THE SECRET LIFE OF A SERIAL KILLER

Edward Edwards masqueraded as a reformed thief and a loving family man. But behind his charming facade lurked one of the nation’s most ruthless killers

1955

Edwards does odd jobs, including working as a handyman, before turning to petty crime. By age 22, Edwards escapes from an Ohio jail after a burglary arrest. He is caught in Montana and spends five years in and out of jails before escaping a Portland prison.

1972

Having seemingly turned his life around, Edwards writes and self-publishes his memoir, Metamorphosis of a Criminal: The True Life Story of Ed Edwards. He later tells his story on the game show To Tell the Truth.

1977 TO 1996

Edwards kills at least five victims: Billy Lovaco and Judy Straub in 1977; Tim Hack and Kelly Drew (pictured right) in 1980; and “Dannie Boy” Edwards in 1996.

NOVEMBER 1961

Arrested for a false fire alarm, Edwards skips town to avoid jail and is added to the FBI’S 10 Most Wanted list.

JULY 20, 1968

Edwards marries schoolteacher Kay Hedderley in Akron, and they have five children, including oldest daughter April.

2009

April calls police in Wisconsin and suggests her father might have been involved in the 1980 “Sweetheart Murders” of Hack and Drew. DNA evidence links Edwards, then living in Louisville, to the crime and he confesses.

JAN. 20, 1962

Captured in Atlanta, he spends five years in prison before being granted parole in 1967.

2011

Edwards receives two life sentences after confessing to the murders of Lovaco and Straub and the death penalty for the murder of Dannie Boy. A month later he dies in prison.