UNION, Mo. (AP) — A man has been charged with second-degree murder in the 1986 death of an eastern Missouri woman, the first case investigated by a new Cold Case Unit formed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
Kenneth Avery Jr., 59, of Villa Ridge, was charged Tuesday in the death of Kristen Edwards, whose nude body was found July 8, 1986, in a heavily wooded area about a mile from a horse farm where she lived with her family near Stanton.
Avery is being held on $500,000 cash only bond in the Franklin County Jail. Online court records do not name an attorney for Avery.
Davis had been strangled with tube socks and her body was covered with dried brush and branches.
An eyewitness told investigators Avery killed Edwards at a cabin near Leslie, according to court documents filed Wednesday. The witness watched Edwards being sexually assaulted and strangled, according to the documents. The eyewitness said Avery threatened to kill anyone who discussed what they witnessed.
Edwards' husband, Mark, returned home on July 6 and found her gone, with a partially eaten meal, the television on and unfinished chores around the house. The couple's 2-year-old son was with family in Ohio so his mother could attend a religious seminar in Chicago, The Missourian reported.
He searched the area and contacted friends and relatives before reporting her missing the next day.
As part of the investigation into her killing, authorities administered a lie detector test to Mark Edwards, who passed, authorities said.
Schmitt said Thursday that Avery was previously considered a suspect in the case but new evidence led to the charges. No information on a possible motive was released.
Schmitt said Thursday that he formed the cold case squad to help prosecute the state’s most violent criminals in cases that have been unsolved for years.
"Those victims cannot and will not be forgotten, which is why I launched the Cold Case Unit - to obtain justice on behalf of those victims,” Schmitt said.
The unit will be led by Tom Dittmeier and Dean Hoag, former federal prosecutors who together have about 90 years of experience in prosecuting violent crimes, Schmitt said.