In the spring of 2015, the life of 14-year-old Shyanne Sexton came to a tragic and violent end. The young female's story concluded on May 11, 2015, in the desolate landscape of New Mexico, following a police pursuit. The events leading to this fatal conclusion began to unfold a week earlier, on May 4th, when Shyanne was reported missing from her home in St. Augustine, Florida.
Her mother alerted authorities after Shyanne refused to go to school and was gone when she returned home.
The central figure in her disappearance and subsequent death was her 31-year-old uncle, Benjamin Edwards. Investigators discovered that prior to leaving Florida, the duo was suspected of stealing a pistol that belonged to Shyanne's stepfather, a detail that foreshadowed the grim events to come. As authorities delved deeper, a troubling picture of the relationship between the uncle and his young niece began to emerge, with an active investigation into allegations of sexual activity between them. Edwards himself was no stranger to law enforcement, possessing a criminal history in Florida that included charges of burglary, criminal mischief, and cruelty toward a child.
The week-long search for the missing teenager and her uncle culminated in a police chase in New Mexico. The pursuit ended with the sound of gunfire, but not from the weapons of law enforcement. Instead, both Shyanne Sexton and Benjamin Edwards were found to have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. No other suspects were ever identified, and no arrests were made in connection with their deaths, leaving a community to grapple with the disturbing nature of their relationship and the violent end it wrought.
