Louisville Mojo: A Killer Retired to Louisville?

This year, a man that some call a possible nationwide serial killer was found to be retired and living in a trailer park in Louisville.

Back in July of this year, prosecutors charged Edward Wayne Edwards, 76, of Louisville, with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the 1980 deaths of a young Wisconsin couple, Tim Hack and Kelly Drew.

Hack's father reported Hack and Drew missing on the morning of August 10, 1980. The pair were last seen leaving a wedding reception around 11 pm. A week after the couple's disappearance, they found the remains of Drew's pants, bra and underwear in the road, cut into pieces, about within 5 miles from the Concord House, where the wedding reception had been held.

Two months later, hunters stumbled upon Drew and Hack's bodies in the woods, about 8 miles from the Concord House and 3 miles from where her cut-up clothing was discovered.

Edward W. Edwards worked as a handyman at the Concord House and campgrounds next to the hall where Hack and Drew's wedding reception had been, and when investigators talked to witnesses, they all remembered that Edwards had a bloody nose during that weekend. He told them he had hurt it while deer hunting. Edwards himself was questioned by police about the case in 1980.

Detectives tracked down Edwards, who had since relocated to Louisville and was living in the Cedar Heights Mobile Home Park, and paid him a visit. He told them he had never heard of the case at all. But when reminded that he had, in fact, been interrogated in 1980 about the case, he suddenly remembered.

But then Edwards stated that he had never been deer hunting, apparently having forgotten his earlier alibi. And then the investigators knew something wasn't right.

On July 8, 2009, Edwards' DNA was found in tests to be a perfect match with DNA taken from semen found on Drew's pants.

As more was learned about this Louisvillian's past, it was revealed that Ed was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List in 1961, that he may have robbed more than one bank, and that he wrote a book about his life of crime in 1972 called Metamorphosis of a Criminal. (Unfortunately, booksellers have quickly become hip to this, and have jacked up their asking prices for used copies.)

Stranger still, it's come out that he even recorded a spoken-word religious album called Build a Fire in the Person and Not Under Them at some point. On that album's liner notes, he reportedly admits he was arrested by Portland, Oregon police in 1960 for double murder, and that he escaped from prison the very next day. He doesn't go on to say what happened next.

Even more bizarre, apparently Edwards was a contestant on the TV game show To Tell The Truth at some point in his life, but it's not known when.

I predicted at the time that there might be more bodies somewhere out there that would come to light, now that Edwards' DNA was obtained and matched with that found at the 1980 murder scene. Sure enough, it wasn't long before Sheriff Dan McClelland of Geauga County, OH, announced his intention to further question Edwards regarding the 1997 death of one Dannie Boy Edwards. His dead body was found near the Cleveland-area home that he and Edward shared in 1997.

McClelland was quoted by UPI as saying, "He's (been) a person of interest since the onset of the case. He was questioned back then. He was not arrested. He was a person of interest because of the relationship that existed between the two."

And exactly was kind of relationship was that?

Well, Dannie Boy Edwards, 25, was actually named Dannie Law Gloeckner. At some point while he and Edward were living together, he legally changed his last name to take on Edward's surname and, most curiously, to change his middle name to "Boy." According to WISN-TV:

"Ohio investigators watched news of Edwards' arrest and recognized the man. He had left town in 1997, shortly after the homicide of a young man he'd treated like a son.

"There was an attempt to take the young man in. He became very close to the family. They talked about adopting but that was not allowed, and the victim changed his given name to Edwards' last name," Geauga County, Ohio Sheriff's Department Sgt. Brian Johnston said.

Shortly after Dannie Boy Gloeckner changed his name to Dannie Boy Edwards, he was found dead from a shotgun wound to the head."

Immediately after Dannie's murder, Ed packed up and quietly left town.

And that's not the only new corpse to come out of the woodwork since Ed was nabbed for the murders of Kelly Drew and Tim Hack. From WISN again:

"Last month, Hack's father suggested there might be other victims.

"He's going to be connected with something else along the same lines. He was a no good," Hack said.

Earlier this month, Portland, Ore., prosecutors said they'd revisit the 1960 case of another pair of slain young lovers.

Edwards was an early suspect in that case, and made the FBI's most wanted list when he escaped from jail while awaiting questioning on the case."

That pair of Portland young lovers would be Larry Peyton and Beverly Ann Warren. Peyton's body was found with multiple stab wounds in a park in November 1960 and his girlfriend Beverly's turned up two months later, hidden in another location and also stabbed to death.

Edwards was being held for questioning regarding those murders, but he escaped from jail. This is the incident he was referring to in his book Metamorphosis of a Criminal. What I can't figure out is how he continued to go on about his life, still using his unusual real name, and openly bragging about the incident in a book and a spoken-word record album, without anyone tracking him down. Ed wasn't just hiding in plain sight, he wasn't even hiding.

If these other possible Edwards murders turn out to have some relevance, the next question that must be looked into is, how many more murders might there be? And might any of them have been committed here in Louisville?

He has pleaded not guilty to the Hack-Drew murders, although he has since admitted that he did have consensual sex with Drew. Even though he had originally stated that he'd never heard of the Hack-Drew case, Edwards now claims he got drunk with Hack and Drew after the wedding reception and had consensual sex with her in a field outside the reception hall. Edwards told detectives he saw Hack fight with two men, and the men stomped Hack and Drew to death.

He said he didn't intervene or tell police because he "didn't want to get involved."

Edwards is scheduled to stand trial for the murders of Hack and Drew on March 8, 2010.

(Image: screenshot from WISN-TV)

ADD A COMMENT

rob tue nov 17 2009 at 3:57 pm ·


	This is frightening and disturbing. I'm going to try to find a copy of that spoken word album on ebay or Amazon.

Danielle Burgan #148300 tue nov 17 2009 at 4:25 pm ·


	Completely Amazing

Andoom tue nov 17 2009 at 5:16 pm ·


	Hope this guy gets all he did right back to him in prison

L0k@l T3rr0r1$t tue nov 17 2009 at 8:43 pm ·


	I think this guy is my new hero.. just sayin, specially if he's been getting away from the police for this long

that guy012345 wed nov 18 2009 at 1:06 pm ·


	This dude is awesome! I hope he gets out of it.

Rick D thu nov 19 2009 at 12:52 pm ·


	GIVE HIM THE DEATH CHAIR

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blogs: J.S. Holland