D.A. Marie Broder On Guilty Plea

On Monday, Johnny Edwards, IV entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill to two counts of Malice Murder. He pled guilty to Count 1: Malice Murder, receiving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, Count 3: Malice Murder, life in prison without the possibility of parole concurrent to count 1; and Count 5 Feticide, life in prison concurrent to count 3. Senior Judge Arch McGarity accepted the negotiated guilty plea. This sentence means he will never be released from prison. District Attorney Marie Broder handled the case along with Senior Assistant District Attorney Dan Hiatt and Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Warren Sellers. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

On December 7, 2019, at 2:29 pm, the Defendant called 911 and advised that he had killed his mother and wife and would be waiting for law enforcement outside the family home. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office responded. The Defendant came out the front door of the home. He had blood on his ears, neck, arms, hands, pants and sandals. Upstairs in a bedroom to the right the defendant’s pregnant wife, Venus Quanteh, was located lying on the floor near the doorway in a pool of blood. Kathy Edwards, the defendant’s mother, was lying on the floor in a pool of blood near the bed. Venus had a fractured skull, cuts to her head, a stab wound to her cheek, a stab wound to her left shoulder and cuts to her fingers. Kathy had a fractured skull, cuts on her scalp, a cut on her nose and stab wounds to her neck. A blood covered wooden baseball bat was located between Venus and Kathy. A blood covered steak knife was located on the bathroom floor of the bathroom in that bedroom.

Edwards was 34 at the time of the murders, he was a star football player in 2003 at Starr’s Mill High School in Fayette County and was one of the top rated players in the state, he went on to play as a defensive back at Wake Forest University.

District Attorney Broder said at the plea hearing, “this case is truly heartbreaking and horrific. The family members in this case lost a mother, a grandchild, a wife, and so much more. This is a just sentence for such a heinous crime, as the defendant can not hurt anyone else.” District Attorney Broder added, “I would like to thank the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office. Without their thorough investigation, this plea would not have been possible.