• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About the writer and her website
  • References
  • Archives
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Contact Page

Defrosting Cold Cases

Research website by Alice de Sturler

  • Cold Case Research Methods
  • How to search for cases
  • Case of the Month: Rhonda Susan King
  • Book Reviews
  • Cold Case Database
    • Index
      • Cases Index A-G
      • Cases Index H-N
      • Cases Index O-Z
    • Summaries
      • Case Summaries A-G
      • Case Summaries H-N
      • Case Summaries O-Z
You are here: Home / Cold Case News / The 1980 Tim Hack and Kelly Drew murders

The 1980 Tim Hack and Kelly Drew murders

June 21, 2010 By Alice

Kelly Drew Photo by Sue
Photo by Sue

Edward Edwards, of Louisville, Ky., was arrested after DNA connected him to the unsolved murders of Tim Hack and Kelly Drew, who disappeared from a Wisconsin wedding reception in August 1980. Their bodies were found weeks later in the woods. Investigators believe Hack was stabbed and Drew strangled. Authorities said the state crime lab matched Edwards’ DNA to semen on Drew’s pants.

Hack’s father reported the couple missing on Aug. 10, 1980. They were last seen leaving the reception at the Concord House, a dance hall in Sullivan, a town about 40 miles west of Milwaukee, around 11 p.m. the night before. David Hack found his son’s car in the hall’s parking lot, still locked with his son’s wallet inside. Five days later, investigators found Drew’s shredded pants, panties, and bra in the road about three miles from Concord House. Tim Hack’s body was found in the same area the next day. A medical examiner found signs that Drew had been tied up and strangled, and her boyfriend had been stabbed.

District Attorney Susan V. Happ declined to comment on what led investigators back to Edwards, saying only that new evidence in the Tim Hack and Kelly Drew case had emerged since he was first questioned in 1980.

Tim Hack Photo by Sue
Photo by Sue

Edwards agreed to a plea deal earlier this month in which he admitted to both the Wisconsin murders and the killing of Judith Straub, 18, of Sterling, Ohio, and Bill Lavaco, 21, of Doylestown, Ohio. He shot each of them in the neck in a Norton, Ohio. He was sentenced to two life terms for those slayings and under a plea deal will first serve his prison time in Ohio. Ohio has the death penalty, but Edwards wasn’t eligible for it because a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidated the punishment between 1974 and 1978.

Now here’s an interesting twist in the story. In his AP interview last week, Edwards said he also wanted to confess to the fifth murder of Dannie Boy Edwards in 1996 so he could be sentenced to death in Ohio. Dannie Boy was his foster son. Edwards said that he lured Dannie Boy Edwards to a secluded cemetery near the family’s home in Burton in 1996. He said he pressed a 20-gauge shotgun to the man’s chest and pulled the trigger twice. It’s unclear if Edwards could receive the death penalty for that murder. To recommend a death sentence, Ohio juries must find offenders guilty of a serious secondary offense – such as rape, arson or aggravated robbery – in addition to aggravated murder. He has not been charged in Dannie Boy Edwards’ death.

Edwards spent much of his life running from the law, landing on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list in 1961. In his 1972 autobiography, “Metamorphosis of a Criminal,” he wrote he spent the 1950s and early 1960s drifting across the country, stealing cars, robbing banks and gas stations and seducing women he met along the way.

So, Edwards was sentenced to two life terms in Ohio. He will be sentenced later in Wisconsin for the other two murders. He must first serve his sentence in Ohio, where he won’t be eligible for parole consideration until he is 97. And he wants to get capital punishment in a fifth case…

That desire to confess in the case of his foster son combined with his age, his diabetes-ridden declining health, and his wish for capital punishment, make me wonder whether he is searching for a state assisted way out. I might be wrong but I can’t shake that thought.

Rest in peace Tim Hack and Kelly Drew.

Thank you for sharing!

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Cold Case News, Forensics Tagged With: Capital Punishment, DNA, FBI, Forensics, Kelly Jove Drew, Ohio, Rape kits, Tim Hack and Kelly Drew, Timothy John Hack, Unsolved Homicides

Primary Sidebar

Dina Fort

Author Notes

On my website, I write about old, unsolved cases. Most are from the pre-DNA era and need renewed media attention. I only do research and leave active investigation of these cases to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these cases.

On book reviews: I only review select works of true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction/mysteries. The stories have to fit my website's theme and research. It remains my prerogative to not review a book. Please check the FAQ page for more!

My database has hundreds of cases listed by the victim’s last name. You will find a brief description there as well. The database is free to the public.

All writing suggestions for cases that come in by email are added to my to-do list in the order in which they were received. Please be patient. My to-do list is very long but no case gets dropped and I will get back in touch.

If you have any questions about my website please check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, the about page, and the tabs in both menu bars. If you still cannot find the answer there, please contact me.

Thank you,

Alice de Sturler

Copyright

If you use my work, please add a link back. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. Thank you!

Protected by Copyscape

Categories

Top Posts & Pages

  • Missing: Joanna Lopez
  • Cold Case Database
  • Karen Kaye Knippers identified
  • Barbara Blatnik: suspect dead
  • Hazel Juanita Hanna and Cynthia Lorraine Bell

Subscribe to DCC by email

Enter your email address to get new posts notifications in your inbox

Recent Posts

  • Junk Science by M. Chris Fabricant
  • Mary Emma Bisenthal Hammond: DNA
  • Remembering Rhonda Susan King
  • Identified: El Dorado Jane Doe
  • Bitter Blood by Jerry Bledsoe

William Thomas Zeigler

Category: ALL POSTS

On March 31, 2016, an evidentiary hearing was held to request touch DNA testing. On July 18, 2016, Judge Whitehead denied that request.

On November 23, 2016, an appeal was filed with the Florida Supreme Court. On April 21, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court denied the request for touch DNA analysis.

On May 8, 2017 a motion for a rehearing with the US Supreme Court was filed. It was denied November 13, 2017.

In the summer of 2019, the appeal for DNA testing to the Florida Conviction Integrity Unit was denied.

Richard Lapointe

Category: ALL POSTS

In March 2015, the Connecticut State Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Richard lapointe. On Oct 2, 2015, International Wrongful Conviction Day, Richard was set free. The judge ruled that he cannot be retried for the 1987 rape-murder of Mrs. Bernice Martin. Richard Lapointe died on Aug 4, 2020 of Covid19 complications.

In 1987, someone killed Bernice Martin. I hope that she will not become a forgotten file.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

Copyright © 2022 ·News Pro · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress