Full coverage: ‘Catfishing cop’ Austin Lee Edwards kills teen’s relatives in Riverside

Law enforcement officials initially claimed they hadn’t detected any red flags before hiring Austin Lee Edwards, a Virginia cop who “catfished” a Riverside teenager online, killed three of her relatives and set her house on fire in November 2022. Reporting from the Los Angeles Times revealed that Virginia police knew Edwards had received inpatient mental health treatment in 2016 but hired him anyway. If police had investigated Edwards more thoroughly, they might have discovered the psychiatric detention orders issued in response to his 2016 episode — or even his prior exploitation of a minor — and he might never have been handed a badge and a gun.