Serial Killer Mack Ray Edwards #truecrime

Mack Ray Edwards

Some monsters are arrested, many are never identified, and some lose their lives to police or by their own hand, but a small number turn themselves in. Such is the case of Mack Ray Edwards who actually found his way into 2 categories. From 1953 to 1970 this vicious creature did the unspeakable to at least 6 kids aged 8 to 16. When 3 young girls were able to escape his clutches, Edward knew the game was up and walked into a police station, handed over a firearm and confessed to 6 heinous crimes, but only 3 bodies were ever recovered one of which was buried under a freeway by the deranged road worker. Though he was sentenced to meet his end in the gas chamber, Edwards used a television cable to accelerate the time table of his demise using a electrical cord in San Quentin.

Mack Ray Edwards

On March 6 of 1970 a man named Mack Ray Edwards walked into the San Fernando Valley police station and confessed to taking the lives of 6 young children over the past 17 years. He handed them a loaded firearm and gave them the whole story. The day before some would be victims escaped his clutches and he knew it was a matter of time before they arrested him so he turned himself in. While in prison he would change his victim count from 6 to 18, and there are many disappearances and deaths that he is suspected of, but in court he would only be convicted of 3.

Mack

Mack Ray Edwards was born on October 17, 1918 in Montgomery County Arkansas. There are limited records on his early life up until he moved to Los Angeles in 1941. He got arrested once for vagrancy before spending some time in the Army Corp of Engineers. This is where he learned to operate heavy machinery which he would use to get a job once he left the military.

One year after the end of world war 2, Edwards married a woman named Mary Howell. To the public he presented as a friendly family man. He and his wife adopted 2 kids, and Mack also kept horses which he would let the kids in his neighborhood ride. No one could possibly know that the man they let their kids play with and who took them camping had a dark secret.

By the 1950’s, Edwards was putting the skills he learned in the army Corp of engineers to work as a Caltrans employee building the freeways of California. But unbeknownst to his coworkers and neighbors, Mack Ray Edwards had already started a series of horrific murders. The first occured on June 20 1953.

Stella Darlene Nolan was only 8 years old when she crossed paths with the monster. He met her at a flea market in Norwalk. Edwards kidnapped her and took the 8 year old back to his home in Azusa where she was assaulted and strangled. Once he was done, the creature drove her body to a bridge in the Angeles forest and threw her off.

The next day, the depraved monster returned to the dump site and was surprised to find that Nolan was still alive despite the drop and being choked. He drew his pocket knife and stabbed her before burying her remains under a freeway embankment in Downey California where she would remain for almost 20 years.

The next crimes would occurr just over 3 years later on August 6, 1956. Mack Ray Edwards came across 13 year old donald Lee Baker and 11 year old Brenda Jo Howell as they rode their bikes in the San Gabriel canyon. The creature paid the 13 year old to lure Howell on a bike ride to get them into a secluded area.

As the pair rode their bikes deeper into the canyon, Edwards followed them in his truck. He then separated them so they would not see what he was doing then slit their throats one at a time. What makes this crime even more depraved is that the young girl was Edwards sister in law. The monster would not be charged with these homicides as the bodies were never discovered despite him guiding investigators to the location.

Thomas Eldon Bowman was an 8 year old boy who disappeared while on a Family hike in Arroyo Cinco Canyon on March 23rd 1957 who is suspected to be a victim of Edwards. He had raced ahead of the group to the car, but when the family got to their vehicle, he was nowhere to be found. Edwards resembled the sketch of the boys abductor and supposedly there is a letter he wrote to his wife saying that he had meant to include Bowman in his confession. There was also an equipment yard for Edwards employer near the canyon pointing to him as the culprit.

After taking the lives of at least 3 kids, Edwards was dormant for a while, moving to Sylmar with his wife and adopted children. But he could not contain his impulses for long and on November 26 1968, he was once again seeking a victim. He broke into a home in Granada Hills where he knew a 13 year old girl lived when her parents were not home.

His intended target was gone at the time, and so the creature ended up shooting her 16 year old brother, Gary Rochet. The crime would go unsolved until Edwards confessed in 1970. But this execution did not satisfy the sicko, and a month later he was once again on the prowl. Edwards wanted a more hands on experience.

His next target was a 15 year old boy named Roger Dale Madison who was friends with his son. Despite the social connection between Edwards and Madison’s family, the monster still did not balk when it came to taking the teenagers life. On December 16 1968, Madison got into an argument with his dad and took off on his motorcycle.

Mack lived just a few houses down from the teen and likely watched him leave and saw an opportunity. He later told investigators that he had lured Madison into an orange grove. Among the trees, Edwards proposed they play a game which involved tying him up. Once Roger was defenseless, the creature pulled out a knife and plunged it into the boy.

Once again, he would bury his victim under a freeway, this time in Thousand Oaks. However, despite police searches as recent as 2005, the body was never discovered. It seems that Exwards did not have a strong preference as far as the gender of his victims, as there is a mix of boys and girls.

6 months after the Madison homicide, Edwards would take his last known victim. 13 year old Donald Allen Todd had been suspended from school on May 16 1969. He disappeared on his way home and would he found by 2 kids. He had been assaulted and shot with a .22 caliber pistol.

The final act of evil occurred on March 5 1970. In this case, Mack Ray Exwards enlisted the help of a 15 year old accomplice who would not be named due to his age. Together the pair kidnapped 3 sisters from their Sylmar home. 12 year old Valerie, 13 year old Cindy, and 14 year old Jan Cohen had been Edwards neighbors and he had likely had his eye on them for a while.

Edwards forced the girls to write a note to their parents saying that they had run away from home then took them to a secluded part of the Angeles national forest. Thankfully, 2 of the girls were able to escape the sick creature and his underage accomplice. Knowing the game was up and that the girls would surely report him for what he had done, Edwards let the last sister go free.

Then next day, Mack Ray Edwards walked into the San Fernando Valley police station. He confessed to taking the lives of 6 kids and to kidnapping the Cohen sisters. He would claim that the guilt over what he had done was nearly unbearable, stopping him from eating and sleeping. This is obviously nonsense as he had committed his first homicide 17 years prior and was able to continue working and blending in with his family and friends.

Police searched the areas where the creature said he had left the bodies, and 3 were recovered. In court, Edwards proclaimed his guilt arguing with his lawyer and the judge who rejected his guilty plea. The trial was delayed by the creatures attempts to take his own life. He had tried to slice open his stomach with a razor and on another occasion he tried to overdose on medication.

Mack Ray Edwards would complain that the trial was a terrible ordeal to put the his victims families through and begged for the electric chair. While he did not get his wish to be sent to old sparky, on June 5 of 1971, he was sentenced to the gas chamber and sent to San Quentin prison where he occupied a cell next to Charles Manson.

But Mack Ray Edwards would not live to see the his execution date. On October 30th of 1971, the creature took his own life in his cell, using an electrical cord to hang himself.

While there are only 3 victims that can be proven beyond a doubt and 6 that are extremely likely based on the confession, there are a handful of other cases that are suspected to be connected to Edwards and the investigation has continued into the 21st century with a variety of searches for his missing victims.

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