RICHMOND, Va. -- A newly-obtained report is shining a light on the past of a man who police say deceived a teenager into an online relationship before driving across the country and killing her mother and grandparents.
Austin Lee Edwards was hired by the Virginia State Police and entered the police academy on July 6, 2021, Virginia State Police Public Relations Manager Corinne Geller told The Associated Press in an email. He graduated as a trooper on Jan. 21, 2022, and was assigned to Henrico County within the agency’s Richmond Division until his resignation on Oct. 28.
Edwards was hired as a deputy in Washington County, Virginia, on Nov. 16 and had begun orientation to be assigned to the patrol division, the sheriff's office said in a statement. During the hiring process, “no employers disclosed any troubles, reprimands, or internal investigations pertaining to Edwards,” the statement said.
The Los Angeles Times recently obtained a police report from 2016, detailing that Austin was held in Abingdon, Virginia for a psychiatric evaluation because he allegedly threatened his life and his father's.
The report said Edwards' father, Christopher Edwards, told police he found his son locked in a bathroom with a cut on his hand and a knife and a hatchet nearby. Christopher then tried to restrain his son until police arrived, but Austin allegedly bit his dad.
EMS later called the police because Austin was not accepting medical aid and wouldn't stay put. They said he told officers that as soon he was un-handcuffed that he was going to kill himself and his father.
An emergency custody order was issued and medical professionals found Austin met the requirements for police to issue a temporary detention order.
"Sometimes, acute mental illness is present and it might present itself the way it did here but then the next day, it may no longer be the case and they are just to be released. And those things often don't pop up on a criminal history," CBS 6 Legal Expert Todd Stone said.
Virginia State Police said they do a background check on everyone, which includes a written statement, psychological and physical testing in addition to a pre-employment polygraph.
VSP said they are in the process of doing an extensive review of Edwards' hiring process.
To read the Los Angeles Times' full reporting, click here.
