The Virginia sheriff’s deputy who sexually extorted a California teen before killing her mother and grandparents and then setting their home on fire should never have been hired, according to a new lawsuit filed by the teen’s family, ABC7 reports.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in California, alleges that the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia was negligent when officials hired Austin Lee Edwards just nine days before the slayings in November 2022.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Edwards was a 28-year-old Washington County sheriff’s deputy last year when he posed as a 17-year-old boy in online conversations with a 15-year-old girl and asked her to send him sexually explicit images.
After the girl stopped talking with Edwards, he traveled across the country and showed up at her family’s home in Riverside, California.
According to the lawsuit, Edwards showed his badge and weapon to the girl’s grandparents and claimed he needed to question them. At some point Edwards attacked those inside the home, slitting the throat of the girl’s mother — 38-year-old Brooke Winek — killing the grandparents — 69-year-old Mark Winek and 65-year-old Sharie Winek — and then setting the home on fire.
Edwards ultimately kidnapped the teen. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on November 25, 2022, while the teen survived the ordeal, according to WJHL-TV.
The lawsuit alleges that Edwards had been subject to a 2016 court order barring him from having a gun. Edwards had allegedly harmed himself and threatened to kill his father, prompting a psychiatric detention.
Mychelle Blandin, the teen’s aunt and guardian, said the attack “destroyed our family,” according to the Associated Press.
“I am bringing this lawsuit because my family wants to know how Edwards was hired as a sheriff’s deputy and given a gun when the courts expressly ordered he could not possess a firearm,” Blandin said in a written statement, according to the AP. “He used his position as a sheriff to gain access to my parents’ home, where he killed them and my sister. I want the Washington County Sheriff’s Office held accountable for giving a mentally unfit person a badge and a gun.”
Edwards was hired as a Virginia State trooper prior to resigning the post in October 2022 and taking a job with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Austin Lee Edwards/Virginia State Police]
