2 Cold Case Beaver County Homicides Solved With Confession From Convicted Serial Killer Edward Surratt
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KKDA) - State Police say four cold case homicide investigations, including two in Beaver County, have been closed after a confession from a convicted serial killer.
State police say when they went to the Railroad Correctional Facility in Florida to interview Edward Surratt, he implicated himself in the murders of six people back in 1977 and 1978.
His confession closed the case of two homicide investigations at the Troop D Beaver station, police say. William and Nancy Adams were murdered in 1977, and John Shelkons was murdered in 1978. He also implicated himself in murder investigations at stations in Bedford and McConnellsburg.
Because he's already serving two life sentences for crimes in Florida and murder in South Carolina, police say district attorneys agreed not to prosecute him for these decades-old murders.
State Police say they've been communicating with Surratt from prison since 2018.
"PSP investigators never stopped seeking justice for the victims of these terrible crimes and their families," said Lieutenant Colonel Scott Price, deputy commissioner of operations for the Pennsylvania State Police in a press release. "We hope that the confessions announced today will help bring some semblance of closure to the victims' loved ones."