Jury convicts Rickey Wayne Edwards for murdering wife, stepson
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) - A Tarrant County jury found Rickey Wayne Edwards, 54, guilty of the 2020 capital murder of his wife and stepson at their Grand Prairie home.
He received an automatic sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the crime.
Edwards called 911 on May 3, 2020 and told operators his wife and stepson had been shot. On that day, the family was moving into their new home on Monet Lane in Grand Prairie.
At one point prior to the shooting, Portia Williams-Edwards, 46, called her father, saying Edwards was acting crazy. She said he hit her, pulled a gun on her, and threatened her. She then called one of her sons, Kameion Kitchen, and repeated what she said to her father.
In response, Kitchen, 28, drove to his mother's new house and went inside when he arrived. Police said there was a confrontation between Kitchen and Edwards, who was armed. Edwards shot Kitchen ten times with his Glock pistol. He also shot his wife twice in the head, police said.
It was an hour after the fatal shootings that Edwards called 911.
"This case is about family violence, rage and control," Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Robert Huseman told the jury. "When his wife and stepson lay bleeding on the floor, an hour before calling 911, he went out and moved his Lexus and put up the sun screen so his seats didn't get damaged."
Police arrived at the home and found Williams-Edwards and her son dead. They then arrested Edwards.
"This was not self defense as the defendant claims. The evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that he executed Kameion and Portia," shared Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Melinda Hogan.
