The social media of Marsha Edwards is bursting with smiling photos of her and her two children – daughter Erin, a Boston University scholar – and son Chris, a worker in the office of Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. There appear to be no obvious signs of impending violence or suicide.
Two weeks ago, Thursday August 8, Marsha Edwards posted pictures of herself with her son Chris at an event in Miami they’d attended together.
Three days later, August 11. Marsha Edwards posted photos of herself with her daughter Erin. It was the start of what appears to have been an eight-day visit to Italy – pictures in Venice, Pisa and concluding Monday August 19 with the Vatican in Rome.
The following day, Tuesday August 20, they were in Atlanta. Erin Edwards had dinner with her father Dr. Christopher Edwards, who’d been married to Erin’s mother. Erin was due to go to Boston the next day to return to college.
Wednesday August 21, Chris Edwards failed to show up for work at his job at Atlanta city hall. His supervisor called her dad.
That same day, Dr. Edwards tried repeatedly to reach his son, daughter and ex-wife. When he couldn’t he asked a relative to call Cobb County police. Dr. Edwards met police at his ex-wife condo, at what they learned was a crime scene.
Within that timeline, the violence, the suicide, seemed inexplicable.
"In a lot of cases it’s not obvious. Because people don’t want you to know," said Travis Fretwell, who specializes in suicide prevention at the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
Upbeat timeline preceded double-murder/suicide