The Clearing is a show about crime and the trauma that can result from crime. It may not be suitable for all audiences. Well Mr. Edwards, you made reference in your letter to us. You very well knew Billy Lava Cohen to the straw. How well did you know them? I mean I do very well. In August 1977, that young couple, Billion Judy, went to make out of the park in a small town outside of Akron, Ohio. She was 18, he was 21.
They were found the next day, shot to death, and left in some tall grass. Billi's car was parked nearby. Judy's shoes and purse were still inside. The case went unsolved and then cold for 33 years. No clues, no suspects. Until a letter arrived in the office of the Summit County Prosecutor in April 2010 from a jail house informant. He was saying that a guy he was serving with and was counting most bragging about a double murder. To the cops, it sounded like it could be that long unsolved case.
As we're kind of, you know, the next few days as we're trying to figure out how we're going to go about attacking this or checking into this lead, we get the second letter. Now this one's from Edwards. This is John Canterbury. He's retired now, but back in 2010, he was the detective responsible for this cold case. I read the letter and he says that, you know, he's got information.
He wants to talk to us and in that letter, he makes a reference that when we're done talking with him, we're going to want to put a needle in his arm. This is the clearing. I'm Josh Dean, episode three. Give me the needle. If you remember back at the end of episode one, Edwards is in jail and was constant. He's there because his daughter April provided information to a detective.
That tip led to Edwards' arrest in the fall of 2009 for the murders of two other teenagers, Tim Hack and Kelly Drew. By the time he sent that letter to John Canterbury, Edwards had been locked up for eight months, but he still hadn't confessed to the hack and drew murders. Before the pointed lawyer was preparing the case for trial, planning to do what defense attorneys do, fight the charges, but Edwards had other ideas.
He knew he was going to get convicted. He didn't want to do his time in Wisconsin. He wanted to come back, quote, unquote, home. Edwards had been an itinerant guy pretty much his whole life. He lived in dozens of places and seemed to be constantly unsettled. But now, he wanted to go back to the one place he considered home, Ohio. It's where he was born, where all his kids were born too.
John Canterbury was in high school when Billy Lava co and Judy Straub were murdered, but it was an infamous case. Still, Norton's only unsolved homicides when he joined the force. Norton is the jurisdiction where the murders took place. Every new cop learned about them.
You as a rookie officer are told, you know, hey, there was a double homicide in this park in 1977 and it's never been solved. You know, you're a young cop and you think, well, I'm sure they investigated the best they could and perhaps this person will be caught someday. Perhaps they won't. Police did charge a man a few years after the murder, but a grand jury refused to indict him. The evidence just wasn't there. And then the case went cold for 33 years.
Last fall, April, Jonathan and I spent a few days driving around Northern Ohio, visiting places where April used to live. We stopped in to see Canterbury at his house near Akron. Even though he's retired, he still works security in the courts. He keeps himself together. He looks a little like Wilford Brimley. If Wilford Brimley lived a way. It's anywhere in your paperwork as my dad's name mentioned at all as as being interviewed or talked to absolutely nowhere.
And that is an extensive file that detects us back during that time. Interviewed probably 200 people. There's, you know, just a ton of people. No where is Edward Wayne Edwards mentioned. And their house was only 34 miles away. Exactly. So the first useful tip in 33 years points to this new suspect, Edward Wayne Edwards. And that tip comes from Edward Wayne Edwards.
Within weeks of getting Edwards letter, Canterbury drive to Wisconsin with an investigator for the Summit County Prosecutor's office. They show up at the jail and see their suspect for the first time. He's in an orange jumpsuit and seems very eager to talk. Canterbury kept a copy of this interview and gave it to us on a flash drive at the end of our visit. That's what you're hearing now.
They offer to pull Edwards closer to the table to get a better look at the letter. But that's not possible because this chair is bolted to the floor. Well Mr. Edwards, you made reference in your letter to us. But you very well knew Billy Lava Cohen to the straw. Billy, you have a pain. Now I remember that. I forgot you to think. How well did you know them? I mean, I do very well.
Their hangout was at the pool table. Sure, I played pool with Billy. What's his last name? Lava Cohen. I played pool. I played up there many times. And then he could go to the house. Yeah, that's an endo. Yeah. Edwards says he and Billy did some carpentry work together. Sometimes the kid came over for parties at the Edwards house.
This is that house in Doyle's town across from Diane's slaughter. April babysitter. Canterbury told us that he and the investigator were both little flummoxed by the whole thing. This unsolicited confession by mail, but whatever it was, it wasn't normal. What percentage did you get right to select? Let's just say I'm getting older and tired. Can I be straightforward with you and frank with you? Yeah. Are you are you looking to come back to Ohio? Yeah, I want to interact with you.
I'm up here. I'm telling you. Yeah, go ahead and you know, I'll go back there. Take me for a picnic and you give me the needle. Regardless of what happens to you and what's causing. I am convinced without a shadow. Now we bring you back to Ohio. We can search for us to your remaining days and stay alive.
But for that to happen, Canterbury needs to get his county prosecutor an actual confession on tape. And even though Edwards has made clear that he wants to cooperate, it's all still a little hard to believe. Canterbury figures he's got to work with him a little appeal to Ed's narcissism. You're very intriguing fellow. I'm very intrigued by you, Mr. Edwards. And I can do one or two things. I can give you a lot of recognition.
I don't want recognition here. I'm willing to do work with you. If you're looking for another book appeal, no, no, Hollywood, no, I've been off for no, no, not in there. Okay. Mr. Edwards, let me bring you back. Okay. Well, what would wrong with Ginny Straub, Billy Lava come? The interview that unfolded over the next two hours and 45 minutes is nothing like the one 10 months earlier with Chad Garcia and Louisville.
When Edwards sat across from a rotating catholicops for eight hours, it didn't say anything useful. Now with very little prompting, he spills everything. Jewish was just the wrong place, it's the wrong time. Billy was a nice kid. I like, I really did. But he had a problem. Then time my daughter was quite young. My daughter April. But you like it. Hand over. Yeah. I never knew that my dad knew. I never told anyone ever, ever.
So according to April, this is true. Billy did touch her inappropriately, but she was very young and she's mostly buried the memories. Lava was never charged. And she had no idea at all that her father truly knew that anything had happened. Edwards tells Canterbury that he saw something that disturbed him during one of those parties at the house.
And then somebody was drinking that for a good time and everything. Kids were in this room. But I don't know why I went to the bedroom, but he was in there. And I didn't catch him doing anything at the time. But it was obvious that he handling her or whatever. It was the bedroom right up at the top of the steps. I remember my dad calling me. He was at the bottom of the steps after Billy had, I was on Billy's back. He had been touching me. And my dad called up and he called me down.
And he was just very quietly and very gently. He said, I'm not upset. I'm not mad. But I need you to tell me the truth. And I just denied it. I think, I think basically because I didn't want him to get in trouble. Like I felt that he would be in trouble. I didn't want to believe this. But I kept an eye on him over the next year. So every time he got around her, he was trying to molester. It was very obvious.
A normal person might have gone to the police, but not at Edwards. If you missed that, what Edwards said was, my mind functions a little different than most people. Look here, if somebody else has got a one of my ex, you don't miss the water much more. And I just started boiling inside and kept boiling it. And I just made it by my mind what I wanted to do probably a week.
As he presented it to me was he knew that Lava Cohen's job went to this park after the bars closed on Fridays and Saturday nights. They were boyfriend, girlfriend. They'd went there to make out. So he was sure to find Lava co there that night.
Remember that park we visited with April in the last episode. The one her dad took them to when she was a little girl. That hike that ended with them going off the trail and stumbling upon what appeared to be a crime scene. That's the park canterbury's talking about. It's called Silver Creek. It's where Edwards planned to kill Billy Lava co on August 6th, 1977.
He had a single shot 20 gauge shotgun. He got the gun. He reaches into a drawer. I believe he said in his kitchen if I remember correctly where he kept shotgun shells. He just reached in grabbed handful of shells, put him in his pocket. Edwards wrote his bike to the park and hidden the weeds waiting for the young couple to show up from the bar.
They pulled in. He could hear the music playing in the car. We're talking August so when those are down he hears the music playing as they pull in. He in fact, as he explains to us, he could hear them arguing in the car. They pull up and park very dark lights are off. I said, Judy, where that roadquakes the wrong time. I was warning them and it almost happened. I mean, he got out of the car to take a leak. That's why this would work perfect.
Where he goes to urinate is very near where Edwards is waiting in the high weeds and boom Edwards is on Lava co. Lava co sense that somebody was there. He couldn't see who it was or could tell what it was but he knew something. So Lava co starts walking back to the car very quickly. Edwards is now approaching him and when Lava co gets in the car closes the door the windows down and closes the door at this point Edwards is at the door with the shotgun on him.
Billy now realizes who it is. He realizes that it's Edwards. What are you doing? There's a conversation back and forth. Now he's holding Lava co and strawberry gunpoint. First he thought he'd get the wrong because he took his wall out of his pocket. He said, the air he took his wall and I put it on the empty car. Lava co starts bargaining with him or trying to bargain with him. She got paid the day. She worked for Dennis office. She got paid the day. Take her money.
He made it to $500 per person. You walked him over into the field? I had... we got out there. I had a spoolyard. Because you know why we're here. He says, you want money? You want robbers? No, it's not. It's not it. I told him about my daughter. At this point Lava co is pleading with him. Take the car. Take the money. Just leave us alone. You don't have to do this. I told you I never touched your daughter. I told you so on and so forth but Edward was listening to having any of it.
That's because if you know something God, you really want to save your life. Tell me what you're in for. And he all of a sudden ran and there was a thing I was really upset. Really, really, really upset. And he shied. Edward says that Judy just watches this unfold in front of her. Then she turns and tries to get away. Edward calls her back.
Edward has to stop. It's the anger she gives. Well, she was going and I'm more to her to her than I'm selling. It's better. It's not good. And she was about 15 feet away. My guess time. I shot her and then I made my exit. There are a lot of horrifying things about the story. But maybe the worst to me is the way Edward tells it in a flat monotone. He is by all accounts recalling these events for the first time in 30 years to two cops. You might expect catharsis or at least a little emotion. Nope.
As he talked about the killings very open no hesitation him whatsoever. He believed he had reason to do what he did. I asked him, you know, Ed, you know, if if you suspected this going on to your child, why didn't you reach out to the authorities in Ohio and tell them that, you know, you thought this of lava coat.
And April, I don't disrespect you, but I don't know that lava co was doing that. You know, I wasn't there. That's never been investigated. Okay. But his response was, that's my family. I'm responsible for my family. Mr. Edwards, a lot of years ago, you're coming forward 33 years later after the incident. Did you feel remorse for your sorry after the case or I've been sorry for that for a long time.
I had in my mind, I'm okay. I had reasons to write the bill. But the girl she didn't deserve it. She didn't have to be there. He said it up. He knew where they were going to be. He was lying in wait. If his plan was just to kill Billy, he's walking into a situation where he probably knows he's going to have to kill the girl because he's going to kill her from a witness no matter what. So like, did you doubt that story at all that like maybe he always planned to kill them both.
Well, yeah, I see what you're saying. And yeah, he probably did when he went there that night, he probably knew he was going to have to kill her as well. I was going to say no, he knowing my dad, he knew all along. He was going to have to kill both of them. And if he knew that's where they went for, you know, to make out, he knew he was going to have to kill both of them. There was no. I don't think that he thought he was only going to kill Billy.
When he's done confessing, Edwards tells the cops why he's so eager to help with the case that on the heels of Wisconsin basically makes him a serial killer. So I'm only asking questions out of here talking to you. You going to give me back to Akron? I got to take all this back and he's going to work us in down with my boss. And that's the purpose of it. I want to go back to Akron. If I get to meet him, I get to meet my Akron. You know what? I want to go back to Akron. That's over.
Edward hates Wisconsin. Garcia, the jail, the other inmates. He wants to go home to Ohio. But it's not just that. And Edwards is caught. And he's not going to confess to Wisconsin murders and give Garcia the satisfaction. He will never again be free. And he knows it. Canterbury and Garcia and even April. They all think this is his way of controlling his destiny. And Edwards will write the last chapter of the Edward story. And this last chapter, it's got a twist ending.
He wants the state to execute him. But Wisconsin has no death penalty. The murders of Tim Hack and Kelly Drew are not going to get him killed. But confessing to Canterbury about the Ohio murders, he thinks that will do the trick. Think for a minute, if you haven't already, of the position these revelations put April in. It's one thing to find out your dad killed two teenagers in Wisconsin. Like a really horrible, maybe impossible thing to get over. But now there are two more murders.
In this time, her father is claiming he did it for her. So when you found out that he had died, that your dad had killed him and that the motivation for that was like the fact that he molested you. I mean, you're a parent. You understand how do you feel about the fact that your dad was like sticking up for you? After hearing that, I still didn't understand it. I mean, I didn't understand if he thought that why he didn't go about doing something legally, you know, with the authorities.
I really didn't understand it. Honestly, I don't. I didn't then and I still don't. Yeah, I mean, I wondered if learning that, like, I mean, this is a completely unfair question to ask you. But like if you almost felt guilty at all that he had done it for you, even though you had nothing to do with it, you didn't even know about it. Like, do you feel bad about the fact that your dad had done that? Yeah, I did. Yeah, I mean, I was shocked. I was, I mean, I just remember just being shocked.
Canterbury goes back to Ohio feeling like his case is cleared. The prosecutor's office is used to press release and papers around America pick it up. And that is how Edward's public defender in Wisconsin finds out this client is just admitted to a whole other set of murders. Coming up, Edward's plan to get himself the needle runs into trouble. That's right after this. A few weeks after Edward's confess to Detective Canterbury, an old friend showed up.
Alright, Wayne, today is May 3rd, 2010. This is Sergeant Brian Johnson. I'm at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Wampon, Wisconsin, with Mr. Wayne, Edward's. Or Edward's. I could never figure out which one was which. His friend Brian Johnson, obviously, is a cop. He's also from Ohio. They know each other from Jaga County, one of the places where April and her family lived. Remember last episode when we met that clerk Sharon who gave us the box of cassettes that Edward's recorded.
She also gave us a bunch of jailhouse interviews and phone calls. That's where this tape comes from. When he first moved his family to Jaga, Edward's called the local sheriff's office and asked to speak with an officer. So I went down and I introduced myself to Edwards and he had mentioned that he had just gotten out of the prison in Pennsylvania. And he mentioned that while in prison, he had basically became a snitch and it turned in a couple of guys.
Edwards claimed he'd overheard these guys saying they were responsible for an unsolved murder. So he turned them in. And they had relatives in this area and according to Edwards, he believed that he might be in danger if they found out. So now Edwards, one of the local cops to watch his back. He said he'd repay them by being a kind of narc.
He'd look out to help Brian what the criminals were saying on the street. And he and Brian began to meet regularly for coffee at a gas station near Edwards House. A little many marked two-pound place. It looked like it was in Maybur. And I don't even think I can hang in the chairs, but you could go in there and have a cup of coffee. And was he? Did he ever ask for anything for you? Was there any agenda from him? Was he just wanted to know that like you liked him in case something came up?
Did he ever call in a favor? No. No. He just like having that feeling of maybe having a policeman in his pocket or a friend that he can call if he got in trouble. From there, a strange chummy relationship developed. Brian liked it at Edwards. I always told him that he can make a lot of money selling new scars. I always had a smile, gregarious, just an outgoing type of man. Fast forward a decade and a half. You can still hear that chummy-ness in the way they talk with each other.
I was on the air, but you don't push it. Oh, you're good. You're a challenge. Brian's got some bad news for his old friend. He's talked with Canterbury and Garcia. And he knows Ed's been working with system to get executed in Ohio. Well, here's what's going on in there. I don't know if those guys told you this or not. And I understand they don't get a lot of homicides over there. And they want to... This is big, you know. But that case in 1977... Yeah, it's not death penalty.
They don't have the death penalty, that means. Where? In Edwards? No, in Ohio. Let me tell you. Let's listen to what I'm telling you. In 1972, I went out of the line last night, double check. The Supreme Court declared death penalty unconstitutional. Yeah. So Ed Edwards isn't going to get the death penalty for the murder of Zabili Lovico and Judy Straub. It's a little convoluted, and for our purposes, it's not that important.
But the just is, if you happen to be a guy looking to get executed for murders committed in Ohio, between 1972 and 1981, you're out of luck. Ryan had been reading about Ohio's very complicated death penalty history. In 2001, they got rid of electrocution because they got a guy. They did do it right. He was fucking cooking in the electrocure. They got rid of it, and now it's all lethal injection. This isn't exactly right. But the details aren't important, Ed's case. This is.
If Ed truly wants to be executed, Ryan has an offer for him. The two might haven't seen each other for 14 years when Edwards left Ohio, but for that entire time, Ryan suspected him of yet another murder. This is going to sound absurd, I know. But even by Ed Edwards' standards, this one's pretty extreme. In 1995, when the last of his five kids was out of the house, Edwards took in a local kid who'd been in and out of foster care his whole life. He called him Danny Boy.
Ed was proud to have sent three of his five kids into the military, and he pushed that on Danny too. Danny listed in the army and in 1996, shipped off to Oklahoma. He was 19. But the moment he finished basic training, Danny went AWOL. He didn't turn up for more than six months. The deer hunter found his body half-barried and subordinates behind the cemetery. A cemetery that was less than a mile from Ed Edwards' house.
Ed wasn't immediately a suspect, but as the investigation continued, Brian Johnston began to wonder about him. And then one day, Ed skipped town. He never came back. Ever since then, Brian had considered Edwards the prime suspect. He just couldn't prove it. He wasn't the only one who thought this. April says that her siblings had grown suspicious too. They were almost certain their father was involved somehow, but they had no proof either.
So 14 years later, when Brian heard about his old friends' arrests, he added up to his constant with an offer. If Ed wants to be executed, there's one case that'll do it for him. Danny Boy. There is no death penalty for the crime you committed in Newark. However, there is a death penalty for Capitol murder from 81 on. So that's the skinny of it. Whether or not they told you that, shame on them. No, they didn't tell me anything about it. But I am telling you, Wayne, honest, not lying to you.
The crime that you committed in Doyle's town cannot get death penalty for. Because at that time, the fucking dust sentence was repealed. But you can't, you couldn't, you can't exorbitate me back to Ohio to try me. I have to try. You're going to die here in prison. And you can't be executed in Ohio if you're serving a sentence here, a life sentence, you know what I mean? You got to get a big issue. Now let's just get right into it. Listen to what I'm going to tell you, Wayne.
Ryan walks him through what it'll take. He has to plead out in Wisconsin, then plead out in Norton, then confess to Danny Boy's murder. After all that, finally, he'll get his needle. I'm going to be straight up. I think for the most part over the years, you were a decent human being. I think you raised a great family. You had kids that are successful. April's a good person. Your wife's a nice lady. But along the way, I think you had periods.
And I'm a stalker, man to man. I think you had periods when your brain was broken. It didn't function right. This is crazy shit. It is some crazy shit in Doyle's town. It is some crazy shit up here in Wisconsin. Bottom line is, some families need some closure. You're a good family. You need some closure. It's better they know you did something than always fucking wondering if you're responsible for something.
I'll tell you, I think if you are bound and determined way to get executed, you need to tell me the truth. And I know where the truth is and so do you. And we will charge you with Capitol crime on Danny's death. And you can go to death row in the town. I promise you, you'll get the fucking death row. How can I go to death row in the town? You just told me I can't be extra-rated back.
I'm not finished yet. Part of this deal is you're just going to have to plead to this shit here and get it behind you. And I have them cut a deal with our prosecutors in Ohio. Do a three-way deal. You admit to what you did here? Danny Boy, you're already done. Norton. You're saying. I'm confused. And I don't like what I'm hearing. I'm upset. Well, let's start at the beginning and work through it.
Edwards isn't ready to work through it. Because John Canterbury sat at the same table and said the same thing. They're confessing to an old murder and were getting back to Ohio. So now he's not even sure he should trust his old friend. I wouldn't have done any of this if I can't be extra-rated back. That's stupid, stupid move. In my part, I just don't think Wisconsin's going to let you go if they got to try it. Yeah, but like you said, I got to plead here and I'm not going to plead here.
You get me back there. Where are the death penalty? Where do you go to court? And then I work with you. I need more of that. I'm here trying to tell you you can get executed on Ohio. I said I would not even have talked into an ordinary, but I don't know. Again, this is a negotiation between a murderer who wants the death penalty and his old cop friend is trying to help him get it. And clear one off his own books in the process.
Anyway, I've always wondered why didn't Edwards just go to Brian and tell him about Danny? Why confess to the Silver Creek Park murders first? I personally think that he wanted never admit that he killed Danny because of his children. You know, they went to school with him. I think that was his motivation. That it would make him look worse. The Danny boy thing just looks so gross. Whereas the other murder is very similar to the one in Wisconsin emotionally charged. Murs up there.
Even for Ed, this particular killing crossed a line. So begins an odd summer of negotiations from the outset. Brian has made it clear. Ed Edwards will get what he wants, but he has to confess. You guys tell me what you're going to work with me for. Are you going to eventually the Danny boy Edwards? We can get you back there. Promise me you get back there. I'll take care of Danny boy. I promise. I mean, I'm absurd. I need to tell me that he will admit to it. I'll admit to it.
Still, Brian needs assurance. In fact, that no one else would know. Give me something that I know. All I want you to do is just give me a little bit that I know that person. You know, I know more than that. You don't know anything. I know more than that. No, you don't. The two Bicker, they question each other's motives. But even in the thick of this life or death negotiation, Rhyna and Ed rib each other. I got to go to bathroom. You stay here a minute. I look at my shit. I'm going to bed.
I have the captain watching. So you got that thing on there, mate. You sit here all fucking day. You got that thing on. He means Ed's catheter in a pee bag. How many, you want to use it? Oh. I don't want to get out much. He thinks he's taking advantage of the friendship by like he thinks he's calling in favor or by dealing with you, he can get what he wants, right? Yeah. How are you using that relationship? Because listening to the calls, it sounds kind of casual at time.
Even joking with each other, even though the subject matters really heavy. Well, I think I should put myself in front and then me too because I had to come down and play the role. And it sounds like he and I were best friends, but actually I was playing a role just trying to get what I needed to facilitate my end result. The conversation goes on for two days. When it's over, Edward understands the game. But he still holds back a full confession.
Ed tells Brian that he'll give it every last detail when he's back home in Geogger County. He just wants to know that a judge will give him the needle and then he can have his last meal a bit early, served by Brian. He wants a main lobster dinner with a low to bake potato, a 16 ounce prime rib, plus an A and W root beer to wash it down. Diet, B&W root beer, on account of his diabetes. Oh, and one more thing for the long drive back to Ohio.
Just give me a bucket of caramel sanderschipping and I'll sit there and backstead the car and I just eat my bucket of chicken. Regular extra, regular. I just want to pause here for a moment to point out how unholy what this negotiation is. Now that there isn't real police work happening, just that it isn't exactly clear he's starling in Hannibal Lecter. That the breaking of Edward's involves dumb jokes about catheters and promises of fried chicken buckets has always kind of amazed me.
After Brian leaves, weeks go by. Edward sits in a cell and Wisconsin and obsesses over the injustice of it all. He writes letters, lots of them, and he stows, especially about April and Chad Garcia, the people he feels are responsible for putting him there. His family, like his lawyer, is zero idea that any of this additional confessing is even going on. In one of many letters to April's brother Jeff, Edward's writes, Jeff, I'm sorry, but I will never talk, see, or write to April.
I wish you could see all the lives she told this detective. A few days later, he writes to Brian Johnston. Brian, please don't call or tell or ask April anything about me or my case here or there. She is not a part of me and I want no part of her. If you do, then you're going to find me very hard to get along with. Conversation recorded on June 15, 2010. Thanks, doll. The legal system is rarely in a hurry. For a month, Ed and Brian continue to negotiate by lettering by phone. Hello.
No thing is happening. You said goodbye. Brian tells his department's operator to connect calls from Edwards at any hour to a cell phone and Ed takes full advantage. He often calls three or four times a day. You know, I can't understand what more I already told you I killed with. What more could you want? I even told you how I killed him. Okay? The note you were he was shot at. He was on the end of the way. He reached it down and up. I think what he has reached it is up and back for.
I told him no cigarettes down in there. You there? Well, you're giving me a little more. Who can say what Ed Edwards motivations ever are? Maybe he's pissed that Brian isn't getting him back to Ohio fast enough. Or maybe he just wants to remind everyone that he's still in control. Whatever the case. Now here, I want to say something else. All right. I just finished talking to the Associated Press. They're on their way over here from Madison. Okay? Okay. This is the first interview I'm giving.
I've made up a line. I can't get to do it anybody else. I'll go this way. Well, you go ahead and do that, but they're not going to help you get to death now, are they my friend? Well, because they'll at least let it be known. If it's a threat, Brian is inviting. So Ed sits down in his orange jumpsuit with a jail. I'm responsible for it. And I am wanting the death penalty. Across from him behind the camera is a local AP reporter.
But it seems that everything that I have told them, I mean, it's substantiated. They know it's the truth and stuff like this here, but they don't want to, for whatever reason, follow it up. And it's just, that's why I decided that I would talk to you to try and get my point across. Edward lays out a whole terrible story to the public. He says the Danny was dealing from him, which isn't true. He explains how he lured Danny to the cemetery and shot him twice at point blank range.
He didn't know it was coming. He did not know that he was going to get shot. I didn't threaten him in any way. I felt bad, but apparently not bad enough that I kept from doing it. I'm not new to crime. I've been in crime all my life. And I have made up my mind. I guess a long time ago that I wasn't going to go back. An appendotent tree for just, you know, anything. But no, I did not feel good about it. And I don't feel good about it now. Otherwise, why I wouldn't be asking for the death penalty.
You got to remember something else too. I'm thinking also of my family. I have put my family through God knows what. They don't deserve it. They're good people. If nothing else, Ed stunt managed to get under Brian's skin. The tape made the rounds at the Geogas Sheriff's office. I shook my head, closed my eyes and put my head down. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe this was going forward. Couldn't believe it because of why.
It was going to guess what we were trying to lay out as far as our plan. We got hit by a cannonball. I think he thought he had been put into a situation where he wasn't in control. And we lied to him. I honestly think that he thought my relationship with him was better than his other guys. Because he and I had some history together. And a common loot away he thought that maybe I owed him more respect. And so he felt disrespected and giving that interview was like a way to get back at you.
I think he was just unimpulsed. He was man. It was an outburst. After the AP interview, Brian knew he needed to reign-ed it in before he screwed everything up. You're going to be brought back home to give your confession. Brian says, just be patient. Ed is impatient. And he's been keeping a few key details to himself. One thing in particular he thinks might be his leverage. Once after the murder, Ed would return to the scene and remove the part of Danny's skull.
You once said that Danny would shot in the back of the head that was blown away. Remember that? That's what the death certificate says. What's that? We're just hit. We have said. We have pieces of it. What's left? We have pieces of it's head. No, you don't need it. Okay. Where'd you get them from? Not from the grave site. You can tell by the pause in the tape here that Brian is genuinely stymied. Yeah. From where? No, you didn't need it. Okay. I know where you hit that.
So there's reason right there to get me back there so I can show you. Okay. But where do you go get me back to now tomorrow? Back your bag. He's kidding. It's not that fast. But the fact that Ed claims to know where Danny Boy's skull is and Brian doesn't know, Ed kind of revels in that. And if it becomes the focal point for most of their conversations. You have reached the deal. I found the head. I found the head. Is that all right? Hey, I'm going to ask you a question. What's that?
How do you know the head is still there after all these years? Well... Conversation recorded on June 15, 2010. Anyhow, here's what's going to happen. I just remember the share of the prosecutor and the lieutenant. Yes. And work with us will work with you. I've been trying to work with you, Brian. No. Keep trying. I can't say I've got to be there and tell you that that's a hit. You just don't understand that. Okay. All right. All right, I understand it.
You're trying to put me in front of the horse. You wouldn't even know what I got in here if I hadn't mentioned to you. Okay. I cannot tell you from here. I can't do it. I'm not going to do it. You hit me there and I'll show you what's that or whatever. I can't do it. I can't do it. Okay. Well, I think you will. Because you don't want to do it. It's anything accomplished. I talked to the prosecutor that if you know where that head is, we need to know. You'll get to you back here a lot faster.
You told us where the house is at before you get here. I ain't telling you shit before I get there. When I get there, I'll show you. I'm just telling you where the prosecutor's at. Don't yell at him. You guys want to know? Get me back to the other horse. Forget it. That's my, that's my, uh, Jason's the horse. Finally, after months of this, Ed offers up something new. Come on. I'll guide that. Well, hey. Yeah, okay. Yeah, he wants something else. Yeah, I did a pretty insurance money. Now there.
Now you got it. This wasn't some small thing. Insurance money. That was motive. Thank you so much. We're getting close. Yeah, well, we going any further. That's it, Brian. Brian longs suspected that Ed killed Danny for insurance money. He'd taken out a policy when he took him in. And there was a second policy that one active once Danny finished basic training. In total, Edwards got $250,000 once the body was discovered. And Danny was officially deceased.
But he kept swearing that wasn't why he did it. And the head stuff just continued. It just kept going on and on. Like some gaffly, loral and hardy routine. I know one thing I remember, I put the head in a feedback. Oh, what? A feedback. And let's take a feed or stuff like that, you know? Oh, a feedback. Where's that at? Where to put what at? A feedback. It's with the head. Oh, okay. Where's that at? I don't know. It's with the feedback. I gotta tell you something.
My little time was sitting there. So after a year and a half ago, he goes, you know something goes, you two guys got a lot in common and walked out of the room. I reminded Brian about this exchange with his boss after I heard the tape. Yeah, we did. Probably too much in common. But we were just able to communicate. We're on a level of, say way of life when I came to communicating. But I'm not a killer. I would hate to have that analyzed by some psychologist or psychiatrist.
But, uh, yeah, we had a rapport. I'm sitting there with a serial killer who ruined a lot of people's lives. And yet we can sit and joke, you know, it's kind of messed up. On June 30th, 2010, well into month two of this endless haggling, Brian goes back to Wisconsin for a third and final talk. He appeals to Ed's better angels if he has any. Let me tell you something about the head before we go. I don't know what you think about your family right now. That's between you and them.
But there's a stigma. I mean, is something all over the newspaper right now? No, I don't. There's a stigma about the missing head. And it portrays you as being somewhat of a monster. Besides just being a killer. And I'm just appealing to you as a father. So your kids can, you know, at least have something back in that community when they go back to. You know, it's crazy. The truth is, Brian didn't even need the head to get back to Ohio.
The prosecutor in Jagga County was convinced he had enough already. And the process to bring out where Tom was already in motion. But it wasn't moving fast enough for Edwards. That's why there was all this business about the head. It would have been nice to have. We had enough to move forward. If we had that head, it would absolutely verify what he was saying. Because only the killer wouldn't know where that was. Yes. It was almost like a trophy too.
Well, and we noticed you were basically saying, Hey, that's the house I can play in the media. It starts to make you look like a monster if you like took the head. Yes. Yes. It violates normal thinking. I mean, passion killings one thing, but removing body parts and skulls is different. Finally, in mid-August, they transferred head back to Ohio. Four months after that first letter landed on the desk of the Summit County Prosecutor's Office.
On August 23rd, in a very casual, extremely friendly three hour conversation at the Geographer County Sheriff's Office, Edwards finally confesses everything to Brian. All the glory details. It was always about the money. He acted alone. As for the skull fragments, he'd taken them from the scene so he could toss them into a creek near the property of a guy he was trying to frame. All falls together now. He should have had me help you investigate it.
They're pretty good job here when you got in there. Everything down. It was more than enough for the prosecutor to push for Edwards' execution. I mean, I really helped you as far as becoming a damn good investigator. Yes, you did. Yeah. I mean, you know, hate to put it that way, but it's fine. It made me work. That's spooky. It's like he's sitting right here talking to me again. But no, you know, he's taken pride in the fact that he helped me put it together.
And we could have done it without his daughter, though. He should be thanking his daughter, not us. On March 8th, 2011, Edward sat in front of a three-judge panel and listened as his two defense attorneys told the court that their client would not be fighting the prosecution's request for capital punishment. No one involved could remember a case where Ohio defended it actively sought the death penalty.
The situation was so uncomfortable for Edwards County appointed lawyer that even after he confirmed with the state he wasn't committing an ethics violation, he still felt uneasy. He didn't want to talk to us for the show, but I did speak to him once three years ago. Defense attorneys he told me are supposed to prevent executions. Not facilitate them. The judges asked Edward three times if this was really what he wanted. Finally, they granted his wish. They sent us into death.
Local news report described Edwards as content, even bored with the proceedings. His execution was scheduled for August 30th, 2011. The lesson a month after trial, on Thursday, April 7th, Edwards died at night of natural causes. No one claimed his body. It was cremated by the state. When you found out he died, were you sad at all? I actually remember having a sense of relief because the media had been contacting me about his upcoming execution. That was something I didn't want to deal with.
The legacy here already passed on to us. Then being executed on top of that. I remember thinking it was a blessing that he passed away instead of us half-ninging to go through the execution process. Because knowing him that would have been a bit of a circus, right? He would have probably made that into a big... I can't even... I mean, I can't imagine. I have thought about that. Different scenarios of what he would have done just knowing the way that he thinks.
And yeah, I'm thinking that would have been a different circus act. So normally, this is how the story would end with justice, I guess. With an awful man dying on death row, awaiting execution for the terrible crimes he committed. Except that while he was sitting in his Ohio cell, Edwards had been talking to someone else. Like, I didn't see this conviction as the end of anything. But instead, was sure he'd stumbled on to one of the most unbelievable crime stories in history. I forgive you.
I do want to meet you in person. I really do because... What on this call? That's the next episode of The Clearing. The Clearing is a production of Pineapple Street Media, an association with Gimlet. It's produced by Jonathan Manevar and me. I'm Josh Dean. Our associate producers are Josh Gwynne, Dean Ecliner, and Elliot Adler. Editing by Joel Lovell. Our fact checker has been failing. Our theme song is Modaphinal Blues by Matthew Deer. Music clearance by Anthony Roman.
The episode was mixed by Hannes Brown. Special thanks to Christina DeJosa and Ariana Martinez. General Voice Barber and Max Linsky are the executive producers of Pineapple Street. We'll see you next week.