Chapter 22

Hollywood!!!

As they pulled away from the curb, Cameron ordered Neal to find the chapter when Ed’s in Deer Lodge. “He talks about when he was released on parole to Portland.”

Neal said, “I found it. Edwards says, ‘The reality of the moment hit me. I was a free man. I was still consumed with bitterness because she had walked out on me. I broke into a sweat thinking: “Do I still want to get even with my ex-wife? Do I still want to kill her?” Once again resentment surged to the fore. Impulsively I gave into my feelings and took off for Idaho. I would seek out Jeanette and make her pay for what she had done to me. I’d convinced myself that I wanted to kill Jeanette, a thought I just couldn’t turn off.’”* MOAC

“Jeanette documents it!” Cameron said. “This is the same period the FBI agents came and warned her. Edwards was a bonafide killer in 1956. He was killing his whole life. He was wearing a uniform, pretending to be a doctor and traipsing Jeanette all over the country as part of his ruse. Listen to how he described he and Jeanette’s doctor ruse in the book.”

“We became Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Love. Joyce and Jerry. It had a nice ring to it. I represented myself as a psychiatrist. I had several reasons for posing as a psychiatrist. Mostly, I liked the prestige. Then, of course, doctors weren’t bad check risks. ‘Doctor’ Love could cash a check immediately just on his title. ‘Mister’ Love would have to wait until his credit was established. Then, too, I hated psychiatrists. I’d been tested by many of them when I was a child, and had been able to fool them with great ease. I delighted in the thought that I could impersonate them so easily, but might even do somebody some good. My patients would like me.” *MOAC

“By 1956 he had the ruse down to a tee. Portraying himself as a doctor and getting his victims to come to him. He had been doing this long before then! We need to do a timeline of his life starting from when his mother was shot in 1938.”

Neal agreed.

Cameron looked things over and suggested they try a couple of things before leaving Idaho Falls. First, he wanted to go to the courthouse and search for a copy of their wedding license. Second, he wanted to find out who was Theresa.

Neal said, “We need to find Jeanette’s year book, class of ‘55.”

They called Idaho Falls High School and connected with the librarian. After a moment, she returned and announced, “Yes, I have a copy of the ‘55 yearbook in hand.” Cameron gave her Jeanette’s information and the librarian found her right away, “Here it is! I’m looking at her picture.”

Cameron informed her they were on their way, “We are also looking for her friend, Theresa. She might be in the same class. I don’t know how big the school was back then, but we’d like to look through the book for her. I hope there aren’t a lot of Theresas.”

It turned out the high school was only ten minutes away, so they checked in at the office, and then found the library. A charming lady escorted them to a back room and opened the annual.

“There’s Jeanette,” she proudly announced. “And guess what? The girl right next to her is Theresa!”

Cameron said immediately, “That’s gotta be her; too coincidental. Back then you were seated together by the spelling of your last name. This has to be Jeanette’s bud.” They headed out of the school now armed with Theresa’s last name. The librarian had even been so gracious to insist they take the annual with them and return it later.

Cameron decided to risk another call to Jeanette. She answered the phone and he provided Theresa’s last name. She confirmed it was her schoolmate. They called her and an elderly sounding woman answered the phone.

“My goodness,” she began. “Jeanette. I haven’t thought of her in years. We weren’t close, but we were in the same class. She disappeared one day and the police came to our farm and questioned us about her being kidnapped. Whatever happened to her?”

“She’s still alive and living in Idaho Falls,” said Cameron. “We talked to her yesterday. We were hoping you might be able to fill us in on a few details from 1955. That’s why we called you.”

“How did you find me?” she asked incredulously. “That was so long ago.”

“Actually,” Cameron began, “we are investigating a serial killer named Edward Wayne Edwards. He wrote a book and you’re in it.”

“What! I’m in a book?!” she replied in disbelief.

“Yes,” answered Cameron. “Edwards wrote about you and Jeanette both in his book. You wouldn’t have known him as Ed Edwards. At that time, he was going by the name Jim Langley.”

“Langley?” she exploded. “If you find him, he owes me 57 dollars!! I cashed my paycheck and loaned him the entire amount. I never got a nickel back!”

Theresa continued, “What’d you mean, I’m in a book? You’re not going to write about me, are you? I don’t want to be in any book!”

“You already are,” explained Cameron. “We will not write anything about you without your permission, but you are already in a book.’”

“I had no idea,” she miffed. “Someone should have told me. What is it you want to know?”

Cameron reassured her that they were just doing background research and wanted to know more about Langley. He continued by asking her to describe the first meeting.

“Oh, do I remember!” she exclaimed. “It was September, 1955. I was working my first job out of high school, carhopping at the drive-in. He drove up in a 1955 blue and white Ford convertible and started hitting on all the girls. He thought he was hot stuff from Hollywood. He had a girl with him that was pregnant. They both looked destitute and tired. Langley kept referring to the girl as his sister. My dad hired them on the potato farm, but Langley wasn’t interested in working. He was always sneaking around the house, scoping it out trying to steal things. My mother didn’t trust him.”

“Your mother had good instincts,” said Cameron. “Do you remember the girl’s name and what she looked like?”

“That was a strange deal,” she answered. “She was pretty, young, and pregnant and he was really rough with her. It was as if he wanted her to abort the baby. I’m not positive, but I think her name was Verna. She had dark hair and was about 17.”

“That’s her,” confirmed Cameron. “He put her name in the book, too. Do you remember what happened to her?”

“No,” answered Theresa. “They all disappeared. The police came out to the farm looking for Jeanette. Her mother said that she had been abducted. I heard years later that Jeanette had a baby with him. I don’t remember who told me that, though.”

“When did the cops come out to your farm, Theresa?”

“It was around December, 1955.”

“Wow,” thought Cameron. “The cops were looking for Edwards and Jeanette at the same time they were hiding out in Great Falls.” Another close call for Edwards.

Cameron thanked Theresa for her time. She asked if she could get a copy of Edwards’ book, but those were quite pricey. Cameron later copied the appropriate pages and sent them to her.

Neal said, “A flash to the past. That was pretty cool. I’m amazed that Edwards used their real names in the book. I can’t get over it; it was like being there, 57 years ago. Ed was only 22!”

“He was accomplished by that age. So where do you think he dumped Verna’s body? Everyone saw her and talked to her, and then she mysteriously disappears? Listen to what he says in the book about her. It all ends in ritualistic phrasing from the Bible.”

“‘Now, you listen, sister, and let me tell you something. You and I are going into Jeanette’s house and you’re going to tell Jeanette with a perfectly straight face that you are my sister—but definitely! And the reason you did what you did was because you don’t like Theresa, and you wanted to hurt her. Now, is that clear? Can you just open your dumb trap long enough to pull this off and wait until tomorrow night!’

“‘All right,’ she sniffled. ‘But I won’t go along with this one more minute after tomorrow night.’

“‘You won’t have to, Verna, not one more minute!’ When we got home, I said to Verna,

‘Start packing everything. That detective as sure as hell is going to check out the car’s license number, and he’s also going to check me out. You can bet your ass on that. As soon as I get that 2000 dollars from Jeanette, we are going to clear out fast.’

“Verna had everything packed. Because of her condition, I controlled my urge to hurt her physically. I contented myself with brusquely yelling at her for causing me so much trouble; that was the extent of it.

“‘Now here is what the setup is. She (Jeanette) wants me to marry her. She suggested going to a friend’s house, and stay there for three days.’ After dropping (Jeanette) off at home, I returned to the farm, where Verna and I remained for three days. Verna of course was blissfully oblivious. On the third day, Jeanette and her brother picked me up at the farm. We stopped for the results of our blood tests, got a marriage license, and were married by a judge.” * (Metamorphosis of a Criminal.)

“Neal, did you catch that line, ‘Verna was blissfully oblivious’? Webster’s dictionary describes bliss as, ‘The ecstatic joy of heaven.’ And then he says, ‘On the third day’.”

“He is ritualistic, John, and kills repeatedly in similar manner representing biblical passages and mythology. This all goes back to ancient history and the Zodiac.”

“Let’s go to the courthouse and get their wedding certificate. That will give us specifics as to where he was in October, 1955.”

They headed to the courthouse with their new information, went to the archives and found the original wedding application for James Garfield Langley and Jeanette White.

James Langley (Edward Edwards) and Jeanette White’s
October 20, 1955 Wedding License

Cameron pointed out to Neal some of the important info contained in it. “He says he’s James Langley, age 26 from Hollywood, California. And they were married October 20^th, 1955. That’s the date we should use to look for the next murder. Remember Jeanette said they headed towards Chicago.”

Neal pointed out, “The book says he got a fake social security card in Jacksonville, Florida under the name James Garfield Langley. There’s a reason he lied about Hollywood in the book.”

“Well if Ed’s lying there’s a murder to be found. The Zodiac bragged about Hollywood and having movies made about him. I’m sure there’s a reason Ed put Hollywood on that fake ID. He had to have been there before.”

“Let’s keep following his life back to 1933,” Neal said.