Mack Ray Edwards

Serial Killer

Mack Ray Edwards: Child Serial Killer of Los Angeles County

Mack Ray Edwards was an American serial killer and child molester who confessed to murdering six children in Southern California between 1953 and 1969. Born on October 17, 1918, in Montgomery County, Arkansas, Edwards moved to the Los Angeles area in the early 1940s and eventually became a heavy-equipment operator. His work placed him on numerous freeway and road-construction projects throughout Southern California, giving him familiarity with isolated construction areas, deep excavations, embankments and stretches of undeveloped land. Edwards was ultimately convicted of three murders, but he separately confessed to three additional killings in which the victims' bodies were never recovered. Years later, investigators also examined him as a possible suspect in several other unsolved disappearances and murders of children. The true number of people he killed remains unknown.

The Murder of Stella Darlene Nolan

Edwards' first known victim was eight-year-old Stella Darlene Nolan. Stella disappeared from Auction City, a large market and entertainment area in Norwalk, California, on the evening of June 20, 1953. Her mother worked at a refreshment stand there, and Stella had been spending time nearby before suddenly vanishing. According to Edwards' later confession, he abducted Stella and sexually assaulted her. He strangled the child and, believing he had killed her, abandoned her near a remote bridge. When Edwards returned the following morning, he discovered that Stella had survived the initial attack and had managed to move some distance from the location where he had left her. Edwards then stabbed her to death. His account therefore places Stella's actual death on June 21, 1953, although she had disappeared the previous evening. For nearly seventeen years, Stella's disappearance remained unresolved. After Edwards surrendered in 1970, he led investigators to an embankment near the Santa Ana Freeway in Downey. Stella's skeletal remains were recovered beneath several feet of earth near a freeway abutment. Edwards later pleaded guilty to her murder.

The Disappearance of Donald Lee Baker and Brenda Jo Howell

On August 6, 1956, Donald Lee Baker and Brenda Jo Howell disappeared while riding bicycles in the San Gabriel Canyon area near Glendora Mountain Road. Current missing-person records list both children as twelve years old at the time, although older newspaper and crime accounts frequently gave different ages. Brenda was particularly close to Edwards' family because she was the younger sister of his wife. Donald was a neighborhood child. The two had gone bicycle riding toward the canyon and Morris Dam but failed to return. A few days after their disappearance, Donald's jacket and Brenda's bicycle were discovered near Morris Dam. Donald's bicycle was found approximately a month later. Despite extensive searches, neither child was ever located. When Edwards confessed in 1970, he admitted killing both children and directed investigators toward an area where he claimed he had disposed of their bodies. Searches failed to locate human remains. Because Donald and Brenda have never been recovered, their precise dates and causes of death cannot be independently verified. Edwards' confession placed their killings in connection with their August 6, 1956 disappearance. ...

Confirmed Victims: (6)

Stella Darlene Nolan Age: (8), Date of Death: June 20, 1953

Suspected Victims:

Thomas Eldon Bowman Age: (8), Date of Death: March 23, 1957

Bruce Kremen Age: (6), Date of Death: July 12, 1960

Karen Lynn Tompkins Age: (11), Date of Death: August 18, 1961

Dorothy Gale Brown Age: (11), Date of Death: July 2, 1962

Ramona Price Age: (7), Date of Death: September 2, 1961

Mack Ray Edwards - Wikipedia