An Ohio man held in a “terrible” 1995 cold case murder allegedly refused to leave his cell for the extradition hearing. Defendant Clayton Bernard Foreman, 61, was supposed to show up to court on Thursday in the rape and murder of Texas teacher Mary Catherine Edwards, 31, according to 12 News Now. He did not.
Jail records viewed by Law&Crime show a court date set for June 3.
Foreman was arrested April 29 as the person responsible for handcuffing Edwards behind her back, raping her, and drowning her in her bathtub on January 13, 1995 in Beaumont, Texas, which is about an hour and a half drive east of Houston.
The case went cold for decades, but the ugly details stuck with authorities. Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham told the Beaumont Enterprise he called Beaumont police on his first day on the job in 2014 to pick up the investigation again.
“The very first day I was sworn in as district attorney, I called [current Beaumont Police Chief James] Singletary and asked him to put some people on the Edwards case because it was such a terrible set of facts,” he said. “I really wanted to find a way to solve that case.”
Clayton Bernard Foreman is seen in a jail mugshot.
Investigators asserted they managed to do so. Cops said they used DNA information to track down the suspect’s second cousins. From there, they constructed a family tree, and said they got more than 30 voluntary DNA samples from other distant family members. According to authorities, the FBI and police in Foreman’s city of Reynoldsburg, Ohio obtained some of the defendant’s trash, and tested it for DNA. Results allegedly showed they had the killer.
Foreman previously pleaded guilty and received three years of probation in a 1981 case in which he approached a stranded woman who was looking for help. He pretended to be a police officer, tied her up with a belt, and raped her at knifepoint.
“There are numerous similarities in the 1981 case and the Edwards murder,” stated the probable cause affidavit obtained by the Enterprise. “Foreman claimed to be a police officer in the 1981 case, and in Edwards’ case the suspect utilized police tools of the trade.”
Edwards served as a bridesmaid in Foreman’s 1982 wedding.
The defendant remains at the Franklin County Jail in Ohio without bond. It is unclear if he has an attorney in this matter.
[Mugshot via Franklin County Jail]
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