She was He told her he was 17, just a few months shy of They met on Instagram during the summer of They would send messages through Instagram and talk over Discord, an instant messaging platform that allows voice calls. He showered her with gifts, sending her jewelry, groceries, money and gift cards. He paid for her UberEats and DoorDash deliveries and helped her buy birthday gifts for her friends, telling her he had a good job that could pay for it.
But then he got clingy — pushy, even. He was pressuring her to send nude photos, which made her uncomfortable. Right after Halloween, she broke up with him. And on Black Friday, a few weeks after the teen broke up with him, he drove to her home in Riverside and killed her mother , Brooke Winek, 38, and her grandparents, Mark Winek, 69, and Sharie Winek, He set fire to their house before kidnapping the teen at gunpoint.
After getting into a shootout with police, Edwards shot himself with his service weapon and died, according to police. The teen was physically unharmed. The lawsuit alleges violation of her 4th Amendment rights, false imprisonment, negligent hiring, assault and battery, among other charges. The lawsuits hinge in part on reporting by The Times that detailed how police hired Edwards despite his troubling mental health history. If they had, they would have discovered the mental health orders , the lawsuit claims.
The teenager and her foster parent declined interviews for this story. Austin Lee Edwards said he checked into a mental health hospital in Further inquiry might have kept him from becoming an officer, a police official said.
Smarr also sought background information from the Virginia State Police, where Edwards had been employed for nine months before resigning and applying to Washington County.
