A Case Of Catfishing: The Winek Family Murders

[Music] Friday November 25th 2022 Thanksgiving weekend 6:58 a.m. Riverside California a small cuer saac in price Court it was a quiet morning that Friday most families were still asleep having enjoyed great food and Company the previous evening Thanksgiving the weekend for most would be more of the same eating well relaxing and spending time together just before 7:00 a.m. a red Kia Soul Parks up in the area and a man wearing a tan colored trench coat a black fedora and face mask carrying a black duffel bag and a plastic bag gets out he walks around the area for a while standing outside a house for a moment before going back to the car and driving off he does the same thing twice one of the neighbors thought it looked so weird she called the Riverside police's non-emergency line to report the license plate but whoever it was hadn't actually done anything so all they could do was make a note of it 2 hours later 9:00 a.m. Michelle Blandon was just on her way out of the house when she got a call from her mother Sherry Sherry was panicked and talking fast she said that a detective was in the house and wanting to talk to her 15-year-old granddaughter Michelle's niece he said something had happened near the school and it was very urgent that he get hold of her 65-year-old Sher lived in the home with her husband 69-year-old Mark a volunteer High School softball and baseball coach her daughter 38-year-old Brooke and Brook's two young girls everyone's Minds were racing had the teen done something wrong was she in trouble was he going to take her to the station Sher said it was just her and Mark in the house as Brooke had taken her girls out the officer said he would have to wait until they came home and interview everyone separately it seemed really serious Michelle was baffled and worried but reassured her mother it was probably nothing and to try and stay calm Sher asked the detective if it was okay for Brook's other daughter to get dropped off at Michelle's house while they sorted everything out and he agreed all everyone could do was wait until the teen came home with Brooke the detective told Sherry that he needed to talk to the adults first and the Teen would have to wait in the car once she got there along with both hers and Brook's phones Michelle's heart started to beat fast and the anxious feeling she had was growing none of this felt right or normal not even close but Michelle knew her mom would wouldn't have opened the door for anyone let alone let someone in he was an officer he had a badge and the authority to go in and everything would be fine a few minutes later Brooke arrived at her house to drop off her niece and Michelle watched as Brooke and her 15-year-old daughter drove off to price Court Michelle called Sherry back and said they were on their way over and asked if everything was okay Sherry's voice was shaky and she was fighting back tears she said the detective was still in the house but before she could say anything else he took the phone off her calming and reassuring he said I'm here with your mom she is kind of being anxious and freaking out everything is going to be okay it's all okay he passed the phone back over and Michelle strained to hear what was being said she heard the detective say as part of the investigation that he needed to search the teens room the room with the Green Bay Packers memorabilia he said Michelle felt sick how on Earth did he know what the inside of her her family's house looked like but before she could say anything to her mother Sher said I'll call you back and the line went dead there was nothing Michelle could do but wait so she tried to shake it off and headed out into town Brooke finally pulled up and went inside her daughter staying in the car as per the officer's instructions a short while later Michelle sent a text to her mom asking for an update she got no reply 11:08 a.m. 911 dispatchers received a call requesting that a welfare check be carried out at Price Court a couple of residents were concerned as they had watched a man leaving a house with a much younger girl who was very distressed she had no shoes on and was subtly trying to mouth words at people watching although they couldn't tell what she was trying to communicate the pair walked towards a red key of soulle which was parked on someone's Drive the same person person's Drive in fact that had reported the car's license plates just a few hours earlier as the pair approached the car the owner of the house opened the door and shouted at the man that he couldn't park there the man was very apologetic and said he was leaving he opened the back passenger side door and the girl got inside he then walked around to the back door on the driver's side and put the black duffel bag inside as he turned around the neighbor saw some red spots on his clothes which looked like blood but she couldn't be sure although the girl wasn't physically forced into the car something was very troubling about the situation before the man shut the doors the girl quietly whispered help me and the car sped away Michelle who was still out in town then got a Facebook message from a neighbor of her parents please call me ASAP it read a few minutes later more calls came flooding into the Riverside Police Department a house was on fire at Price caught it was Mark and sher's Michelle jumped in the car with her husband and they started started heading across town she was calling her mom dad and sister repeatedly but no one was picking up at Price cour authorities were now there and tackling The [Music] Blaze the windows were starting to smash because of the Heat and the roof was caving in as firefighters made it inside they found the bodies of Mark Sher and Brook lying closely together near the front door they all had plastic bags over their heads and were bound and gagged they were already dead and the neighbors watched in horror as they were pulled from the home Michelle and her husband pulled up to her parents house just after this and Michelle tried to run through the tape as the police dragged her back her parents and sister's cars were still parked outside and although it was too early to tell who had been inside Michelle soon heard that several bodies had already been carried out as a shake and Michelle headed to the station with the police other officers were trying to track down the red here Michelle told them about the strange phone calls that morning and the detective inside her parents house she said there was no way the man would have got inside the house without showing some form of ID Sher would never have let him in without this no matter what he said police were still not confirming anything but when Michelle told them about her father's two tattoos on each arm a Green Bay Packers logo on his left and a notrad Dar mascot on his right she was faced with a situation that she had somehow been trying to rationalize and come up with excuses for her mother father and sister were inside the house and her niece was now missing on Friday morning Riverside police were called to the home for a disturbance shortly afterwards neighbors reported a fire in the home and firefighters made the grizzly Discovery the details of this will just break your heart I mean it is absolutely gut-wrenching this is the home where the fire happened and where the triple homicide happened and friends came by earlier today to light the candles again as the sun disappeared into the night this is still a crime scene investigation one of three and next door the lady had just taken her turkey out of the refrigerator the day after Thanksgiving walked in the backyard for a second and saw the smoke in the back of the house and went to the front and saw Flames coming out that's when she called 911 on her next door neighbor so she says we're more like family the most loving people she said you could ever meet every neighborhood needs a winck family family because they just were the All-American loving caring supporting family that you can ever ask for um it's been really hard on this neighborhood and thankfully we've met some amazing people here but it's it's been as you can imagine so hard on this community they have lived here for 22 years despite people wondering if the fire had caused their deaths an autopsy would later reveal that Mark Sher and Brook Brook had all likely died of asphixiation they had been bound and gagged before plastic bags were put over their heads and Brook's throat had been slashed Mark was killed first and they could see from the injuries that Brooke had really tried hard to fight off the attacker three of the family's dogs would also die in the fire along with their pet bird their fourth dog which had been in the backyard at the time survived and went into a shelter whilst a new home was found for the small quiet community and everyone that knew the family it was impossible to believe that anything like this could happen on their doorsteps around the same time all of this was going on over 2,000 M away in Virginia a woman was filing a missing person's report her boyfriend of 5 years had taken off and now she couldn't get hold of him the couple had been celebrating Thanksgiving together in San Diego for a few days with her parents when he suddenly started packing to leave he said he had run out of vacation time and needed to drive back to Virginia where he had just purchased a house but the drive would take over a day and this hadn't been their plan little did she know he hadn't set off to Virginia he had set off for Riverside California and she would soon realize it was her boyfriend that was now on the run with the missing 15-year-old girl using the license plate the neighbor had previously given them police and Riverside were finally able to track down the red Kia as it was heading into Kelo an unincorporated area of San Bernardino County on a totally empty and Rural Road far away from anything they caught up to the car and a SWAT team and helicopter were in Pursuit the man finally pulled over and jumped out of the car firing his gun he showed no signs of backing down a shootout ensued with the man as the girl ran from the car in a matter of seconds the driver was dead and the Teen was with the police most reports stat that he had turned the gun on himself but some say he was killed by police fire the 15-year-old who to this day has never been named was alive and unharmed she was taken into protective custody before they began interviewing her she and her sister also began a lengthy process of trauma counseling and a GoFundMe raised over $100,000 which would be given to the girls upon hearing that she had been found alive Michelle commended the neighbor for being so diligent in reporting the number plate and for persisting they look into it she believes it absolutely saved her niece's life the man who had kidnapped her and killed her family was 28-year-old Austin Lee Edwards a serving Virginia state deputy sheriff to the authori surprise the teen said she did actually know Austin having met him online but he was not the person she thought he was the pair had started speaking on Omegle a free online chat site that allows people to socialize with others without the need to register or create an account the site randomly pairs users in one-on-one chat sessions where they talk anonymously using the names you and stranger she had been honest about her age but Austin had told her that he was 17 it is unknown what if any pictures he was using or who he was pretending to be the police couldn't determine how long they had actually been talking for or how he had got hold of her address but at some point Austin had asked her for photographs that were sexual in nature she said after this she stopped talking to him detectives theorized that maybe he killed her family in retaliation or he thought that if he kidnapped her he could stop her from talking to anyone they also couldn't rule out the possibility that he did have some explicit photos of her and maybe this was an attempt at sextortion his messages showed he was clearly obsessed and was going to stop at nothing but with more than 1 million pages of social media content to go through it was safe to say the full story would take some time to come to light [Music] a huge showing of support for the three family members killed inside this home you can see the candles and flowers left after the vigil that happened out here with this community that is left in mourning they are heartbroken and detectives are still trying to piece together everything that happened a community gathers outside the winck family home on price Court in Riverside neighbors holding vigil for the family killed the day after Thanksgiving at the vigil the victim's daughter a thank to the community for all of its support thank you for being here honoring my family to see all of you out here supporting and giving us your strength we really need it and we really appreciate it members of the Arlington High School baseball team among those at the home last night because Mark Winnick was their coach the team tweeted out the world won't know what he meant to the team and other athletes and students who showed up said he touched their lives as well because we didn't have rides home after school he would always talk to us for an hour and uh he I know he didn't like it but we'd always try to keep him away from baseball cuz you were so jealous cuz you guys kind of stole him from us but um we loved every second with him uh one of my favorite memories is when my sister hit a walkoff and uh he just gave my sister and I a big hug after the game we are here to support her and the rest of their family um to make sure that they have peace as they're going through this process of heartbreak and of a loss of not just one person but three Joy organized the candlelight vigil she says Mark Winnick was a local Coach and he always kept a watchful eye over the neighborhood I just feel so much sorrow for the family and I wish I could do more and more and more investigators say after setting the home on fire the suspect left with another relative it's not clear if she went willingly but the San Bernadino County Sheriff's Department confirms she's now safe after a Pursuit Friday afternoon near needles deputies say the suspect was shooting at them but eventually deputies shot and killed the suspect both agencies investigating this complicated case say they expect to release new information very soon as for the family I talked with a relative who says they will soon start fundraising for those three funerals the teen told police that morning that she had no idea what was going on as she and Brooke pulled up to the house she said she had waited in the car following Brook's instructions but it ended up getting too hot she took her shoes off and stood outside for some air before tentatively walking inside the house to see what was going on as soon as she went through the door the first thing she saw was her grandmother Sherry with a bag over her head and her hands t tied she was still moving slightly before she had time to process anything Austin appeared and pointed a gun at her and ordered that she leave with him it is unknown where he was driving her or what if any conversations took place in his car and Austin was now dead and couldn't answer for himself so who was he and what did they know about him exciting news for the Virginia State Police the department is welcoming 58 new Troopers I'd like to remind you graduates of the 135th basic session we picked you because you're the best you're the best on Friday the 135th class of the Virginia state troopers were presented their diplomas during commencement at the state police training academy the new Troopers have received 1300 hours of classroom and field instruction in more than 100 different subjects during the ceremony GL Glenn yunin spoke saying that he's excited for the beginning in the Commonwealth with this new class of Troopers Austin Lee Edwards division one and REO 28- year-old Austin Edwards had joined the police academy in July 2021 and after graduating a year later he went to henrio County within the Richmond division of Virginia he resigned from the Department after a couple of months but no reason could be given for him leaving as it was not in his personnel file a month after leaving Austin was still associated with the Washington County Sheriff's Office and stepped into the Patrol Division as a Virginia state deputy sheriff a little under 2 weeks before he drove to California in a small town of less than 2,000 people Austin had purchased a new home neighbor said he was friendly and they felt safe around him knowing he was a police officer feeling a certain level of protection protction from him Austin spent a lot of time blacking out all the windows in his home but less than 10 days after moving in Austin Lee Edwards the Winx and their pets would all be dead in another state and now to developing news out of Riverside it was last week when three family members were found murdered and their home set Ablaze in Riverside investigators say the murders were linked to a catfishing scheme carried out by a 28-year-old Virginia law enforcement officer the suspect Austin Edwards here allegedly portrayed himself as a teenager to develop an online relationship with the teen daughter of one of the murder victims he then reportedly drove across the country to meet the girl and is then accused of murdering her mother and two grandparents and trying to abduct her as well never imagined anything you know like this and was actually very very happy to have an officer leaving behind me you know I felt safe according to Smith County Virginia records Edwards also recently purchased a home in Saltville from Jacob Gordon I had the house on the market for just a few hours and you know I got a full price offer and you know was told it was a Virginia state trooper he was only behind me for about 8 Days um you know he was actually very nice accommodating he offered to help me on my home after purchasing the home it appears he blacked out windows and put up dark curtains thought it was really weird and then of course the owner told me also that uh he required that they sent the video of the basement I mean he didn't see the per property before he purchased it but he required a video of the basement which seemed really weird to us um and of course the guy who lived in front of him that I know he said that he had a very strange presence that the guy was very weird kept creepy kept in his house he didn't get out a lot short time here he' already set off alarms Gordon still processing the news out of California it still doesn't feel real it's something you you never dream of any of us are impression you can imagine back when you were 15 they just you trust people and it's just a different world out there and people have to realize that this guy's a monster he's a predator we believe at this point that this suspect was the only one involved in the murders and in setting the fire the online deception catfishing other techniques happens daily it's probably going on right now somewhere in the country in our County as much as being a parent isn't fun sometimes I have been there uh you've got to check their devices um put filters you know have parental controls on these things we don't even feel comfortable uh affiliating him with law enforcement because that's not what someone in law enforcement is about as the investigation was unraveling over in Washington one woman was scrolling aimlessly on Instagram when she landed on a picture that made her freeze it was a photo of of Austin Not only was the story his face was attached to horrific she had her own story from years ago she had met Austin on omegal to he was 20 she just 13 and he had groomed stalked and harassed her for years she almost threw up when she saw him I read the whole story and it made me feel disgusting she said seeing everything that had happened to the winck family over in California the now 21-year-old took her story to the police and was able to offer up almost 4,000 messages between the pair from years ago Austin had started off sweet and chatty and she told him right away that she was 13 but this did not deter him from talking to her he soon started asking for nude photographs and told her he loved her he often spoke about hurting himself as a way of release on one occasion he insisted she join him on Skype I can't yet she told him why is that he replied because my mom she said kill her I'm going give myself a black eye okay he replied listen there's no obstacle that's going to stop us from being together if that's what we both want it doesn't even matter if you're 14 and not technically allowed to do yet he said she eventually cut ties with him but this didn't stop him trying to get hold of her another thing that the messages brought to light was something serious that had happened in 2016 the Virginia state police officer who kidnapped a 15-year-old girl in River side and killed her family had a glaring red flag on his record that apparently was not detected by Virginia authorities two weeks after the teen had told him she didn't want to talk to him Austin had been detained for psychiatric evaluation after threatening to take his own life and kill his father police are being called to the home by Austin's dad Christopher they found him trying to restrain Austin on the kitchen floor which was covered in blood and Christopher had bite marks all over his arms police pulled out a taser but Christopher said he could handle it still trying to protect his son eventually Austin was handcuffed strapped to a stretcher and checked into a hospital he said he had had an argument with his girlfriend and was lashing out his girlfriend being the 14-year-old who was trying to get away from him despite blocking him on every account he made new ones and always found a way to reach her the harassment went on for years until she was 18 when it all abruptly stopped it is unknown whether this coincided with meeting the 15-year-old online but investigations show the timings match up for this to be a possibility upon sending him to a mental health hospital in 2016 the judge said there was a substantial likelihood as a result of mental illness he will in the near future seriously harm himself or suffer harm the incident also prompted the judge to strip him of his gun rights under Virginia law anyone who was held on a temporary detention order and later admitted to a treatment for facility is not allowed to buy or possess a firearm until that right has been restored by the courts his gun rights were never restored on his application to the academy Austin disclosed that he had voluntarily checked himself into a mental health facility which meant he had to undergo a mental health evaluation and exam he failed Austin used his father a close friend and his Virginia State Police field training officer as references for the academy and despite the failed evaluation and the fact the court had taken his gun rights away he was still accepted the Virginia State Police deliberately buried the results of this mental health examination did no further examination into this aspect of edwards's application and hired him a notice said Arte Sido the interim police chief for the Aurora Colorado Police Department and a nationally recognized policing expert said I'd have to ask a lot of questions about why he's moving so quickly that's pretty unusual for someone to go go through Academy and all of a sudden turn around and leave he said most departments would be unlikely to hire Austin after such a brief work history unless he enrolled in their own Police Academy with all of this coming to light Michelle and her family wanted answers but they weren't getting any the Washington County Sheriff said it is shocking and sad to the entire law enforcement community that such an evil and wicked person could infiltrate law enforcement while concealing his true identity as a fter predator and murderer but the Virginia State Police said he didn't ever display any red flags he was the nicest person and loved helping people in his job they said he had no reprimands no complaints no instances of use of force levied no internal investigations and no disciplinary investigations Michelle said that not one Department ever apologized or even acknowledg them for a period of time good morning and thank you for everyone for being here today today my family and I truly appreciate the love and the compassion that we have received thus far in this trying time if something like this horrific tragedy can happen here in our neighborhood in our community it can happen anywhere in this tragic moment of our family our grief we hope some good will come from this parents please please know your child's online activity ask questions about what they are doing and whom they are talking to anybody can say they're someone else and you could be in this situation which I do not want for the world this horrific event started with an inappropriate online romance between a predator and a child we have some soless that this person will never harm anyone again but we also want to make it very clear that we do not applaud his death this was an adult that traveled across the the country to kidnap a 15-year-old girl my niece our niece our family member he took an oath to protect and yet he failed to do so instead he prayed on the most vulnerable when you hear the term catfishing you think of a long running dating show or series about a national sports figure both glamorizing and sensationalizing online relationships however in this instance catfishing led to the deaths of the three most important people in my life please parents Guardians when you are talking to your children about the dangers of their online actions please use us as a reference tell our story to help your parenting not not out of fear but out of example of something that did happen there are no words for the Gratitude we feel for the outpouring of support that we have received and I know that we will continue to receive for my two young nieces who are now left motherless we hope that this community can wrap your arms around them and lift them up they have the most difficult journey ahead as they are miners and they don't understand everything that is happening we hope and we ask that this community continue to shelter them please positively support them eventually Virginia State Police would issue a statement and say it was an isolated incident adding human error resulted in an incomplete database query during edwards's hiring process they said that if they knew about his past he wouldn't have been hired Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said it's disturbing disturbing it's disgusting anybody in the law enforcement Community we hate that person more than anybody because it's a reflection on us this is yet another horrific reminder of the Predators existing online who prey on our children if you've already had a conversation with your kids on how to be safe online and on social media have it again if not start now to better protect them after all of these failings were highlighted Governor Glenn yunin requested a full investigation be carried out by the state's Watchdog agency and agreement with the Watchdog agency later allowed Virginia State Police to investigate themselves Michelle and her family filed a notice of intent to sue in relation to the hiring process of Austin and the failures that had ensued she said we want to know why this person was able to get hired by not one but two agencies and given a firearm when he couldn't legally buy one her attorneys said Austin's employers demonstrated negligence gross negligence negligent and gross negligent hiring breach of mandatory duties and other violations of Virginia state law they argued that the family's damages exceeded 100 million even though Austin is now dead and cannot give anyone any information police say they are continuing to look into his past his laptop and his phones to determine if he has any more victims and piece together more of his story but with so many pages of messages from only two people so far police say they could be unraveling things for years and might never never know the full truth Mark Sher and Brooke along with their beloved pets died in the most frightening of ways terrified and trying to protect each other Michelle said they all lived and loved selflessly Mark was dearly loved by the kids he coached and he left a big impact on many with some saying he shaped their Futures and what they wanted to do when they were older he would always make sure he checked on them from time to time to see if everything was going well for them in college the school pay tribute to him as well his neighbor said he was someone that never stopped and loved being busy he would offer to mow people's Lawns to help them out and to pass the time Sher loved nothing more than being with her family celebrations like Thanksgiving and Christmas were her favorite times of year when everyone could just be together and she would bake cakes and cookies for her children and grandchildren we had a family debate and it got heated on if the brownie my mom made should be frosted with sprinkles or just left plain Michelle said little did I know on that day that would be the last time my husband and I would see my parents and sister again Brooke was a single parent and Michelle said her biggest joys in life were watching her two girls grow and collecting Starbucks cups Michelle laughed Brooke was telling everyone that her daughter had joined the color guard at school and nothing made her prouder than watching her for the girls and Michelle who were left behind it is impossible to imagine how they must find Each Day Celebrations such as birthdays Christmas and Thanksgiving will never be the same and what should be such a happy time to be with each other will always serve as a painful reminder of what was taken from them in a touching tribute price Court in Riverside was ceremoniously renamed Winnick court and is placed next to the winnick's home Eric Mark's nephew and godson said Mark and sher's pride and joy with their kids and by extension their grandchildren you never saw them beam so brightly than when they were around their [Music] family for those of you that like to listen on the go we now have our episodes in podcast form and you can find this via the link in our description box or by searching truly criminal podcast on your podcasting platforms

Channel: Truly Criminal

Views: 517,015

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Id: Q93ykDyNtzg

Length: 33min 6sec (1986 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 28 2023