCollum, host of the brand new co-case podcast, Zone 7. |
| 0:04.1 | We're going to be talking to family members, detectives, prosecutors, and nationally recognized |
| 0:09.1 | experts that are in my Zone 7. The group of professionals that I've called on |
| 0:13.6 | to help me work hundreds of cases you've heard of and thousands you haven't. |
| 0:18.0 | We are going to solve these cases own air together. Listen to Zone 7 on the I Heart Radio app, |
| 0:25.2 | the Apple Podcast app or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. |
| 0:29.8 | I'm Joseph Scott Morgan. I was the youngest medical legal death investigator in the country. |
| 0:34.8 | The world that I inhabited gave me insight into things that most of the general public |
| 0:39.6 | can't even begin to imagine, always having to view the app normal in the context of the normal. |
| 0:45.7 | To make them make sense if you will, when all is said and done, I was the voice of the dead. |
| 0:51.5 | Listen to Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan on the I Heart Radio app, |
| 0:55.9 | Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:08.0 | A family wiped out in their Riverside California home. |
| 1:13.9 | Just let those words sink in for a moment. A family wiped out inside their home. |
| 1:22.3 | A triple homicide. I don't know how to put this. |
| 1:28.3 | It will be worse than a triple homicide, but a triple homicide of an entire family with a deeply |
| 1:38.4 | twisted motive. |
| 1:41.7 | I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and |
| 1:48.9 | Series XM 111. First of all, take a listen to this. |
| 1:53.7 | The details will make your heart sink. This is the home where it happened that's still a crime scene. |
| 1:59.1 | And the lady next door says she was more like family than an extor neighbor. |
| 2:03.2 | She had actually just gotten the turkey out of the refrigerator and walked outside for a second. |
... |
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