A lawsuit for $50 million is being filed against the Washington County, Virginia, Sheriff’s Office as part of the continuing fallout from a bizarre and horrific 2022 case involving a triple murder, kidnapping, abduction, suicide and arson.
The lawsuit was filed through the Virginia law firm Breit Biniazan, by an unidentified minor identified as R.K.W. and the administrator of her mother’s estate, a woman named Tiffany Ngo.
The lawsuit names Washington County’s Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Blake Andis, Detective William Smarr, and a man named Michael Carey, who is the administrator of the estate of deceased Washington County deputy Austin Lee Edwards.
The complaint alleges that Washington County did not do its due diligence when hiring then 28-year-old Edwards, who was mentally unstable and unfit to be an officer of the law.
According to the lawsuit, Edwards impersonated a 17-year-old boy and began an inappropriate relationship with then 15-year-old R.K.W. through Instagram. When Edwards began pressuring her to engage in “activities of a sexual nature,” she broke things off and he emailed her a suicide note.
What R.K.W. didn’t know was that Edwards was an adult with a history of mental illness. In 2016, he spent court-ordered time in a psychiatric facility, and was barred from owning a gun, after threatening to kill himself and his father.
The lawsuit states that Washington County didn’t perform a proper background check before giving Edwards a badge, gun and state authority as an officer.
Edwards had only been employed by the county for nine days in November of 2022 when he drove to Riverside, California, and used his badge to pose as a detective and deceive family members of R.K.W. to gain entrance into a family home.
He then killed the girl’s mother and grandparents, emptied gas canisters inside the home, and set it on fire with the bodies inside, before kidnapping R.K.W., telling her she was going to come and live with him in Virginia.
A neighbor saw the home on fire and alerted police, who pursued Edwards in a high-speed chase. Edwards died by suicide after a shootout with police, and the girl escaped.
“The failure of the WCSO to properly screen the individuals they cloak with State authority is shocking and unacceptable. Without a badge, a gun, and this cloak of authority, Edwards would not have been able to commit these heinous acts. This family has been mercilessly torn apart and R.K.W. must live with the reality of that horrific day. We want justice for R.K.W.’s family and to prevent this from happening again,” said Attorney Scott Perry with Breit Biniazan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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