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Background: The Gary, Ind. neighborhood where Ieisha Jefferson was found shot dead in December 2022 (Google Maps). Inset (top): Samuel Carlos Edwards (U.S. Marshals). Inset (bottom): Ieisha Jefferson (Obituary).
An Illinois man who became a wanted fugitive after his girlfriend was found shot dead in her Indiana home in 2022 has been found guilty of her murder.
Samuel Carlos Edwards, 38, was convicted of murder on March 12 after an emotional trial that included testimony from one of his young children. On the night of Dec. 27, 2022, Edwards put the five children he shared with 31-year-old Ieisha Jefferson in a bedroom next to the one where their mother was, closed the door, and shot the children’s mother in the head. Edwards then went on the run for more than a year before he was arrested in Houston, Texas, in April 2024.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the local Times of Northwest Indiana news outlet, Edwards gave one of his children, whose ages at the time ranged from 1 to 6 years old, Jefferson’s phone to play with as he put the kids in one of the home’s bedrooms. He shut the door behind him and went into a room where he and Jefferson reportedly had an argument.
The Chicago Tribune reported that one of the children, a daughter who was 5 years old at the time of the shooting, testified in court while holding a stuffed unicorn that she heard a gunshot from the room next door. When asked by the defense attorney how she knew it was a gunshot, she answered, “My brother told me.” She also testified that “I thought my mom was asleep.”
Gary Police Sgt. Silas Simpson testified that the same child said, “Sam shot Ieisha.”
Reporting by The Chicago Tribune and the Times of Northwest Indiana also stated that a 911 call reporting the shooting by a man who said, “I don’t know what happened, I just heard a couple shots” was traced to Edwards’ cellphone. In court, a relative identified the voice as Edwards’. Detectives also reported that phone records proved that Edwards’ phone pinged at the home’s location at the estimated time of the shooting.
According to the probable cause affidavit, investigators uncovered a history of domestic violence between Edwards and Jefferson, who had dated on and off for six years. The document stated that police had been called to the residence several times before, and that Jefferson reportedly said, “if (I) die, just know my baby daddy did it.”
Edwards was found guilty of all charges against him: murder, five counts of neglect of a dependent, and misdemeanor domestic battery. The Chicago Tribune reported that the jury deliberated for less than two hours.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24.
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