Former Virginia State Trooper Austin Lee Edwards gets accused of committing triple homicide in Riverside. See details

A triple homicide in Riverside, California took place last week, and now the suspect, who is a former Virginia State Trooper Austin Lee Edwards has been identified by Southern California law enforcement.

As per the authorities, the accused Edwards allegedly killed a 15-year-old's grandmother, grandfather, and mother and later set their home on fire. Edwards further took the 15-year-old away with him.

After killing the family, the accused led the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department on a dangerous pursuit. Later, Edwards started to open fire on the SWAT team. However, the accused was gunned down.

Who is Austin Lee Edwards?

According to the Virginia State Police Department spokesperson, Edwards graduated from the academy in January 2022 and was assigned to Henrico County, within the Richmond Division of Virginia by the officials.

However, he resigned from the department in Oct, 2022. Meanwhile, Virginia police have not revealed the reason for Edwards' resignation from the department since it was part of his personnel file.



On November 16, 2022, Edwards still worked on his law enforcement career as he was associated with the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Before stepping into the patrol division, Edwards started his orientation process with the department.

Meanwhile, as per the Riverside Police Department, the accused was introduced to the teenage girl online through a "catfishing" scheme. During their conversation, Edwards portrayed himself as a different person.

Edwards traveled to the Riverside and first murdered the grandfather and later killed the 65-year-old grandmother Sharie Winek and 38-year-old mother Brooke Winek, before taking the 15-year-old with himself.

FAQs:

1. When did Austin Lee Edwards enroll himself in the academy?
   Edwards stepped into the academy on July 6, 2021.
2. Who did Edwards kill first?
   Edwards murdered the grandfather of the teenager first.