Current:Home > ScamsCalifornia family sues sheriff’s office after deputy kidnapped girl, killed her mother, grandparents -FinanceCore
California family sues sheriff’s office after deputy kidnapped girl, killed her mother, grandparents
View
Date:2025-04-14 10:59:36
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California family is suing a Virginia sheriff’s department that hired a deputy who sexually extorted and kidnapped a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint, killed her mother and grandparents, and set their home on fire.
Austin Lee Edwards, 28, died by suicide during a shootout with law enforcement on Nov. 25, hours after the violence in Riverside, a city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The teenager was rescued.
Edwards had been hired as a Washington County sheriff’s deputy in Virginia just nine days before the killings, even though a 2016 court order prohibited him from buying, possessing and transporting a firearm. The court order stemmed from a psychiatric detention after Edwards cut himself and threatened to kill his father.
The girl’s aunt, Mychelle Blandin, and her minor sister filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in the Central District of California against the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Edwards’ estate. The lawsuit says the department was negligent in hiring Edwards and seeks damages through a jury trial. The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Authorities have said Edwards had posed online as a 17-year-old boy while communicating with the teenager, a form of deception known as “catfishing,” and asked her to send nude photos of herself.
The girl stopped responding to his messages, prompting Edwards to travel across the country to her home in California. The lawsuit alleges that he showed his law enforcement badge and service weapon to Mark Winek and Sharon Winek, the girl’s grandparents, and said he was a detective and needed to question the family.
The suit says Edwards slit the throat of the teen’s mother, Brooke Winek, and tried to asphyxiate her grandparents by tying them up with bags over their heads. At least one of them was still moving when he set their home on fire, the lawsuit says.
Blandin said the killings “destroyed our family.”
“I am bringing this lawsuit because my family wants to know how Edwards was hired as a sheriff’s deputy and given a gun when the courts expressly ordered he could not possess a firearm,” Blandin said in a statement. “He used his position as a sheriff to gain access to my parents’ home, where he killed them and my sister. I want the Washington County Sheriff’s Office held accountable for giving a mentally unfit person a badge and a gun.”
Edwards was hired by the Virginia State Police in July 2021 and resigned nine months later. He was then hired as a deputy in Washington County last year.
The slayings — and their connection to Virginia — prompted Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to ask the state’s inspector general for a “full investigation,” which found that a background investigator for the state police failed to check the correct database that would have pulled up the mental health order.
The state police, which is not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, has since changed its employment processes and background investigation policies and training.
A spokesperson for the state police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
veryGood! (7596)
Related
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Leclerc takes pole position for Monaco GP and ends Verstappen’s bid for F1 record
- 3-month-old infant dies after being left in hot car outside day care in West Virginia
- Italian teenager Carlo Acutis to become first millennial Catholic saint after second miracle attributed to him
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- Uvalde families sue gunmaker, Instagram, Activision over weapons marketing
- What The Hills' Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt Think of Kristin Cavallari and Mark Estes' Romance
- Cracker Barrel stock plummets after CEO says chain isn't as 'relevant,' 'must revitalize'
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- Here Are The Best Deals From Wayfair's Memorial Day Sale 2024: Up to 83% Off Furniture, Appliances & More
Ranking
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- How to Find the Right Crystals for Your Zodiac Sign, According to an Astrologer
- Louisiana governor signs bill to classify abortion pills as controlled substances into law
- Will Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton, Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis play in Game 3 of East finals?
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Center Billy Price retires from NFL because of 'terrifying' blood clot
- Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi's First Pics After Wedding Prove Their Romance Is an 11 Out of 10
- Grayson Murray dies at age 30 a day after withdrawing from Colonial, PGA Tour says
Recommendation
SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
USPS wants people to install new jumbo mailboxes. Here's why.
NASA says Boeing's Starliner crew capsule safe to fly as is with small helium leak
Lenny Kravitz says he's open to finding love: I've never felt how I feel now
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
MLB's five biggest surprises: Are these teams contenders or pretenders in 2024?
3 falcon chicks hatch atop the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York City
Mega Millions winning numbers for May 24 drawing: Jackpot climbs to $489 million