Chris Edwards murder of Jessica O'Grady with a sword

This season 13 episode (airing in 2009) bore some hallmarks of modernity. The wider, higher-definition picture allowed me to generate better screen captures. And the episode's attention-grabbing "Up next..." intro engages the viewer in ways the older episodes didn't. Contrast this to the quiet, slowly developing opening of first season classics (from 1996) like Southside Strangler (s01e06) or the pilot, The Disappearance of Helle Crafts.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

The events' reenactments are a mainstay of the series, and our episode included its fair share. Sometimes the actors are dead ringers for the victim or perpetrator they portray. The season 13 opener, Frozen Assets, sees George Hansen murder his business partner, Mary Ann Clibbery in 2004. The gentleman who played Hansen deserves an Emmy for his performance – from capturing the perpetrator's overall likeness, to his specific expression around the 19:10 mark. This is when George Hansen, tossing his bag of evidence off a bridge, sees it land on the ice instead of into the river below. Bravo!

On rare occasions, the actual events' participants play themselves in the Forensic Files reenactment clips. I believe this was the case in our episode: I'm almost positive they let Jessica's best friend, Holly Stumme, play herself. In the segment where Jessica tells her friends she's leaving to visit "Chris", a very Holly-looking friend questions the strange turn of events, around the 1:45 mark. I watched this scene about ten times, but I'm still not 100% positive – what do you think? We saw this before in Sign of the Zodiac (s08e25) where two of the actual cops reenact a portion of their interrogation with the New York Zodiac.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Our episode also uses a fairly common device where the viewer is led to believe an early suspect is excluded, only to later reveal his alibi was flimsy or otherwise inadequate. I'd be surprised if most viewers didn't readily refute the "movie ticket" alibi offered by Chris Edwards. The movie's showtime of 9:45pm was not revealed until later, but we knew that Jessica hadn't left her friends' house until 11:30pm. This red herring was used to introduce Chris Ryan as a second potential suspect.

Later-series episodes sometimes cover more recent crimes, and the post-2000 ubiquity of the internet often makes finding supporting (or contradicting) material easy. In this case, the original crime scene report was readily available. It's interesting to see how the process is documented, and even a few of the names of the case's major players interviewed in the episode. These included Leigh Ann Retelsdorf and Joshua Connelly. Unfortunately, Division Commander David Kofoed participated as well – more about this later.

Jessica O'Grady and Chris Edwards (and Chris Ryan)

I can't remember precisely what type of phone I had in 2006, but I'm betting it wasn't much different than the flip phone shown a few times in the episode. In these scenes, Jessica is texting "NO MORE SHENANIGANS FOR JESSICA" to "Stef". Notice she's using ABC mode to painfully type this text out (in all CAPS no less). It took me back to when my sister taught me the efficiencies of using T9 mode for 3x4 numeric keypads. And who is "Stef"? I thought Holly was Jessica's best friend.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

"Shenanigans" was the girls' codeword for "sex". In this context, I was curious about Jessica's text: "No more sex for Jessica." Sent to her friend less than an hour after leaving for Chris Edwards' house, what did it really mean? "No more sex" implies she wasn't just speaking about sex on the night in question. I regard it to mean either "no more sex with Chris" or "no more sex with anyone". She believed she was pregnant at the time – could this have had anything to do with her cryptic message?

The episode's other "Chris" was someone Jessica had dated a few months prior, Chris Ryan. A close look at a highlighted document behind his photo around the 6:05 mark reveals what looks like information about Chris and his "sex registrant record". But the registrant on the document seems to be Jeremie Overstreet who stabbed his neighbor Julie Braun over 30 times. This is covered in the same-season episode Fashion Police (s13e17).

Chris Ryan served 30 months in jail for statutory rape and was a registered sex offender. One wonders if Jessica was aware of this information when she dated him, or perhaps she ended their relationship when she found out. But before we judge Ryan, one should consider the circumstances that could lead to such a conviction. We usually imagine an older man forcing himself on an adolescent, helpless female. But I know of circumstances where this was hardly the case. Consider this thought experiment: A 17-year-old female with an over-protective father constantly lies about her promiscuity. Her just-turned-18-year-old boyfriend is thrown under the bus when her father finds out about their amorous relations. The law could easily come down hard on this young man.

Chris Edwards: Truth and consequences

During Omaha police's knock-and-talk, Chris Edwards invited them into his makeshift bedroom apartment – in the basement of his aunt's house. Often without a warrant, police will request a consent search. The suspect's consent can be withdrawn at any time, and the investigators have to leave immediately. In our case, the detectives asked, "Are there any places in your room you'd like us to not look?" Surprisingly, Chris revealed his secrets when he asked them to overlook his bed and his camping equipment. Did he not consider that obtaining a warrant is fairly easy, and these would be the first places investigators would want to look?

And why not his camping equipment? The bloodstained bed seemed to indicate he'd killed Jessica in his bedroom. He'd transported her to an unknown location in his car. Did he go camping with her body? Did he have the camping equipment in his trunk and her body came in contact with it? Ultimately, there was no blood or other evidence noted to have been located on his camping equipment. Strange.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

The video from the Walgreens camera showed it was 7:30pm on May 11 when Chris made his visit. This was the evening on the day after he killed Jessica O'Grady. So, what was Chris doing that was more important than covering up his murder the day after? Instead of going to Home Depot or another store that sells products that could cover blood stains (like paint), Chris was only motivated enough to visit his neighborhood drugstore and buy items of questionable efficacy?

Poster paint might have worked if enough coats were applied, but the color-matching was uncertain. The correction fluid (we called the Liquid Paper product 'White-Out' before BIC claimed "Wite-out") was a clever choice, but the tiny bottle was likely insufficient. I have to guess the white shoe polish was chosen out of sheer desperation. Even with multiple products, his efforts were lackluster. Some blood spots were still visible despite his cover-up attempts, others were simply overlooked.

When it came to turning over his mattress, how indifferent did Chris Edwards think the investigators were? Even if not looking for blood evidence, did he think they wouldn't want to look for weapons under there? I can't wrap my mind around simply turning the mattress over and hoping for the best. It was half-soaked in blood!

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Chris' coup de grâce (to himself) centered around the murder weapon(s). His "Bangkok battle swords" had been successfully hidden during police's initial investigation. They'd found blood all over, but somehow after this intense, eight-hour search, Chris seemed to think to himself, "Well the heat is over, I guess I'll go ahead and bring these home again." When detectives returned to his room, these hard-to-hide weapons must have stuck out like a sore thumb. And of course, Chris' and Jessica's DNA were both found on one of the swords, helping to clinch a conviction.

Chris Edwards' post-conviction controversy

Further research turned up information that was disappointing. Not unlike the Michael Peterson case, one of the Omaha investigators was later caught in some unscrupulous acts. David Kofoed, listed as the Division Commander during the initial investigation of Chris Edwards' apartment, was found to have tampered with evidence during other investigations. These occurred around the same time as the Jessica O'Grady case and eventually led to Kofoed serving jailtime. Edwards' defense team seized on this opportunity and appealed for a new trial.

In 2012, the Nebraska Supreme Court finally granted Chris Edwards a hearing to consider the claims of possible evidence planted by Kofoed. The same judge who presided over Edwards' original trial heard the claims, but he did not feel these suspicions were strong enough to support a new trial. The genuine evidence still grossly outweighed the new doubts.

The legal wranglings continued with Edwards' family procuring another defense team to submit more appeals in light of Kofoed's tampering. So far, nothing has demonstrated enough merit to reverse Chris Edwards' conviction or even warrant a retrial. And think about it – there's a receipt for shoe polish and poster paint, followed by a clear attempted cover-up of blood stains using these products. Then there's a fearsome weapon with traces of the victim's blood combined with skin cells from Edwards on its handle. Planting this type of evidence is both impractical and implausible. And how could enough blood to soak eight square feet of Edwards' mattress be planted?

Unfortunately, in the case where Michael Peterson killed his wife Kathleen at the bottom of their staircase, the controversy ultimately led to Peterson being released. Duane Deaver's dishonesty called the convictions from many of his investigations into question. It allowed Michael Peterson to be released on bail pending a retrial, and ultimately his freedom in taking an Alford plea bargain for time served. Criminal investigators and experts have a duty to pursue only one thing, and it's not the conviction of their bad guys – it's the truth.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

In the case of Dr. John Hamilton's murder of his wife Susan, blood spatter expert Tom Bevel sided with the truth. The high-profile expert was hired by Dr. Hamilton's defense team to contradict the prosecution's expert who explained how the impact blood spatter likely got in the doctor's shirt cuffs and shoes. Instead, Tom Bevel found it impossible to disagree, and supported the prosecution's claims that John Hamilton must have been present during a spatter event near Susan's body.

Where is Chris Edwards now in 2024?

In light of the overwhelming evidence against Edwards, the prosecution offered him a lighter sentence if he disclosed the location of Jessica O'Grady's body. Edwards declined. As winter became spring in Omaha in 2007, Chris Edwards was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Jessica O'Grady. His combined charges netted him a sentence of 100 years to life. This was stated to be the first "no-body" murder conviction in Nebraska's history.