Edward Edwards Dead at 77

The Louisville con man and serial killer Edward W. Edwards is dead. He passed away in prison in Columbus, Ohio two weeks ago and I somehow just now heard about it.

Edwards reportedly died of natural causes, not "prison justice", and it couldn't happen to a more deserving person, but nonetheless I wish he'd lived awhile longer so that police might have more opportunities to elicit more confessions out of his bloated hide. Phil Stanford, in his great book The Peyton-Allan Files, speculates on the possible cold case files still languishing out there that might be Ed's work.


Order Stanford's book here.

The Man With the Hook

Ever heard the common urban legend about "the man with the hook"? A young couple is listening to the car radio making out in a secluded Lover's Lane spot when a hook-handed serial killer attacks and kills them. Although Edward W. Edwards doesn't have a hook for a hand, he was an early suspect in the double murder of a pair of young Oregon lovers under similar circumstances in 1960. Larry Peyton's body was found with multiple stab wounds in a park in November 1960 and his girlfriend Beverly Ann Warren turned up 43 days later, hidden in another location and also stabbed to death.

Edwards, you'll recall, was arrested in his Louisville trailer park home back in 2009 and arrested for the 1980 murder of another pair of lovers, Tim Hack and Kelly Drew in Wisconsin. It was soon discovered that Edwards was a serial killer with a predilection for young couples, and before long, cold case files started coming out of the woodwork with previously-unnoticed connections to Edwards. Edwards may or may not have been the inspiration for the "Man With the Hook" legend, but some are starting to suggest that he may even be The Zodiac Killer, or at least responsible for some of the murders attributed to him.


I've been toying with writing a book about Edwards, but I recently read The Peyton-Allan Files, by investigator Phil Stanford, which totally blew me out of the water and makes me rethink the whole thing. Stanford, a native of Portland, has done meticulous research in the deaths of Peyton and Allan, and has gone straight to the horse's mouth and contacted Edwards in prison.

Edwards was in Portland when the Peyton-Allan murders occurred, and was even arrested and brought in for questioning because of a suspicious gunshot wound he had. Edwards escaped from jail before he could be interrogated, an experience he details in his bizarre autobiography Metamorphosis of a Criminal.

I highly recommend Stanford's book, which you can obtain here or here or here.


Among the most interesting of Stanford's revelations is that Edwards at one point was claiming to be a CIA agent on a secret mission for the U.S. Government's intelligence bureau. Although it's highly likely this was just another scam from a lifelong con man (he also posed as a psychiatrist while on the lam), I'm intrigued by the idea that Edwards may have had possible CIA connections.

It is true that many ordinary people over the years have been used by the CIA for one-off jobs, but not actually employed as bonafide agents. Sometimes it happens that these people - waiters, cab drivers, street hustlers - develop an exaggerated sense of importance and go around declaring themselves to be "working for the CIA", which of course the agency must then deny.

Edwards is now 77 and in rapidly declining health. Who knows how many more of his crimes remain unknown and unsolved? While he's still breathing, we need more researchers like Stanford to dig for the truth about his complicated and twisted life.

Two Life Sentences for Edward W. Edwards

From the Associated Press:

Aging Kentucky con man Edward W. Edwards has been sentenced to two life terms in prison for killing a Wisconsin couple 30 years ago.

The sentence in Jefferson County Circuit Court Monday comes just 10 days after Edwards pleaded guilty to killing another couple near Akron, Ohio, in 1977 and was given two life sentences in that state. The 77-year-old Edwards will serve his sentences in Ohio.

He won't be eligible for parole consideration in Ohio until he is 97.

Edwards told The Associated Press last week that he killed a fifth person in 1996, a 24-year-old man he considered a foster son.

Edward W. Edwards Confesses Murder of Foster Son

Has it really been almost a year since we first reported on serial killer Edward W. Edwards turning up living in Louisville after years of being a fugitive from the law? It was in July 2009 that we first reported on his arrest for the murders of a pair of Wisconsin newlyweds, and it was in August of that year that news broke about his being a suspect in the murder of his own foster son, Dannie Boy Edwards.

Today, the suspicion is at an end: Edwards has admitted everything, including slaying Dannie Boy Edwards. According to WTMJ:

Edward W. Edwards, 77, said he lured Dannie Boy Edwards to a secluded cemetery near the family's home in Burton, Ohio, in 1996. He said he pressed a 20-gauge shotgun to the man's chest and pulled the trigger twice.

Edwards said he was angry because the man, who was in his mid-20s when he was killed, had stolen credit cards and other belongings from his children and he wanted to collect on $250,000 worth of life insurance.

This brings Edwards' body count to five so far, but Edwards insists there are no more. He has pleaded guilty to the 1977 Ohio murders of William Lavaco and Judith Straub, and of Tim Hack and Kelly Drew in Wisconsin in 1980.

Edward W. Edwards Admits to Two More Murders

Louisville's serial killer Edward W. Edwards has some more breaking news. This from Channel 3000:

MADISON, Wis. -- Authorities in Ohio said Tuesday that Edward W. Edwards has confessed to a 33-year-old double homicide, according to a CNN report.

Edwards, 76, is awaiting trial in Wisconsin's Jefferson County in a separate double homicide case. He's accused of killing two teenage sweethearts nearly 30 years ago in Jefferson County.

Edwards faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Tim Hack and Kelly Drew, who disappeared from a wedding reception in Sullivan in 1980. Their bodies were found in the woods weeks later.

The Summit County prosecutor's office and the Norton Police Department said that Edwards has admitted killing a young Ohio couple in 1977, CNN reported.

In the Wisconsin case, investigators arrested Edwards in July after they matched DNA on Drew to him.

His trial in Jefferson County is set to begin June 14.

Note that the Jefferson County referred to in the article is in Wisconsin. Edwards had been living in Louisville for years when he became implicated in crimes in Wisconsin. Since then, he's become a suspect in many other cold case files.

Edward Wayne Edwards Admits Sex with Victim

"Men Behaving Badly" seems to be an unfortunate recurring theme in Kentucky news lately... in just the last month and a half, I've had to report on a psycho politician, a pastor turned pedo, a pedo turned pastor, a soldier turned pedo and psycho, a coach who has your kids baptized without permission, and a coach who cheated on his wife by having sex in a restaurant.

On behalf on my gender, I urge you, dear reader, not to hold it against menfolk in general. Some of us are perfectly gentlemanly metrosexuals who listen to Belle & Sebastian and run their juicer daily. And as your humble editor and blogger, I apologize for all this depressing "Guys Gone Bad" stuff as of late, but really, it's all just too seethingly nutsy not to cover. I promise to talk more about ducks and stuff in the near future.

And with that, I'm afraid I must now delve into yet another story about yet another scumbag: our old fiend Edward Wayne Edwards from Louisville is in the news again.

Edwards is currently facing trial for the murders of teenage newlyweds Tim Hack and Kelly Drew, and probably soon to face trial for other killings as well, like that of Dannie Boy Edwards. He has currently not entered a plea, but it's expected he'll plead not guilty, since he's now claiming he didn't kill anyone. According to the Associated Press:

Asked how his DNA got on Drew's pants, Edwards said he drank with Hack and Drew and had consensual sex with her in a field outside the reception hall, prosecutors said. The complaint does not specify where the three allegedly drank.

Edwards told detectives he saw Hack fight with two men, and the men stomped Hack to death as Drew screamed. He then saw three men stomp Drew to death as she lay on her back. He said he didn't intervene or tell police because he didn't want to get involved, according to the complaint.

So, Edwards would have us believe that a 19-year old bride had consensual sex with this shambling heap of a man in a field on the evening of her wedding reception? And that her new husband was apparently cool with that? And that they all sat around drinking together when the young couple should logically be headed off on their honeymoon? And then a team of unknown assailants suddenly jumped out of the bushes and killed the two teens but not Edwards? And that he didn't call the cops because he "didn't want to get involved"?

Clearly, this man is not running on all his cylinders.

Crazy Ed's story not only doesn't jibe with common sense, it doesn't fit the forensics. If he, as he now claims, watched these mystery men stomp Kelly Drew to death, why did the autopsy clearly indicate her wrists and ankles had been tied up? Why were her clothes cut into pieces and strewn around a road five miles away? Why was she strangled, and why was the groom stabbed, if Edwards says he saw them "stomped to death"?

Dannie Boy Edwards

Uh-oh. The strange saga of Edward W. Edwards continues: enter stage left, Dannie Boy Edwards.

Sheriff Dan McClelland of Geauga County, OH, has announced his intention to further question Edward Wayne Edwards regarding the 1997 death of one Dannie Boy Edwards. His dead body was found near the Cleveland-area home that he and Edward shared in 1997.

McClelland was quoted by UPI as saying, "He's (been) a person of interest since the onset of the case. He was questioned back then. He was not arrested. He was a person of interest because of the relationship that existed between the two."

And exactly was kind of relationship was that?

Well, Dannie Boy Edwards, 25, was actually named Dannie Law Gloeckner. At some point while he and Edward were living together, he legally changed his last name to take on Edward's surname and, most curiously, to change his middle name to "Boy". According to WISN-TV:

Ohio investigators watched news of Edwards' arrest and recognized the man. He had left town in 1997, shortly after the homicide of a young man he'd treated like a son.

"There was an attempt to take the young man in. He became very close to the family. They talked about adopting but that was not allowed, and the victim changed his given name to Edwards' last name," Geauga County, Ohio Sheriff's Department Sgt. Brian Johnston said.

Shortly after Dannie Boy Gloeckner changed his name to Dannie Boy Edwards, he was found dead from a shotgun wound to the head.

Immediately after Dannie's murder, Ed packed up and quietly left town.

And that's not the only new corpse to come out of the woodwork since Ed was nabbed for the murders of Kelly Drew and Tim Hack. From WISN again:

Last month, Hack's father suggested there might be other victims.

"He's going to be connected with something else along the same lines. He was a no good," Hack said.

Earlier this month, Portland, Ore., prosecutors said they'd revisit the 1960 case of another pair of slain young lovers.

Edwards was an early suspect in that case, and made the FBI's most wanted list when he escaped from jail while awaiting questioning on the case.

That pair of Portland young lovers would be Larry Peyton and Beverly Ann Warren. Peyton's body was found with multiple stab wounds in a park in November 1960 and his girlfriend Beverly's turned up two months later, hidden in another location and also stabbed to death.

Edwards was being held for questioning regarding those murders, but he escaped from jail. This is the incident he was referring to in his book Metamorphosis of a Criminal. What I can't figure out is how he continued to go on about his life, still using his unusual real name, and openly bragging about the incident in a book and a spoken-word record album, without anyone tracking him down. Ed wasn't just hiding in plain sight, he wasn't even hiding.

And something tells me we've still just scraped the top of the bloody iceberg in the crazy world of Edward Edwards...

Attack of the Killer Waynes

That man! Accused murderer and noted Grimace impersonator Edward Wayne Edwards made it to the News of the Weird this week. Someone with Aspergerian attention for detail noticed that apparently "Wayne" tends to be a classic middle name for murderers:

Arrested recently and awaiting trial for murder: Jerry Wayne Damron, Taylorsville, N.C. (July); Edward Wayne Edwards, Louisville, Ky. (August); Anthony Wayne Thomas, Orlando, Fla., (June); Travis Wayne Baczewski, Austin, Texas (July). Indicted recently for murder: Heath Wayne Overstreet, Roanoke, Va. (July); John Wayne Boyer, Nashville, Tenn. (August); David Wayne Hoshaw, Norfolk, Va. (August); Kenneth Wayne Baker, Churchville, Va. (July). Federal appeal of murder conviction denied: Mark Wayne Wiles, Ravenna, Ohio (August). Sentenced for murder: Carl Wayne Bowen, Swansea, Wales (July). And, alas, comes word from Caroline County, Va., that John Wayne Peck, who made this list upon his arrest in 2007 for murder, was found not guilty by a jury (July).

Immediately John Wayne Gacy comes to mind, as well as (dis-)honorable mention to Wayne Williams. One could go quite mad pondering Wayneness.

"Metamorphosis of a Criminal"

We reported recently on how the long arm of the law caught up with accused killer Edward W. Edwards from Louisville, and there's been some speculation about whether Edwards may have committed other crimes. Well, wonder no more.

It's now been revealed that Ed was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List in 1961, that he may have robbed more than one bank, and that he wrote a book about his life of crime in 1972 called Metamorphosis of a Criminal. Unfortunately, booksellers have quickly become hip to this, and have jacked up their asking prices for used copies.

Stranger still, it's come out that he even recorded a spoken-word religious album called Build a Fire in the Person and Not Under Them at some point. Somebody, somewhere, please find me a copy of this record. I will pay you real money. Srsly.

On that album's liner notes, he reportedly admits he was arrested by Portland, Oregon police in 1960 for double murder, and that he escaped from prison the very next day. He doesn't go on to say what happened next.

Even more bizarre, apparently Edwards was a contestant on the game show To Tell The Truth at some point in his life, but we don't know when.

Something tells me the nuttiness factor is just going to keep growing exponentially with this guy as we learn more about his past life of crime. Developing........

Edward W. Edwards

This just in from FOX News:

Prosecutors have charged a Kentucky man with killing two high school sweethearts who disappeared from a Wisconsin wedding reception nearly 30 years ago.

Edward W. Edwards, 76, of Louisville, Ky. faces two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Tim Hack and Kelly Drew, who were both 19. Wisconsin investigators arrested Edwards Thursday afternoon in Louisville. Jefferson County District Attorney Susan V. Happ filed the charges later that day.

According to the criminal complaint, Hack's father reported Hack and Drew missing on the morning of Aug. 10, 1980. He told deputies the couple had gone to a wedding reception at the Concord House in Sullivan, a town about 40 miles west of Milwaukee.

The two were last seen leaving the reception around 11 p.m. Hack's father found Hack's car in the Concord House parking lot the next morning, still locked with Hack's wallet inside.

Searchers combed the countryside for two months. A week after the couple disappeared, they found Drew's pants, bra and underwear in the road about within 5 miles of the Concord House. The garments had been cut apart.

In October 1980 hunters found Drew's body in the woods about 8 miles from the Concord House. The next day searchers found Hack's body in the same area.

A medical examiner found ligature marks on Drew's ankles and wrists, the complaint said, suggesting she had been tied up. She apparently had been strangled. Hack, meanwhile, had been stabbed in the back and the chest.

Edward W. Edwards worked as a handyman at the Concord House and campgrounds next to the hall where Hack and Drew's wedding reception had been. When investigators talked to witnesses, they all remembered that Edwards had a bloody nose during that weekend. He told them he had hurt it while deer hunting. Edwards himself was talked to by police about the case in 1980.

When detectives paid Edwards a visit last month, he told them he had never heard of the case at all. When reminded that he had, in fact, been questioned in 1980 about the case, he suddenly remembered, ohhhh yeah, you mean that couple of missing newlyweds from next door who I was interrogated about... right. (Reminds me of David Ferrie being grilled by Jim Garrison in the film JFK.)

But when Edwards stated that he had never been deer hunting, the investigators knew something wasn't right.

And on July 8, Edwards' DNA was found in tests to be a perfect match with DNA taken from semen found on Drew's pants.