Mom Kills Son, Daughter, Another Woman, Then Self To Create

'Everlasting Consequences' For
Her Estranged Husband
Investigators in South Carolina have revealed that
a mother used a gun she stole from her parents
to shoot dead her two children, a woman she
believed to be her estranged husband's new
girlfriend and then herself as part of an elaborate
revenge plot.

Pickens County Chief Deputy Creed Hashe said
36-year-old Jessica Edens called her estranged
husband twice on July 13 - once around the time
she killed her son and daughter, and again before
committing suicide.

Hashe said the same .40-caliber handgun used
to kill 28-year-old Meredith Rahme in a parking
garage below downtown Greenville apartments
was used to kill 9-year-old Hayden King and 5-
year-old Harper Edens.

Hashe said in a news release Monday that text
messages show Jessica Edens making plans to
'create everlasting consequences' for her
estranged husband, Benjamin Edens, after a
Family Court hearing over the custody of their
daughter, which left her feeling 'distraught.'

The investigation has confirmed that Jessica
Edens drove her black Jeep SUV directly from the
parking garage in Greenville just moments after
Rahme was murdered near the Greenville-Pickens
Speedway, where it was later discovered by a
passing motorist.

Based on a phone call made by Mrs Edens to her
husband while he was in the presence of
Greenville authorities, along with other evidence,
it is believed siblings Hayden and Harper were
shot by their mother while seated in the rear
cargo area of the SUV. There were no signs of a
struggle.

Detectives believe the mother killed her children
before she made what would be her final phone
call to her husband, and then she turned the gun
on herself as she sat in the backseat of the Jeep
with their bodies.

Autopsies performed on the deceased the
following day determined that each person had a
single gunshot wound to the head.
A statement from Sheriff Rick Clark read, in part:
'As we struggle to understand how a parent could
possibly come to a decision such as this, we
have to focus on tomorrow and the opportunity to
provide services and solutions to those that feel
that their life and the lives of their loved ones
must end in order to find peace.'