Cold cases solved with DNA: Columbus man, 68, sentenced for killing two women in 1990s

Jordan Laird, Columbus Dispatch
Updated ·3 min read
41
Robert N. Edwards, 68, of Columbus, appeared Wednesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, where he was sentenced to life in prison for the 1990s cold case deaths of Alma Renee Lake and Michelle Dawson-Pass.
Robert N. Edwards, 68, of Columbus, appeared Wednesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, where he was sentenced to life in prison for the 1990s cold case deaths of Alma Renee Lake and Michelle Dawson-Pass.

Based on DNA evidence, a Columbus man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of strangling two Columbus women to death in the 1990s and raping one of them.

Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Sheryl Munson sentenced Robert N. Edwards, 68, on Wednesday to life in prison, calling him a "woman's worst nightmare."

Munson gave Edwards the opportunity for parole in 45 years, but even with credit for about one year in jail awaiting his trial, he would be 112 years old before he would be eligible for parole consideration.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Sheryl Munson sentenced Robert N. Edwards, 68, of Columbus, on Wednesday to life in prison with the opportunity for parole in 45 years, calling him a "woman's worst nightmare."
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Sheryl Munson sentenced Robert N. Edwards, 68, of Columbus, on Wednesday to life in prison with the opportunity for parole in 45 years, calling him a "woman's worst nightmare."

"You preyed upon a very vulnerable population of women. You thought you could do whatever you wanted to them, including murdering them. … You thought you could get away with it," Munson said. "Justice comes a little bit late, but it has come for you."

A Franklin County jury convicted Edwards last month of killing Alma Renee Lake, 30, in 1991 and killing and raping Michelle Dawson-Pass, 36, in 1996.

Both women worked at least sometimes as prostitutes on Columbus' East Side and both bodies were found naked, according to Franklin County prosecutors. Lake was found dead on June 3, 1991, lying in the grass on the northwest corner of Olive and Craig streets in Urbancrest, a village in southwest Franklin County near Grove City. Dawson-Pass was last seen walking south of Kelton Avenue in Columbus, heading to a friend's house. Her body was found on Nov. 11, 1996, in a remote area on the 1700 block of James Road in Granville, Licking County.

Edwards lived in Urbancrest in 1991, and in Newark in 1996, prosecutors pointed out at trial.

Alma Renee Lake, 30, whose body was found June 3, 1991 lying in the grass at the northwest corner of Olive and Craig streets in Urbancrest, a village in southwest Franklin County.
Alma Renee Lake, 30, whose body was found June 3, 1991 lying in the grass at the northwest corner of Olive and Craig streets in Urbancrest, a village in southwest Franklin County.

The jury found Edwards guilty of murder in Lake's death, and of aggravated murder, murder and rape in Dawson-Pass' death. The jury found Edwards not guilty of aggravated murder in Lake’s death.

Edwards' DNA was left on both women's bodies, according to evidence presented at trial. Prosecutors said Edwards also raped Lake, but there is a 30-year statute of limitations on bringing a rape charge.

Whose DNA was found on the women's bodies was not determined until 2021, when the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation flagged a familial DNA match. Multiple of Edwards' sons went to prison and had their DNA collected. The Franklin County Sheriff's Office cold case unit got Edwards' DNA and it matched the DNA found on Lake and Dawson-Pass.

Edwards did not make a full statement at his sentencing hearing, saying only "I'll wait for my appeal."

Michelle Dawson-Pass' daughter, Regina Dawson, was 17 when her mother died in November 1996. This picture of the two of them is from about a year before Michelle's death. Regina described her mother as a funny, God-fearing woman.
Michelle Dawson-Pass' daughter, Regina Dawson, was 17 when her mother died in November 1996. This picture of the two of them is from about a year before Michelle's death. Regina described her mother as a funny, God-fearing woman.

Members of Lake's and Dawson-Pass' families, as well as members of the Franklin County and Licking County sheriffs' offices and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation packed the courtroom for the sentencing.

Lake's sister, Monretia Crawford, said during the hearing that no matter what lives the women lived, nobody had the right to kill them.

Carmen Skipper, who alleges Edwards sexually assaulted her in 1991, also outside the statute of limitations to bring a rape charge, thanked Edwards during the sentencing hearing for leaving her alive since he did monstrous things to other women.

Sheila Turner, who was raised in the same household as Edwards, told The Dispatch after the sentencing that Edwards sexually abused her and her siblings for years as children. She said other crimes by Edwards could have happened states away since Edwards worked as a long-haul truck driver for years.

Monretia Crawford, right, the sister of murdered Alma Renee Lake, speaks during a sentencing hearing Wednesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court for Robert Edwards, 68, of Columbus. Edwards was convicted by a Frankin County jury in the 1991 death of Lake and the 1996 death of Michelle Dawson-Pass. Crawford said Wednesday in court that no matter what lives the women lived, nobody had the right to kill them.

Sgt. Mickey Casper, a former cold case detective with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, said after the sentencing that the office believes there are other victims out there.

"We can't rule it out," Casper said. "We would ask any other agency throughout Ohio to look at your old homicides. See if you have any evidence that can be submitted to BCI and submit your evidence to them so we can link up more cases and possibly give more families closure."

Going deeper into the cases: 'What are the odds' this was a coincidence?

Editor's note: a previous version of this story misstated how many years before Edwards is eligible for parole. He was sentenced to 45 years to life.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man, 68, sentenced in 1990s deaths of two women