Ailing Ky. man pleads guilty to killing 2 in Wis., agrees to plead guilty to killing 2 in Ohio

Ky. con man admits to murdering 4 in Wis., Ohio

JEFFERSON, Wis. — An ailing Kentucky con man pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing a teenage couple in Wisconsin nearly 30 years ago and agreed to plead guilty to two Ohio murders he had earlier confessed to.

Edward W. Edwards, 76, unexpectedly entered the guilty pleas during a hearing that was supposed to determine which jail he would live in while awaiting trial.

His attorney, Jeffery De La Rosa, said Edwards didn’t make the final decision on signing the deal until an hour before the hearing.

Edwards, who’s in poor health, didn’t address the roughly two dozen friends and family members of Wisconsin victims Tim Hack and Kelly Drew who gathered in the courtroom. He only spoke in response to questions from Jefferson County Judge William F. Hue.

Edwards pleaded guilty to killing the 19-year-old sweethearts in 1980. Edwards will be sentenced at a later date to mandatory life prison sentences for each murder.

Drew’s brother, Mike Drew, said after the hearing that he was surprised Edwards admitted to the murders but glad he did.

“I was hoping it would come to this,” Mike Drew said.

The other victim’s brother, Patrick Hack, said of the pleas: “It’s just one step on the way to hell for him.”

As part of the plea deal, Edwards will be transported to Summit County, Ohio, where he will plead guilty to the aggravated murders of Bill Lavaco, 21, and Judith Straub, 18, in 1977. He was charged earlier Wednesday in Ohio with those murders, which he had earlier confessed to.

Edwards, who is originally from Louisville, Ky., agreed to serve his prison sentence in Ohio. As part of the deal he agreed to be sentenced to life in prison for each of the Ohio murders as well.

De La Rosa said Edwards wanted to spare his wife and family members, and the families of his victims, from enduring a trial.

Edwards wrote an autobiography in 1972 detailing how he spent the 1950s traveling the country, stealing cars, running scams and seducing women. He landed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in 1961.

Police captured him in Atlanta in 1962. After doing time in federal prison, he gave speeches discouraging others from turning to crime. He and his family moved every few years, drifting through at least nine states, authorities believe.