In the autumn of 2023, the life of 39-year-old Levander 'Pedie' Edwards, a Black male from Baltimore, Maryland, was tragically cut short in a brutal sequence of events that began outside his own home. On November 1, 2023, concern turned to alarm when Edwards, a father of six, was reported missing from the 600 block of North Decker Avenue. The initial search for him took a grim turn when his vehicle was discovered damaged and abandoned in Baltimore County, with no sign of its owner.
The mystery of his whereabouts lingered for over a month, leaving his family in agonizing uncertainty. The search came to a devastating end on a cold December day, hundreds of miles from his home. On December 9, a fisherman in Secaucus, New Jersey, made a shocking discovery in the Hackensack River: a body wrapped in plastic. The remains were soon identified as those of Levander Edwards. An autopsy would later confirm that he had been shot to death.
The investigation into Edwards' disappearance and murder led authorities to a suspect, 41-year-old Pablo David Agosto Acevedo. According to court documents, surveillance footage from the night Edwards vanished captured a chilling scene. The footage allegedly showed both Edwards and Acevedo arriving together in an Infiniti SUV. Acevedo is then seen exiting the passenger side of the vehicle, walking away briefly before returning to the driver's side where Edwards was seated. It is then that Acevedo allegedly shot Edwards, dragged his body into the rear of the SUV, and fled the scene.
Further investigation revealed that Acevedo allegedly drove the vehicle to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where it was later found with its license plates removed. Authorities believe that after disposing of Edwards' body in the Hackensack River, a location along the direct route to the airport, Acevedo boarded a flight on November 2, 2023, in an attempt to flee the country, first to the Dominican Republic and then to Puerto Rico. Despite his efforts to evade capture, he was apprehended and charged with first-degree murder, firearm violations, and altering physical evidence. His trial is scheduled to begin on January 30, 2026.
