The Trail Went Cold – Episode 180 – Joseph Edwards

July 12, 1964. Vidalia, Louisiana. 25-year old Joseph “Joe-Ed” Edwards is seen leaving his place of employment, the Shamrock Motel. Shortly thereafter, an eyewitness sees Joe-Ed’s vehicle pulled over by the side of the highway and three white males and what appears to be an unmarked police car are also at the scene. Joe-Ed is never heard from again and his abandoned vehicle is discovered one week later. As the years go by, rumours circulate that Joe-Ed was the victim of a hate crime and may have been murdered for attempting to kiss a white woman. Some local police officers and members of the Ku Klux Klan are suspected of being responsible for Joe-Ed’s disappearance, but even after multiple investigations by the FBI and Department of Justice, no one is ever charged and no trace of Joe-Ed is ever found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel back to the Civil Rights Era and explore the horrific and tragic story of an unsolved racially-motivated disappearance which took place only ten days after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law.

Additional Reading:

https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/joseph-joed-edwards-notice-close-file

https://www.hannapub.com/concordiasentinel/frank_morris_murder/cold-case-whatever-happened-to-joseph-edwards-was-he-silver-dollar-group-target/article_fa868fb0-41a4-11e3-8e10-0019bb30f31a.html

https://www.hannapub.com/concordiasentinel/frank_morris_murder/cold-case-mysteries-of-the-night-joseph-edwards-disappeared/article_faa1f7bc-4af7-11e3-9d26-001a4bcf6878.html

https://www.hannapub.com/concordiasentinel/frank_morris_murder/cold-case-who-killed-joseph-edwards-doj-names-suspects-closes-1964-case/article_71dc31ee-424c-11e3-848f-0019bb30f31a.html

http://lsucoldcaseproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Joseph-Edwards-SCANNED.pdf

“Unsolved Civil Rights Murder Cases, 1934-1970” by Michael Newton

https://web.archive.org/web/20130429140958/http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=6830

https://web.archive.org/web/20130518114607/http://www.concordiasentinel.com/print.php?story=7297

https://web.archive.org/web/20130429111854/http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=5108

http://charleyproject.org/case/joseph-edwards

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Join us on Saturday, June 27 at 8:00pm Eastern Time for an online streaming Unsolved Mysteries marathon where we will be watching segments about cases covered on episodes of “The Trail Went Cold”. You can enter our screening room by clicking on this link.

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