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It was 1991. On Monday, June 3rd, around 9:30 in the morning, citizen Paul Q. Was biking home from the Shell station on State Road 62, where he'd gone to get a gallon of gas for his lawnmower. He stopped at a friend's house at Craig and Olive when he saw a body lying out in the open in the urban area. Deputy John Smith of The Franklin County, Ohio Sheriff's Office responded to a dead body call at 9:56am arriving at the northwest corner of Olive street and Craig Drive in Urban Crest Village, part of Columbus. The officer found the body of a black female lying on her back in the grass about three feet from the road. Her arms were spread out straight from her shoulders and she was in full rigor. She was wearing only gray socks and two rings on her right ring finger. She was 5 foot 5, about 25 to 30 years old, and was noted to be missing two teeth from her upper left jaw. Notably, the deceased woman had two deep ligature marks around her neck. A report from Franklin County Sheriff's Office Detective Emmett Wheeler says, quote, on the left side of the neck, the ligature marks are together and split under the right side of the chin, with one continuing around the neck and the other traveling upwards toward the right ear. The eyes are open, no petechia is observed, end quote. The dead woman also had visible ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. Jackson Township Emergency services arrived at 10:01 and pronounced the victim deceased. Dr. Norton of the Coroner's Office responded to the scene at 10:58, inspected the body and supervised turning her over. Her back bore no marks, but several ant bites. Many law enforcement personnel responded to the scene, securing the area, interviewing the man who found the body and passersby, and beginning the process of searching, photographing, measuring and documenting the scene. Detective Wheeler's report of the location says, quote, A white house, 2871 Olive street is located on the northeast corner of Craig and Olive. Heavy undergrowth and trees align both sides of the street. The scene is very isolated, end quote. The detectives noted that it had rained hard that morning and the body was not wet and had no leaves, dirt or other detritus on it. So it was likely that it was left after the rain ended in the early morning hours. Oddly, an umbrella handle lay three feet from the dead woman's right ankle. It was unknown whether it was in any way related to her murder. A tire impression was between the body and the road, but it had no distinguishing features. To the north of the victim was a footprint in the grass, also with no identifiable characteristics. The area was searched for the missing clothing that might have been worn by the young woman. Detective Wheeler and Technician Waldo walked the woods abutting the dump site, the roadway and the train tracks nearby. On the side of the train tracks, they recovered a pair of red shorts which they collected. Detective Corporal John justice began a house to house canvas around the dump site. He showed each homeowner a photo of the victim, but no one had any information or knew who she was. After all those things were done. At 11:27am the victim was transported to the Franklin county morgue for an autopsy. The scene was cleared by 12:10pm in the autopsy suite, the victim's socks were collected and marked as evidence. Item 6. Her rings were collected and marked. Item 8. Prior to autopsy, Dr. Norton collected fingernail scrapings from the deceased woman. Photographs were taken of the ligature marks on her neck and head and pubic hair samples were collected. Pubic hair combings revealed loose hairs in the vaginal area. These were collected as item number one. White fibers were collected from the victim's neck, back and legs and placed in evidence as item number two. Toxicology samples were collected and then the examination of the body began. The ligature marks on Jane Doe's neck were observed as well as the indications on her ankles and wrists that she was bound. The victim had significant evidence of sexual assault. She had evidence of forcible anal penetration causing injuries to her anus, internal bruising near the colon and blood staining of her gluteal fold. Dr. Norton collected vaginal oral and rectal swabs and smears. Item 7. Spermatozoa were detected on the samples from the victim's anal and vaginal cavities. The autopsy report concluded that the cause of death was ligature strangulation and the manner of death was homicide. The victim had been killed no more than 48 hours prior. Finger and palm prints were collected and provided to the Columbus PD Identification Bureau. The Bureau identified the victim as Alma Renee Lake, date of birth, May 28, 1961. She had records in both Columbus and Franklin county that documented arrests for prostitution, carrying a concealed weapon and assault. As I said, Alma Renee Lake Alexander was born on May 28, 1961 in Ohio. She completed only an 8th grade education. When she died, she left behind a 6 year old son. Sadly, the only other information I have about Alma came from interviews with her mother, which I will get into. On June 4th at 1:00am Alma's mother, Beverly Burton went to the morgue and made positive identification of her daughter. She stated, that's my baby. Then she said she won't be used anymore and she won't use anybody anymore. Beverly told investigators that she, Beverly had raised Alma's son Robert since he was 1. She said her daughter had had a hard life of late. Alma, sadly was a crack addict and drinker who was on a downward spiral. Beverly said Alma had been beaten up on numerous occasions by various men and even been hit by a car six months earlier. Beverly said she did what she could do to try to help her daughter. She was constantly picking Alma up and trying to get her back on her feet. She had repeatedly paid off drug pushers so her daughter would not be beaten up by people she owed money to. She said Alma knew no one in the Urban Crest area where she'd been found and it was much more likely she had been killed in her own neighborhood. Beverly told Detective Goldsberry that Alma had been staying with her at 1506 Oak street and that Alma tended to patronize the M and R wine carry at 1553 East Main. Her drink was wild Irish wine, which sounds like it'll give you a giant headache. She also frequented the bar across from the M R carryout as well as the bar at East 5th Avenue across the alley from Snaps. Detectives started to try to put together a timeline for Alma's last days. This was easier said than done. Detective Jerry Robinson interviewed Alma's cousin by marriage, Tanya Johnson on June 4. She reiterated that Alma had had a hard life. She had most recently lived with her sister Manresha on Second Avenue. But she was asked to leave because Manresha had little kids and Alma was always bringing men around. Alma generally stayed wherever she could find. She was addicted to crack and was often seen soliciting johns on Main Street. When they talked to Manresha, she confirmed that her sister was a sex worker and addict. She had asked her to leave her home on Friday night, March 31, after Alma came home drunk at having been ejected from a bar. Beverly, their mother, ended up picking up alma on Saturday, June 1, taking her to pick up her general relief check. Manresha said she hadn't seen her sister after that, but she believed Alma was the person who hurled a rock onto her front porch in the middle of the night of June 1 to 2. Beverly confirmed that Alma was staying with her the weekend that she died. She said she'd last seen her daughter on Saturday, June 1st at about 9pm I'm going to say right up front here that the detectives came to believe that Beverly was mistaken about this date and really had last seen Alma. On Sunday, June 2, Alma left her mom's house with another girlfriend named Gayla Y. Beverly said Gayla bought her drugs from the guy who lived in the semi detached next door at 1504 Oak Street. His name was Jacques. Beverly then added that Alma had talked about staying with a man whose name she didn't know, a black male who lived at 1655 Kent street and drove a black Ford Econoline van. The detectives scribbled notes. They started to check around the locations Beverly cited where Alma frequented. The clerks in the M and R carryout had not seen her recently. Then detectives were contacted by a potential witness named Paula M. Who was a clerk at the BP station at the intersection of I71 and East 5th Avenue. She said that the woman whose photo they showed on the news Alma had been at her convenience store several times over the weekend of June 1 and 2. She was in one time buying a package of beer when she got into an argument with another clerk, Rosie S. Rosie refused to sell Alma beer because she thought she was already too drunk and acting a little crazy. Alma mentioned it was her birthday, which had actually been several days earlier. Rosie said Alma was wearing blue shorts and a white tank top and she had a cheap necklace on. She was in the company of a heavyset black female with a gold tooth. Rosie said the women left together eastbound on Main. Then Alma returned to the BP a second time on Monday, June 3, sometime between 3 and 5am she came into the store after cutting through the hole in the chain link fence behind the store. She used a payphone outside and then came inside and purchased a pack of Cools and a pack of Newports she paid for with a dirty 20 bill. She wanted to buy beer, but they didn't sell it at that hour of the day. Importantly, the BP clerk said that Alma was with a short black male who was in his early 30s, 5 foot 6, 150 pounds. She and the man left the store and walked west from the BP toward Cleveland Avenue that was believed to be the last known sighting of Alma Lake. She was never seen alive again. Detective Robinson interviewed this woman, Gayla. Beverly had told Detective Robinson that on the last night she saw her daughter. Gayla and Alma had been smoking crack at the home of the guy next door at 1504. Jock and he had sent them out on a buy. That's when Alma and Gayla left the house around 9pm in her interview, Gayla downplayed the drug angle. She said she met alma on Sunday, June 2nd at the home of Jacques at 1504 Oak Street. He was a friend of hers. When she went to his house between 7 and 8pm Alma was there and they were introduced around 8:30 or 9. Alma asked Gayla to take her to the store. Gayla said Jacques let her know Alma was cool and the two women got into Gayla's car after Alma's mom next door got Alma a pair of shoes, white high tops. Alma was also wearing a white midriff top and blue shorts. Gayla drove Alma to a convenience store in the area of Lilly and Main. But as they drove up, Alma saw a police van and requested that Gayla pull around the corner and let her out. Gayla didn't know why Alma feared the police. She claimed she denied that she went into the BP with Alma, although Alma had been seen there with a woman who met Gayla's description. This guy Jock's house was the next stop for the detectives. He pretended to be an upstanding citizen, of course, although he admitted his street name was Damien. He had attended Ohio State and retired from the Division of Parks and Rec, he said. He said he last saw Alma, whose street name was Georgia, on Sunday night, June 2. She'd been hanging out at his house drinking beer with Gala Y. They left to go to the store to cash a money order and buy some fish. They left around nine in Gala's car after Beverly brought Alma some sneakers. Gala later told Jock that she dropped Alma off one block south of Main Street. Police wanted to find the guy who Alma had been at the BP station with between 3 and 5am on the morning she was believed to have been killed. They started to collect names. A longtime friend of Alma's named Miracle L told Detective Robinson that Alma had been part of a stable of girls run by pimp Ronnie Sparks. His girls walked a corridor on Main street between Linwood and Wilson. Beverly also reported that Alma had shot a guy named Robert s. In the 1986 timeframe and another guy named Marty M. Had threatened her. Police pulled all Alma's arrest records and started tracking down any men she had been in the presence of when hauled in or whom she had listed as an associate. An Edgar M, age 71 of 99 Central, number 215 was listed on one of Alma's intake sheets as a friend. He told the investigators who knocked on his door that Alma ran with everybody in town and she deserved what she got. He didn't know anything about her current life as he hadn't seen her in several years, he said. Police figured out who the man living at 1655 Kent street whom Alma's mom had reported she was going to live with was. The guy who drove the black Ford Econoline. His name was Ayers I. When investigators confronted him about his relationship with Alma, he claimed to have seen Alma only twice. He had had her over about a month earlier and they drank and had dinner, but he said he hadn't seen her since then. In a second interview, he said he now remembered that Alma and her mother had come over on Saturday, June 1st to ask him if he had a space to rent for Alma. Police were still investigating Ayers when they got some very important information that led them in another direction. Paula was the clerk at the BP station who had seen Alma there in the wee hours of Monday, June 3rd, the last night of her life in company of a stocky black male. The two came in together and left together. Well, a guy came into the BP station around 11pm on Friday, June 7, and Paula and her husband believed they recognized him as the man who had been in with Alma, the one police were eager to learn the name of. So while this guy was filling up his cream colored Ford four door, they took note of his license plate number. The license plate 260JBD returned to Arstell Frank Washington, known as Frank. Frank had a warrant out on him, so deputies Tobin and Weber located him at his home and brought him to the Detectives Bureau for an interview. He admitted he knew Alma. He said he'd once driven her to turn some tricks on East Main street and waited for her. But that was a year earlier and he hadn't seen her since. He had an alibi for the night Alma was killed, which was his mom. Both Frank and his mom claimed that no one would have been driving the cream colored Ford. It belonged to his deceased father and Frank did not have a driver's license. The investigators brought Frank's photo to Beverly and she said he might have been the man who had picked Alma up sometime in April. And when they returned to her house, they had Numerous pieces of jewelry with them that were clearly stolen and Beverly didn't allow them into the house. Other witnesses said that Frank had also been Alma's pimp at one time. So it was clear that it was Frank W. Who was driving the cream colored Ford on Friday night. When Paula and her husband wrote down the license plate, the question was whether he was also the man with Alma at the same BP on the previous Monday. When Detective Goldsberry showed Frank and Paula and her husband a mug shot of Frank, they waffled, but then decided it was the same guy. The problem was police could not connect Frank to the crime. They looked extensively at him, investigating his work record, checking his prints. They hauled Frank in for another interview on June 19 after he failed to show up for a scheduled interview the previous day. In this interview, he denied killing Alma. Detective Ed Moore and Detective Judy of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office served Frank with a search warrant to collect a blood sample. The sample was collected, but I don't know whether it was tested at this time because Frank would pop back up again later. A few years ago I started to experience a significant increase in my blood pressure. That situation is under control now, but it alerted me that I need to start paying attention to my body as I age. I realized I had no idea what was actually going on with my cardiovascular risks, even though I'm very healthy generally. Here's the thing about heart health. Feeling fine and being fine are not the same. And there's a lot that most of us don't know. Microwaves we all carry paint a very specific picture of cardiovascular risk. Apob, which directly counts the particles in your blood that can build up in arterial walls. Lpa, a genetically driven risk factor that most people have never been tested for. Hs crp, which signals how much systemic inflammation our bodies are suffering from. And what's concerning about important markers like these is that they're ones most standard physicals don't check. That's why I use function 160/lab tests a year, including the cardiovascular markers that actually tell a more complete story. And not a guess, not a maybe. A real look at where things stand. That's what taking your heart health seriously looks like. When I got my lab results back from function, I was astounded at how comprehensive they were. I use function and you should too. Check your health the way I do. Function provides 160 plus lab tests a year for a dollar a day and member pricing on MRI and CT scans. Join@functionhealth.com dnaid or use gift code dnaid25 for a $25 credit towards your membership. That's functionhealth.com dnaid or use gift code dnaid25. Another lead stemmed from an anonymous phone tip Detective Palmentera of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office received on June 13. The caller was a woman who said that a Jimmy Elle was operating a crack house in the neighborhood behind the BP gas station at Fifth Avenue and I71. She said that since Alma was last seen in that area, the cops should check out the crack house. On June 14, Detective Palmintera met with Columbus police officer Jerry Kupp to investigate this tip about the crack house right behind the bp. And indeed, there was a brown three story, dilapidated vacant home that fit the bill. The investigators entered the building and their notes state, quote, it appears this house is frequently used either by vagrants or narcotic users in the neighborhood. Animal hairs appear to be on the mattress and the floors are rotted, end quote. They noted various types of yarn around and that could be consistent with the fibers found on Alma's body. Quote, it is the opinion of this investigator that a lab tech should be taken to the residence and attempt to collect some of the different hairs and fibers in there to compare them to those already collected as evidence in this case, end quote. This was all done, but led nowhere. There was no evidence Alma had ever been there. Next, police learned from a witness named Jackie A. That Alma may have been at an illegal bar owned by a guy named Catman on the night of June 2 to 3. She had supposedly been there around 3:15 in the morning, which would have been very significant in the timeline. But the investigators located and interviewed this Catman, real name John M. He told them the bar wasn't even open at that time of day. But he did know Alma, whom he referred to by her street name, Georgia, and he'd known her for years. Catman said that unfortunately, Alma had really deteriorated since she got on drugs. He confirmed that she had been in the bar earlier that weekend. She was high on drugs and arguing with some woman. She was wearing shorts and a tank top and a pair of tennis shoes. After investigating this lead, police came to believe Alma had been in the bar on Saturday night, Sunday morning rather than Sunday night Monday morning. She had been asked to leave the bar because it was closing and she went out the back door and had not been back since. But Alma's stoned, drunken and belligerent behavior were concerning since of course, they made her vulnerable to a predator. Plus, Catman said he heard someone told Alma, she better stop ripping tricks off or she was going to get hurt. Well, she did get hurt. Franklin County Detective Nora Jeffrey interviewed a Kathy B. At the Franklin county corrections Center at 1:15am on June 27. Kathy B. Said she worked the streets as a sex worker and she knew Alma. Kathy had a possible suspect for the investigators. She had been the victim of a rape that fit the MO Of Alma's killer. And as a sex worker who used crack, she qualified as one of his preferred victims. Kathy said that In March of 1991, she was picked up in the 17th Avenue area by John. Dark skinned black male driving a dark blue car. He was approximately five'10, 190 pounds, with big eyes, a full unkempt beard, and he was wearing work type clothes, a tan color shirt with writing on the left pocket area and dark brown pants. She and the John had agreed upon her giving fellatio for $20 worth of crack. She got into his car, which had a backseat full of junk and tools, and they drove down an alley by Hamilton park to the rear of the apartments where the fellatio act was completed. After that, they smoked the crack and drove around trying to find some sources of cash for more crack. They made a couple of stops and then finally in Grove City, the John got some money and bought more crack and they both smoked it. They drove back to Hamilton park and parked when, quote, the subject's attitude changed from her first contact with him earlier from a soft spoken person to a very demanding, violent type person. Kathy stated that he reached to the right rear of the passenger seat with his right hand and produced a knife that he placed directly on her throat. He then told her to undress everything except her socks. Once Kathy was unclothed, the man tied her wrists together behind her back with a small rope and placed a stocking cap over her head. He then raped her vaginally and orally. Kathy said she didn't resist physically, but that she gave him some verbal abuse. He kept a knife right at her throat the entire time, telling her that as long as she didn't resist and she satisfied him, he would not hurt her. Once he finished, he grabbed her clothing and threw it outside the driver's door. And then he told her to crawl over him to get out the driver's side. As she did, he cut the ropes from her wrist and removed the stocking cap. He told her as he closed the door after she got out that if she had attempted to fight, he would have killed her. He then drove off with no lights on his car. Kathy B. Said the talk on the street was that Alma was last seen getting into a blue car, which is why she felt she had to report this. No one knows whether this sighting was true or whether it was a rumor. Kathy agreed to assist in compiling a composite sketch of her rapist and to help in any way she could. Unfortunately, she didn't know the name of her assailant, and she hadn't gotten the license plate of his vehicle. This very promising lead fizzled out when police were unable to identify the john who had raped Kathy at knifepoint. The investigation continued, although with very little to go on. Investigators were relegated to following up on local men who were violent. A sex worker named Jacqueline J. Told Detective Al Judy about a black male who drove a black Cadillac on Main street and picked up girls. He carried a badge and confronted girls and told them if they didn't do what he wanted, he would take them to jail. They called him the rapist. If the girls refused, he would beat them up a little bit and still get what he wanted. The detectives also looked into pimps. Andrew White, street name Red Dog, and Pimpin Pete and so on. On June 11, the BCI lab reported that the animal hairs found on Alma's body were cat hairs. Two white fibers were from a carpet, and the human hair that was on her body was that of a white person. But all the sex workers Alma knew said that the women working the streets were very hesitant to go with white johns because they were much more likely to be cops. And all Alma's known acquaintances and associates were black. The investigation stalled as other murders and crimes popped up and police had other things to do. Franklin County Detective James Clark revisited the Alma lake case in December 2002. He submitted some physical evidence in Alma's case for new DNA testing. Two vials of blood from Frank W. The socks Alma was wearing, three smears and seven swabs from Alma's body and the umbrella handle that was found near her foot. When the results came in, a male STR DNA profile was found in Alma's anal swabs. It was not consistent with the DNA of Frank W. And he was eliminated. The profile was entered into codis. This is where I usually say no hits were obtained, but not in this case. There was a direct hit. The DNA profile collected from Alma's body was a match to the unknown perpetrator of the 1996 murder of Michelle Dawson Pass found in Licking County, Ohio. An unknown male DNA profile had been obtained from her vaginal swabs. At autopsy, Detective Clark contacted detectives Rod Mitchell and Bruce Myers of the Licking County Sheriff's office on April 23, 2003 to compare notes about their now connected cases. Let's talk about Michelle Dawson Pass. On November 7, 1996, Michelle's body had been discovered at the remote intersection of Canyon and James roads south of Granville Township. She was found nude and face down in a small field abutting a dirt driveway by Jeanne McNamara, the homeowner at 1470 James Road. As Jean was leaving for work at 7:15am Jean called the Licking County Sheriff's Office. Arriving, investigators found that the naked body of the black woman had ligature marks around the wrists and ankles, but it wasn't immediately apparent what had killed her. However, at the scene, the coroner observed what appeared to be a laceration near her rectum. Michelle was originally listed as a Jane Doe. Until autopsy. She was identified by fingerprints on file with the Columbus PD she had a prostitution arrest from 1995 and a loitering arrest from 1992. She had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. The autopsy report indicated that Michelle had died within 48 hours of the autopsy. She had a bruise near her right eye that indicated she'd been struck. She had petechial hemorrhages in the whites of her eyes and in the strap muscles on the left side of her neck consistent with strangulation. She also had wrist bruises consistent with her wrists being tightly bound with a ligature. And her left ankle had hemorrhaging consistent with being bound as well as she had hemorrhaging underneath her scalp in the back of her head that was inflicted at or near the time of death. She had a rectal laceration inflicted near the time of death that was consistent with a blunt object, quote, entering into this area that was basically too large for the area to accept and it caused tearing of her skin, end quote. The laceration was 1 inch by a quarter inch. Despite the evidence of strangulation, licking county coroner Dr. Robert Raker said, quote, there's no clear cause of death. We'll have to wait for toxicology results. It was possibly some kind of drug related death, end quote. He put the time of death between 10pm Wednesday and 2am Thursday the 7th. When the tox screen came back, it reflected that Michelle had toxic to lethal levels of cocaine and ethyl benzo like genone, which is a metabolite of cocaine and alcohol. The autopsy report concluded Michelle's cause of death could have been either strangulation or the cocaine in her system or a combination of the two detectives notified Michelle's mother, Mary Irvine, of her daughter's death. Michelle was born on April 18, 1960 in Columbus to father Ronald Dawson and mother Mary Alma Irvine. She had a big family with sisters Mary Teresa, Pamela and brothers James and Virgil. Three older brothers had predeceased her. Her mom, Mary, was employed at the Juvenile Court of Domestic Relations working with troubled youth, which makes it especially poignant that her daughter was herself troubled. Michelle worked as a house cleaner and was no longer together with her husband Warren Pass, father of her son Timothy and her 17 year old daughter Regina, when she was killed. Michelle was living on Hildreth Avenue with her mom, Mary and Michelle's two children. Her daughter Regina later said that her mom was usually sober, but she had relapsed and was killed during one of those relapses. It's unknown whether Michelle had gone back to sex work, but it seems likely. However, Michelle's family said she had no contacts in Licking county where she'd been found and had she had never even been there to their knowledge. Michelle's mom, Mary, said she last saw Michelle at 2pm on November 6, 1996. Michelle had come to her asking for money and she told her daughter she didn't have any extra money. Michelle left the house and walked toward a vehicle that Mary described as a late 80s beige Chevrolet or Oldsmobile with a dark brown top. The driver of the car was a black male, but she didn't get a look at this individual. She had never seen him or his car before and she never saw them again. Mary told detectives that her daughter had no connections to the Newark or Granville areas where she was found and had no personal contacts or reason to be in either place. The Licking county detectives came to believe that Michelle was killed in Columbus and dumped in Licking County. Tire tracks casted at the dump site were not helpful in identifying a suspect and no one had seen anything. Police spent a lot of time trying to figure out where Michelle was and who she was with before she was killed. They also wanted to know if she was engaging in sex work. Several of Michelle's known associates were interviewed in the weeks following the homicide and notices ran in the local papers with a photo of Michelle asking for information. Many of the witnesses, including Ricky D. Paula S. Sylvia T. Cindy J. And JG all claimed to have seen Michelle on the evening prior to her death with a black male. He was described as having a stocky build, a shaved head and scruffy facial hair. One of these witnesses, Ricky D. Said he'd seen Michelle and the Male arguing. They were being so loud that he opened his door and asked the black male what was going on. But the description he gave of the arguing man was somewhat generic, and police were not able to identify him. Then, about a year after the murder, a witness named Paula S. Contacted Franklin county detectives. She said that on the night of the murder, she'd seen a black male and a white male carrying a rolled up piece of carpet out from one of the apartments at 794 Kelton Avenue. That was the location where Michelle was attending a party that night. Paula had seen Michelle at the party yelling from a window to her boyfriend, Steve w. Asking him, are you drinking a beer without me? This was around 10:15 or 10:30 on the night before the murder. Paula said that she saw an arm fall out of this rolled up carpet as it was put into a blue Cadillac convertible. Despite this report, police apparently do not believe that Michelle was the one in the carpet. The facts of the case state that Michelle was last seen in franklin county walking south of Kelton avenue, heading to a friend's house. And then she disappeared and turned up dead on someone's lawn in licking county. After the connection between Alma lakes and Michelle Dawson pass's cases was established via codis, the investigators reopened both cases. Although the murders were five years apart, there were startling similarities. Both black women had died from ligature strangulation. Both had been raped. Alma Lake had the presence of semen in her anus and vagina, and Michelle Dawson had the presence of semen in her vagina as well. Both victims had damage to their anal cavities. Both victims hands and feet were bound. Both women were found nude and dumped in remote locations, not in Columbus, where they were likely abducted from. Both women were sex workers, and both did drugs. From what I understand from conversations with Franklin county investigators, Alma and Michelle did not cover the same territory and are not believed to have known each other. Remember, their murders were five years apart. Whoever picked them both up was the only known link between the women. Alma's mom, Beverly, had passed away by this time, but detective Clark went to meet with Michelle Dawson's mother on May 21, 2003. Her name was Mary irvine. She was very excited and appreciative of his reopening her daughter's investigation. She said that Michelle's son had grown up constantly looking for info on his mother's death. But then he was killed in a shooting in Zanesville. In October 2002, Detective Clark learned that licking county detectives had developed a strong possible suspect in Michelle and Alma's murder by the name of Chris F. He was a white male living in Upper Arlington. They had interviewed him a number of times after Michel's murder and he admitted that he'd hung around the areas where the women frequented, which were crack houses and prostitution houses on the east side. He claimed that his intentions were pure. He frequented those places in order to help misguided and or underprivileged people straighten out their lives. He said he admitted to knowing Alma and Michelle and even to maybe seeing Michelle on the last night of her life, but denied having anything to do with their deaths. The detectives learned that Chris F. Had a diagnosed psychological condition and people described him as emotionally disturbed and he became uncooperative. His DNA had never been collected and was not in codis. However, the investigators did not have grounds to collect a DNA sample from him and the prosecutor refused to facilitate an application for a search warrant, saying they didn't have probable cause. Chris F. Stayed on the list even though the investigators knew that someone else, the black male she was seen arguing with, was with Michelle immediately prior to her death. The case fizzled again. In 2016, Licking County Sheriff's Office Detective Shannon Day picked up Michelle's case. She got in contact with Franklin County Detective Andrew Brousseau, who was spearheading Alma's case connected to Michelle's by offender DNA. The two compared notes on potential suspects and discussed Chris F. The Strong's potential suspect who had never given DNA. By this time, Chris had suffered a traumatic brain injury and was apparently unable to remember anything about Alma or Michelle. The detectives visited him at a long term care facility in Franklin county and asked him for a buccal swab for comparison to the DNA and evidence in Alma and Michelle's cases. He was cooperative, polite and agreeable, allowing them to swab his mouth. Steve Weishman, a forensic scientist with Ohio bci, issued a report stating that the DNA of Chris Fox did not match the suspect DNA. He was ruled out as a suspect. Finally, the Lake and Dawson Pass cases saw some movement in the2020s. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost formed the BCI's Cold Case Unit in 2020. In March of 2021, the BCI reached out to the Franklin and Licking County Sheriff's Offices to request permission to do a familial DNA search in CODIS with a DNA profile from the Lake and Dawson Pass cases. Of course, permission was granted, the paperwork was submitted and the familial search proceeded. And boy, did they hit pay dirt. Conducting a search of the Ohio Offender DNA database, they found five men who shared the same Y chromosome that was in the YSTR profile collected from Michelle and Elma. The men were all brothers and half brothers. Now, none of these five guys was the suspect. If their DNA profile had matched, it would have hit in codis. But these five guys were all related through the same father who was not in codis. Although he did have a criminal history, he would share the Y chromosome inherited by his sons. He was from Ohio. Furthermore, he had lived in Urban Crest in southwest Franklin county in 1991 when Alma was murdered and dumped there. In 1996 when Michelle was killed, he lived in Newark, which bordered the Township of Granville in Licking county, where Michelle's body was found. His name was Robert Nathaniel Edwards, and he was alive and well and living right there in Columbus. On April 16, 2021, Detective Chuck Clark of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office located Edwards current address at 81 East Ninth Avenue and started conducting surveillance on him. Clark and his team watched as Edwards left his apartment number 408 at 8:30 in the morning and carried a bag of garbage to the dumpster outside. The trash bag was black with plastic red handles. He threw the bag in the dumpster and went back inside. Detective Clark immediately went to the dumpster and saw that there was only one black trash bag with red handles in it. He grabbed it and inside the trash bag found two medical boxes with Edward's name on them, proving that he had the right bag. From inside the bag, he gathered a Taco Bell cup with a lid and straw, a hypodermic syringe, an empty Coke can, an empty brisk tea bottle, a plastic water bottle, and two cigarette butts. These were sent to the BCI for comparison. The BCI lab report stated the items collected from inside of a trash bag that Robert was seen discarding matched. They did not specify which item or whether all of them matched. Edwards lived alone, so all the items matching to Edwards seems reasonable. In the end, it doesn't matter. At least one thing from the trash was a direct hit to Edwards. Rick Minard, chief of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations division at the time, said they were able to collect his DNA off an item he threw away in a trash can. We rushed that to BCI and lo and behold, it matched. Minard said. In preparation for putting together a case against Robert Edwards, the detectives tracked down his ex wife, whom I'm calling te. She lived in the Roanoke, Virginia area. A check with the police department there revealed that Edwards had an arrest for A domestic violence incident in which his now ex wife Te was the victim. On October 12, 2021, Detective Shannon Day of Licking county and Detective Clark with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office went to Roanoke, Virginia to meet with Te and her adult daughter at a local restaurant. The detectives introduced themselves and assured Te that they were not there to investigate her in any way. They said they were there to discuss her former husband, Robert Edwards. Detective Clark explained that their agencies had been investigating cold case homicides in Ohio and that DNA collected in connection with their two murders matched to Edwards. While Te did not appear surprised by this information, she said her husband Robert was always very secretive. They asked Te if she was still in contact with Edwards. She said no and in fact she had divorced him without his knowledge. She begged them not to disclose that to her ex. She said that she had to backdoor to the divorce so he wouldn't know because he told her if she divorced him, he would kill her and she believed him. Te was able to provide background information on Robert. He had several siblings and grew up in a violent household. She said that his father beat his mother. She said Robert told her about an incident when all of the kids were in the house and he heard his father yelling Ouch from the kitchen. When the kids went into the kitchen, they saw blood. Their mother had slashed their father numerous times with a knife. Te also said her husband, Robert's father used to take him and his brothers around to look for prostitutes. Te said she had met Robert Edwards at a party and they married and had kids. Edwards had difficulty maintaining employment. He worked blue collar jobs in Fencastle and Salem. He also was in the army. The detectives asked Te if she ever knew her ex husband to use crack cocaine and she replied hell yeah. She had found his glass pipe under a chair. She referred to his moods as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde like. Te gave some examples of disturbing and concerning things that happened during her marriage to Edwards. Approximately two and a half years into the marriage, she started to notice he would often lie to her and odd things started to come to her attention. One time she told Edwards that her Chevy Cavalier was making a strange noise. So he told her to take her to the shop. At the shop, they told her all of the lug nuts on her wheels had been loosened. She said she could only suspect that Edwards did that for unknown reasons. She also recalled a time that she discovered butcher knives in the back of her Cavalier. They were tucked under the spare tire in a grocery sack. She threw them in the dumpster and did not mention them to Edwards also. She said that Edwards was a smoker, but when he finished a cigarette, he would never dispose of the butt outside or in an ashtray. She said he would place the butts in his pants pocket when he was done with them. There were several occasions when Te was done with Edwards and was ready to put him out of the house, but then he got sick. She described a day when she heard him screaming for her and when she went into the bathroom, he was standing over a toilet full of blood. She said they went to the hospital and discovered he had prostate cancer. He started having blackouts. She told the detectives how the divorce came about. Te remembered sitting at the dinner table talking with Edwards, and he said something like, family doesn't call cops on family. At this point, she had already spoken to a lawyer who told her not to tell Edwards she was looking into divorce, but to document everything she could. She said the domestic violence incident happened shortly after that, and she remembered another incident in which Edwards had placed his hand on her neck with a knife in the other hand and he bent her over the kitchen sink like that. She said he told her if she was so miserable with him, he could put her out of her misery. She said she didn't know what made him put the knife down. Te felt that if he wanted to kill her, he could have. Te again referred to Edwards as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She said she ended up in therapy because of the trauma she suffered with Edwards, and she's never entered into a relationship with a man since, as she no longer trusted men. The domestic violence incident that actually resulted in Edwards arrest started because one night he didn't come home. When he did, there was a confrontation about where he'd been. Te said it turned physical when she told Edwards to leave. She was seated at the table going through bills, and he grabbed her by the neck and turned her to look at him. When she looked into his eyes, she saw only black. The next thing she knew, she woke up on the floor. She crawled out the door and called the cops, and Edwards was arrested for domestic violence against her. At the end of this lengthy interview with police investigators, Terry turned over a pocket knife that had belonged to Edwards. The detectives thanked her for her time and left, submitting the knife for testing at the BCI lab. Upon their return to Ohio, they found no usable evidence on the knife. Let's talk about some other known crimes committed by Robert Edwards. The Licking and Franklin detectives located a 1991 police report from Columbus PD relating to the arrest of Robert Edwards. For rape and kidnapping. The survivor in that case was named Carmen M. The details of her case bore similarities to the murders of Alma Lake and Michelle Dawson Pass. On May 5, 2021, Detective Clark, Detective Mickey Casper and Detective Shannon Day met with Carmen at Bob Evans in Stowe, Ohio. Carmen was described as well dressed and intelligent. But she told the detectives her rape by Robert Edwards on June 5, 1991 happened when she was living a different lifestyle as a sex worker like Edwards preferred victims. The detectives told Carmen they needed to gather information on her case which had not been prosecuted because they were investigating. The murders of Alma Lake and Michelle Dawson passed, and they had also attributed those to Robert Edwards. In fact, Carmen's rape had happened just days after Alma's murder. She was very, very lucky to be alive. They also had other cases they suspected were Edwards work, but they couldn't prove it. Carmen was asked if there was anything she could recall about Robert Edwards and the incident. She said at that time she was working the area of Brydon Road and Livingston Avenue. She met Edwards on Bryden around Champion. She had never seen him before. He pulled over in his car and they agreed on a price and a service. She typically hooked up with her johns in the car, But Edwards was a big guy and he said he couldn't do it in the car. So she agreed to go with him to an off site location. This turned out to be an auto repair garage on Walnut street in Columbus. She assumed he worked there as he was clearly familiar with it. There was an old car seat cushion that people use as a mattress. Edwards offered her a drink and they split a malt liquor. This next bit contains graphic details of a violent, brutal sexual assault. If this is triggering or upsetting for you, please skip ahead about a minute. Carmen said she agreed to a straightforward sex act, but Edwards started to demand anal sex. She refused, telling him that was not part of the deal. He became upset with her and grabbed her by her throat and held a knife to it, threatening her. He told her not to move or he would hurt her. And he briefly left the room, returning with ropes. He tied her ankles and wrists up with the ropes. He then held up a knife to her anal region. She thought he was going to kill her and started begging for her life, saying to him, please do not do this. I will do anything you want. He told her to shut up or he would, quote, stab her in her heart. He bent her over a bench, took her clothes off and stripped himself. He then attempted to penetrate her anally, but she shied Away. At this point, Edwards began to get frustrated with her screaming. So he gagged her mouth with a rag and tape. When she tried to resist or get away, he punched her in the head. And as she struggled, he pulled her forcibly by the hair. He held the knife to her anus and she was terrified he was going to cut her there. Then he put lotion on his penis and on Carmen's anus. Penetrated her first with his fingers and then with his penis. He did not wear a condom. After it was over, Carmen just kept talking to Edward, saying his name, Robert. And she also kept speaking to Jesus. She said she was so desperate to get out of the garage and and back into the vehicle. All she could think about was when some of her friends had been killed and now it was going to happen to her. She believed that her talking to him made a difference. She asked him to take her back home and he got mad. But he cut the ropes off her and walked her naked to the car. She was forced to sit on the floorboard area and then was thrown from the vehicle. He threw her clothes after her out the window. She said she could recall the feeling of the gravel in the alley in the cold because she was nude. She got dressed in the street and ran for help, but could find no one to help her and was afraid he was going to come back and kill her. She lay in the middle of the road and screamed. Even though her mouth was taped shut and someone called police, she still recalled how the tape burnt when it was ripped from over her mouth. When the police found Carmen in the road, she relayed Edwards license plate number. They quickly tracked down his car and pulled him over. Carmen's purse was still in the vehicle. She filed an official report and rape and kidnapping charges were filed against Edwards. Carmen struggled to relate all these details, having to pause and take breaks. She said she had pretty much buried the whole incident. She made changes in her life afterwards. Cleaning up, joining a church, and finding Jesus. At this point, Detective Clark informed Carmen that Robert Edwards had never been prosecuted for her rape. Her case had been Noel Prost in Franklin County. Because they couldn't make contact with her. She said she never heard from anyone. Carmen was not aware that Edwards had walked for the crimes he committed against her. She said she wanted him to be held accountable for what he'd done. Detective Clark explained that her case was outside the statute of limitations and therefore could not be prosecuted, but that she could testify against Edwards if she was willing to be a witness for the state at his trial. For the two Murders. She said she'd be willing to do whatever it took to bring justice for the families of the victims. She was then shown photographs of Michelle and Alma to determine if she knew them from her time on the street, but she didn't recognize them. With that, the interview concluded, Detective Clark and detective Casper found the second woman they believed was a survivor of an attack by Robert Edwards. Kathy B. Had spoken with detectives in June of 1991 when she was in jail, reporting she was raped by a black man who had picked her up on the street. The detectives noted that the rape had the same characteristics as the murder of Alma Lake. Quote, we found the violence and behaviors of the suspect are the same. End quote. Now, on May 12, 2021, Kathy B. Told them she could not remember much about the incident. She reviewed her 1991 statement and confirmed that it was all true. But the police in 1991 had no idea who the man who raped her was. Kathy viewed a photo lineup, including a photo of Edwards from that time frame, and she wasn't able to identify him, although he was one of the three men she selected as the possible suspect. On November 2, 2021, the Franklin and licking county detectives knocked on Robert Edwards apartment door. Edwards answered the door, and the detectives introduced themselves and told him they were looking into some cold cases and believed he might have known some people who were involved and might have some helpful information for them. They requested that he come down to the Franklin county sheriff's office to speak with them to possibly progress the investigations. In other words, he was told he was a potential resource, not the target. Edwards agreed to assist, got dressed, and was driven downtown in a county sheriff vehicle issued to the detective squad. Edwards was advised that he wasn't under arrest and he would be provided with transportation back to his residence. After the interview, Detective Clark and detective Casper went into the interview room with Edwards, while detective Shannon day watched from a monitor in a nearby room. The investigators asked Edwards general questions about his life. His date of birth was May 2, 1955. He confirmed he'd served in the army for several years, and then he held various jobs. When asked, he admitted to having a crack habit starting in the early 80s. He battled the addiction until 2011, when he finally beat it, he said. When asked about places he had lived, he mentioned Cleveland, Columbus, Licking county, Urban crest, and Roanoke, Virginia. He was now retired, working for local trucking companies, including MPW trucking and Licking county. Edwards said he'd been married twice to women named Pam and Carolyn, but he was currently single with seven grown Children. They asked about his criminal record. He admitted that he did time starting in 1993 for robbery and had been in and out of prison on parole for that same robbery. Until 2001. On one of his parole releases, he stayed in Newark. This placed him near where Michelle was dumped. He got sent back to prison because he was using crack heavily. The detectives asked Edwards if he hung out in bars back then, and he said no, he wasn't a drinker, and he didn't go to strip clubs either. They asked if he used sex workers, and he said no. Detective Casper said, are you sure? And he said, no, I don't mess with prostitutes. Detective Casper had brought with him a folder with eight photographs in it, including Alma Lake, Michelle Dawson, Carmen, Kathy B. And another unknown woman. One by one, they showed him the photos of the women they believed he had assaulted or killed. First, they showed him a photo of Carmen. He said he'd never seen her before, so they reminded him that he'd been arrested by Columbus Police Department for her kidnapping and rape. He said, oh, that was all a misunderstanding. He said he and three other people, two women and one man, had been drinking all day, and he dropped everyone else off, and Carmen got into the front seat of the vehicle with him. He dropped her off on Bryden and then found her purse in the car. He said she kissed him on the cheek and that's all that happened. The detectives pushed back, reading him some of what Carmen said in her report. Edwards then admitted that he did have sex with her, but denied raping her and said she was lying. Detective Casper then brought up Alma Lake and showed Edwards her photo. He denied ever having seen her and said he didn't know her. A quote from Casper's report. I asked him if he ever picked her up. She was a known prostitute, and he stated no because he did not pick up prostitutes, end quote. He was then confronted with Michelle Dawson Pass's photo, and he said he had never picked her up either. She was too big for him. He said he liked his women not that big. The detectives leaned in from Detective Casper's report. Quote, I then asked Robert Edwards if he ever had sex with Alma Lake, and he again denied it. I then confronted him. With his DNA being found inside her. He denied it again. He was then confronted with her being found deceased 0.5 miles from where he lived in Urban Crest. He then stated he may have had sex with her if she was a working girl from Urban Crest on First Avenue, end quote. He may have had sex with her. The detectives then Challenged Edwards about Michelle Dawson. Pass. Again, quote, he stated no way he did it because he was out of town at the time of the murder. This was the perfect moment for Detective Day to enter the room. Armed with evidence. She told Edwards he was lying and she could prove it because she had his work records from MPW and they reflected that he was in town at the time. Edwards still denied knowing Michelle, ever having sex with her or killing her. He said, I can prove that I didn't kill nobody. He was smiling and gesticulating as he said this. But he was unable to offer the promised proof. Of course, just as an aside here, the detectives were not buying any of this guy's crap. Building their case against Edwards, they had discovered that at the time of Alma's murder, he was living at 3337 Urban Hollow Court, A mere half mile from where Alma's body was found. Michelle's body was found five years later on the side of the road at 1470 James Road in Granville. At the time, Edwards was living at 12 North Avenue in Newark. He was working at MPW Industrial Cleaning Services, located at 9711 Lancaster Road in Hebron. Michelle's body was found 6.3 miles from his house between his home and his employer. This from court documents. Quote, the location on James Road where Dawson's body was found is on the common sense route between Edwards 1996 residence and MPW. And evidence showed that Edwards worked both on November 6 and November 7, 1996, the day Dawson's body was discovered. End quote. Okay, back to the interview. This from the report. Quote, Robert Edwards was then confronted with the manner in which all three victims were assaulted. Carmen, the survivor, was choked and raped. She was dumped out of a car on the side of the road. Carmen stated Robert Edwards held a knife to her anus and she begged him not to slice her open. And he didn't. Alma Lake and Michelle Dawson both suffered anal damage. Michelle Dawson's anus was cut. All three victims were also bound at their feet and hands. The bindings were removed prior to them being dumped. I asked Robert Edwards why he allowed Carmen to live but killed Alma and Michelle. He became upset and denied it. He also said he did not want to talk to me any further. Detective Casper's report concludes Robert Edwards was caught in several lies and would not admit to killing any of the victims. At some point toward the end of the interview, Sergeant John Thompson, who is head of the Mahoning County Sheriff's office cold case unit, entered the room and attempted to coax Edwards to talk by saying, we know the facts, but we want to hear Roberts story. Edwards just looked at him and said, well, Robert is done. Sergeant Thompson told me that the interview with Edwards was one of the strangest he'd ever witnessed in his 27 years of being a police officer. He was seemingly cooperative but abrasive at the same time. His demeanor was very nonchalant. The dude lit up a pipe as they talked, but his story unraveled. The interview was over. Edwards was then served with a search warrant authorizing Detective Clark to collect his DNA. He was then driven back to his apartment. Detective Clark told him, we'll talk again. The buckleswaves were delivered to the BCI on November 3, 2021. On that same date, Detective Casper contacted the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office about pursuing charges on Robert Edwards for the murder of Alma Lake and combining cases with Licking county to pursue justice for Michelle Dawson Pass as well. It took a week to obtain the test results. On November 10, 2021, the detectives received confirmation from the BCI lab that the buccal swabs from Robert Edwards matched the DNA found inside Alma Lake and Michelle Dawson Pass. It was time to make an. On August 5, 2022, Detective Chuck Clark of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Detective Shannon Day of the Lickin County Sheriff's Office, Special Agent Roger Davis of the BCI and Detective Mickey Casper traveled to 81 E. 9th Ave. To arrest Robert Edwards for the murder of Alma Lake. They went up to his apartment, number 404 and knocked on the door. No one answered, so they waited. Fifteen minutes later, Edwards walked up to the building. They stopped him and placed him in handcuffs and advised he was under arrest for murder. When they conducted a search of his person incident to arrest, they found a nice big juicy baggie of crack in his pocket. At the detective bureau, Edwards was placed in a recorded interview room. While he was in there alone at 11:47am he said aloud, I choked that bitch. It was all captured on audio and video. Detectives Clark and Casper entered the interview room and advised Edwards of his constitutional rights. He agreed to speak with them. He denied murdering Alma or Michelle, but stated he knew who did. Then he requested a lawyer and the interview ended. After this brief interview, Edwards was transported to the Franklin County Jail. During the transport, Edwards said to Detective Dylan, quote, thank you for coming to get me today. I've been waiting a long time for this. This dude is a psychopath. A press conference was headlined by Joe Morbitzer, superintendent of the bci, announcing that charges had been filed in Alma's case. He said, quote, we are here today to bring some peace and closure to the family. It does give you some peace of mind to know that we found the person responsible, end quote. Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said, quote, our condolences to the family. I wish we didn't have to be here. I can't imagine what it's like to go 30 years without knowing what happened to a loved one. Today is a great example of how we never give up. Thirty years ago, careful collection of evidence and now with advances in DNA, we can solve crimes, end quote. The chief of investigations, Rick Minard, now chief, supervised the detective unit that worked on the case. He said one of the challenges of this case is that he was not in the offender DNA database. He explained that they conducted a familial DNA search that pointed to Edwards as a possible suspect. It's fascinating work, he said. It really is. It's the stuff TV shows are made of. Minard went on, this is a good day. We wanted to be sure the people affected most by this case could be here today. We are here today because of the families and their strength and perseverance over 30 plus years. Maynard said that this work working death investigations was the most rewarding thing in law enforcement. Getting to be here today to give these families some closure and finally put cuffs on someone responsible for loss of life, that's a good feeling, he said. Of the investigation into Edwards, Minard said, it doesn't stop here. We are not done. He had a reckless, violent past in that era of his life. He may be responsible for other cases. He said they were looking into other Ohio counties and beyond to try to figure out everything Edwards might have done. Sergeant Mickey Casper spoke briefly about the case, saying that his father was one of the original responders on Alma's case. The investigators also mentioned a Michelle Dawson Pass case, saying her murder had been linked to the same offender. But that case was still under investigation in Licking County. Fox 28 Columbus reported that Regina Dawson, Michelle's daughter, attended the press conference and she was hoping for justice for her mom. Just as Alberta Alma was finally getting well. Regina didn't have to wait long. Robert Edwards was formally charged in August 2022 with two counts of murder, two counts of aggravated murder and one count of rape for the sexual assault of Michelle. They did not charge him with rape in Alma's case because the statute of limitations had expired. A Franklin county grand jury soon indicted him for all five counts. He was also charged with possession of a Schedule 2 controlled substance for the crack. It's kind of crazy to think that this guy was in his 60s and still addicted to that poison. Licking County Detective Shannon Day, who worked the case for three years, said, quote, we were all just so elated to finally get the go ahead to arrest him. It means everything to me, being able to make that phone call and tell them he'd been arrested just to hear the overwhelming joy. We shared tears. End quote. The Newark Advocate scored an interview with Michelle's daughter Regina, who was only 17 when her mother was slain. Regina described her mother as vibrant, funny and family oriented. Unfortunately, her brother, Michelle's son, had been killed in 2001, but between the two of them, they had given Michelle nine grandchildren. This from the Advocate, quote, even through her adversity, she would always put me and my brother first, regina said. She was always doing something silly. She got this laugh that was out of this world. She was always popping gum. I don't care what type of gum it was, she could pop it. Regina said her mother's death left a profound impact on her and her family, one that has been felt for generations. Quote, I raised my children differently because of that. I was stern and strict. I didn't let them go nowhere without me because I was afraid to let them out of my sight, she said. So it didn't just affect me, it affected generations. Regina said she and her cousins were excited to hear news of Edward's arrest. She deserved that justice. It's a huge relief off my shoulders, regina said. My life took a huge turn when she died. The combined cases were prosecuted in the Franklin County Court of Common Police. Both cases were tried together after assistant prosecuting attorneys Daniel Meyer and David Zayan argued that Michelle's death was part of criminal conduct commenced in Franklin county, giving them jurisdiction. They showed that Michelle Dawson Pass was last seen walking south on Kelton Avenue in Columbus. Licking county was just a dumping ground, convenient for Edwards, not the scene of the crime. Prosecutors tried to convince the judge to allow them to introduce testimony about the rape of Carmen. They argued that this Rule 404 evidence would not be introduced to show bad character, but to MO Although Edwards was not convicted of this crime, he had been formally charged and the state wanted Carmen to testify about her traumatic rape at the hands of Edwards being tied up and that he held a knife to her anus. Since Alma and Michelle both were tied up and both had anal injuries, this went to MO and was permissible under Rule 404B, the prosecutors argued. Well, the judge disallowed It Edwards had not been convicted of the assault on Carmen, and introducing it would likely be very prejudicial. Carmen would not get her day in court after all. At trial, the prosecutors called lab scientist Erica Jimenez to testify about the DNA found on both victims being linked to Robert Edwards. Her testimony was important not just because it proved that Edwards DNA was on Alma, but also showed that Edwards had engaged in anal sex with Alma within 24 hours of the autopsy. Jimenez testified that DNA from sperm lasts 72 to 96 hours in a vaginal cavity, but only about 24 hours in an anal cavity. Since sperm was found in Alma's anal swabs, it put Edwards with her right around the time of her death. Detective Shannon Day and Detective Emmett Wheeler introduced maps showing Edwards living and working in close proximity to both Alma's and Michelle's dump sites. Detective Wheeler and Detective Rod Mitchell introduced crime scene photos of both Michelle's and Alma's crime scenes. And doctors Keith Norton and Patrick Fardahl testified about the autopsy report's finding that both women had been bound, raped, anally and strangled. Prosecutors also put Detective Mickey Casper on the stand to introduce and play an August 2022 jailhouse phone call Edwards made to his daughter in which he accused authorities of framing him and planting his DNA. According to the Newark Advocate, he told his daughter he did not have sex with Michelle, but he may have known Alma and been at a party with her. At one point in the phone call, Edwards denied any involvement in the deaths of either Michelle or Alma, stating that although he may have known Alma, her death and that of Michelle's were the work of an unnamed serial killer. Robert Edwards did not testify. His defense team argued that he had sex with both women but didn't kill them. A quote from public defender Vincent Watkins to the jury, quote, the central problem in this case is the assumption that the DNA we find has to be the answer to who killed these people when there's no necessary relationship, end quote. He said that Edwards could have deposited his DNA days before the women were killed. Quote, the prosecution's entire case is one of the odds this was a coincidence. Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor David Zein responded that it was, quote, so inconceivable, so astronomically unlikely for this to happen once to Edwards and then to happen to him again. In other words, it was theoretically possible that Edwards had sex with a woman who was killed very shortly thereafter by someone else, but it wasn't possible that it happened twice. On July 14, 2023, the Franklin county jury found Robert Edwards guilty of two counts of murder, one count of aggravated murder for Michelle's case. He was acquitted of it in Alma's case and for rape in Michelle's case. According to a Newark Advocate reporter who was in the courtroom. Regina Dawson cried as the verdict against Edward was read. She said, the burden has lifted off my shoulders, Mommy, you can rest easy now. Afterwards, Regina told the Springfield News sun that her mother was a loving person who was family oriented and spiritual, who loved to dance and braid hair. She said it was difficult for her to sit through the trial and see photographs of her mother's body. Now I feel like I can breathe. I can walk down the street and not wonder, am I walking past the person who killed her? Sentencing took place on August 9, 2023. Monricia Crawford, Alma's sister, made a statement that no matter what lives the victims chose to live, nobody had a right to kill them. Carmen was allowed to speak and thanked Edwards for leaving her alive. Edwards declined to make a statement at the sentencing, saying only I'll wait for my appeal. Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Cheryl Munson declared Edwards, quote, a woman's worst nightmare. You preyed upon a very vulnerable population of women. You thought you could do whatever you wanted to them, including murdering them. You thought you could get away with it. Justice comes a little bit late, but it has come for you. Judge Munson imposed consecutive sentences that accumulated to 45 years to life at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. The sentencing ruling states, the court finds that consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crime, that consecutive sentences are not disproportionate to the seriousness of the offender's conduct and to the danger the offender poses to the public. And that at least two of the multiple offenses committed was so great that no single prison term for any of the offenses committed as part of any of the courses of conduct adequately reflects the seriousness of the offender's conduct, end quote. Judge Munson also found that Edwards must be classified as a sexually violent predator. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin and Lincoln County Sheriff Randy Thorpe made a joint announcement about the sentencing. A video release they issued included a statement by Yost which said two cases believed to be connected yet seemingly unsolvable have led to a life sentence for the offender, thanks to advances in DNA technology and investigators who never gave up. At the end of the day, there is no such thing as a cold case, just a case that we haven't found the next lead, sheriff Baldwin said. This is a great example of never giving up and law enforcement agencies working together and sharing resources. I know that doesn't bring the person back, but it does give families answers to what happened to their loved ones. This from the Columbus Dispatch. Sheila Turner was raised in the same household as Edwards. She told the Dispatch after the sentencing that Edwards sexually abused her and her siblings for years as children. She said other crimes perpetrated by Edwards could have happened states away since he worked as a long haul truck driver for years. Sergeant Mickey Casper, who had investigated the case as a cold case detective with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, said that the cold case investigators believe there are likely other victims of Robert Edwards. Quote, we can't rule it out. We would ask any other agency throughout Ohio to look at your old homicides. The Attorney General's office stated while today's sentencing brings resolution to two cases, investigators believe that Edwards likely has additional victims known to reside in Ohio, Georgia and Virginia. Edwards traveled for work and was known to engage in drug use and solicit sex. Of course, Robert Edwards appealed his conviction. He raised only one issue on appeal. His brief argued that the evidence introduced at trial was insufficient to support convictions for aggravated murder, murder and rape. He claimed that the convictions were against the manifest weight of the evidence, which is legalese for the evidence doesn't support the guilty verdicts. The appeals court summed up his claims as follows. If legal jargon bores you, skip ahead a little bit. Appellant's sole assignment of error challenges the sufficiency and manifest weight of the evidence. He asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, an appellate court must determine whether after viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. As for the manifest weight of the evidence claim, the court, reviewing the entire record, weighs the evidence and all reasonable inferences, considers the credibility of witnesses, and determines whether in resolving conflicts in the evidence, the jury clearly lost its way and created such a manifest miscarriage of justice that the conviction must be reversed and a new trial ordered. A well known trope cited in situations such as this is that the appeals court must not act as a 13th juror, overthrowing a verdict reasonably reached by the 12 trial court jurors in a given case. The appeals court ruling did not mince words. Quote, there is no evidence weighing heavily against the convictions in this case. Furthermore, the evidence overwhelmingly supports the jury's verdict. The court summarized the trial evidence in Alma's case Which was essentially that her naked body was found in a remote area near Urban Crest near Edwards home. She'd been bound, anally, sexually assaulted and strangled. And DNA evidence showed Edwards had engaged in anal sex with her within 24 hours of her autopsy. Based on these very straightforward facts, the court concluded that a jury could reasonably find that Edwards purposely caused her death satisfying the murder statute. Thus, the evidence was sufficient to convict Edwards of the murder of Alma Lake. As for the evidence in Michelle's case, she had been strangled and dumped between Edwards home and workplace. She too had been bound and sexually assaulted. DNA evidence showed only Edwards DNA on the vaginal swabs collected during the autopsy. The appeals court noted, quote, although appellant presents a theory that Dawson could have died of an accidental cocaine overdose, the circumstances surrounding the discovery of Dawson's body. She was found completely naked in a rural area with no clothing nearby nor any identification are far more consistent with her death having been caused by a purposeful homicide rather than an accidental overdose. The medical evidence indicated death by strangulation and the circumstances reported rape followed by homicide satisfying the elements of aggravated murder. In short, the evidence is sufficient to convict Eppellant of the rape murder and aggravated murder of Dawson. Moreover, the evidence relating to the deaths of Lake and Dawson shares so many common characteristics that they establish a modus operandi showing that appellant is the perpetrator in both deaths. Modus operandi is shown by evidence of signature characteristics unique enough to show that the crimes were committed by the same person. Citing State v. Wortley. In this case, both women were found naked and left in locations near appellant's residences and or workplace. Both women were bound with ligatures. Both women were strangled. And DNA evidence conclusively links appellant to sexual activity with both of the women. Given the overwhelming similarities surrounding the deaths of Lake and Dawson, a rational jury could readily have concluded that appellant is the perpetrator of all the crimes of which he was convicted. In this case, the evidence amply supports the jury's verdict of guilty for the murder of Lake and guilty for the rape murder and aggravated murder of Dawson. Neither was the verdict against the manifest weight of the evidence. Appellant's arguments notwithstanding, there was sufficient evidence to meet all the elements of the crimes charged. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. Boom bye bye Edwards. So what other crimes did Robert Edwards commit? And why was his DNA not in codis? I looked up his record in Ohio. We already know about his attacks on Kathy B. And Carmen S. Cases. He should have been prosecuted for thanks to their brave statements, we know exactly what Robert Edwards is capable of. We heard that he was charged in December 2022 with crack cocaine possession. He initially pleaded not guilty, but then ended up pleading guilty. He was sentenced to 12 months suspended for time served because he was already in jail awaiting trial on the murder cases. Long before that, In August of 1988, he was charged with forgery and receiving stolen property. He entered a drug treatment program and received credit for about 270 days of jail time served. And in April 1991, he was charged with two counts of theft. He pleaded guilty to one and the other was dropped. In June of 1993, he was charged with robbery and aggravated robbery. He pleaded guilty to the robbery charge and the other was dropped. So as you can hear, Robert Edwards just barely avoided having to enter his DNA into the state and federal DNA databases. These crimes, all committed in the late 80s or early 90s, took place before the CODIS system was fully in place. So when his DNA profile was obtained from the Alma and Michelle case evidence in 2003, he was not identified. He spent multiple decades running around a free man before he was finally nailed. Luckily, IGG was not necessary in this case because criminal propensities apparently run in Edwards family. And he had so many male relatives in the state DNA database that a familial search quickly flushed him out. As for other sexual assault victims of Robert Edwards, there is of course no DNA and evidence for Carmen's case or Kathy B's. But you heard the Ohio authorities. They as much as said that Robert Edwards has other victims. If offender DNA from those cases were in codis, it would have hit to Edwards. But Ohio has approximately 10,659 unsolved homicides. How many of those do not yet have DNA in codis? Let's hope any of Edwards unsolved victims cases still have DNA and modern technology is able to access it, enter it into the system and identify him. Because I don't for a second believe that he's struck only twice in five years. He's a dangerous sexual predator who was not deterred from killing because there were no repercussions. But there are now. May he rot in prison. Thank you very much to Sergeant John Thompson of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit for speaking with me about this case. And if you are one of the bad guys, they are coming for you. Thanks for listening to this episode of dnaid. Before you leave, please let me tell you about some important things related to the show. If you'd like to support this podcast
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