Homicide detectives Tuesday suspect a man intentionally drove his car into the back of a big rig, killing himself and his two children.
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The coroner identified the driver as Alan Dean Edwards, 46 and his two children, Eric Dean Edwards, 9 and Alona Marie Edwards, 5, all of Lancaster.
“CHP initially investigated (the scene) as a fatal crash, but in collaboration with the coroner they began to look at it and see it began to look like a deliberate act,” said Lt Eddie Hernandez of the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau.
Edwards made no attempt to brake, was traveling at a high rate of speed and had to maneuver around objects to deliberately put him on the path to hit the big rig, Hernandez said.
Edwards and his widow were in the middle of a custody battle and in the process of a divorce, Hernandez said.
Edwards picked the kids up from school on Friday, as they had planned for him to do, but when he didn’t show up with the kids on Sunday, Sherri Edwards became concerned and made multiple attempts to get ahold of him, Hernandez said.
When the messages were unanswered, she filed a missing person report with the Lancaster Sheriff’s station.
Homicide detectives with Los Angeles County Sheriff Department are now handling the investigation, according to a CHP report.
A 1997 Honda Accord driven by an unidentified man was heading southbound on I-5, and for unknown reasons, his car slammed into a truck parked at a designated brake check on I-5, near Templin Highway around 1 a.m., according to a CHP news release.
The 2006 Freightliner towing a 2003 utility semi trailer was inside the brake check area at the east curb of the brake check, with the driver asleep in the sleeper berth.
“For unknown reasons the driver of the Honda Accord veered left as it approached the big rig and struck the rear of the big rig prior to any evasive action by the driver,” according to a CHP news release.
Emergency response teams received the call at 1:17 a.m. and officials were on scene by 1:30 a.m., according to Fire Department Inspector Flores.
The big rig driver was uninjured in the crash.
The Honda was wedged underneath the big rig upon arrival of emergency personnel. The driver, right front passenger, which was a male child, and a left rear passenger, a female child, were all declared dead at the scene.
The entrance to the Whitaker Brake Check was closed for approximately six hours while the crash was investigated.
This is an ongoing investigation, and the story will be updated with new information as it is made available.
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http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-08-09-honda-recall_N.htm
Don’t assume the worst. Several hundred thousand recalled for stuck gas pedal and run away. Anybody checking that?
I heard he took the sensors out of the airbags and put them in his house.
I don’t think you meant to use the word “widow.”