LA LA - Joseph Edwards, 21, Vidalia, 12 Jul 1964

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Queenofwands

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Missing Since: July 12, 1964 from Vidalia, Concordia Parish, Louisiana
Classification: Missing

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Vital Statistics

•Date Of Birth: about 1939-1943
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 21 or 25 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: Unknown
•Distinguishing Characteristics: Black male.
•Marks, Scars: Possible burn scars on body from prior accident.
•DNA: Available
•AKA: JoeEd



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Circumstances of Disappearance:

Joseph "JoeEd" Edwards was last seen in Vidalia, LA on July 12, 1964.

The mother of JoeEd Edwards reported him missing to the FBI in Natchez after her son's car was found a few days after his disappearance. The car was found on the street behind the old bowling alley on the Ferriday-Vidalia Highway.

Bloodstains were found inside the car and Edwards' mother told the FBI that "the Klan" was responsible for her son's disappearance.

Edwards was living with his grandparents in the Clayton area and was reported missing in Concordia Parish. He worked as a Shamrock Motel porter at the time.

This is a possible civil rights case.


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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Concordia Parish Sheriff's Office
318-336-5231

Source Information:
The Doe Network http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3944dmla.html
NamUs https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/4093/178/
FACES Lab
The Concordia Sentinel
 

Attachments

  • JEdwards.jpg
    JEdwards.jpg
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I wonder specifically why his mom would say that the Klan was responsible for this? I mean, sure, it's a possibility, but I wouldn't think that she'd say that unless she had some specific reason as to why that might have been. Were there any previous incidents or run-ins with anyone that might have put JoeEd at risk? Too bad the given info doesn't expand on this....
 
Strange...why don't they know his exact date of birth, especially if his mother was the one who reported him missing?
 
CuriousThoughts said:
Strange...why don't they know his exact date of birth, especially if his mother was the one who reported him missing?
Click to expand...

Because he was born in the Delta where for some, life in 1940 wasn't much different than in 1840.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joseph's photo accompanies a compelling LSU Legacy Magazine article focusing on two cold case, 1960's hate crimes, and the newspaper editor who is determined to keep them alive.

5046664d7e97a.preview-300.jpg

Photo by Photo courtesy of THE CONCORDIA SENTINEL
Cold Case Files

A photo of Joseph Edwards was taken a year before he was murdered in Vidalia, La. His case is one of several cold case murders that are currently being investigated by the FBI

http://www.lsureveille.com/legacy/features/article_4b63172a-f541-11e1-b84d-001a4bcf6878.html
Posted: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 4:00 pm | Updated: 10:27 am, Fri Sep 14, 2012.
Xerxes Wilson, Staff writer
Legacy Magazine
Louisiana State University

As racial reforms began spreading across the nation in the 1960s, Natchez, Vidalia and nearby Ferriday, La., remained unyielding bastions of oppression
Click to expand...
Federal investigators launched the [FBI Cold Case] initiative following the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007. Named after a young black teenager from Chicago killed while visiting family in Mississippi in 1955.
Since then, the FBI has reopened 111 cases totalling 124 victims.
Click to expand...
Stanley Nelson:“I don’t know if I have anything more [than the FBI],” Nelson said. “But what I do have is a huge desire to try, to give up whatever it takes, to go down any road to get. It’s a matter of how important it is to you.”
Click to expand...
A 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Nelson tells Joseph Edwards' story in a series of articles in the Concordia Sentinel.

Whatever Happened to Joseph Edwards? Was he a Silver Dollar Group Target?
by Stanley Nelson - posted Thursday, December 13th, 2007 @ 8:19 am

Six months before Frank Morris was murdered in Ferriday in December 1964, a two-toned blue and beige 1958 Buick was found abandoned on Hwy. 84 between Ferriday and Vidalia.

The owner of the vehicle was 21-year-old Joseph Edwards of Clayton. A co-worker was the last person to see Edwards alive. He hasn't been seen since.

Edwards, known as "Joe-Ed" to his friends, and Morris, the 51-year-old shoe shop owner from Ferriday, may have drawn the ire of a group of Klansmen who often met at the Shamrock Motel cafe in Vidalia
Click to expand...
JoeEd Edwards, the Shamrock Motel Porter Missing Since July 1967
Stanley Nelson posted Thursday, July 24th, 2008 @ 10:09 am

"Bone Lady" returning to Clayton in search for JoeEd Edwards
Stanley Nelson - posted Thursday, March 26th, 2009 @ 8:18 am

"Bone Lady returns to Clayton Tuesday in search for JoeEd Edwards
Stanley Nelson posted Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 @ 8:06 am

**"Bone Lady" is LSU forensic anthropologist, Mary Manheim.
"I can not stand for a case to be unsolved," said Manhein. "I can not bear it. We have remains at our lab that don't have names but somewhere there are families who would like to bring these remains home.
For more than 25 years, Manhein has dedicated her life to forensic anthropology and to "sending these remains home. I am tenacious and determined to find an answer."
Click to expand...
No human remains found during "Bone Lady"'s search in Clayton
Stanley Nelson - posted Thursday, April 30th, 2009 @ 8:18 am

A drowning, a kiss triggered JoeEd Edward's murder
by Stanley Nelson - posted Thursday, May 6th, 2010 @ 8:29 am

Man pinpoints site for 1967 search for Joseph Edwards' body in Concordia
by Stanley Nelson - posted Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 @ 3:19 pm

There is so much more about Joseph and other civil rights era cold case files in this WSer's jackpot at the Concordia Sentinel :):

http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?category=9

ETA: http://identifyla.lsu.edu/profile.php?id=158
 
bessie said:
Because he was born in the Delta where for some, life in 1940 wasn't much different than in 1840.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joseph's photo accompanies a compelling LSU Legacy Magazine article focusing on two cold case, 1960's hate crimes, and the newspaper editor who is determined to keep them alive.

5046664d7e97a.preview-300.jpg

Photo by Photo courtesy of THE CONCORDIA SENTINEL
Cold Case Files

A photo of Joseph Edwards was taken a year before he was murdered in Vidalia, La. His case is one of several cold case murders that are currently being investigated by the FBI

http://www.lsureveille.com/legacy/features/article_4b63172a-f541-11e1-b84d-001a4bcf6878.html

 A 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Nelson tells Joseph Edwards' story in a series of articles in the Concordia Sentinel.

Whatever Happened to Joseph Edwards? Was he a Silver Dollar Group Target?
by Stanley Nelson - posted Thursday, December 13th, 2007 @ 8:19 am

JoeEd Edwards, the Shamrock Motel Porter Missing Since July 1967
Stanley Nelson posted Thursday, July 24th, 2008 @ 10:09 am

"Bone Lady" returning to Clayton in search for JoeEd Edwards
Stanley Nelson - posted Thursday, March 26th, 2009 @ 8:18 am

"Bone Lady returns to Clayton Tuesday in search for JoeEd Edwards
Stanley Nelson posted Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 @ 8:06 am

**"Bone Lady" is LSU forensic anthropologist, Mary Manheim.
No human remains found during "Bone Lady"'s search in Clayton
Stanley Nelson - posted Thursday, April 30th, 2009 @ 8:18 am

A drowning, a kiss triggered JoeEd Edward's murder
by Stanley Nelson - posted Thursday, May 6th, 2010 @ 8:29 am

Man pinpoints site for 1967 search for Joseph Edwards' body in Concordia
by Stanley Nelson - posted Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 @ 3:19 pm

There is so much more about Joseph and other civil rights era cold case files in this WSer's jackpot at the Concordia Sentinel :):

http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?category=9

ETA: http://identifyla.lsu.edu/profile.php?id=158
Click to expand...

Wow, was this crazy-ironic timing or did you see my post in another thread? I recently recommended this author for True Crime Radio because it's literally the best coverage I've ever seen on an MP cold case (and I read plenty of MP articles)... he just doesn't let up and he isn't afraid to challenge LE. I got lost in these articles about this whole fiasco for a good few hours.

My favorite article (Also by Stanley Nelson)

Cold case witnesses, retired agents ignored by FBI in Edwards' probe
http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=6830

We need more journalists like this!

Bessie, you outlined it a lot better than I did, thank you for bringing attention to this case! :)
 
You get all the credit, Odyssey. I was somewhat familiar with the cases, but somehow overlooked this thread for JoeEd right her on WS. :facepalm: Nelson's series of articles in the Sentinel is amazing. Such impressive research and dedication! I can't read fast enough.
 
The same reporter continues his coverage of JoeEd's case with this article.
Cold Case: Who killed Joseph Edwards? DOJ names suspects; closes 1964 case
Posted: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 11:49 am | Updated: 3:36 pm, Fri Feb 14, 2014.
The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its investigation into the 1964 murder of 25-year-old Vidalia Shamrock Motel porter Joseph “Joe-Ed” Edwards, who vanished on a July night in Concordia Parish 49 years ago.
Click to expand...
In a “closure” letter to Edwards’ sister, Julia Dobbins of Bridge City, La., the Justice Department said a new investigation by the FBI determined there were seven “most likely suspects,” each originally investigated by the FBI during its 1967-68 probe.
“Ultimately,” wrote Paige Fitzgerald, a Justice Department attorney who serves as Deputy Chief in Charge of the Cold Case Initiative, “the exhaustive investigation and review did not definitely determine what happened to your brother.”
Click to expand...
JoeEd has been missing for 50 years today.
 
Joseph Edwards
  • joseph_edwards_1.jpg
Edwards, circa 1964

  • Missing Since 07/12/1964
  • Missing From Vidalia, Louisiana
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Male
  • Race Black
  • Age 25 years old
  • Height and Weight Unknown
  • Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Edwards's nicknames are Joe and JoeEd. He may have burn scars on his body; he suffered third-degree burns in an accident before his disappearance, and was also scalded as a child.
Details of Disappearance
Edwards was last seen at the Shamrock Motel in Vidalia, Louisiana on July 12, 1964. He was employed at the motel as a porter and handyman. He has never been heard from again.

His two-tone blue and beige 1958 Buick was found abandoned on a street behind an old bowling alley on the Ferriday-Vidalia Highway a few days after his disappearance. There were bloodstains in the vehicle and a belt that did not belong to Edwards, and a necktie tied in the shape of a noose was on the steering wheel.

The Ku Klux Klan was responsible for many acts of violence against local African-Americans in the 1960s, including murders. The Shamrock Motel was one of their local hangouts. Edwards was allegedly dating white women around the time of his disappearance, which could have made him a target for Klan violence.

Authorities heard multiple reports that Klan members shot Edwards to death, covered his body in concrete and threw it in the Mississippi River. Another informant told FBI agents that Klansmen skinned Edwards alive. None of the stories have been confirmed.

Edwards lived with his grandparents on Highway 900 in Clayton at the time of his disappearance, and worked three jobs: at the Shamrock Motel, the Albert Pick Motel and the Swift meat-packing house. He has eleven siblings, seven of whom are still living.

Edwards was engaged to be married in 1964. His loved ones describe him as a snappy dresser who enjoyed gambling and was popular with women. His case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation
Source Information
 
Richard said:
Joseph Edwards
  • joseph_edwards_1.jpg
Edwards, circa 1964

  • Missing Since 07/12/1964
  • Missing From Vidalia, Louisiana
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Male
  • Race Black
  • Age 25 years old
  • Height and Weight Unknown
  • Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Edwards's nicknames are Joe and JoeEd. He may have burn scars on his body; he suffered third-degree burns in an accident before his disappearance, and was also scalded as a child.
Details of Disappearance
Edwards was last seen at the Shamrock Motel in Vidalia, Louisiana on July 12, 1964. He was employed at the motel as a porter and handyman. He has never been heard from again.

His two-tone blue and beige 1958 Buick was found abandoned on a street behind an old bowling alley on the Ferriday-Vidalia Highway a few days after his disappearance. There were bloodstains in the vehicle and a belt that did not belong to Edwards, and a necktie tied in the shape of a noose was on the steering wheel.

The Ku Klux Klan was responsible for many acts of violence against local African-Americans in the 1960s, including murders. The Shamrock Motel was one of their local hangouts. Edwards was allegedly dating white women around the time of his disappearance, which could have made him a target for Klan violence.

Authorities heard multiple reports that Klan members shot Edwards to death, covered his body in concrete and threw it in the Mississippi River. Another informant told FBI agents that Klansmen skinned Edwards alive. None of the stories have been confirmed.

Edwards lived with his grandparents on Highway 900 in Clayton at the time of his disappearance, and worked three jobs: at the Shamrock Motel, the Albert Pick Motel and the Swift meat-packing house. He has eleven siblings, seven of whom are still living.

Edwards was engaged to be married in 1964. His loved ones describe him as a snappy dresser who enjoyed gambling and was popular with women. His case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation
Source Information
Click to expand...
Wow! Many years later our family stayed at the Shamrock Motel. I was not aware of this activity and I doubt my parents or we wouldn't have stayed there.
 

Joseph Edwards | Un(re)solved | FRONTLINE | PBS| Web Interactive

A young Black man who just bought a new Buick
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org

Joseph “JoEd” Edwards - Notice to Close File

www.justice.gov www.justice.gov

www.hannapub.com

Where is the body of Joseph Edwards?

Six decades after a Louisiana man’s disappearance and presumed murder, his family is still looking for answers and a body to bury.
www.hannapub.com www.hannapub.com

lsucoldcaseproject.com

The Disappearance of Joseph Edwards - LSU Cold Case Project

Joseph Edwards disappeared in Concordia Parish in July 1964. FBI records, a lengthy investigation by the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, LA, a book by LSU … The Disappearance of Joseph Edwards Read More
lsucoldcaseproject.com lsucoldcaseproject.com

www.mississippicir.org

Jo-Ed Edwards disappeared in a Klan-suspected abduction. His body’s never been found. — Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting

Six decades after a Louisiana man’s disappearance and presumed slaying, his family is still looking for answers and a body to bury.
www.mississippicir.org www.mississippicir.org
 
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