RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The suspect in a Southern California triple homicide who died in a shootout with police on Friday is believed to have met with a teenage girl across the country before killing three members of her family. ah, according to the police.
Austin Lee Edwards, 28, also allegedly set fire to the family’s home in Riverside, California, before leaving with the girl. Deputies with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department killed Edwards after they found the teenager the same day, police said.
Until last month, Edwards was a trooper with the Virginia State Police, a spokesman for the agency said.
Edwards, who lives in North Chesterfield, Virginia, met the girl online and obtained her personal information by using a fake ID, known as “catfishing,” the Riverside Police Department said.
The bodies found in the home were identified as the girl’s grandmother and great-grandmother – Mark Winek, 69, his wife, Sharie Winek, 65, and their 38-year-old daughter Brooke Winek. Police said the exact cause of death is still under investigation.
The juvenile was unharmed and taken into the custody of the Riverside County Department of Social Services.
Police in Riverside, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles, received a welfare check call Friday morning about a man and woman involved in an altercation near a car. Investigators later determined that the two people were Edwards and the teenager, whose ages have not been released.
Authorities believe that Edwards parked his car on a neighboring street, walked to the house and killed the family members before leaving with the girl.
The disturbance was reported due to smoke and a possible building fire several houses away from the disturbance. The Riverside Fire Department found three adults lying by the front door and took them outside, where rescue workers “determined they were victims of apparent homicide,” police said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but it appears to have been “intentionally set,” police said.
Riverside authorities released a description of Edwards’ vehicle to law enforcement several hours after police found the vehicle containing Edwards and the teenager in Kelso, an undisclosed location in San Bernardino County. Edwards fired shots and was killed by deputies who returned fire, police said.
Edwards was hired by the Virginia State Police and entered the police academy on July 6, 2021. He graduated as a trooper on Jan. 21, 2022, and was assigned to Henrico County within the agency’s Richmond division until his resignation on Oct. 28, Virginia State Police Public Relations Manager Corinne Geller said in an email to The Associated Press.
Edwards also worked for the Washington County Sheriff’s Department in Virginia, California officials said. The sheriff’s department did not immediately respond to a request for more information about Edwards.
Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez called the case “another horrific reminder of the cyber predators preying on our children.”
“If you’ve already had a conversation with your kids about how to stay safe on the Internet and social media, talk to them again. If not, start now to better protect them,” Gonzalez said.