JEFFERSON, Wis. — An aging con man who confessed to killing five people over 20 years and wrote an autobiography detailing his life of crime was sentenced to two life terms in prison Monday, his second such sentence in as many weeks.
Edward W. Edwards sat quietly during the hearing, handcuffed in his wheelchair about 20 feet from his victims’ kin. The 77-year-old did not address them and showed no emotion, spending much of the hearing with his head drooped, facing the floor.
The victims’ family members cried as relatives talked about their pain and grief since the 1980 murders of 19-year old Wisconsin sweethearts Tim Hack and Kelly Drew.
Edwards also has confessed to killing a couple near Akron, Ohio, in 1977 and was sentenced 10 days ago to two life terms in that case. In a jailhouse interview with The Associated Press last week, he said he had killed a fifth man - a 24-year-old he considered to be his foster son. He said he was talking about the killing because he wanted the death penalty. Ohio has the death penalty; Wisconsin does not.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 06/22/2010