The Blackout Murder of Livye Lewis | Full Episode

[Music] shot my kid where's my kid I don't care where's my kid it's a blur will y'all tell me something well where's my kid where is she at I didn't know anything I just wanted her to be okay she's alive huh come here she's not alive I want to see my child I just needed to know is she alive or is she dead Livy Le where is she where is she at you don't want to sound cliche but Livy was a perfect child she was kind and loving that's why she went into nursing she obviously had something about her that she loved to take care of people she was selfless where is my child I told you where your child in this car what car she's in this PO right here behind us I didn't know if I wanted to believe that she was in that car I didn't want her to be CU if she wasn't she was then it was real and she was gone how yall doing who was the one that actually drove by you saw it first so I pull over and I seen throughout my passenger seat and I was like she must be just slumped over maybe she just drunking him the door was already open I I was like Hey like I shook her and that's when I called 911 911 dead so what it looking like to Y it was Ghost Out 6:00 in the morning I'm at home when my telephone rings Sheriff wanted me to come in sit with Matthew at the hospital all right Matthew Matthew Edgar right yeah and while I was there I interviewed him I had no clue why I'm here no clue no you have a girlfriend T I have an exgirlfriend named Ley he was found in the fetal position behind the vehicle that Levy was found in when was the last time you saw Livy to he remembers drinking on his porch and the next thing he remembered he was waking up in the back of an ambulance you don't know how you ended up on the ground behind the car so with the dead girl in I have a clue there was a rifle some shoes and a hat also on the ground that's his Boot and he was laying there beside how'd you get all the blood all over your face don't know cuz the hospital said you don't have any injuries what are you thinking I'm thinking that he's not telling me the truth he's just basically telling you a Texas fairy tale right correct I won't be flat out honest with you but unfortunately there is a deceased female in that vehicle that's in front of yours and my job is to find out why she's dead who is the dead girl did they tell you and they liby I informed him that Miss Lewis had passed he started with this what I would describe as forced crying did you see any tears not a single one the world seems to think that Matthew Edgar is a murderer do you believe that I do not do you believe that someone else pulled that trigger I do I believe it was someone that was close to Matthew someone that was involved in events of that evening we got all the DNA results back and there were some holes in the case there were no fingerprints taken or DNA lifted off the gun there were DNA samples from liby that showed there was another man I have no doubt and I'm going to make this perfectly clear Matthew Edgar killed Miss Lewis and you put your reputation on that absolutely [Music] [Music] in the early morning hours of Halloween 2020 a day when the boundaries between the living and the dead become blurred Libby Lewis was discovered draped over the steering wheel of her car dead from a rifle shot to the neck here's her ID Livy had just turned 19 I don't know if dispatch has notified her next to K or not it happened in hemp Hill a Tiny Town in Texas with a popular just over 1,000 the kind of place where no one is a stranger and news spreads like wildfire isn't that Darcy bass's daughter yeah that's what I that is how liby's mother Darcy bass heard the news when a friend called to say that Livy had been shot you didn't know if she was dead or alive no I going to be my child and the next time I yeah I saw her she was in in a cast K I don't believe it I don't believe it oh my [Music] God by all accounts Libby Lewis was a remarkable young woman a straight A student and recent High School grad with a scholarship to a local college so I'm liby Heather Lewis just imagining my future and the goals that I will accomplish makes me excited her dream was to go on to college become a nurse and then become a physician's assistant Livy was already a certified nursing assistant at a local nursing home she was loved by all the residents there that's a tough job too yes and she loved it that was her passion that's also where she met one of her best friends fellow nursing assistant Taylor Barnett we worked together and then she just started staying with me all the time Taylor was nearly 6 years older and had a young daughter but she says Livy fit right in have you seen Livy you seen me we just clicked like automatically Bailey Williams met Livy in kindergarten she was a person that wanted stability and didn't want to play like the kid games she was ready to be grown up that's probably why Livy fell for an older man Matthew Edgar who was 23 when they met but I was dating a guy who was actually friends with Matthew so we all just kind of started hanging out Livy was still a senior in high school when she and Matthew began a secret relationship Matthew was married to Montana bokel the mother of his two young Sons phone records indicate that liby and Matthew began texting each other in November 2019 when Matthew wrote you do realize you cannot say a word to anybody that we are even texting lol Libby responded well obviously I'm not going to brag about texting a married man but thanks for the clarification it appears that after a very brief affair Livy quickly and firmly ended things but Matthew wasn't done about 4 months later he texted to complain about how unhappy he was in his marriage I cheated again he said but Livy held her ground I'm not really down for being a home wrecker she wrote nearly 2 months later Matthew ended his marriage in this tax exchange with his wife where he said ain't you it's me me always cheating on you 4 days later Montana hired a divorce attorney Matthew moved out and circled back to Livy at just 18 Livy was now navigating a relationship with the man who had two young sons and assumed to be ex-wife at first they didn't get along Livy and Montana didn't uh I think that was out of Jealousy on Montana's behalf and then it was kind of just like the flip of a switch all of a sudden Montana wanted to be Livy's best friend and they talked all the time I think in Livy's eyes she was definitely thinking she had a friend and in Montana's eyes what do you think I think that she was jealous I think that some people get close to people and they have another reasoning behind it and so do you think in some ways a a dangerous love triangle had formed yes definitely a dangerous love triangle yes you can call it that absolutely Sabine County Sheriff's investigator JP McDon questioned Matthew about his relationship with Montana and Livy what's your relationship like with both of them it's awesome okay so it's not a typical your hell no okay was awesome okay my exwife and her they big buddies I just told liby to just be cautious you can get along with her for their children but don't be too close with her I mean because that's his ex-wife but Taylor says that as time went by it was Matthew's behavior that became the most menacing he was pretty much abusive in more ways than one for a little while he was staying at my house with her and he would just get drunk and crazy and either holler at her and like it got so bad that like I didn't want him there at my house anymore phone records show that the relationship was a roller coaster ride while at times Matthew sent texts to Livy like good night baby I love you Livy's texts alleged physical abuse I don't know why you keep putting your hands on me like that my body hurt today I think that she was in love with who Matthew could be cuz she knew who he was and knew that what he was doing to her wasn't right but she still stayed Livy had been planning on moving to her new college campus but in the summer of 2020 she stayed on that roller coaster ride agreeing to move in with Matthew and helped take care of him and his sons she even redecorated the boy room baseball one a football one a soccer ball whatever but things seem to have quickly turned ugly in August of 2020 Livy writes to Matthew I want to be in our home with you but I can't do the way you act when you drink I'm scared of you you've laid your hands on me multiple times I deserve better than that had she told you at that time that no she been violent no she didn't tell me that probably figured that I would go do something crazy and she didn't want me probably get in trouble Livy did tell her cousin Sydney ebar what was going on she sent you a disturbing photograph yes evidence of physical abuse correct yes sir and do you have that photo I do can you show it to me yes sir he busted her nose it's not clear what caused the ation but texts would later show that Matthew was cheating on liby with of all people Montana on October 4th 2020 Livy's birthday Matthew texted Montana I didn't cheat on Livy with multiple women just you LOL he was continuing relationship on with his ex-wife and had my daughter in the middle of it not knowing that she was being manipulated by all of them I was in abusive relationship so I just said Livy you know it gets worse and she said I know and I said okay I love you Livy broke up with Matthew but in a small town like hemp Hill you can run but you can't really hide in the early morning hours of Halloween 2020 Matthew and Livy would end up together again on the side of this road [Music] the morning Livy Lewis was killed on the side of the road her ex-boyfriend Matthew Edgar found himself in a hospital bed claiming he had no idea how he got there I had no clue despite the blood on his face Matthew wasn't injured but he did admit to Sheriff's investigator JP McDonna that he'd been drinking how much bottle Jim Bean Jim Bean anything else few beers earlier in the day he said he'd been at a party the night before at his friend Bobby ozan's house that's when he claims he last Saw living she heard my was okay oh so you left Bobby's went to your house went home was at my house and that's where Matthew claims he blacked out and simply can't explain how he ended up in a fetal position between a black truck that wasn't his and Livy's car you don't know how you ended up on the ground behind the car with the dead girl at got it McDonna took swabs of the blood on Matthew's face for DNA testing all right Matthew I'm going to do this one on the chin and Matthew 's clothing was taken into evidence I'm going to go through some of your clothes okay yes sir then McDonna placed Matthew under arrest charge is going to be homicide all right now pay attention to me I want you to understand why okay yes sir okay you were found behind the vehicle where the decedent was there was some kind of relationship between you and her there is a weapon laying on the ground behind the vehicle close to where you were found okay based on that and a few other things I'm going to place you in custody right now for homicide okay what's his reaction to that he had none but he didn't say you're going to do what I didn't do anything nothing at all nothing at all with Matthew jailed McDonna was on a legal deadline according to Texas law the District Attorney's office now had 90 days to present enough evidence to a grand jury to indict Matthew or they would have to release him on bond so McDon Enlisted the help of the Texas Rangers and began piecing together what happened to Livy Matthew was just an easy arrest sha Dunn is an old friend of Matthews he told me hey look you know I didn't do this yes I was there at the scene but I you know I didn't I did not do this I loved her sea a former Texas oil and gasman once employed a then 20-year-old Matthew as a supervisor on his pipeline I know Matthew uh I spent a lot of time with him he was a hard worker you know he loved his family he valued his friendship uh with people Shawn was also once a deputy sheriff and says in his personal and professional opinion Matthew is innocent when you're in law enforcement and and you set across the table from somebody that has taken someone's life as a coldblooded killer there's a certain feel that you get from that person I never seen him reach that point Sean believes Matthew when he says he has no memory of what happened the cause of death for that girl is not natural and thinks this moment did they tell you a name liby was very real I believe that was that was genuine that that was the first time that he knew that she was deceased which raises the obvious question if Matthew Edgar did not kill Livy who did all that's kind of still up in the air in my opinion there's plenty of other people that could be involved in this sea won't name names but Matthew and his mother Cindy have insinuated that someone else killed Livy Montana listen to this recorded jail house house call but I'm saying Matthew if it turns out that Montana did this I don't want to talk about it please I mean it's not going to make you want to hurt her because she killed the woman you loveed are you I don't know Sheriff's investigator JP McDon says Montana's unusual friendship with Libby did get his attention my husband left me for this woman but she's my best friend you know I I I have to question that as an investigator this is one of the last photos ever taken of liby she is with Montana and they are at that party Matthew told investigators about at Bobby ozan's place I'm going to say there's probably about 20 people there including Matthew and Montana's Sons Bobby told investigators Matthew spent the night watching Livy and Montana party with everyone but him he would try to come over there and talk to him and they just really wouldn't say much to him they just ignoring investigators learned that liby had broken up with Matthew just weeks earlier and he had taken up with another young woman in town I am trying to find out her relationship with Matthew Edgar they were having sex just I met him that Monday and we saw each other every day so you just KN yeah but it was clear to Bobby that Matthew wasn't over Livy he was just hurt and then now she don't want nothing to do with him no more she's going on with her life just like you don't exist anymore Bobby says Matthew was stewing at the party he just wasn't he's on edge just dranking beer and drinking heavily yes sir yeah and the more he drank the angrier he got exactly what do you think of Matthew Edgar's story chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X [Music] as the Party At Bobby ozan's was winding down Matthew Edgar says he called it a night oh so you left Bobby's went to your house went home my house that's where Matthew's memory goes blank but his ex-wife Montana bokel remembers much more the day is hot October the 31st in this audio recording Montana told investigators Matthew suddenly came back to the party and learned that Livy had decided to stay overnight at Bobby's you think he heard Livy say she going to stay the night oh I know he heard her cuz that's what made him so mad during the course of the investigation and during my interviews with family and friends and Matthew had intended to ask Miss Lewis to marry him that's how significant he felt about Miss Miss Lewis to hear her back at the house say that I'm going to stay with Bobby was just meaning sleep with Bobby correct that was too much it was just too much according to Montana Matthew was so angry he even took it out on her he tried to choke me and then that's when I went and got Bobby so I went outside and he had kicked all the doors in on a car and was punching on the window at one point Bobby had to pin Matthew again against the car in order for the girls to be able to leave the whole time I'm holding him he's screaming top of his lungs I'm going to kill y'all I'm going to kill y'all Montana says she and Libby left in separate cars in search of safety Montana says she headed toward the home where Matthew's mother and grandparents lived and that's where Matthew caught up with her he pulled in behind me I went to get out and he turned toing me again their children were in the back seat of Matthew's van and I was hking the horn so somebody would come outside in all the racket Montana says Matthew left and headed for his own home a short distance away on the same property a shaken Montana says she asked to stay the night with Matthew's mother and grandparents and then began texting with Matthew I have message what does he say you took part in it and you are guilty as she is wrote Matthew as he angrily accused Montana of playing a part in Livy's decision to spend the night with Bobby ozan those texts would become damning evidence in the case against Matthew Edgar he said you knew what was going on a decision that appears to have enraged him he said I will take your life her life and his life mark my words at 3:22 a. m. Matthew texts I'm leaving better get here and get your kids McDonna says evidence shows that a drunk and angry Matthew then got behind the wheel of his truck where he kept his rifle and went hunting for Livy I think she pulled over to talk to him and I'll tell you why she was just sitting there with her legs crossed indicates to me she was not afraid it was not a fight or flight thing where she was prepared to just bolt out the car she was actually to some degree comfortable with who she was speaking with 12 minutes after texting I'm leaving Matthew texted I'm home I got Livy's keys and her phone Montana asked where is she Matthew's response dead Montana told investigators she didn't call 911 because she didn't believe he was serious instead Montana texted Matthew can I come down there his reply yeah but Montana claims that Matthew's mother wouldn't let her leave so she just fell asleep I never left I didn't even know anything had happened until I woke up at around 6:00 this morning but Matthew didn't go to bed McDonna says evidence shows that not long after sending that text that liby was dead Matthew did something no one can explain he went back to the crime scene this time in his cousin Zach's truck it's that truck that was found parked be behind Livy's car why would he go back then why would he return to the scene of the crime that would be a question you'd have to ask Matthew I I can't explain that also hard to explain Montana's failure to call 911 it made no sense to Livy's friend Bailey she knew who he was and what type of person he was and then she was receiving all those texts I don't think that you can just take that with a grain of salt after you received those text messages yeah it's time to to call police right McDon says he and his team of investigators wondered if Montana had been to the crime scene that morning to try and help Matthew cover up liby's murder I know you don't believe me but I can't tell you stuff that I don't know happened two months after the crime Montana was given a polygraph exam are you covering for the person responsible for Li's death after monitoring her physiological responses Montana was told she failed the polygraph there's no doubt that you left something out there something you're not telling me but after an indepth multi- agency investigation investigators concluded that Montana was never at the crime scene and had nothing to do with Livy shooting or any cover up and so to all those who think somehow she's involved you say not true not true at all all the evidence says McDon points to one person Matthew Edgar is there a motive in your mind jealousy jealousy plain and simple in February 2021 the covid pandemic shut down the courts and this case with no grand juries being convened a judge was forced by law to release a still unindicted Matthew Edgar on a reasonable Bond $50,000 for them to set it so low was insane to me months after Matthew's release Darcy was at her local convenience store when Matthew just strolled in when he came in the door I just went started throwing whatever at him and went for him and I just remember saying You Killed My Daughter you killed my daughter and that's Matthew pressed charges against Darcy and she was arrested the charges would eventually be dropped but Darcy says she just wanted some answers she loved you and she was good to you and your kids and to your family what made you think that this was the answer to anything that was going on on March 16th 2021 4 and A2 months after his arrest charge is going to be homicide a grand jury finally heard the evidence against Matthew Edgar and indicted him for the murder of Livy Lewis but Matthew who was still out on bail wasn't done breaking the law and tormenting Livy's family I just was like are you are you serious as January 2022 and the trial of Matthew Edgar approached Darcy bass was confident that the evidence in the murder of her daughter liby would finally proved that Matthew had killed her what in this case struck you as the most powerful evidence against Matthew Edgar from him saying that he was going to kill them her till him being at the scene to it being his gun then there were all those venomous texts between Matthew and Montana that Taylor and Bailey say ended with a clear confession when he text and said she's dead cuz Who would know that except accept the person who did it and remember that text that read I got Livy's keys and her phone well Livy's phone was found in the truck Matthew had driven to the crime scene her keys were found on the driveway at his grandparents house and reluctantly handed over to investigators by Matthew's mother Cindy Hogan is it true in your opinion that she tried to keep Livy's keys from investigators that was the indication since Hogan also tried to help her son by suggesting that Livy had been killed by a drug cartel because Matthew owed them money and that the cartel hadn't killed Levy and staged it to make it look like Matthew did it because they were out $330,000 what do you think of that theory uh I think it's a far-fetched fairy tale it was so far-fetched it was just a crazy story to try to distract people from the truth on Monday January 24th 2022 the trial of Matthew Edgar began with jury selection Matthew who was still out on bond walked in and out of court every day like a free man due to the nature of the of the crime and the emotion throughout the county we had security Arrangements in place for trial we even had Matthew wearing a bulletproof vest on the first day of testimony the state began presenting its case which included DNA lab results that detected a tiny Speck of Livy's Blood on the pants Matthew was wearing when he was found at the crime scene how important is that piece of evidence it's critical it puts him there at the time that that injury caused her death but Matthew's courta appointed defense attorney Rob Hughes argued that a tiny drop of blood doesn't prove a thing how else could that Speck have gotten on his pant leg if not not coming from blood spatter from the shooting you can get DNA transferred from just touching someone Hugh says there's no telling how long that blood had been there and all that blood on Matthew's face that McDonna swabbed and had tested it wasn't Livy or Matthews and once they were excluded investigators didn't pursue other matches Hugh says there were additional DNA tests that also raised questions about who else may have been at the crime scene there were other people's DNA on Matthew and Livy was excluded as a contributor to those DNA samples Hughes tried his best to argue that the DNA should be considered Reasonable Doubt but admits that his biggest obstacle in defending Matthew were those texts and Matthew's insistence that he has no memory of sending them in your entire career as a defense attorney have you ever had a client who was functioning during the course of a crime texting conversing with people driving an automobile who then said they had no memory whatsoever of the events I have not and you understand why that would be hard for people to believe yes Hughes also asserted that the murder weapon had not been tested for fingerprints or DNA but conceded the rifle belonged to Matthew after a second day of testimony the prosecutor notified Hughes that he would be resting his case the next morning and it would then be hughes's turn to call witnesses sha Dunn says that he had been Snapchatting with Matthew who was feeling optimistic about his chances he was so confident that he was going to need a job and asked me would I find him a spot to go to work but the next morning as Rob Hughes arrived at the courthouse he got a panicked call from mat 's mother who told him her son was now a fugitive she just started frantically telling me that Matthew was gone Matthew had run and he had taken a gun with him she was afraid he was going to kill himself are you serious like he's he's gone he shouldn't even been out on bond then he had an ankle monitor on what happened with that authorities say Matthew had simply waited for the battery on his ankle monitor to die and then left home most likely on foot we started getting assets from all over lkin PD SWAT DPS Texas Rangers we even had tracking dog from from the prison unit they followed a trail through the woods roughly two miles meanwhile Matthew's trial went on without him that very same day defense attorney Rob Hughes began presenting his case the jury was not told that Matthew had fled but they must have wondered so a case that's already very difficult for you has now become I'll use the word impossible it it made it much it didn't help that's for sure no one was surprised when after deliberating for about an hour and a half the jury found Matthew Edgar guilty of murder but he was still on the loose out there somewhere an armed threat to himself and the community I mean I think that it was like a scary time because it's him he knows where everybody lives at that was terrible crazy time for me knowing that he's out there supposedly loved my daughter but murdered her and me the one that's actively trying to make sure that he goes to jail what would he have done to me Darcy says it felt like no one was searching for Matthew so she became a mother on a mission and hung this homemade wanted poster all over town but she wasn't alone JP McDon had been joined by Jeff Coulter a special Deputy with the Eastern District US Marshall service and they were on the hunt for Matthew do you consider him right off the bat to be a dangerous fugitive oh absolutely from what I was told from the murder the crime scene yes no doubt see a timeline of the night of the murder at 48 [Music] hours.

com they her car was right here before the sign this is the very spot where 19-year-old Livy Lewis was murdered now a memorial lovingly tended to by her mother Darcy I just want everyone to remember what happened here what Livy had to go through it's also a place that Darcy is convinced Matthew Edgar visited after becoming a fugitive I just felt it as a mother I was like he's coming here he's not far Darcy says she also heard rumors that Matthew's mother had been spotted buying her son's favorite cigarettes and liquor in large quantities where is she taking them to one week after Matthew ran from the law Jeff Colter a special Deputy with the US Marshals was asked to take over the manh hunt when you first begin your investigation do you start with his family to see if they've heard anything no no I don't like being led to I've already heard their stories claiming she was killed by the cartel so no I didn't even waste my time couter says he quietly spent nearly a year working with the Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies around the country to chase down every lead that came their way we had put in a lot of hours a lot of weekends a lot of late nights then a tip that Matthew might actually be hiding in plain sight just yards from his grandparents property in this house it looked great it sounded great but we physically have to put eyes on him before we make a move on his residence the house which belonged to a family friend was surrounded by woodlands so Coulter Enlisted the aid of two wardens with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department the plan to get as close as possible under the cloak of Darkness using night vision to ID their man we were going to enter into the woods make our way up to the back of the property get as close as we could and sit there and see if we could get a visual of him while couter l a team of three men into the woods JP McDon and his deputies were on the opposite side of the house near the driveway but out of sight in their vehicles my job was to sit right there at the front door of that house if Coulter and his men made a positive ID on Matthew they would finally have him cornered we went in about 4:30 in the afternoon we knew it was going to get dark about 5:30 we got to probably about 100 yards of the house and we heard barking um coming to find out they had a pretty good sized right Waller in the backyard then we're out there for an hour or so we could hear voices we could hear female voice we could hear male voice but it's so thick we can't see then we catch a violent thunderstorm lightning and thunder and torrential rain it was miserable but it was a blessing in disguise and the noise covered our movement they were 30 yard from the house when when a second storm hit but there was no giving up that's 11 months and 2 days this needed to end tonight drenched and exhausted Coulter and his team could hear voices on the back porch of the house but couldn't see faces until about 8:00 p. m.