Public Appeal & Engineer's Work Diary Lead to Dig for 16-Year-Old's Body
Some 40 years after a now-dead child serial killer admittedly stabbed a 16-year-old neighbor boy to death, authorities today are expected to begin excavating the Southern California site where they believe he buried the body of Roger Dale Madison.
It is near a freeway, and, authorities now believe, Mack Ray Edwards’ job as heavy equipment operator at construction sites made it easy for him to conceal the bodies of his child victims. According to Edwards himself, he may have killed 18. However, he was convicted only of three murders, and sentenced to death before committing suicide in his prison cell in 1971, the Los Angeles Times recounts.
Although Edwards himself provided some information about the location of Madison’s body, it could have referred to many freeway sites. But after investigators made a public appeal, a retired engineer gave them a personal log of his notes concerning the freeway construction. Along with ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs, it helped them pinpoint where to search for Madison’s body, the newspaper explains.
Additional coverage:
Los Angeles Times: “Long-dead killer back in sights of police”
Los Angeles Times: “Excavation begins in Moorpark in search of child murder victim”
