{"id":8715483,"date":"2023-01-13T04:30:28","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T12:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8715483&preview=true&preview_id=8715483"},"modified":"2023-01-13T09:32:57","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T17:32:57","slug":"virginia-police-describe-how-background-of-catfishing-cop-was-missed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/13\/virginia-police-describe-how-background-of-catfishing-cop-was-missed\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia police describe how they missed background of \u2018catfishing\u2019 cop who killed 3 California family members"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia State Police failed to uncover the 2016 mental health detention order of a department applicant who police say killed three members of a Riverside family in November<\/a>, an order that, at one point, banned him from owning a gun.<\/p>\n

Details about how the investigator did not recognize the mental health history of Austin Lee Edwards were disclosed in a Dec. 30 letter from Superintendent Col. Gary T. Settle to the commonwealth\u2019s inspector general. The letter suggests that other opportunities to flag troubling background were missed and includes information about changes in the agency\u2019s process.<\/p>\n

The detention order \u201cper policy is a disqualifier for employment,\u201d Settle wrote in the letter obtained by this news organization.<\/p>\n

Yet Edwards was hired in July 2021 despite what the state police have described as a \u201crobust,\u201d \u201cthorough\u201d and \u201cextensive\u201d background investigation. Edwards graduated from the academy in January 2022 before resigning in October 2022. The Washington County Sheriff\u2019s Office in Virginia hired Edwards on Nov. 16, 2022. That agency said the state police did not disclose any negative background on Edwards.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 25, Edwards, 28, showed up at the Riverside home of a 15-year-old girl with whom he had developed an online \u201ccatfishing\u201d romance<\/a> while posing as a 17-year-old boy. He drove cross-country, Riverside police said, after she rebuffed his request for nude photos<\/a> of her. Edwards killed 69-year-old Mark Winek, his wife 65-year-old Sharie Winek and their daughter, Brooke Winek, 38, who was the girl\u2019s mother, and set the Price Court home ablaze<\/a>, police said.<\/p>\n

Edwards fled with the girl. Using his service revolver, he engaged in a gun battle with San Bernardino County sheriff\u2019s deputies in the Mojave Desert before killing himself, the department said. The teen escaped from the car safely and is being cared for by Riverside County Child Protective Services.<\/p>\n

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin subsequently called for the inspector general to investigate Edwards\u2019 initial hiring.<\/p>\n

The state police said in December that \u201chuman error resulted in an incomplete database query during Edwards\u2019 hiring process.\u201d The agency at the time did not describe the error, what should have been uncovered or whether that information would have disqualified Edwards from being hired.<\/p>\n

Settle wrote that the background investigator researching Edwards mistakenly entered a code for \u201capplicants\u201d in the computer database instead of \u201cfirearms.\u201d The correct search term would have found the order, which would have disqualified Edwards, Settle wrote. Background investigators are trained to use the \u201cfirearms\u201d search term, but this investigator was unaware of the requirement, Settle wrote.<\/p>\n

What was missed was a temporary detention order filed with the court after an incident in 2016 in which Edwards cut himself<\/a>, bit his father and threatened to kill himself and his father, according to a report written by the Police Department in Abingdon, a small southern Virginia city. Edwards wrestled with medics and police before being taken to a hospital and then to a facility where patients can be given short-term treatment for a mental health crisis, the report said.<\/p>\n

That detention order banned Edwards from owning a gun. That document, obtained by SCNG from Southwest Virginia Today, has a portion to be filled in when the revocation is restored. But in Edwards\u2019 case, it was not filled in. A Bristol General District Court clerk said she did not know whether Edwards ever petitioned to get his gun rights restored. A Virginia Supreme Court spokesperson did not return email and voicemail messages seeking that information.<\/p>\n

Edwards was examined and judged to have a mental illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere exists a substantial likelihood that, as a result of mental illness, (Edwards) will, in the near future, cause serious physical harm to him\/herself or others, as evidenced by recent behavior,\u201d according to a temporary detention order signed Feb. 8, 2016, in Washington District Court.<\/p>\n

State police have made changes to other background check procedures as a result, Settle wrote.<\/p>\n

Background investigators and polygraph examiners will now be required to discuss any \u201cpotentially relevant\u201d information with the department. Edwards told the polygraph examiner that he had checked himself into a mental health facility after he attacked his father, Settle wrote. Yet that information didn\u2019t prevent Edwards from being hired.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has always been the practice to share such information in accordance with training. However, as an added safeguard, this is now a requirement,\u201d Corinne Geller, a state police spokeswoman, said Tuesday. \u201cPutting it in writing as a requirement is an added safeguard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Settle wrote that the disclosure \u201cwould not have been an automatic disqualifier at this stage of the background process. However, this would have been an opportunity for clarification.\u201d<\/p>\n