Cold instance awesome confesses to fatally stabbing teen lady 49 years ago

A 49-year-old chilly instance murder was laid to rest inside a Calgary court room on Monday with both the awesome and his teen target’s little girl– that was simply 7 months old at the time of her mom’s fatality– talking openly for the very first time because murder costs were introduced.

Originally billed with murder, Ronald James Edwards, currently 75 years of ages, begged guilty to wrongful death in the deadly stabbing of Pauline Brazeau, a 16-year-old that was eliminated in 1976.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Robert Armstrong approved district attorney Patrick Bigg and protection attorney Pawel Milczarek’s joint proposition for a 6 1/2- year sentence.

Edwards has 4 1/2 years entrusted to offer with credit score for the time he’s invested captive.

Both Brazeau and Edwards are of Métis heritage.

‘There are no memories’

“There are no memories,” claimed Brazeau’s little girl Tracy, checking out from a sufferer influence declaration. “Nothing shared between her and I, no laughs, no smiles.

“We really did not obtain the possibility to share the love of a mommy and little girl.”

In 2023, Edwards, who was 26 years old at the time of the killing, was arrested at his Sundre home after investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) work done by both RCMP and Calgary police officers.

‘I’m sorry’

A smaller man with dark hair and a long grey beard, Edwards was offered the chance to address the court on Monday. He offered a tearful apology to Tracy.

“I’m sorry that your mom was drawn from you prior to you had an opportunity to understand her,” he said.

” I was an inebriated boy … I do not believe I can really feeling anything, I simply consumed them away.”

In 1976, Brazeau had just moved to Calgary from Yorkton, Sask., with her infant.

She was hanging out with friends and family on the night of Jan. 8 and into the early morning hours of Jan. 9, 1976.

The group ate at Peppe’s Pizza on 17th Avenue. Brazeau lost her gloves and returned alone to look for them around 3:30 a.m.

Details of the crime come from an agreed statement of facts read aloud by Bigg.

According to the document, Edwards was driving around in the area of 17th Avenue and Second Street that night and picked up his victim, believing she was a prostitute.

Teen stabbed, left alone to die 

In search of a deserted road, Edwards drove her outside Calgary city limits, where the two had ” consensual sexual relations,” according to the agreed statement of facts.

Edwards was drunk that night ” and does not bear in mind several information of what happened.”

He’s admitted to using a four-inch buck knife, stabbing Brazeau outside of his vehicle. Assuming she was dead, Edwards drove away.

Hours later, two hunters discovered Brazeau’s body on Jumping Pound Road, about 20 kilometres west of the city.

Nine stab wounds 

She was completely naked but for a black coat covering part of her lower body.

Her blood stained clothing was nearby.

An autopsy determined Brazeau had defensive wounds on her hands and had been stabbed nine times.

The first ” substantial examination” went cold. Police revisited the case numerous times In the decades that followed.

By the mid-1990s, police had a DNA profile of their suspect based on a semen swab taken from Brazeau’s body after her death. In 2022, investigators used IGG to find relatives of the killer, identifying Edwards as their suspect.

‘Very rewarding’

On Oct. 17, 2022, officers grabbed a glass mug used by Edwards from the Sundre A&W, tested it and confirmed it was a match to the profile of their suspect.

Each of Brazeau’s five family members who wrote impact statements thanked the RCMP and Calgary police for sticking with the case.

“It’s extremely gratifying to listen to as a policeman that serviced the instance, yet likewise we need to recognize that it’s not simply the police officers today. It was the police officers that went to the scene in 1976. It was the police officers from job pressures in the ’90s along with 2000s,” said Sgt. Ferrah Yeager with the RCMP’s historical homicide unit.

“It’s impressive to see a resolution to something that’s 49 years of ages.”