Police in Georgia charged a man with his girlfriend’s murder after he allegedly strangled her, burned her body, dumped her remains in Tennessee, and then recruited his family members to destroy evidence connected to the crime.
Clayton County police arrested Michale Edwards in connection with the death of 23-year-old Briana Winston.
Police gave a press conference on Monday, May 13, in which they released several shocking details about what led up to Winston’s murder and the concerted efforts Edwards allegedly carried out to destroy her body and hide her remains.
Authorities say Winston was murdered on March 17. That morning, Edwards returned to the couple’s apartment in College Park, where Winston confronted him after learning he secretly married another woman.
At some point during the argument, Edwards choked Winston to death and then stuffed her body in a suitcase. He then drove to a friend’s home in Tennessee and enlisted his friend’s help to burn the body, according to authorities.
Investigators say they learned from that friend that he and Edwards soaked the suitcase in gasoline, stuffed it into a barrel in the backyard, then lit it on fire.
Clayton County Police Lt. Ashanti Marbury said they “kept the fire burning from the early afternoon until nightfall” and also used a shovel to break Winston’s bones in an effort to speed up the process.
Afterward, police said Edwards dumped her remains in a cemetery behind a church in Ripley, Tennessee, and scattered part of her remains along Interstate 40.
The man who helped Edwards burn Winston’s body told prosecutors all of these details in exchange for immunity.
Edwards was arrested on April 8 after he revealed he’d been to Winston’s apartment, which was a violation of a protection order she had against him. While he was in jail, he called his wife, Brieanna Phillips-Edwards, and told her to burn his shoes and a pair of gloves, police say.
Edwards’ brother, 18-year-old Keilan Wright, and his mother, 40-year-old Ebony Anderson, burned those items and were charged with conspiracy alongside Edwards’ wife.
Edwards’ wife was also charged with party to the commission of a crime after investigators say she loaned Edwards her car to transport Winston’s body from Georgia to Tennessee and made false statements to police.
“It turned into a family affair,” Marbury said. “He definitely looped everyone into this crime.”
Winston’s family reported her missing on April 1. They went to her apartment and saw it had been cleaned out. Family members also told WAGA-TV that it smelled like bleach. After visiting her home, they went to her workplace and learned she never showed up for work on March 17.
Police posted on Facebook on April 26 that they had upgraded Winston’s missing person case to a homicide investigation, although they hadn’t determined the exact circumstances of her death. At that time, they named Edwards and his wife as persons of interest in the case.
Edwards and Winston shared a 4-year-old daughter, who is now in the care of other family members. He married Phillips-Edwards in a secret ceremony back in January, WAGA-TV reports.
“I’ve just been crying every night because I wasn’t there to help her,” Winston’s cousin, Jasmine Walker, told Atlanta News First. “I wasn’t going to sleep until she was found, and I’m not going to give up until justice is served.”
