Former Virginia State trooper, Austin Lee Edwards has been accused of causing the annihilation of three people at Riverside and also kidnaping a fifteen-year-old girl after the gruesome crime.

The heinous act was confirmed by Southern California Law Enforcement, who also disclosed that the accused had killed the fifteen-year-old girl’s grandmother, grandfather, and mother in addition to setting their home on fire.

Before being fatally shot by deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Agency, Austin Lee Edwards had been the target of a perilous manhunt by the department.

There is no question, according to the circumstances of the occurrence, that the suspect was accountable for the horrifying death of the three people, according to Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback.

“We believe at this point that the suspect was the only one involved in the murders and in setting the fire,” he said.

According to a spokesman of the Virginia State Police, Edwards was hired and enrolled in the academy on July 6 of last year. After his graduation on January 21, 2022, officials sent him to Henrico County in the Richmond Division of Virginia.

On October 28, 2022, less than a month before the horrifying murder, he made his departure from the department known. Virginia State Police declined to provide the explanation for Edwards’ resignation because it was included in his personnel file.

He returned to law enforcement on November 16, 2022, when he joined the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. He recently began the department’s orientation process before being assigned to the patrol division.

During his background check of previous employers including the state police, “no employers disclosed any troubles, reprimands, or internal investigations pertaining to Edwards,” according to the Washington County deputies.

The sheriff’s office said that he was still employed as a trooper with Virginia State Police when applied to be a deputy. 

Edwards was believed to have approached the fifteen-year-old girl on social media and developed a relationship with him. Edwards pretended to be another person just to cover up his evil plots.

He then derived personal information from the girl after gaining her trust and exchanging texts and phone calls for some time.

“He developed a relationship with her, enough where we believe there might have been an exchange of texts, maybe phone calls. And he was able to get her personal information. He was able to get her address,” said Officer, Railsback.

The suspect then executed his plot by traveling from Virginia to Riverside to murder the teen’s family. He killed the teen’s 69-year-old grandfather Mark Winek, 65-year-old grandmother Sharie Winek and 38-year-old mother Brooke Winek before he kidnapped the young lady.

According to Riverside Police, the teenager was not hurt and was placed in the care of the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services.

Austin Lee Edwards parents: Who are Austin Lee Edwards parents?

Edwards was 28 years old based in North Chesterfield, Virginia. As of the time we are filing this reports, we have no information about the parents of Mr. Edwards.