Grieving members of Riverside family speak
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (NBC) - Grieving members of a Riverside family spoke Wednesday after a man murdered three of their loved ones in a catfishing scheme.
Mark Winek, his wife, Sharie, and their daughter, Brooke, were all found dead inside a burning Riverside home last Friday.
This resulted from what investigators believe to be a intricate catfishing scheme by a Virginia law enforcement officer.
The officer, Austin Lee Edwards, supposedly drove across the country to meet a 15-year-old girl he met online, before killing three members of her family.
"In this instance, catfishing led to the deaths of the three most important people in my life. My mom, my dad and my sister," Michelle Winek, daughter and sister of victims, spoke.
He then abducted the young girl, before officers found and fatally shot Edwards.
Police said the causes of the families deaths remain under investigation, but that they did not die in the fire.
On Wednesday, a family member of the victims pleaded with parents to check in on their kids' activities online.
"Ask questions about what they are doing and whom they are talking to. Anybody can say they're someone else and you could be in the situation, which I do not want for the world," Winek professed.
