Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "The Caltrans Construction Killer" Mack Ray Edwards

Episode Date: February 17, 2022

Mack Ray Edwards was proud of his career as a heavy machine operator. It made him important on construction sites. But the very same machine he used to build a series of freeways in Los Angeles would also be used to hide the bodies of his murder victims.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised. This episode contains discussion of sexual assault and murder of children and suicide. Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13. August 6, 1956, was a typical summer morning in Southern California. Even at 7 a.m., an oppressive heat was creeping into the crisp mountain air. Brenda Howell's bicycle climbed a winding canyon path through the San Gabriel Mountains, It wasn't easy, and the 11-year-old was already out of breath. Brenda was determined to keep up with her friend, Don Baker.

But no amount of determination seemed to make up for their two-year age difference. Finally, Brenda caught a break. Don jumped off his bike near a large clearing. She just had to make it there. Minutes later, she arrived. But as she left her bike to join Don, she felt a strange prickling shoot down the back of her neck. Something wasn't right. Brenda offered Don water from her canteen, but he didn't respond.

He was focused on a thick curtain of trees and shrubbery before them. Then a twig snapped. Was it a bear or mountain lion? Whatever it was, Brenda didn't want to know. She stumbled backward toward her bike and whispered that Don should do the same. But Don didn't seem to share her worry, even as a man emerged from the trees. Brenda squinted. There was something familiar about him.

And suddenly, Brenda's fear evaporated. It was her big sister's husband, Mack. But Brenda's relief didn't last long. Mack's pace quickened. He was heading straight for Don, and he was carrying something in his right hand. Moments later, he slammed a rock against Don's head. The boy slumped to the ground.

Then Mac looked up, right at Brenda, And there was murder in his eyes. Hi, I'm Greg Pulsing. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're taking a look at the life of Mack Ray Edwards, the so-called Caltrans Construction Killer. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson.

Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. In the first part of this episode, we'll explore Edwards' early life and how his urge to molest children led him to kill. Later, we'll examine the theory that Edwards may have been a much more prolific killer than initially believed. We'll also consider how his possible fragile self-esteem led Edwards to make increasingly risky decisions. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting.

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Off campus, L, every year after, The Love Hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. We all do things that we don't want others to know about. For some, it's wearing a dirty t-shirt off the floor. For others, it's forgetting to recycle again, or sneaking a cigarette on the way home from work. However different our secret behaviors may be, the reason we long to keep them hidden is always the same.

Because at the end of the day, we care what other people think of us. In this sense, Mack Ray Edwards was like anyone else. He seemed to care deeply about his reputation. He most likely wanted his family, colleagues, and neighbors to like him. But this desire for acceptance is where Edwards' common humanity ends, because unlike the rest of us,

his secret behavior wasn't as innocuous as occasionally forgetting to floss. No, he was driven by an urge to prey on children, and he was willing to do anything to keep it quiet. Edwards was born in Montgomery County, Arkansas. There's little information on his early life there,

so all we can do is speculate on his environment, and the man Edwards eventually became. Montgomery County is a mountainous area where logging and mining were the primary industries. In 1918, the year Edwards was born, Montgomery was at the beginning of an economic boom that spanned most of his childhood. But as Edwards entered his teenage years, the Great Depression had gripped the United States, and Montgomery County wasn't immune. Businesses closed, residents moved away, and some communities transformed to,

into ghost towns overnight. We don't know if Edwards and his family experienced economic hardship, but living through the 1930s wasn't easy for most people. And while Edward's parents were likely trying to make ends meet, perhaps he was also going through personal difficulties of his own. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. As a reminder, she is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show.

Thanks, Greg. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, men with pedophilic disorder, quote, may indicate that they become aware of strong or preferential sexual interest in children around the time of puberty. Again, it's important to note there's little information on Edwards' formative years to draw any connections. But if this was the origin of his interest in children,

though to our knowledge he was never diagnosed with pedophilic disorder, research suggests that experiencing pedophilic attraction as a teen is inherently isolating. And for some men with pedophilic disorder, this social isolation continues for the rest of their lives, and so perhaps Edwards spent his teen years learning to blend in. As Edwards entered early adulthood, he appeared to take this lesson with him out of Montgomery County. In his 20s, he moved to Los Angeles, with the goal of building a respectable middle-class life. And in 1941, Edwards was arrested for vagrancy, a historically nebulous charge that punishes homelessness. And like so many others in the world during this time, there was worse to come.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States entered World War II. Edwards joined the war effort as a combat engineer and the experience built a foundation for the rest of his career. After Edwards' service, he maintained a steady stream of work on construction sites. But Edwards wasn't just a run-of-the-mill construction worker. As a heavy equipment operator, his duties were specialized. He operated large machines such as bulldozers, graders, and tractors. Maneuvering these unforgiving machines required expertise and precision. It wasn't a job just anyone on a construction site could do.

And for Edwards, an inherent perk of the role would have been that it commanded a level of respect from his fellow site workers. While he found his place on the job, Edwards built a different sort of respectable life outside of work as well. In 1946, Edwards had married Mary Howell and the couple would adopt two children, a boy and a girl. And by the late 1950s, the family settled into suburban life in Azusa, a town in the city. San Gabriel Valley. Around the neighborhood, Edwards had a pretty good reputation. He didn't drink or curse and was well liked by his peers. But even as Edwards projected 1950s suburban respectability, it's possible that that perfect

image didn't match the realities of his home life. That said, there's little information about Edward's life during this time. All we can do is speculate about the state of his marriage and his early years of fatherhood. based on what he became, it's possible he grappled with increasingly dark fantasies about young children. But what made Edwards finally act? It's possible that stress played a role. In child sexual abuse prevention, what offenders tell us, Dr. Michelle Elliott noted that two-thirds of offenders claimed that stress of some sort precipitated their offenses. The stress was related to work, sexual or domestic problems or to psychological problems. Still in the same survey, the other third of respondents

claimed that stress played no part in their decision to sexually abuse children, so it's possible that stress wasn't a motivating factor for Edwards. For him, maybe it was just the right opportunity. Edward's wife and children weren't home on the night of June 20, 1953, and he was working long hours constructing the Santa Ana Freeway. His job was far enough from his home that if If a child there went missing, no one would come knocking on Edward's door. With no one waiting for him at home, the knight offered Edwards a perfect opportunity to attack a child. He just needed to find one.

Eight-year-old Stella Darlene Nolan often played with her friend Barbara near auctioned city, a flea market. Stella's mother, Elena, worked at a concession stand and liked her daughter to check in every hour. When Stella didn't show at the concession stand between 8 and 9 p.m. that evening, Elena knew something was off. She searched everywhere for her daughter. Unfortunately, the little girl wasn't anywhere near Auction City. By that stage, Edwards had abducted Stella and driven her to his house in Azusa. There he molested, then attempted to strangle her. When she appeared to stop breathing, Edwards threw her body from a nearby bridge.

Later that night, Edwards returned to the bridge. It's not clear why he did this. Perhaps he went to move her body or to relive the events of the night before. But whatever his reason for returning, he likely didn't expect what he found. Edward saw Stella sitting up in the embankment below. Despite what Edwards had done to her, the eight-year-old had managed to drag herself nearly 100 feet away from where Edwards had thrown her. It was a moment for Edwards to reconsider his actions, a chance to make things right.

But the thought of Stella exposing him as a child molester wasn't something he could allow. He stabbed her repeatedly with a pocket knife, then drove her just over 20 miles to Downey. He buried her in an embankment along the Santa Ana Freeway. As far as we know, Stella Nolan was the first child Edwards molested and killed. And after that, he simply went back to blending in. Edward's respectable suburban life quietly continued for the next three years, but just when it seemed he might have turned over a new leaf for good, an opportunity came along that proved irresistible.

Coming up, Edwards kills much closer to home. Love. It's been the subject of poems, novels, music, and film. It's also been the driving force behind some of the most horrendous crimes in history. Hi, I'm Vanessa Richardson. Join me for Season 2 of Criminal Couples and meet the lovers who took their passion to perilous lengths. Featuring standout episodes from female criminals, serial killers, solved murders, and crimes of passion. This season of criminal couples gets to the heart of what makes two turn to a life of murderous crime. Some couples were set off by revenge or greed.

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Tickets on sale now at Yamavah Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. Now back to the story. Mack Ray Edwards was living a version of the 1950s American Dream with his wife, Mary, and their two children. He worked a difficult but rewarding job and provided for his family's middle-class suburban life. But behind his veneer of respectability, Edwards was a child molester and killer. And unfortunately, during the summer of 1956, a young girl moved into his home.

Eleven-year-old Brenda Howell and her parents had just driven over 500 miles. It was worth it for a visit with Brenda's older sister, Mary, for the 4th of July weekend. But as their vacation in Azusa came to an end, Brenda wasn't ready to go home. Brenda's parents agreed to let her stay behind for the rest of the summer. They made a plan for her to attend a local Bible camp. But with Mack Edwards in the house, the plan went awry. Edwards may have immediately felt the urge to hurt Brenda. But if that was the case, he didn't act impulsively.

According to a special report on pedophilia released by the Mayo Clinic, Drs Ryan Hall and Richard Hall report that pedophiles frequently report trouble controlling their behavior, although it is rare for them to spontaneously molest a child. The fact that 70% to 85% of offenses against children are premeditated speaks against a lack of perpetrator control. Again, we don't know if Edwards was diagnosed with pedophilia, but someone like Edwards seemed to feel an overwhelming drive to molest a child. And although perhaps he felt very little control over that urge, it seems he could control when he acted on these impulses.

Edwards knew he needed to be careful. Brenda wasn't just closer to home but his first victim. She was a child in his home. He had to wait for the right opportunity to attack, but for almost a month none appeared. So Edwards created a moment. an opportunity. He knew that Brenda had struck up a friendship with a neighbor, 13-year-old Don Baker. Edwards approached Don and said he'd pay him $7 if he took Brenda on a bike ride into the mountains.

Don took the money, and early on the morning of August 6th, Brenda and Don set out for the San Gabriel Canyon foothills, where Edwards was waiting. When the kids arrived, he hit Don over the head with a rock, then slit his throat. Edwards then likely molested Brenda before killing her, and threw both bodies off a cliff. Then he went home where panic quickly set in, just not his. For the next 11 weeks, the Edwards extended family joined police, Don's family, and countless neighbors as they searched day and night for signs of Brenda and Dawn. Edwards joined the search whenever he wasn't working. He spent hours in the search parties, pretending to know nothing, acting desperate for the kids' safe return. But Brenda and Dawn weren't coming home, and both families

were tortured by the terrible mystery of their children's disappearance for years. For many of those torturous years, Edward's life is a mystery as well. That's because his own accounts are the only source of information for his movements during this time, so we have to take this information with a grain of salt. In his later confession to the LAPD, Edwards maintained that after killing Brenda and Dawn in 1956, he didn't harm another child until 1968. Although police were skeptical of Edward's claim of a 12-year hiatus, there was no hard evidence linking him to other child molestations and murders.

They had to accept Edward's word. That is until 2005. when writer Weston DeWalt and LAPD Cold Case Detective Vivian Flores teamed up, and over the course of three years would make a number of intriguing discoveries that were missed during Edwards' lifetime. To be clear, Edwards was never charged with any murders between 1956 and 1968. However, the circumstantial evidence unearthed by DeWalt and Flores presents reasons to suspect his involvement in a number of murders from the time.

So then, why would Edwards have lied to police about this? Especially after he was actively confessing to other molestations and murders. It's possible that Edwards was minimizing his crimes, since it's common for child molesters to minimize their behavior. In the article, clinical features of pedophilia, implications for treatment, psychologist Lisa J. Cohen and psychiatrist Igor I. Gallenker found that 22% of convicted child molesters they studied minimized their offenses. They further revealed that minimizing

can, quote, reach delusional intensity. Even if Edwards minimized his actions during a police confession, he still couldn't guarantee that the truth would stay buried forever. Looking back now, some suspect that Edwards attacked

another child only six months after he killed Brenda and Don. On March 23, 1957, the Bowman family drove from their Redondo Beach home to Pasadena. It was supposed to be a nice weekend outing. The family planned to take a short hike on the Arroyo Seco Trail. But as the Bowman neared the end of their hike, eight-year-old Tommy Bowman declared that he would beat his family to the car. He sprinted toward the trailhead and

out of sight. What happened next remains unclear. It seems that Tommy couldn't find the car, felt lost, and became scared. Two women reported that they saw a crying boy who looked like Tommy in the area where he was last seen. The women also said that a tall, deeply tanned man was following Tommy. To some, a police sketch of this man bore strong resemblance to Mack Edwards. Edwards wasn't working on a job in Pasadena at the time, but his employer had an equipment yard less than a half mile from where Tommy was last seen. So it's conceivable that he was in the area that day.

Later on death row, Edwards wrote a letter to his wife. stating, I was going to add one more confession, and that was the Tommy Bowman boy that disappeared in Pasadena. But I felt I would really make a mess of that one, so I left him out of it. If we take Edwards' word that he attacked Tommy, it might offer some insight into the way he worked. Instead of only stalking a child for an extended period before abducting them, like some predators,

Edwards seemed to target places as well. For instance, it's possible that he saw Stella at auction city before he decided to abduct her, but it's unlikely Edwards knew the Bowman family who were from Redondo Beach. So whether it was Auction City or the Arroyoseco Trail, Edwards seemed to stake out family-friendly locations,

hoping to find a vulnerable child alone. If the next four attacks were committed by Edwards, and again there's only been speculation that he might have been involved, they seem to mirror this strategy. On July 13, 1960, seven-year-old Bruce Kremlin was on a YMCA camping trip in the San Gabriel Mountains with 80 other children. Bruce was hiking with four boys but couldn't keep pace.

The other boys pushed on and Bruce agreed to meet them back at camp. He never showed up. On Friday, August 18, 1961, 11-year-old Karen Lynn Tompkin stayed late to help a teacher clean up after making crafts at her school in Torrance. Around 5 p.m., she began to be able to be. her usual five-block walk home. She was never seen again. September 2nd, 1961 was a busy day for seven-year-old Ramona Price and her family in Santa Barbara. Her parents and siblings were packing for their move, so Ramona told them she would

walk to the new house for a peek. Ramona headed out on foot. A witness says she saw a little girl matching Ramona's description, saw an old model blue Plymouth stop next to her, and saw the driver enticed the girl into his car. Edwards owned several Plymouths throughout the years. Edwards was also working on a bridge near Santa Barbara at the time, and staying with a friend less than a mile away. In July of 1962, less than a year later, and only blocks away from Karen's home,

11-year-old Dorothy Gale Brown went on a bike ride and never returned. Just a day later, her body was discovered in the ocean near Corona Del Mar. She was naked, had been sexually assaulted, and appeared to have drowned. Again, there's no physical evidence tying Edwards to these children, and he wasn't charged with their murders.

If he was involved in their disappearances and murders, his claimed 12 years between attacks dwindles to a mere six. And although it's certainly possible that Edwards attacked children during the six years after that as well, there's no information or evidence linking him to any such crimes. What we do know is that by 1968,

Edwards and his family had moved to Silmar, California, another suburban town at the north end of the San Fernando Valley. Once again, his life seemed idyllic. In Silmar, Edwards was the friendly face waving hello over his back fence. He kept horses and let the neighborhood kids ride them. He loved camping and would plan multifamily weekend trips. But beyond the respectable facade of his life, it seems there were aspects that had changed, and with these changes came fewer opportunities to abduct children.

Edwards was still working, but by 1968, the freeway construction boom in Los Angeles was waning. For Edwards, this meant fewer abandoned areas to hide bodies and fewer trips far from home. Additionally, Edwards was middle-aged, and his own children were teenagers. Along with his wife Mary, there were now three people at home to hide his darker side from. The stress of his changing life, coupled with fewer opportunities to attack children, might have manifested a new level of desperation in Edwards. Desperation isn't in any recipe for good judgment. When Edwards did strike again, he seemed like a very different killer. Up next, a string of miscalculations

force Edwards to face his worst fear. Now back to the story. By 1968, 50-year-old Mac Ray Edwards had molested and killed at least three children. But to everyone in his life, he was known as a friendly neighbor and family man. Edwards later claimed to have ceased his crimes for a number of years during the mid-1960s. But as the tumultuous decade progressed, it seemed Edwards felt a pressure building inside himself as well. He needed to act. November 26, 1968, 16-year-old Gary Rocha's friends dropped him off at home in Granada Hills after school.

Gary was expecting an empty house, but when he entered, Edwards was there. Edwards was equally surprised to see Gary. He'd expected Gary's 12-year-old sister, Michelle, to walk through the door, but she was at a friend's house that day. Changing his plan quickly, Edwards forced Gary into his mother's bedroom, then shot him twice in the head. This was a significant moment for Edwards. He hadn't miscalculated an attack since his first murder, and it was a close call. Had Gary arrived home with a parent or a group of friends, Edwards may very well have been caught. But he wasn't.

For the next few years, Gary's parents believed that he was the victim of a robbery gone wrong. Meanwhile, Edwards found himself in a unique opportunity to strike again. Only a month later, 16-year-old Roger Madison and his father got into a blowout fight. Roger's dad caught him smoking cigarettes and didn't approve. Rogers stormed out and took off on his motorcycle. It was while he was blowing off steam on his bike that he saw Mack Ray Edwards. For Roger, Mack wasn't a dangerous or even suspicious person. Edwards lived nearby and his son was even in some classes at school with Roger.

Somehow, Edwards convinced Roger to accompany him to a nearby orange grove. There he stabbed him repeatedly in the throat and chest. It had been raining for nearly a week when Edwards killed Roger, and although rain is a notorious nuisance on construction sites, it was a benefit to Edwards. He took Roger's body to a paused construction site near the 23 freeway in Thousand Oaks and used a bulldozer to bury him. According to Roger's mother, Dorothy, Edwards visited her several times after her son disappeared.

He told her how sorry he was that Roger had run away. This murder was a striking departure from Edward's typical MO. Roger was not only older than the victims Edwards targeted, but his initial choice of murder weapon was different as well. After his first murder, Edwards shifted to faster methods to kill his victims, ones that were more utilitarian. He likely believed they were necessary actions taken to guarantee his safety. But when Edwards killed Roger Madison, he didn't simply shoot him in the head or quickly slit his throat. Instead, he stabbed the teen over and over again. In a 2013 article examining the role of multiple stabbings in sex-related homicides,

forensic pathologist Nemanja Radoyevich notes that homicides, which involve multiple stabbing, are very often the result of the assailant's highly expressed affect. In other words, it's possible that Edwards' decision to kill Roger in this manner may reveal that there was a strong emotion coursing through Edwards during the murder. It's possible that emotion was a cocktail of rage and frustration, and he couldn't bottle it up for long. By the spring of 1969, 58-year-old Edwards was ready to strike again. That May, he noticed 13-year-old.

Donald Alan Todd. The boy was on his way to make a quick butt by mowing the lawn for someone nearby. Upon seeing him, Edwards stopped his car and convinced the boy to get in. Donald quickly agreed and climbed into the car. Then Edwards drove Donald to an orange grove, just like he'd done with Roger Madison. Edwards later said that he attempted to molest Donald but was not able, so he shot him five times. Three local kids found Donald's body under a footbridge a few days later. He was only wearing his t-shirt. The rest of his clothes were left in a neat pile on top of the bridge. Despite multiple attempts, Edwards hadn't sexually assaulted a child in years. It might have been

a sense of frustration that caused him to become increasingly erratic. It's possible this frustration stemmed from unseen difficulty within Edwards' seemingly perfect life as well. There were changes happening in the Edwards household, and some of these changes didn't match the respectable image he might have wanted to project. By the end of 1969, Edwards and his wife decided to send their son to military school, which suggests their relationship with him may not have been going well. Meanwhile, Edwards was experiencing health problems that made working hard. In early 1970, Edwards was seriously ill, and hospitalized,

for an extended period of time. Unable to work may be the only area where he felt a level of respect and control. It's possible that his self-esteem reached an all-time low. By the time he was out of the hospital and healthy again, Edwards was probably a tinderbox of frustration, rage, and self-loathing. He needed to manage his overwhelming negative emotions,

so he planned another attack. But this time, the risks at worst. Edwards took were substantially higher than any he'd taken before, and what he did next demonstrated just how desperate he was to prey on children at this particular point in his life. The first strange decision Edwards made was enlisting a 15-year-old boy as his accomplice. Because the boy was a minor at the time, there's little information available about him, so we'll call him John. At dawn on March 6, 1970, Edwards and John drove a camper to him,

to the home of the Cohen family. They watched the two parents leave for work, then went inside. Edwards and John stole a coin collection and other valuables from the house, but their main targets were the Cohen's three daughters, Valerie 12, Cindy 13, and Jan 14. Targeting the Coens was Edward's second strange decision.

He not only knew the family, he used to be their next door neighbor. All three girls recognized. recognized Edwards, but it likely didn't matter to him. He didn't intend to leave any of them alive to report him. Edwards and John forced Valerie, Cindy, and Jan to write out a note for their parents. In it, the girl stated they were running away. Edwards and John then forced the trio into their camper and drove toward the San Gabriel Mountains. The third strange decision Edwards made in planning this attack was the choice to abduct three children at once. Edward's

Edwards and John likely thought that together they could manipulate or overpower the sisters, but they underestimated the Cohen girls. Edwards parked the camper in the mountains, pointed a gun at the girls, and ushered them out. Then he told Valerie to walk down to a nearby storm drain. Valerie walked obediently, at first. Then she ran. Meanwhile, Jan sprinted in the opposite direction and hit herself in a thicket of bushes. While Edwards and John looked for Jan, Cindy slipped away as well. With two of the Cohen girls on the run, Edwards panicked.

He could chase after Cindy and Valerie, but he knew he couldn't catch them both. Whatever way he looked at it, at least one of the Cohen girls would soon be calling her parents or the police. He was going to be caught, that was almost certain. Now all he could do was weigh his options. Edwards could go on the run. But if he left now, his crimes would become front-page news, and he wouldn't be around to defend himself. His reputation would be ruined.

It seems that the idea that his family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors would forever think of Edwards as a monster was too much to bear. Edwards needed to control the narrative. That meant leaving wasn't an option. There was only one thing left to do. Edwards yelled into the forest, letting the cul-exam, letting the Cohen girls know that the police would soon come to rescue them. Then he and John got back in the camper and drove towards town.

A short while later, Edwards and John walked into the LAPD foothill station. There, Edwards handed a pistol to police, warning them to be careful because it was loaded. It was the same gun he used to kill Donald Todd and Gary Rocha. Edwards told police the location of the three girls, all of whom were eventually rescued unharmed. Then Edwards told the cops there was more he wanted to discuss. Alone with the LAPD officers, Edwards confessed to the murders of Stella Nolan, Brenda Howell,

Don Baker, Gary Rocha, Roger Madison, and Donald Todd. When officers asked why he turned himself in, Edwards said, I couldn't eat and I couldn't sleep. It was beginning to affect my work. I'm a heavy equipment operator. That greater I was using costs a lot of money. $200,000. I might wreck it or turn it over and hurt someone.

Even as he confessed to some of the worst crimes imaginable, Mac Edwards still tried to make himself seem like a decent and responsible member of society. But it wasn't only Edward's reputation with police that he needed to worry about. In the coming days, his story was all over Los Angeles, as he tried to lead authorities to the bodies of Stella, Brenda, Don, and Roger. Police were unable to recover Rogers' remains from under the 23 freeway in 1970. In 2008, detection dogs and machines narrowed down a possible location for the body, but officials were unable to extract anything concrete, and eventually they called off the search.

And although Edwards frequently returned to the mountains where he attacked his sister-in-law Brenda and her friend Don, he was unable to lead police to their remains. Only Stella's body was found. As such, Edwards was only charged with murder for the body's authorities had access to. Stella Nolan, Gary Rocha, and Donald Todd. He immediately pled guilty, hoping to forego a trial. But prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, and that required a trial, no matter a defendant's plea.

However, the trial was delayed twice because, Edwards attempted suicide. When proceedings finally began, he instructed his lawyer to request the death penalty. His lawyer disregarded that instruction and tried to prove Edwards innocent, but he was eventually found guilty, and in May of 1970, he was sentenced to death. Before he was transferred to Death Row in San Quentin, Edwards told a prison guard that he'd actually killed 18 children, not just six, but he refused to make the same confession to authorities. He reportedly said he wouldn't tell the LAPD because they had said bad things about him in court. Mack Edwards remained on death row in San Quentin for just over a year. During that time, he wrote a

letter to his wife. Part of this letter was a confessional, like where he admitted to the abduction of Tommy Bowman. But in the rest of the letter, he tried to minimize his actions. and salvage pieces of his reputation. In the same letter, Edwards told Mary that he had actually murdered only one child, but had taken the fall for an alleged friend who was a paraplegic. That friend Edwards claimed was responsible for murdering the other five children. But it seems that by this time, no one was buying Edwards' lies. Now he was stuck in his prison cell, alone and facing the consequences of his actions.

It's possible that given enough time, Edwards might have revealed his involvement in more crimes or helped locate other victims' bodies. But it wasn't to be. Edwards died by suicide while on death row in San Quentin, taking the truth to his grave. With him gone, all anyone left behind can do is guess. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with the next. new episode. For more information on the Caltrans Construction Killer Murders, amongst the many

sources we used, we found all of the incredible work done by writer Weston DeWalt, extremely helpful to our research. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all of the Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Michael Motion, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Aaron Larson. This episode of serial killers was written by Justine Ferrara,

with writing assistance by Tony Goodman and Joel Callan, fact-checking by Adriana Romero, and research by Brian Petrus. Serial killers stars Greg Poulson and Vanessa Richardson. It's been said that love is a many-splendered thing, That is, until it's not. In season two of criminal couples, discover true stories of couples

who turned their love lives into a life of crime. Lies and deceit are just the beginning. Follow the Spotify original from Parcast, Criminal Couples. Catch new episodes every Monday, free and only on Spotify. Spring break isn't what it used to be.

It's better. This spring, stay three nights and get a $50 best Western gift card. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.