LILBURN, Ga. — A Lilburn man accused of murdering his girlfriend and her son on New Year’s Day drove around town in his girlfriend’s car for at least 48 hours before he was stopped by another police agency on suspicion of DUI.
Jaynell Treymar Edwards, 41, was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail on Tuesday on two counts of malice murder, two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of tampering with evidence, according to jail records.
He is being held without bond, and it is unclear if he is retained a lawyer. As of Wednesday evening, police had not released the names or ages of the victims.
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Investigators have not released a motive, but told Channel 2 Action News that Edwards, his girlfriend, and her son all lived together on Birdlake Drive.
“There have been issues in the past in the household between the mother’s boyfriend and her son,” said Capt. Scott Bennett.
Bennett added that it does not appear that any of the issues were ever reported to police.
The investigation began Sunday after Lilburn police received a phone call from a concerned family member who asked officers to conduct a welfare check.
“A woman in Tucson, Arizona had been unable to get a hold of her mother and her brother for several days,” he added.
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Bennett said that when officers conducted a welfare check at the home, they noticed that the mother’s car was missing but there were no visible signs of foul play. Detectives eventually determined that after he dumped his victims’ bodies, he continued driving his girlfriend’s car around metro Atlanta for two days until he was stopped by another police agency on suspicion of DUI. Once he was stopped, Edwards was taken to a mental hospital for further evaluation, investigators said.
Authorities did not release the name of the facility, but they confirmed that he confessed to the crimes during his interview with police.
“He essentially told us what he had done and where he had placed the bodies,” Bennett said.
Bennett added that this is the first time Lilburn has investigated a double homicide in 20 years.
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