Livye Lewis homicide: Texas investigators say jealousy was a motive in teen’s taking pictures demise

Within the early morning hours of Halloween 2020 — a day when the boundaries between the residing and the lifeless develop into blurred — Livye Lewis was found draped over the steering wheel of her automotive, lifeless from a rifle shot to the neck.

Livye had simply turned 19.

DEPUTY: (crime scene bodycam): And I do not know if dispatch has notified her subsequent of kin or not …

It occurred in Hemphill, a tiny city in Texas with a inhabitants simply over 1,000. It is the sort of place the place nobody is a stranger, and information spreads like wildfire.

MAN (crime scene bodycam): Is that — is not that, uh…

WOMAN: Darci Bass’s daughter?

MAN: Yeah.

That’s how Livye’s mom, Darci Bass, heard the information — when a good friend known as to say that Livye had been shot. 

Peter Van Sant: You did not know if she was lifeless or alive?

Darci Bass: No.

DARCI BASS (crime scene bodycam): I wanna see my little one!

Darci Bass: And the following time I, yeah, I noticed her, she was in — in a casket.

DARCI BASS (crime scene bodycam): I do not consider it. I do not consider it. Oh my God!

THE MURDER OF LIVYE LEWIS

By all accounts, Livye was a exceptional younger girl — a straight-A scholar and up to date highschool graduate with a scholarship to a neighborhood school. 

Darci Bass: Her dream was to go on to school, develop into a nurse, after which develop into a doctor’s assistant.

Livye was already a licensed nursing assistant at a neighborhood nursing house.

Darci Bass: She was liked by all of the residents there.

Peter Van Sant: That is a tricky job, too.

Darci Bass Sure. And he or she liked it. … That was her ardour.

That is additionally the place she met considered one of her greatest mates, fellow nursing assistant Taylor Barnett.

Taylor Barnett: We labored collectively, after which she simply began staying with me on a regular basis.

Barnett was almost six years older and had a younger daughter, however she says Livye match proper in.

Taylor Barnett: For those who seen Livye, you seen me. We simply clicked, like, robotically.

Bayley Williams met Livye in kindergarten.

Bayley Williams: She was an individual that needed stability and did not wanna play, like, the child video games. … She was able to … be grown up.

That is most likely why Livye fell for an older man, Matthew Edgar, who was 23 after they met.

Taylor Barnett: … I used to be courting a man who was really mates with Matthew. … So, all of us simply sort of began hanging out. 

Livye was nonetheless a senior in highschool when she and Edgar started a secret relationship. Edgar was married to Montana Bockel, the mom of his two younger sons.

Telephone information point out that Livye and Edgar started texting one another in November 2019, when Matthew wrote: “You do notice you can not say a phrase to ANYBODY that we’re even texting lol.” Livye responded: “nicely clearly I am not gonna brag about texting a married man however thanks for the clarification.”

It seems that after a really temporary affair, Livye rapidly and firmly ended issues.

However Edgar wasn’t finished. About 4 months later, he texted to complain about how sad he was in his marriage. “I cheated once more,” he stated. However Livye held her floor. “… I am not likely down for being a homewrecker,” she wrote.

Almost two months later, Edgar ended his marriage on this textual content change along with his spouse the place he stated, “Ain’t you it is me.” “Me at all times dishonest on you.” 4 days later, Bockel employed a divorce lawyer, Edgar moved out and circled again to Livye.

At simply 18, Livye was now navigating a relationship with a person who had two younger sons, and a soon-to-be ex-wife.

Bayley Williams: At first … they did not get alongside, Livye and Montana did not. Uh, I feel that was out of jealousy on Montana’s behalf. After which it was sort of identical to the flip of a change. All of the sudden, Montana needed to be Livye’s greatest good friend, and so they talked on a regular basis.

Darci Bass: I feel in Livye’s eyes, she was undoubtedly pondering she had a good friend.

Peter Van Sant: And in Montana’s eyes, what do you assume?

Darci Bass: I feel that she was jealous, and I feel that some folks get near folks and so they have one other reasoning behind it.

Peter Van Sant: And so, do you assume in some methods a — a harmful love triangle had fashioned?

Darci Bass: Sure … undoubtedly a harmful love triangle. Sure.

J.P. MacDonough: You’ll be able to name it that. Completely.

Sabine County Sheriff’s Investigator J.P. MacDonough questioned Edgar about his relationship with Bockel and Livye. 

J.P. MACDONOUGH: What’s your relationship like with each of them?

MATTHEW EDGAR: It is superior.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: OK. So, it isn’t a typical, “I hate your guts”?

MATTHEW EDGAR: No. Hell no. (laughs)

J.P. MACDONOUGH: OK.

MATTHEW EDGAR: It is superior.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: OK.

MATTHEW EDGAR: My ex-wife and her, they’re huge buddies.

Taylor Barnett: I simply informed Livye to simply be cautious … you may get alongside along with her for his or her kids, however … do not be too shut along with her. I imply as a result of that is his ex-wife.

However Burnett says that as time glided by, it was Edgar’s habits that turned probably the most menacing.

Taylor Barnett: He was just about abusive … in additional methods than one. … For a short while he was staying at my home along with her … and he would simply get drunk and loopy and both holler at her … and like, it received so unhealthy that like, I did not need him there, at my home anymore.

Telephone information present that the connection was a rollercoaster trip. Whereas at instances Edgar despatched texts to Livye like, “Goodnight child I really like you,” Livye’s texts alleged bodily abuse: “idk why you retain placing your fingers on me like that … my physique hurts at this time.” 

Bayley Williams: I feel that she was in love with who Matthew may very well be, ‘trigger she knew who he was and knew that what he was doing to her wasn’t proper, however she nonetheless stayed.

Livye had been planning on shifting to her new school campus, however in the summertime of 2020 she stayed on that rollercoaster trip, agreeing to maneuver in with Edgar and assist deal with him and his sons. She even redecorated the boys’ rooms.

However issues appeared to have rapidly turned ugly.

Peter Van Sant: In August of 2020, Livye writes to Matthew, “I wish to be in our house with you however I can not do the best way you act while you drink.” “I am petrified of you.” … “you’ve got laid your fingers on me a number of instances” … “I deserve higher than that.”

Peter Van Sant: Had she informed you at the moment that — he had been violent?

Darci Bass: No … she did not inform me that. … most likely figured that I’d go do one thing loopy, and she or he did not need me most likely getting in bother.

Livye did inform her cousin Sydney Ebarb what was happening.

Peter Van Sant: She despatched you a disturbing {photograph}.

Sydney Ebarb: Sure. 

Peter Van Sant: Proof of bodily abuse, appropriate? … Do you’ve gotten that picture?

Sydney Ebarb: I do …

Peter Van Sant: Are you able to present it to me?

Sydney Ebarb: Sure sir. … He busted her nostril.

It is not clear what brought on the altercation, however texts would later present that Edgar was dishonest on Livye with, of all folks, Montana Bockel. On Oct. 4, 2020, Livye’s birthday, Edgar texted Bockel: “I did not cheat on Livye with a number of girl. … Simply you LOL.”

Darci Bass: He was … persevering with relationship on along with his ex-wife and had my daughter in the course of it. … not realizing that she is being manipulated by all of them.

Sydney Ebarb: I used to be in an abusive relationship. So, I simply stated, “Livye, you already know it will get worse.” And he or she stated, “I do know.” And I stated “OK, I really like you.”

Livye broke up with Edgar, however in a small city like Hemphill you’ll be able to run, however you’ll be able to’t actually conceal. Within the early morning hours of Halloween 2020, Edgar and Livye would find yourself collectively once more — on the aspect of the street.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HOURS BEFORE LIVYE LEWIS WAS KILLED?

The morning Livye Lewis was killed, her ex-boyfriend Matthew Edgar discovered himself in a hospital mattress, claiming he had no concept how he received there.

MATTHEW EDGAR (hospital physique cam): I’ve no clue why I am right here.

Regardless of the blood on his face, Edgar wasn’t injured. However he did admit to Sheriff’s Investigator J.P. MacDonough that he’d been ingesting.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: How a lot?

MATTHEW EDGAR: Bottle. … Jim Beam.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: Jim Beam. The rest?

MATTHEW EDGAR: A couple of beers earlier within the day. 

He stated he’d been at a celebration the night time earlier than at his good friend Bobby Ozan’s home. That is when he claims he final noticed Livye.

MATTHEW EDGAR (hospital bodycam): Her and my ex-wife each was there.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: OK.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: So that you left Bobby’s and went to your own home?

MATTHEW EDGAR: I went house.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: You went house?

MATTHEW EDGAR: I used to be at my home.

And that is the place Edgar claims he blacked out, and easily cannot clarify how he ended up in a fetal place between a black truck — that wasn’t his — and Livye’s automotive.

J.P. MACDONOUGH (hospital bodycam): You do not know the way you ended up on the bottom behind the automotive?

MATTHEW EDGAR: No, sir.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: With the lifeless woman in it?

MATTHEW EDGAR.. I do not — I haven’t got no clue.

MacDonough took swabs of the blood on Edgar’s face for DNA testing —

J.P. MACDONOUGH (hospital bodycam): All proper, Matthew. I am gonna do that one on the chin.

— and Matthew’s clothes was taken into proof.

J.P. MACDONOUGH (hospital bodycam): I am gonna undergo a few of your garments, OK?

MATTHEW EDGAR: Sure, sir.

Then, MacDonough positioned Edgar below arrest.

J.P. MACDONOUGH (hospital bodycam): Cost is gonna be murder, alright? Now, take note of me. I would like you to grasp why, OK?

MATTHEW EDGAR: Sure, sir.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: OK. You had been discovered behind the car the place the decedent was. … there was some sort of relationship between you and her … There’s a weapon laying on the bottom behind the car near the place you had been discovered, OK? Based mostly on that and some different issues, I am gonna place you in custody proper now for murder, OK?

Peter Van Sant: What’s his response to that?

J.P. MacDonough: He had none.

Peter Van Sant: However he did not say, you are gonna do what? I did not do something.

J.P. MacDonough: No.

Peter Van Sant: Nothing in any respect?

J.P. MacDonough: Nothing in any respect.

With Edgar jailed, MacDonough was on a authorized deadline. In accordance with Texas legislation, the district lawyer’s workplace now had 90 days to current sufficient proof to a grand jury to indict Edgar, or they must launch him on bond. So, MacDonough enlisted the assistance of the Texas Rangers and commenced piecing collectively what occurred to Livye.

Shaun Dunn: Matthew was simply an … simple arrest.

Shaun Dunn is an previous good friend of Edgar’s.

Shaun Dunn: He, he informed me, hey look, you already know I did not do that. … sure, I used to be there on the scene, however I — you already know, I — I did not — I didn’t do that, I liked her.

Dunn, a former Texas oil and gasoline man, as soon as employed a then 20-year-old Edgar as a supervisor on his pipeline.

Shaun Dunn: I do know Matthew, I spent quite a lot of time with him. … He was a tough employee, you already know, he liked his household. … he valued his friendship, uh, with folks.

Dunn was additionally as soon as a deputy sheriff, and says in his private {and professional} opinion, Edgar is harmless.

Shaun Dunn: While you’re in legislation enforcement and — and also you sit throughout the desk from any individual that has taken somebody’s life as a cold-blooded killer … there is a sure really feel that you simply get from that individual. … I by no means seen him attain that time.

Dunn believes Edgar when he says he has no reminiscence of what occurred —

J.P. MACDONOUGH (hospital interview): The reason for demise of that woman will not be pure.

And thinks this second was very actual.

MATTHEW EDGAR: Did they inform you a reputation?

J.P. MACDONOUGH (hospital interview): Livye …

Shaun Dunn:  I consider that was, that was real. That that was the primary time that he knew that she was deceased.

Which raises the plain query —

Peter Van Sant: If Matthew Edgar didn’t kill Livye, who did?

Shaun Dunn: Uh …that is kinda nonetheless up within the air. … For my part … there’s loads of different those who — that, you already know, may very well be concerned on this.

Dunn will not identify names, however Edgar and his mom, Cindy Hogan, have insinuated that another person killed Livye: Montana Bockel. Hearken to this recorded jailhouse name.

CINDY HOGAN (jailhouse name): However I am sayin’ Matthew — if it seems that Montana did this …

MATTHEW EDGAR: I do not wish to speak about it, please.

CINDY HOGAN: I imply it isn’t gonna make you wanna damage her as a result of she killed the girl you really liked, are you?

MATTHEW EDGAR: I do not know.

MacDonough says Bockel’s uncommon friendship with Livye did get his consideration.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: My husband left me for this girl, however she’s my greatest good friend, you already know, I — I — I’ve to query that as — as an investigator.

In one of many final pictures ever taken of Livye, proven above, she is with Bockel at that social gathering Edgar informed investigators about at Bobby Ozan’s place.

Bobby Ozan: I am gonna say there’s most likely about 20 folks there.

Together with Edgar and Bockel’s sons. Ozan informed investigators Edgar spent the night time watching Livye and Montana social gathering, with everybody however him.

Bobby Ozan: He would attempt to come over there and discuss to them and so they simply actually would not say a lot to him. … they had been simply principally ignoring him.

Investigators realized that Livye had damaged up with Edgar simply weeks earlier, and he had taken up with one other younger girl on the town.

INVESTIGATOR: I’m looking for out your relationship with … Matthew Edgar. 

WOMAN: We had been havin’ intercourse, simply — I met him that Monday, and we noticed one another daily.

INVESTIGATOR: So that you simply … recognized him every week?

WOMAN: Yeah.

But it surely was clear to Ozan that Edgar wasn’t over Livye.

Bobby Ozan: He was simply … damage after which now she don’t need nothing to do with him no extra. … she’s happening along with her life, simply, like, you do not exist anymore.

Ozan says Edgar was stewing on the social gathering.

Bobby Ozan: He simply wasn’t his self. He is on edge.

Peter Van Sant: And ingesting closely –

Bobby Ozan: Sure, sir. Yeah.

Peter Van Sant: And the extra he drank the angrier he received.

Bobby Ozan: Precisely.

DAMNING EVIDENCE IN THE CASE AGAINST MATTHEW EDGAR

Because the social gathering at Ozan’s was winding down, Edgar says he known as it an evening.

J.P. MACDONOUGH (hospital bodycam): Oh so, you left Bobby’s. Went to your own home?

MATTHEW EDGAR: I went house.

J.P. MACDONOUGH: You went house?

MATTHEW EDGAR: I used to be at my home.

That is the place Edgar’s reminiscence goes clean. However his ex-wife, Montana Bockel, remembers far more.

In an audio recording from an Oct. 31 interview, Bockel informed investigators Edgar out of the blue got here again to the social gathering and realized that Livye had determined to remain in a single day at Ozan’s.

RANGER JOE HARALSON: And also you assume he heard Livye say, she gonna spend the night time?

MONTANA BOCKEL: Oh, I do know he heard her. ‘Trigger that is what made him so mad.

J.P. MacDonough: Through the course of the investigation and through my interviews … with household and mates … Matthew had supposed to ask Ms. Lewis to marry him. … that is how important he felt about Ms. Lewis. … to … hear her again on the home say that I am gonna stick with … Bobby, was simply –

Peter Van Sant: Which means sleep with Bobby.

J.P. MacDonough: Right.

Peter Van Sant: That was an excessive amount of for him.

J.P. MacDonough: That was simply an excessive amount of.

In accordance with Bockel, Edgar was so indignant — he even took it out on her.

MONTANA BOCKEL (interview with investigators): He tried to choke me, after which, that is once I went and received Bobby.

Bobby Ozan: So I … went exterior and he had kicked all of the doorways in her automotive and was punchin’ on the window.

J.P. MacDonough: At one level Bobby needed to pin Matthew towards the automotive to ensure that the ladies to find a way … to go away.

Bobby Ozan: Entire time I am holding him, he is screaming prime of his lungs, “I am gonna kill y’all. I am gonna kill y’all.”

Bockel says she and Livye left in separate automobiles. Seeking security, Bockel says she headed towards the house the place Edgar’s mom and grandparents lived, and that is the place Edgar caught up along with her.

MONTANA BOCKEL (interview with investigators): He pulled in behind me. … I went to get out and he began chokin’ me once more.

Their kids had been within the backseat of Edgar’s van.

MONTANA BOCKEL (interview with investigators): And I used to be honkin’ the horn, so any individual would come exterior.

In all of the racket, Bockel says Edgar left, and headed for his own residence, a brief distance away on the identical property. A shaken Bockel says she requested to remain the night time with Edgar’s mom and grandparents — after which started texting with Edgar.

MONTANA BOCKEL (interview with investigators): I’ve messages.

RANGER JOE HARALSON: What does he say?

“You took half in it and you might be responsible as she is !!! …” wrote Edgar, as he angrily accused Bockel of enjoying an element in Livye’s choice to spend the night time with Ozan. These texts would develop into damning proof within the case towards Edgar.

MONTANA BOCKEL (interview with investigators): He stated, “You knew what was happening.”

A call that seems to have enraged him.

MONTANA BOCKEL (interview with investigators): He stated, “I’ll take your life her life and his life … Mark my phrases.”

At 3:22 a.m., Edgar texts: “I am leaving higher get right here and get your youngsters.” MacDonough says proof reveals {that a} drunk and indignant Edgar then received behind the wheel of his truck, the place he stored his rifle, and went looking for Livye.

J.P. MacDonough: I feel she pulled over to speak to him and I am going to inform you why. … she was simply sittin’ there along with her legs crossed. … signifies to me she was not afraid. It was not a fight-or-flight factor the place she was ready to simply bolt out the automotive, she was really, to some extent, snug with who she was talking with.

Twelve minutes after texting “I am leaving,” Edgar texted: “I am house. I received Livye’s keys and her cellphone.” Bockel requested: “The place is she.” Edgar’s response: “Useless.” 

Bockel informed investigators she did not name 911 as a result of she did not consider he was severe. As an alternative, Bockel texted Edgar, “Can I come down there.” His reply, “yeah.” However Bockel claims that Edgar’s mom would not let her go away — so she simply fell asleep.

MONTANA BOCKEL (interview with investigators): I by no means left. I did not even know something had occurred till I wakened at round 6 o’clock this morning.

However Edgar did not go to mattress. MacDonough says proof reveals that not lengthy after sending that textual content that Livye was lifeless, Edgar did one thing nobody can clarify: he went again to the crime scene — this time in his cousin Zach’s truck. It is that truck that was discovered parked behind Livye’s automotive.

Peter Van Sant: Why would he return then? Why would he return to the scene of the crime?

J.P. MacDonough: That may be a query you’d need to ask Matthew. I — I can not clarify that.

Additionally onerous to elucidate: Bockel’s  failure to name 911. It made no sense to Livye’s good friend Bayley Williams.

Bayley Williams: She knew who he was and what sort of individual he was, after which she was receiving all these texts. I do not assume that you would be able to simply take that with a grain of salt after you’ve got obtained these textual content messages.

Peter Van Sant: Yeah, it is time to … to name police.

Bayley Williams: Proper.

MacDonough says he and his crew of investigators puzzled if Bockel had been to the crime scene that morning to attempt to assist Edgar cowl up Livye’s homicide.

MONTANA BOCKEL (interview with investigators): I do know you do not consider me, however I can not inform you stuff that I do not know occurred. 

Two months after the crime, Bockel was given a polygraph examination.

POLYGRAPHER: Are you overlaying for the individual accountable for Livye’s demise?

After monitoring her physiological responses, Bockel was informed she failed the polygraph.

POLYGRAPHER: There is not any doubt that you simply left one thing out. …That there is one thing you are not telling me.

However after an in-depth multiagency investigation, investigators concluded that Bockel was by no means on the crime scene and had nothing to do with Livye’s taking pictures or any coverup.

Peter Van Sant: And, so, to all those that assume by some means, she’s concerned, you say?

J.P. MacDonough: Not true.

Peter Van Sant: Not true in any respect.

All of the proof, says MacDonough, factors to at least one individual: Matthew Edgar.

Peter Van Sant: Is there a motive in your thoughts?

J.P. MacDonough: Jealousy.

Peter Van Sant: Jealousy.

J.P. MacDonough: Plain and easy.

In February 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the courts and this case. With no grand juries being convened, a choose was pressured by legislation to launch a nonetheless unindicted Matthew Edgar on a “affordable” bond — $50,000.

Darci Bass: For them to set it so low was insane to me.

Months after Edgar’s launch, Bass was at her native comfort retailer when Edgar simply strolled in.

Darci Bass: When he got here within the door … I simply went — began — began throwing no matter at him and went for him. … And I simply bear in mind saying, “you killed my daughter. … you killed my daughter …”

Edgar pressed prices towards Bass, and she or he was arrested. The costs would finally be dropped, however Bass says she simply needed some solutions.

Darci Bass: She liked you and she or he was good to you and your youngsters and to your loved ones. What made you assume that this was the reply to something that was happening?

On March 16, 2021, four-and-a-half months after his arrest, a grand jury lastly heard the proof towards Matthew Edgar, and indicted him for the homicide of Livye Lewis. However Edgar, who was nonetheless out on bail, wasn’t finished breaking the legislation and tormenting Livye’s household.

Darci Bass: I simply was like, are you — are you severe?

DEFENDANT MATTHEW EDGAR DISAPPEARS

As January 2022 and the trial of Matthew Edgar approached, Darci Bass was assured that the proof within the homicide of her daughter, Livye, would lastly show that Matthew had killed her.

Peter Van Sant: What, on this case, struck you as probably the most highly effective proof towards Matthew Edgar?

Darci Bass: From him saying that he was gonna kill them — her, until him being on the scene, until it being his gun.

Then, there have been all these venomous texts between Edgar and Montana Bockel, that Taylor Barnett and Bayley Williams say ended with a transparent confession.

Taylor Barnett: When he texts and stated she’s lifeless.

Peter Van Sant: ‘Trigger who would know that besides —

Bayley Williams: The one that did it.

And do not forget that textual content that learn, “I received Livye’s keys and her cellphone.” Properly, Livye’s cellphone was discovered within the truck Edgar had pushed to the crime scene. Her keys had been discovered on the driveway at his grandparent’s home — and reluctantly handed over to investigators by Edgar’s mom, Cindy Hogan.

Peter Van Sant: Is it true in your opinion that she tried to maintain Livye’s keys from investigators?

J.P. MacDonough: That was the indication.

Hogan additionally tried assist her son by suggesting that Livye had been killed by a drug cartel, as a result of Edgar owed them cash.

J.P. MacDonough: And that the cartel had killed Livye and staged it to make it appear to be Matthew did it, as a result of … they had been out $30,000.

Peter Van Sant: What do you consider that principle?

J.P. MacDonough: Uh, I feel … it is a far-fetched fairytale.

Darci Bass: It was so farfetched  … what was only a loopy story … to attempt to distract folks from the reality.

On Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, Edgar’s trial started with jury choice. Edgar, who was nonetheless out on bond, walked out and in of courtroom daily like a free man.

J.P. MacDonough: As a result of nature … of the crime … and the emotion all through the county … we had safety preparations in place for trial. We even had Matthew sporting a bulletproof vest.

On the primary day of testimony, the state started presenting its case, which included DNA lab outcomes that detected a tiny speck of Livye’s blood on the pants Edgar was sporting when he was discovered on the crime scene.

Peter Van Sant: How vital is that piece of proof?

J.P. MacDonough: It’s vital. It places him there on the time that that harm that brought on her demise.

However Edgar’s court-appointed protection lawyer, Rob Hughes, argued {that a} tiny drop of blood does not show a factor.

Peter Van Sant: How else might that speck have gotten on his pant leg if not coming from blood spatter from the taking pictures?

Rob Hughes: You will get DNA transferred from simply touching somebody.

Hughes says there isn’t any telling how lengthy that blood had been there.

And all that blood on Edgar’s face that MacDonough swabbed and had examined? It wasn’t Livye’s or Edgar’s — and as soon as they had been excluded, investigators did not pursue different matches. Hughes says there have been further DNA assessments that additionally raised questions on who else could have been on the crime scene.

Rob Hughes: There have been different folks’s DNA on Matthew, and Livye was excluded as a contributor to these DNA samples.

Hughes tried his greatest to argue that the DNA ought to be thought of affordable doubt however admits that his greatest impediment in defending Edgar had been these texts —and Edgar’s insistence that he has no reminiscence of sending them.

Peter Van Sant: In your total profession as a protection lawyer, have you ever ever had a shopper who was functioning in the course of the course of against the law —  texting, conversing with folks, driving an car —  then stated that they had no reminiscence in anyway of the occasions?

Rob Hughes: I’ve not.

Peter Van Sant: And also you perceive why that will be onerous for folks to consider?

Rob Hughes: Sure.

Hughes additionally asserted that the homicide weapon had not been examined for fingerprints or DNA. However conceded the rifle belonged to Edgar. After a second day of testimony, the prosecutor notified Hughes that he could be resting his case the following morning, and it might then be Hughes’ flip to name witnesses. Shaun Dunn says that he had been Snapchatting with Edgar, who was feeling optimistic about his possibilities.

Shaun Dunn: He was so assured that … he was gonna want a job … and requested me … would I discover him a spot to go to work?

However the subsequent morning, as Hughes arrived on the courthouse,. he received a panicked name from Edgar’s mom, who informed him her son was now a fugitive.

Rob Hughes: She simply began … frantically telling me that Matthew was gone. Matthew had run and he had taken a gun with him. And he or she was afraid he was gonna kill himself.

Darci Bass: Are you severe? Like he is — he is gone? He had — he should not even been out on bond. And he had an ankle monitor on. What occurred with that?

Authorities say Edgar had merely waited for the battery on his ankle monitor to die, after which left house — almost certainly on foot. 

J.P. MacDonough: We began getting property from throughout. … Lufkin P.D. SWAT, uh, DPS, Texas Rangers … we even had monitoring canines from the — from the jail unit … they adopted a path by the woods, roughly two miles.

In the meantime, Edgar’s trial went on with out him. That exact same day, protection lawyer Hughes started presenting his case. The jury was not informed that Edgar had fled, however they will need to have puzzled.

Peter Van Sant: So, a case that is already very tough for you has now develop into, I am going to use the phrase unimaginable.

Rob Hughes: It — it made it a lot — it — it did not assist, that is for positive.

Nobody was stunned when, after deliberating for about an hour-and-a-half, the jury discovered Edgar responsible of homicide. However he was nonetheless on the unfastened, on the market someplace — an armed risk to himself and the group.

Bayley Williams: I imply I feel that it was like a scary time as a result of … it is Hemphill, he is aware of the place all people lives at.

Darci Bass: That was a horrible, loopy time for me realizing that he is on the market. … supposedly liked my daughter, however murdered her, and me, the one which’s actively attempting to ensure that he goes to jail, what would he had finished to me.

Bass says it felt like nobody was looking for Edgar, so she turned a mom on a mission and hung a do-it-yourself needed poster throughout city. However she wasn’t alone. MacDonough had been joined by Jeff Coulter, a particular deputy with the Jap District U.S. Marshal’s Service, and so they had been on the hunt for Edgar.

Peter Van Sant: Do you think about him proper off the bat to be a harmful fugitive?

Jeff Coulter: Oh, completely. Uh, from what I used to be informed, the homicide, the crime scene, sure, little question.

THE HUNT FOR A CONVICTED KILLER

The very spot the place 19-year-old Livye Lewis was murdered is now a memorial lovingly tended to by her mom.

Darci Bass: (on the memorial) I simply need everybody to recollect what occurred right here … what Livye needed to undergo.

It is also a spot that Bass is satisfied Edgar visited, after turning into a fugitive.

Darci Bass: I simply felt it as a mom., I used to be like he is coming right here. He isn’t far.

Bass says she additionally heard rumors that Edgar’s mom had been noticed shopping for her son’s favourite cigarettes and liquor in massive portions.

Darci Bass: The place is she taking ’em to?

One week after Edgar ran from the legislation, Jeff Coulter, a particular deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service, was requested to take over the manhunt.

Peter Van Sant: While you first … start your investigation, do you begin along with his household? …  to see in the event that they’ve heard something?

Jeff Coulter: No, no. … I do not like being lied to. … I’ve already heard their tales … claiming  … she was killed by the cartel … So, no … I did not even waste my time.

Coulter says he quietly spent almost a 12 months working with the sheriff’s workplace and different legislation enforcement businesses across the nation, to chase down each lead that got here their manner.

Jeff Coulter: And we had put in quite a lot of hours, quite a lot of weekends, quite a lot of late nights.

Then, a tip that Edgar would possibly really be hiding in plain sight – in a home simply yards from his grandparent’s property.

Jeff Coulter: It appeared nice, it sounded nice. However we bodily need to put eyes on him earlier than we make a transfer on his residence.

The home, which belonged to a household good friend, was surrounded by woodlands, so Coulter enlisted the help of two wardens with Texas Parks and Wildlife Division.

The plan? To get as shut as doable, below the cloak of darkness, utilizing night time imaginative and prescient to ID their man.

Jeff Coulter: We had been gonna enter into the woods. Make our manner as much as the again of the property. Get as shut as we might and sit there and see if we might get a visible of him.

Whereas Coulter led a crew of three males into the woods, MacDonough and his deputies had been on the other aspect of the home, close to the driveway — however out of sight, of their automobiles.

J.P. MacDonough: My job was to sit down proper there on the entrance door of that home.

If Coulter and his males made a constructive ID on Edgar, they might lastly have him cornered.

Jeff Coulter: We went in about 4:30 within the afternoon. We knew it was gonna get darkish about 5:30. … we received into most likely a few hundred yards of the home. And — we heard barking, um, come to search out out that they had a reasonably good-sized Rottweiler within the yard.

Jeff Coulter: We’re on the market for an hour or so. … We might hear voices. … We hear a feminine voice. We might hear male voice, however it’s so thick. We won’t see. … Then we catch a violent thunderstorm … And there is lightning and thunder and torrential rain. It was depressing. But it surely was a blessing in disguise … the noise lined our motion.

They had been 30 yards from the home when a second storm hit, however there was no giving up.

Jeff Coulter: That is 11 months and two days. … this wanted to finish tonight.

Drenched and exhausted, Coulter and his crew might hear voices on the again porch of the home however could not see faces. Till about 8 p.m., when a person stepped off the porch.

Jeff Coulter: Walks across the aspect of the home and he stands there.

One in all Coulter’s males instantly acknowledged that man as Matthew Edgar.

Jeff Coulter: He goes, “He is right here. I received eyes on him.”

J.P. MacDonough: We received phrase that that they had made a affirmation … drove down, pulled within the driveway. 

Jeff Coulter: As soon as we noticed the lights, it was a 30-yard dash, all 4 of us. … We break the nook, and we began screaming “legislation enforcement, police.” … He jumps up and he throws himself towards the wall, like, oh, crap.

Peter Van Sant: You bought me.

Jeff Coulter: Yeah. It was over with.

Peter Van Sant: Did you guys make eye contact?

J.P. MacDonough: Completely. … He stated, “Hey, J.P..” I stated, “Hey, Matthew.” After which he requested me, “You have not … confirmed my innocence but?” And I stated, “No, Matthew. — I’ve not.”

Coulter says that is not all Edgar needed to say that night time.

Jeff Coulter: He stated, “Please do not shoot my mom.”

Peter Van Sant: His mom is in the home.

Jeff Coulter: His mom’s on the home.

Peter Van Sant: Was she crying? Was she upset?

Jeff Coulter: No. I feel she acted amazed that he was there. … Like she did not know what was happening. 

Peter Van Sant: Actually?

Jeff Coulter: Sure. … Shocked he was there.

Peter Van Sant: Was she arrested as nicely?

Jeff Coulter: Not on the time. She was not.

Cindy Hogan was finally charged with “hindering apprehension.” “48 Hours” reached out to her lawyer for remark however didn’t hear again. On Jan. 3, 2023, Matthew Edgar was formally sentenced for the homicide of Livye Lewis: 99 years in jail, with the potential for parole after serving 30 years.

Peter Van Sant: Does it offer you — I do not know what the phrase is, not any peace, however … in jail he’ll seemingly endure for many years?

Darci Bass: I can solely hope, however he does not endure like … like her brother … He does not endure like… her little sister.

Bass hopes to be there when Edgar comes up for parole, and Barnett and Williams say she will not be alone.

Bayley Williams: And I do not care nonetheless he says that he modifies whereas he is in there. I do not assume that that is … one thing you’ll be able to ever come again from, as a result of she’s undoubtedly not coming again. 

In the meantime, Bass is attempting to avoid wasting up sufficient cash to purchase a gravestone for Livye’s grave.

Peter Van Sant: How do you stick with it and honor your daughter’s reminiscence?

Darci Bass: I simply gotta stand up each morning and simply — simply bear in mind the nice issues … and I wanna make her proud.

Bayley Williams: I do not need her to be remembered because the woman that received killed within the small city. I would like her to be remembered for … the best way that she carried herself, and the glad person who she was to be round.

Cindy Hogan is awaiting trial.

For those who or somebody you already know is a sufferer of home violence, contact the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

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Produced by Judy Rybak. Iris Carreras is the sector producer. Michelle Sigona is the event producer. Ken Blum, Michael Vele and Wini Dini are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.