On a cold Friday, January 16, 1970, in Potomac, Maryland, 14-year-old Sherry Bristol Kennedy left her home to visit a friend. A high school freshman, Sherry was remembered by a classmate as a smart, beautiful, and opinionated girl who was full of life. Her kindness left a lasting impression, with the same classmate recalling how her kind words were important to him during a time of personal insecurity.
That evening, Sherry went to see a friend who was babysitting at an apartment near the Montgomery Mall Shopping Center. After a disagreement over using the telephone, Sherry decided to walk back home. It was the last time she was seen alive.
Later that day, Sherry's body was discovered by a motorist under a bridge in a snowy ravine near the intersection of Cabin John Parkway and Clara Barton Parkway. She had been the victim of a savage attack. The investigation revealed she had been stabbed seven times in the head with an ice pick, her throat had been slashed, and she had been shot with a.22 caliber pistol. The ice pick was still lodged in her head when she was found. Despite the brutality of the murder, the coroner, John G. Ball, determined that she had not been sexually assaulted. In the immediate aftermath, with heavy fog and rain hampering the investigation, police considered the possibility that Sherry had been hitchhiking. To generate leads from the public, authorities dressed a mannequin in clothes similar to what Sherry was wearing and displayed it on local television, and a $5,000 reward was offered for information.
The case remained unsolved for decades, casting a long shadow over the community. The break would not come until long after the man responsible was already behind bars for other crimes. The killer was Thomas Francis Edwards, a man who came to be known as "The Bethesda Butcher" and "The Beltway Butcher." Born in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1944, Edwards had a troubled youth marked by escalating violence. In November 1970, police detained him as a suspect in Sherry's murder and another local killing after fingerprints allegedly linked him to the crimes. A search of his home revealed knives and guns, which violated his parole from a prior offense, leading to his re-internment at a psychiatric facility. However, there was not enough evidence to charge him for the murders at the time, and he was eventually released.
Edwards moved to California and, in September 1981, his violence erupted again. In the Cleveland National Forest, he shot two 12-year-old girls, Vanessa Iberri and Kelly Cartier. Vanessa died from her injuries, but Kelly survived to identify their attacker. A manhunt led to Edwards's arrest at a Holiday Inn in College Park, Maryland. He was extradited to California, where he was convicted of murder and attempted murder. After a second sentencing trial, he was given the death penalty in 1986.
For years, Thomas Francis Edwards remained on death row at San Quentin State Prison, appealing his sentence. He was never tried for the murder of Sherry Bristol Kennedy during his lifetime. Justice for Sherry would be delivered posthumously. Edwards died from lung cancer in a prison medical facility on February 14, 2009. He was 65 years old.
Three years after his death, in January 2012, advances in DNA technology brought the final, irrefutable proof. A bloodstain found on a field jacket taken from Edwards's home during the 1970 search was re-examined. The DNA from that bloodstain was a match to Sherry Bristol Kennedy, officially closing her case after 42 years and confirming that her killer had been the long-suspected "Bethesda Butcher." While the legal chapter is closed, the memory of a kind and vibrant young girl, whose life was stolen on a winter night, endures.
