Detectives Honored for Spence Case
For months, we followed the developments in the search for Lisa Spence.
What began as a missing persons check for the Miramar woman turned into a murder investigation once her body was discovered in a barrel discarded in a field.
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It was unique and clever police work that helped crack the case. The Miramar detectives who solved the murder mystery recently won a prestigious award for their work -- second runner-up in the International Association of Chiefs of Police Award for Excellence in Criminal Investigations.
Specifically, detectives were commended for using a new technique to track the suspect, Paul Edwards.
Detectives realized that Edwards was using Spence's cell phone to send text messages to her family in her name. He apparently was trying to dampen suspicion that she met with foul play.
Detectives cloned Spence's phone and "sent a text message to the suspect's cell phone stating, 'Just wait til I got beter.'"
According to police, the text worked. It scared Edwards into driving around for hours revisting the scenes of the crime. That led detectives to discover Spence's decapitated body in a barrel.
Edwards is in the Broward County Jail awaiting trial on a murder charge.
