She was once 15. He advised her he was once 17, only some months shy of 18. They met on Instagram all through the summer time of 2022.

The lady, who lived together with her mom, more youthful sister and grandparents in Riverside, saved their “dating” a secret from her circle of relatives. They’d ship messages via Instagram and communicate over Discord, an speedy messaging platform that permits voice calls.

He showered her with items, sending her jewellery, groceries, cash and present playing cards. He paid for her UberEats and DoorDash deliveries and helped her purchase birthday items for her buddies, telling her he had a excellent task that might pay for it.

However then he were given clingy — pushy, even. He was once pressuring her to ship nude footage, which made her uncomfortable. Proper after Halloween, she broke up with him.

She blocked him on Instagram, however he nonetheless discovered a approach to ship her a suicide letter.

Actually, the “boy” she were chatting with was once a 28-year-old sheriff’s deputy from Virginia named Austin Lee Edwards. And on Black Friday, a couple of weeks after the teenager broke up with him, he drove to her house in Riverside and killed her mom, Brooke Winek, 38, and her grandparents, Mark Winek, 69, and Sharie Winek, 65. He set hearth to their space earlier than kidnapping the teenager at gunpoint. Upon getting right into a shootout with police, Edwards shot himself together with his provider weapon and died, in keeping with police. The teenager was once bodily unhurt.

New, grisly information about the incident are actually coming to gentle via a federal lawsuit that the now-16-year-old and her foster mom filed Friday towards Edwards’ property; the Washington County Sheriff’s Place of job in Virginia, which hired him on the time of the killings; Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis; and Det. William Smarr, the investigator who reviewed Edwards’ employment utility on the company.

The lawsuit alleges violation of her 4th Modification rights, false imprisonment, negligent hiring, attack and battery, amongst different fees. Scott Perry, the teenager’s legal professional, mentioned the damages quantity to no less than $50 million.

The submitting is the second one go well with via a member of the Winek circle of relatives towards the Sheriff’s administrative center — Mychelle Blandin, Mark and Sharie Winek’s surviving daughter, filed a lawsuit closing yr, alleging negligent hiring practices and searching for greater than $100 million in damages. The complaints hinge partly on reporting via The Instances that detailed how police employed Edwards in spite of his troubling psychological well being historical past.

In February 2016, Edwards was once detained via Abingdon police in Virginia after he minimize himself and threatened to kill himself and his father, who advised police the incident was once spurred via Edwards’ issues together with his female friend, The Instances reported. The incident triggered two custody orders, Edwards’ keep at a psychiatric facility and a court docket’s revocation of his gun rights, which have been by no means restored.

Mychelle Blandin seems at footage of her mother, dad and sister, who had been sufferers of a triple murder in Riverside that government say started with a “catfishing” case involving Blandin’s niece.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Instances)

Perry is arguing that Edwards will have to by no means were employed and that the sheriff’s administrative center did not interview maximum of Edwards’ references or behavior a correct background test. If they’d, they’d have came upon the psychological well being orders, the lawsuit claims.

“The Washington County’s Sheriff’s administrative center gave Austin Lee Edwards a gun, a badge and cloaked him with the authority of the legislation,” Perry mentioned in a remark. “He used this stuff to achieve get entry to to the Winek house and dedicate those atrocities. We will be able to end up that an ok investigation of Edwards’ background would have avoided this tragedy.”

{The teenager} and her foster father or mother declined interviews for this tale. The Washington County Sheriff’s administrative center didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Consistent with The Instances’ assessment of Edwards’ staff record, which contains his employment utility, Smarr selected to not interview Edwards’ father, who was once indexed as a reference, as a result of their “shut familial dating,” the detective wrote. Smarr spoke with Edwards’ earlier employer at Lowe’s, however he couldn’t pay money for two of Edwards’ private references or his two neighbors.

Smarr additionally sought background data from the Virginia State Police, the place Edwards were hired for 9 months earlier than resigning and making use of to Washington County. However Smarr was once rebuffed via a sergeant there, who mentioned he wasn’t at ease answering whether or not Edwards had gotten in any bother, been reprimanded or been subjected to an interior investigation.

Along with Smarr, the lieutenant and captain of the Washington County Sheriff’s legal investigation department signed off on Edwards’ employment utility, as did its staff director and leader deputy, in keeping with the record.

“Edwards has no legal historical past or civil problems, previous and present employers talk undoubtedly of him, in addition to his references,” Smarr wrote. “It’s my trust that Edwards is hirable.”

The newest lawsuit additionally solutions some lingering questions in regards to the crime, together with how Edwards met {the teenager}, why he determined to kill her circle of relatives, and the place he deliberate to take the teenager after kidnapping her. Here’s an account of what transpired all through that fateful Thanksgiving vacation weekend, taken from the lawsuit and former reporting via The Instances.

{The teenager} celebrated Thanksgiving 2022 together with her mom, her more youthful sister and her mom’s boyfriend at Golden Corral. In a while, they went to the Moreno Valley condo the place her mom’s boyfriend lived and stayed there in a single day.

The following day, Brooke Winek and her daughters went to Starbucks, making plans to head Black Friday buying groceries with Brooke’s boyfriend. Once they were given again to the condo, Brooke were given a choice from her mom, Sharie, who advised her to take the decision off speakerphone as a result of they wanted to talk about one thing critical.

Undated handout picture of 28-year-old Austin Lee Edwards of North Chesterfield, Va.

(Riverside Police Dept.)

The Instances reported closing yr that Edwards won get entry to to Sharie and Mark Winek’s house on Value Courtroom via pretending he was once a detective carrying out an investigation involving {the teenager}. Upon getting into the Wineks’ house, Edwards advised Sharie to name Brooke and inform her that she and {the teenager} had to come to the home so he may ask them some questions.

In an effort to stay the “investigation” from her daughters, Brooke advised them there was once one thing fallacious with their telephones and that they wanted to return to their house on Value Courtroom to get them fastened. Brooke then dropped off her more youthful daughter with Brooke’s sister, Blandin, earlier than heading over to Value Courtroom.

The teenager recalled that, after they were given to the home, Brooke put her keys in her handbag and advised her to attend within the automotive whilst she went within. The teenager spotted that she didn’t see her mom’s canine within the window, which was once peculiar since the canine at all times perched there every time other people visited the house.

After looking forward to some time, the teenager determined to enter the home. As she opened the display door, Edwards grabbed her via the hair and pulled her within.

Within the second, she idea the person grabbing her was once the phone repairman. She didn’t are aware of it was once the person who had catfished her.

Then she noticed the our bodies of her grandmother close to the entryway, her grandfather subsequent to the steps and her mom mendacity at the hardwood flooring. She noticed the luggage over their heads, taped to their necks. Their legs and arms had been certain with duct tape.

The teenager began to scream.

Edwards was once dressed in a gold police badge on his belt within the form of a celebrity. As she yelled, he pointed a handgun, which additionally had a celebrity engraved on it, at her.

“Forestall screaming,” he mentioned.

She known his voice. It was once the “boy” she had met on-line, whom she were chatting with for months.

“Are you going to harm me?” she requested.

“I will be able to in case you stay screaming,” he responded.

Edwards grabbed the teenager and pulled her via the home, dousing the whole thing with fuel from a canister he introduced with him and lighting fixtures the rooms on hearth. He additionally opened the home windows and doorways so the flames would unfold. Then he took the woman outdoor and compelled her into the backseat of his pink Kia Soul.

Circle of relatives picture of slain sufferers Brooke Winek, 38, and her folks Sharie Winek, 65, and Mark Winek, 69.

(Winek Circle of relatives Pictures / Los Angeles Instances)

In the meantime, the Wineks’ next-door neighbor noticed the home on hearth and known as 911. Any other neighbor, whose driveway Edwards had parked in, also referred to as the police. She phoned the government once more when she noticed Edwards power the teenager into his automotive.

After dashing away, Edwards advised the teenager to faux that she was once his daughter if somebody requested. He mentioned he was once going to take her again to Virginia. When the woman requested why he killed her circle of relatives, he mentioned that if he didn’t, they’d “file it” and he wouldn’t have sufficient time to flee.

Edwards additionally mentioned he was once a police officer and that businesses “wish to do higher backgrounds” as a result of he “lied” all through the hiring procedure. As he endured to force towards his eventual vacation spot of Saltville, Va., the place he had not too long ago bought a house and blacked out the home windows, he saved his hand on his gun. Within the automotive with them was once additionally the huge, bloody knife he used to stab Brooke.

They made two pitstops all through the force to make use of the restroom, however Edwards by no means let cross of the teenager’s hand. Additionally they made a prevent so Edwards may blank the blood off himself. He advised the woman that they wouldn’t prevent for meals till they left California and that they’d force to Virginia via Las Vegas, New Mexico and Texas. She must keep within the backseat, he mentioned, till they were given her a metamorphosis of garments.

The Riverside Police Division recognized Edwards via interviews with neighbors, who supplied descriptions of his automotive and video photos from safety cameras. Police decided that he was once within the Mojave Wasteland and alerted San Bernardino County government, who chased after his Kia Soul.

Throughout the pursuit, Edwards fired his gun in the course of the again window of the automobile, inflicting the Kia to fill with smoke. The gasoline canister, which Edwards had positioned within the backseat with the teenager, splashed her with fuel.

Edwards’ Kia drifted off the street and were given caught on some rocks beneath a bridge, enabling the police vehicles to catch up.

As legislation enforcement closed in, Edwards advised the teenager to get out of the automobile.

With nowhere else left to head, he became his provider weapon on himself and pulled the cause.