Sharon Edwards (55) was allegedly murdered by her husband and her body has not been found

[luvit]

THE son of missing Grafton teacher Sharon Edwards asked his father directly if he had anything to do with her disappearance.

Mrs Edwards, 55, was last seen alive a year ago this week and is presumed murdered. Police today confirmed her estranged 58-year-old husband John Edwards - who was the last to see her - was a suspect.
"We are still trying to rule aspects of this investigation in or out. But if you're asking me, 'Is he a suspect?' Yes, Mr Edwards is a suspect," Det Insp Jameson told reporters in Sydney.

The couples son Eli Edwards told news.com.au he and his brothers Zac and Josh asked him if he was involved soon after she went missing.
He told them he wasn't, and they believed him.
"We know he hasn't done it ... He has the full support of us."
Eli Edwards said it was a difficult conversation to have.
"He was rattled, shaken, and hadn't really slept [in the days after]."
But they had the conversation.
"We asked him and he told us the story. I believe him."

Coffs/Clarence Crime Manager Detective Inspector Darren Jameson told reporters the couple may have argued when they met at her Grafton home about 10.30pm on March 14.
The nature of that meeting was crucial, as were the movements of both Mr and Mrs Edwards immediately after, Det Insp Jameson said.
"Their engagement on that night is of significant interest. The aspect of if there was a physical or verbal aspect is of interest to us."
Eli Edwards said his father had told them of the meeting. He was unaware of any argument and had been told his mum was at home when he left.

:He was there that night. Dad said he just left and went back at Lawrence and came back the next morning."
He didn't know she was missing until the next day when she failed to turn up at Coutts Crossing Public School. John Edwards then called the police.

John Edwards was coping so far with the speculation and had told his sons of seeing media crews waiting outside his property for him
"So it's a bit like being a prisoner in your own home."
Mrs Edwards was recorded on CCTV cameras leaving the Good Intent Hotel in Grafton about 10pm. Police have not previously spoken of the meeting between the estranged couple that occurred 30 minutes later.

He said Mr Edwards was a "significant interest" and police were "still trying to rule out aspects in or out".
However, he added they were keeping an ?open mind? about what happened.
Mrs Edwards' car was parked at her Grafton home but police said they believe she made it to Lawrence, which is about 30km away and where her husband lives, early on March 15.

Police used mobile phone data to track her movements, and are at a loss to explain why she would have been in the Lawrence area. This was her last known location and it was for this reason the case was being treated as a homicide and not a missing persons case, Det Insp Jameson said.
"There is no reason for her to disappear, she was having a very good time on that night."
He urged people who were in the Grafton and Lawrence area that night to come forward.

Police searched her home last year after she disappeared and also the home of Mr Edwards.
At the time, police said her car was parked at her home and there were no signs of forced entry. Her bag and mobile phone have never been found.

Mr Edwards was jailed last year for firearms offences after he confessed to police he had dumped a cache of firearms after his wife vanished.
When he was interviewed by police he told them he was acting like a "guilty man".
"I'm going crazy here, I'm acting like a guilty man," Fairfax reported. "I am doing crazy things," he told investigators.

He was jailed for a year but released on parole in December.
According to facts tendered in court, Mr Edwards told police he became paranoid after his home was initially searched in relation to his wife's disappearance, and worried police had bugged the home.
When he thought his house was going to be searched again he dumped the guns off the side of the road, "all over the place", court documents showed.

"I've driven around, just tossed them off the side of the road," he told police.
"I've got no idea ... why I kept them. I've never stolen anything in my life or done any violent crime or anything like that. It's really stupid, stupid, stupid," Fairfax reported.
He told one of his sons what happened, who encouraged him to go to police.

http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-...666d1aa707c5c5

[bermstalker]

Can anybody guess which one is the husband?

[Nic B]

If all 3 of those guys are his sons, he raised some good looking dudes for someone who looks like.....that.

[Ruujin]

If all 3 of those guys are his sons, he raised some good looking dudes for someone who looks like.....that.

Clearly she gave them good genes. They look like they only got his hair colour, luckily

[Ruujin]

Forgot to say, I think there is a reason the cops think he did it.

[Hoolihan]

Keep us posted Ruujin.

It's bizaar either way. If John did or didn't do it. If cops think it's him wow I wish they find what they need to pin him. Personally I'm not cool with murderers walking around free, even if a crime of passion.

Where is her body? It's terrible she hasn't been found

[Kelly-Jane]

"I'm going crazy here, I'm acting like a guilty man."

Those were the words uttered by John Wallace Edwards when he confessed to police he had dumped a cache of firearms after his wife disappeared.

"I am doing crazy things," the former teacher from NSW's north coast told investigators. Edwards' wife, Sharon, hasn't been seen since she left the Good Intent Hotel in Grafton on the night of March 14.

Police now believe Mrs Edwards, a primary school teacher, met with foul play.

Less than a month after reporting her missing, Edwards was charged with firearm possession offences after admitting to disposing of four guns when he thought police were going to search his home again.

According to facts tendered in court, Edwards told police he became paranoid after his home was initially searched in relation to his wife's disappearance.

"Specifically he said that he was paranoid that the police had 'bugged' his house with cameras," the facts state.

When Edwards saw some police cars on the road and thought his house was going to be searched again, he bundled up his guns and "threw them all around the place".

"I've driven around, just tossed them off the side of the road," he told police.

Edwards later detailed his actions to his son Zac, who encouraged him to go to police.

Court documents reveal Edwards then led police to the locations where he dumped the weapons, some of which were inside plastic cylinders.

He directed police to one of the guns in the back of his son's car and another on a riverbank behind an old ice-cream factory in Grafton.

Fairfax Media understands a school-issued laptop was also found by police divers as they searched a waterway for Edwards' firearms.

However, investigators weren't able to confirm that the laptop belonged to Mrs Edwards.

All together four firearms, including a shortened rifle and pump action shotgun, and ammunition were found.

However, Edwards told police during an interview he acquired the guns in the mid-nineties but hadn't fired them

Mrs Edwards was a much-loved teacher at Coutts Crossing Public School, where she taught literacy and numeracy and organised musicals for students.

Edwards and his wife had a home in Riverdale Court in Grafton and owned their family home in Lawrence.

It is understood Edwards often stayed at the Lawrence property, about half an hour north of Grafton.

Mrs Edwards' clothes and car were found at the Riverdale Court property, leading police to believe she made it home from the pub on March 14.

Her handbag and phone have never been found.

Detectives believe she may have made it to the Lawrence area in the early hours of March 15.The Edwards' homes have been searched numerous times but no sign of the doting grandmother has been found.

Edwards was jailed for 12 months, with a non-parole period of three months, on September 11 after pleading guilty to firearm possession offences.

He told police he had been tempted to hand them in during gun amnesties over the years, the facts state.

"It's absolutely stupid," Edwards told police.

"I've got no idea ... why I kept them. I've never stolen anything in my life or done any violent crime or anything like that.

"It's really stupid, stupid, stupid."

Edwards will be eligible for parole in December.
http://m.smh.com.au/nsw/husband-acti...24-gjtycg.html

[Kelly-Jane]

THE husband of missing Grafton teacher Sharon *Edwards has been granted parole after serving three months in prison for unrelated firearms offences.

John Edwards was released by authorities last month after pleading guilty in September to dumping four guns and ammunition.

The weapons, which included a pump-action shotgun and shortened rifle, were located by police after Mr *Edwards approached them.

The former schoolteacher shared two homes with his estranged wife in Grafton and Lawrence. Both were searched by police forensic teams and a cadaver dog.

Ms Edwards disappeared on March 14 last year after she was seen on CCTV footage leaving the Good Intent Hotel about 10pm.

Police are treating Mrs Edwards? disappearance as a homicide and detectives from Sydney and the Coffs-*Clarence Local Area Command have joined together to work on the case.

Coffs-Clarence crime manager Detective Inspector Darren Jameson said her disappearance remained ?an active investigation?.

A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman confirmed Mr Edwards had been granted court-based parole after serving three months of a 12-month sentence.

?Mr Edwards was released on December 10, 2015 on the standard parole conditions for court-based parole,? she said. ?His full sentence expires on September 10, 2016.?



Courts set the non-parole period for sentences of less than three years, and in most cases parole is granted automatically once that expires.

Mr Edwards ? who has assisted police investigating his wife?s disappearance and has not been named as a suspect ? is required to report to a community corrections officer and reside at an address approved by authorities. The 58-year-old requires permission from the officer to leave NSW and can only leave the country with special permission from the parole authority.

Police, family and friends have described Ms Edwards disappearance as ?out of character? after she disappeared last year.

Mr Edwards, married to his estranged wife for more than 30 years, reported her missing on March 17 after she failed to attend school or reply to texts from her son.

In the weeks following her disappearance, Mr Edwards painted their pale yellow home in Grafton grey.

When previously approached by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Edwards refused to *answer questions about his wife?s disappearance.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...ca9a3976484186

[Hoolihan]

Wow. Bizaar stuff happening up in Grafton way ey. After John was hounded by ACA last year bet he's had a makeover....

[Hoolihan]

Thanks for all that info Kelly Jane. Very very interesting to say the least

[aphaziak]

Sharon Edwards disappearance: Search for missing NSW teacher near Lawrence after tip-off

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-1...wrence/7640536

By Bruce Mackenzie
Posted 18 Jul 2016, 8:26pm

Sharon Edwards, 55, disappeared after a night out in Grafton on March 14 last year.

Police believe the last person she saw was her estranged husband John Edwards, who has since been named as a suspect in the homicide investigation.

Detective Inspector Darren Jameson said today's search around a remote waterway near Lawrence, about 30 kilometres north-east of Grafton, was sparked by new information provided to Crime Stoppers.

"We did call for information in relation to movements in and around the back of Lawrence," he said.

"In particular we called for bushwalkers, and four-wheel drivers and motorbike riders, horse riders to provide us [with] anything that was of any suspicion."

Detective Inspector Jameson said police had conducted previous minor searches, but following public information, officers had been led to a "significant parcel of land and a waterway" west of Lawrence.

"It is a new area, we're keeping the location a little bit quiet at the moment only on the basis that we've got a significant amount of police resources and it's quite remote," he said.

"We've got two teams of police divers, we've got police dogs including a cadaver dog, as well as a significant contingent of our police from the Coffs-Clarence Local Area Command."

In March, police said they had obtained mobile phone data that located Ms Edwards to the Lawrence area on the night of her disappearance.

They said they had not found any good reason for her to have been in Lawrence on that night, explaining that was one of the reasons her disappearance was being treated as a homicide investigation.

Mr Edwards lives in Lawrence and his house and nearby properties were searched as part of the initial investigation into Ms Edwards' disappearance.

[Olivia]

Shock horror. Not really

The estranged husband of NSW primary school teacher Sharon Edwards, who police suspect was murdered more than two years ago, has been arrested in Queensland.

The 55-year-old grandmother and primary school teacher was last seen at 10.30pm on Saturday March 14 2015 when she arrived at her home on Riverdale Court, Grafton, following dinner at a local pub with friends.

She was due to teach classes the following Monday but did not attend the school.

John Edwards, 61, was arrested at a home north of Brisbane this afternoon, NSW Police said in a statement.

He has been taken to Brisbane Police Watch House for processing of an arrest warrant for murder.

Investigators will apply for his extradition to NSW when he appears at court.

Following his arrest, police also executed a crime scene warrant at a home in Lawrence, north of Grafton.


Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/201...tGl11iA2pkO.99

[Olivia]

A man is being extradited to NSW after being arrested in Queensland over the 2015 murder Sharon Edwards.
Mrs Edwards, a 55-year-old mother, grandmother, and dedicated local teacher, was reported missing on Tuesday 17 March 2015.
She was last seen about 10.30pm on Saturday 14 March 2015, when she arrived at her home on Riverdale Court, Grafton, following dinner at a local pub with friends.
She was due to teach classes the following Monday (16 March 2015), but failed to attend.
Strike Force Burrow was established by the Coffs/Clarence Local Area Command to investigate her disappearance.
Following extensive inquiries, detectives from Queensland Police Service's Homicide Squad arrested a 60-year-old man at a home at Redcliffe, Queensland, just after 1pm yesterday (Tuesday 16 June 2017).
He was taken to Brisbane Watch House and appeared at Brisbane Magistrates Court, where Strike Force Burrow investigators applied for and were granted his extradition to NSW.
The man will travel with detectives to Tweed Heads Police Station, where he will be charged with murder.
He is expected to face Tweed Heads Local Court later today.
As the matter is before the courts, no further information is available.