DNA evidence leads to conviction of Columbus man in two cold cases from the 1990s

Five years apart, in 1991 and 1996, two Columbus women were strangled and their naked bodies were dumped for others to find — the first in Urbancrest and the second in Granville.

Authorities would not connect the deaths of 30-year-old Alma Renee Lake’s and 36-year-old Michelle Dawson-Pass until 2003 using DNA evidence. Whose DNA was found on their bodies would not be determined until 2021.

Decades later, a Franklin County Common Pleas Court a jury on Friday found 68-year-old Robert Edwards guilty of the murder of Lake, guilty of aggravated murder and murder in the death of Dawson-Pass, and guilty of the rape of Dawson-Pass.

Edwards was not charged with raping Lake, even though county prosecutors said he did because there is a 30-year statute of limitations on bringing a rape charge.

Regina Dawson, who was 17 when her mother Michelle Dawson-Pass was killed, cried as the verdict was read in court.

“The burden has lifted off of my shoulders,” Dawson said afterward in the courthouse hallway as she hugged Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Meyer. “Mommy, you can really rest now.”

Attorneys representing Edwards argued during his trial this week that the prosecution's DNA and geography arguments — that Edwards had sex with both women and that their bodies were left near where he lived in 1991 and 1996 — was not enough to proof he murdered Lake and Dawson-Pass.

“The central problem in this case is the assumption … that the DNA we find has to be the answer to who killed these people when there’s no necessary relationship,” said Vincent Watkins, an attorney with the Franklin County Public Defender’s Office, said during closing arguments on Thursday.

Watkins said it’s possible Edwards had sex with Lake or Dawson-Pass and left his DNA behind days before they died.

The prosecution’s "entire case is what are the odds” this was a coincidence, Watkins said.

Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor David Zeyen argued during closing arguments "that it is so inconceivable, so astronomically unlikely for this to happen once to (Edwards) and then happen again to (Edwards).”

The case: What are the odds?

On the morning of June 3, 1991, two people passing by spotted Lake lying nude in the grass on the northwest corner of Olive and Craig streets in Urbancrest.

In 1991, Edwards lived in that village in southwest Franklin County.

On the morning of Nov. 11, 1996, a woman called 911 to report Dawson’s naked body was in her front lawn in a remote area of Granville in Licking County.

In 1996, Edwards lived in Newark, which borders Granville.

Authorities in Franklin County investigated Lake’s death. Five years later, Licking County authorities investigated Dawson-Pass’ death, but detectives could not find who killed the women.

Both had no clothes on or belongings around them.

Both women had marks on their wrists and ankles, indicating they had been tied up.

Both women worked at least sometimes as prostitutes on Columbus' East Side, according to Franklin County prosecutors.

Both women had similar trauma on their bodies that prosecutors said indicated they were sexually assaulted.

Lake had a mark on her neck from something being wrapped around it and died of strangulation, according to an autopsy.

An autopsy on Dawson-Pass noted injury to her neck and concluded she could have died of strangulation or the cocaine in her system or a combination of the two.

There was DNA from multiple men on Lake’s body and DNA from one man on Dawson-Pass’ body.

In 2003, state authorities discovered that one DNA sample from Lake’s body and the sample from Dawson-Pass’ body came from the same man.

But it wasn’t until Edwards’ sons had a run-in with the justice system and their DNA was collected that authorities got another lead.

The Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation sent a tip in 2021 to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office that Robert Edwards might be the one who left DNA on Lake.

Sgt. Mickey Casper, a sheriff's cold case detective, said they surveilled Edwards at his home and eventually took a bag of his trash to collect DNA samples.

The DNA matched the DNA found on both women.

Casper brought Edwards in for an interview in November 2021. After the hours-long interview, Casper served him with a search warrant for a DNA swab of his cheek. This confirmed he had the same DNA that was found on Lake and Dawson-Pass.

In August 2022, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office announced charges against Edwards for Lake’s murder at a press conference. Edwards would later be indicted for both murders by a Franklin County Common grand jury.

Dawson-Pass was found in Licking County, but prosecutors argued during the trial that her death was part of criminal conduct that began in Franklin County, giving the Franklin County court jurisdiction.

A few hours before her body was found, she was last seen walking south on Kelton Avenue in Columbus, heading to a friend's house, prosecutors said.

The jury hears from Robert Edwards

Edwards did not testify at his trial, but the jury heard from him when the prosecution played a garbled recorded jail call Edwards made to his daughter in August, 2022.

During the call, Edwards said authorities framed him and planted his DNA.

He told his daughter he definitely didn’t have sex with the second woman, Dawson-Pass.

Edwards did admit he may have known Lake and been at a party with her and some others.

Edwards also told his daughter he can prove he is innocent, and that a convicted serial killer from California already confessed to these murders in Ohio.

Zeyen pointed out during the trial that Edwards was interviewed about these women’s deaths almost a year prior and never mentioned anything about a serial killer.

Watkins later told the jury that Edwards was wrong about a serial killer confessing to murdering these women. If there was any evidence of that, Watkins said he would have put it before the jury.

Justice delayed

Regina Dawson, of Rochester, New York, told The Dispatch her mother Michelle was a loving person who was family-oriented and spiritual. She loved to dance and braid hair.

Michelle Dawson-Pass was usually sober, but she went through some “trials and tribulations,” Dawson said, and she was killed during one of those relapses.

It was difficult for Dawson to sit through the trial, to see photographs of her mother’s body, and at times she had to step out.

On Friday, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Sheryl Munson read the verdict in court.

First, Munson announced that the jury found Edwards not guilty of aggravated murder in Lake’s death. Dawson’s heart sank for a moment. But then Munson read out the rest, four guilty verdicts.

“Now I feel like I can breathe,” Dawson said. “I can walk down the street and not wonder, 'Am I walking past the person who killed her?'”

Judge Munson will sentence Edwards on Aug. 9 to a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Munson will decide when he first has the opportunity for parole after at least 20 years or if he will get no opportunity for parole.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man found guilty of two cold case murders, rape