RivCo Killings Prompt Virginia Governor To Call For Investigation

VIRGINIA — Virginia's governor has asked for an investigation into the hiring of a now-deceased Virginia lawman who killed three family members of a 15-year-old Riverside girl he “catfished” online, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin requested his state’s inspector general look into the hiring of Deputy Austin Lee Edwards, press secretary Macaulay Porter told the Times on Thursday.

Edwards was a trooper with the Virginia State Police for nine months before he resigned on Oct. 28. He worked as a deputy at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office before killing himself last month with his service weapon during a law enforcement shootout in the Mojave Desert. He was 28 years old.

In a Friday email to Patch, Porter wrote, "The governor has asked the inspector general of Virginia to look into this matter and has full confidence that they will follow the evidence, wherever it may lead."

On Wednesday, Virginia television news station CBS 6 News broke the story that Youngkin had requested an investigation.

“Once the investigation is completed, there will be full transparency,” the governor told reporters.

The news follows statements from Virginia's Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia State Police confirming no red flags were raised during their hiring and subsequent employment of Edwards — the only suspect in Riverside's Thanksgiving weekend killing spree of Mark Winek, 69, Sharie Winek, 65, and their daughter 38-year-old Brooke Winek.

Edwards had adopted the online persona of a 17-year-old boy in order to lure Brooke Winek's teen daughter, according to the Riverside Police Department. He drove from North Chesterfield, Virginia, to her Riverside home, killed her mother and grandparents, and set fire to the residence before fleeing with the 15-year-old, police reported.

Following a law enforcement chase and gun battle in the Mojave Desert, Edwards died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the same day as the Riverside killings; the girl was rescued, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The department initially reported Edwards was shot and killed by deputy gunfire.

Edwards' past raises questions about the vetting processes of the Virginia law enforcement agencies that hired him.

According to a police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times, in the early morning hours after the 2016 Super Bowl, police were called to Edwards' home in Abingdon, Virginia.

Edwards' father, Christopher Roy Edwards, told police he awoke because his then-21-year-old son was making noise in a bathroom. The elder Edwards used a screwdriver to get the locked bathroom door open and found his son with a cut hand — and knives and a small hatchet nearby, the Times reported.

Police were called because of Austin Edwards’ “resistance to medical aid and attempts to escape his father’s control,” according to the Times.

There was also a scuffle between the two men around the time of the Super Bowl. At one point, Edwards tried to leave the home, but his father subdued him in the kitchen, according to the Times.

Christopher Edwards had bite marks on both his arms from his son, the Times reported.Following the bathroom incident, the younger Edwards resisted authorities, so he was handcuffed, placed on a stretcher and sent to a local hospital. He told police he was going to kill himself and his father once the cuffs were off, the Times reported.

Because of his suicidal and homicidal statements, an emergency custody order was issued for Edwards and a temporary detention order followed, according to the newspaper.

About five years later, on July 6, 2021, Edwards entered the Virginia State Police Academy. He graduated Jan. 21 as a trooper and was assigned to Henrico County, within the Richmond Division, according to a statement from Virginia State Police.

Edwards resigned Oct. 28, and started as a patrol deputy with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 16. He started orientation and was assigned to the patrol division at the time of the Riverside killings, according to the sheriff's office.

"Past employers and the Virginia State Police were contacted during the hiring processing; however, no employers disclosed any troubles, reprimands, or internal investigations pertaining to Edwards," according to a Nov. 28 sheriff's office statement.

Virginia State Police issued the following statement, "... the Virginia State Police utilizes standardized performance evaluations for all sworn employees, which includes a personnel early intervention system. As a probationary employee, Edwards was also given monthly performance evaluations, in accordance with department policy. During Edwards' short tenure with the department, he never exhibited any behaviors to trigger any internal administrative or criminal investigations.

"The Virginia State Police also conducts a thorough background check as part of its mandatory hiring process for entry into the academy. That background check requires passage of written, psychological, and physical testing, as well as a pre-employment polygraph. At no time during that extensive process were there any indicators of concern," the agency said.

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