Police: Deputy in US posed as teen online to sexually extort girl

Michelle Blandin, center, daughter of Mark and Sharie Winek, speaks about her parents and sister, Brooke, who were killed during a news conference in Riverside, California, on Wednesday, Nov 30, 2022. Authorities are investigating whether a Virginia sheriff's deputy posed as a 17-year-old boy online to groom and sexually extort a teenage girl in California before driving across country and killing her mother and grandparents and setting fire to their home. ‘Nobody could imagine this crime happening to my family, to our family,’ said Blandin. — AP

RIVERSIDE, California: A Virginia sheriff’s deputy posed as a 17-year-old boy online and asked a teenage California girl for nude photos before he drove across the country and killed her mother and grandparents and set fire to their home, authorities said Nov 30.

Austin Lee Edwards, 28, died by suicide on Nov 25 during a shootout with San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies. The 15-year-old girl from Riverside, California, was rescued and is in counseling for trauma, family members and police said at a news conference on Nov 30.