News: A COLD case detective starts researching a serial killer, and begins linking him to some of the most high-profile murder cases in American history.
The killer’s moves and motives line up suspiciously well with these murders, and so the detective keeps digging, writing him a letter asking for a confession. The killer soon writes back …
This sounds like the teaser for a terrible B-movie — or a terrific one — but this is the true, twisted tale of Edward Wayne Edwards, who, according to former FBI cold case taskforce detective John Cameron, may be one of the most prolific killers of all time.
Edwards was officially convicted of five murders during his lifetime, but Cameron believes he killed hundreds of times, setting up others for the murders along the way. The pair traded letters over a nine-month period, until Edwards died in 2011, aged 77.
Cameron claims Edwards was responsible for some of the most heinous murder cases over the past half-century, including the West Memphis Three murders, the Zodiac killings, the Teresa Halbach murder — as recently featured in the Netflix documentary Making A Murderer — and even the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey.
It all sounds rather fanciful, until you look at the evidence, and realise that Cameron’s theory makes a lot of sense. He first became interested in Edwards in 2010 after reading his 1972 autobiography The Metamorphosis of a Criminal: The True Life Story of Ed Edwards — ironically about how the former criminal had reformed — and realised more than a few dates and facts lined up with unsolved murders…
Cameron explains that Edwards was a ritual killer, with his murders occurring on dates that tie to the occult, Catholic holidays, US holidays, and important dates in his life, such as his mother’s birthday and the day of her death.
Teresa Halbach — the subject of Netflix documentary Making Of A Murderer — was murdered on Halloween, a date that looms large in Edwards’ legacy. He was living an hour from the murder scene at the time, and had previously killed in Wisconsin — a fact that may have gone undiscovered if it wasn’t for his daughter making a gruesome discovery and tipping off police.
“She watched a special on a 1980 Wisconsin double-murder and remembered her dad taking her and her brothers to the scene”, Cameron recalls.
“This murder ended up being his undoing and it occurred 65km from Avery’s Auto Salvage [where Halbach’s body was found].
Ed wrote about Wisconsin in his book and that was a clue that he had killed there. He killed people whose names were contained in his book. He killed in states he named in his book. The name Teresa is a big name in his book and Wisconsin so he would have spent two years preparing to kill Teresa Halbach in Wisconsin.”
Cameron also posits the name “Avery” was another link. “Steven Avery became the fall guy because of his name”, he claims.
“Paul Avery was the San Francisco Chronicle reporter who chased the Zodiac his entire career. Ed sent him what is known as the Halloween Card, which told Avery that there was a clue to his identity.”
The card contained the numbers 6-14-33: Edwards’ date of birth.
