New information about the Virginian cop killer's catfishing murder case was revealed in the lawsuit filed against the Virginia State Police.
Before the nightmare incident happened, Austin Lee Edwards was a deputy hired by the Virginia Sheriff's Department. But, he did a very unexpected thing on Nov. 25.
A black band with the badge number of Virginia State Police Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates is worn on the badges of fellow troopers during his funeral at Saint Paul's Baptist Church on August 18, 2017, in Richmond, Virginia.
He kidnapped a 15-year-old girl and sexually extorted her. After that, the ex-cop killed his victim's grandparents and mother. What he did was truly unforgettable.
Now, the lawsuit claims that there's already a sign that Edwards was a criminal even before he became a police.
Virginia Cop Catfishing Murder Case Update
According to Fox News' latest report, the federal lawsuit claims that two law enforcement agencies missed a red flag when they were hiring Austin Lee Edwards.
This is specifically the 2016 court action that revoked the ex-cop's gun rights after he threatened to kill his own father and tried hurting himself.
The $50 million lawsuit argues the gruesome crime that Edwards did in the city of Riverside.
"If the VSP or the WCSO had performed a background check on Edwards, neither of them would have hired Edwards," explained the lawsuit.
"A spokesperson for the VSP has admitted that the failure to perform a background check on Edwards was the result of 'human error,'" it added.
The VSP spokesperson said if they saw the red flag, they would not have hired Austin Lee Edwards or any other officer candidate with the same issue, especially if they have been detained under a temporary detention order or an emergency custody order.
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Austin Lee Edwards' Gruesome Crime
A Virginia State Police officer watches the police line set up at the site of Tuesday's fatal shooting at the Chesapeake Walmart Supercenter on November 23, 2022, in Chesapeake, Virginia. Six people, including the suspected gunman, are dead following the Tuesday night shooting.
The New York Post reported that in 2022, Austin Lee Edwards pretended to be a 17-year-old boy to catfish his 15-year-old victim.
After fooling the poor girl, he kidnapped her and killed her family. Aside from this, he also burned down their house.
When the police were trying to arrest him, a shootout happened. However, before cops were able to catch him, he took his own life.
Based on court documents, the little girl, who wasn't identified, was just 13 years old when Austin started messaging her.
The criminal asked her to send nude photos, which were confirmed by the 4,000 messages between the two that authorities acquired.
As of writing, the surviving daughter of the two grandparents that Austin killed is blaming the Virginia State Police and Washington County Sheriff's Office for what happened.
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