5 key details about Mary Catherine Edwards's murder

The upcoming episode of 48 Hours will replay the murder case of Mary Catherine Edwards, who was killed brutally in her home by Clayton Foreman, on January 14, 1995.

This case remained unsolved for decades. However, with advancements in DNA technology, genetic genealogy, and carefully preserved DNA from the crime scene, it was finally solved in 2021.

Mary Catherine Edwards got justice in 2024, as her killer Clayton Foreman was finally arrested and sentenced to life in prison with a possibility of parole after 30 years. The 48 Hours episode, that will replay this homicide is titled, Tracking the Killer of Mary Catherine. It will air on CBS on November 9, 2024, at 10 pm ET.

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5 important details about Mary Catherine Edwards's murder, ahead of 48 Hours on CBS

1) Mary Catherine Edwards’s autopsy report was jarring

As per reports by CBS, 31-year-old Mary Catherine Edwards was killed on January 14, 1995, in her Texas residence. Post her death, the autopsy report revealed that she was assaulted before her death by the killer. She died because of drowning and oxygen deprivation as per the autopsy.

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2) Mary Catherine Edwards's body was discovered by her parents

Edwards was found dead in her bathtub (Image by Erik Mclean/Unsplash)

As per reports by CBS, Mary Edwards was found in the bathtub of her Beaumont home by her parents Lum Caswell Edwards Jr. and Mary Ann. They found her incapacitated. She was found handcuffed in her bathtub, and from the first impressions, it was evident that she was se*ually assaulted. The crime scene was also discovered in a bloody state.

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3) This case took decades to be solved

Reportedly when the detectives took charge of this case, they thought that Mary Catherine Edwards was killed by law enforcement officers, as the handcuffs used to incapacitate her were Smith and Wesson handcuffs. However, when the handcuffs were traced with the help of the serial number, no trace of the buyer or the owner was found.

Mary was killed in 1995 when DNA technology wasn’t as advanced. In 2020, the DNA evidence was reevaluated again, and it was linked to an individual named Clayton Foreman, who became the lone suspect in this case and was later arrested and convicted for the same in 2024.

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4) Clayton Foreman had a history of assault

Reportedly, Clayton Foreman, the perpetrator who r*ped and later killed Edwards, was previously convicted of se*ual assault. He had pleaded guilty the last time and had received a three-year probation.

Foreman’s ex-wife, Dianna Coe revealed to 48 Hours that, Foreman had ordered those handcuffs that were found on Mary Catherine Edwards. Coe also mentioned that when she informed Foreman of Edwards' death, he just replied casually by saying ‘Oh, really?’, which she found very strange.

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5) The detectives cuffed Foreman with the same handcuffs that he had used on Edwards before

As per reports by CBS, when Detective Aaron Lewallen and Ranger Bess went to arrest Foreman with an arrest warrant, they cuffed him with the same handcuffs that were found on Mary Catherine Edwards's deceased body, in 1995.

About Foreman's long-awaited arrest, Ranger Bess told CBS news correspondent Morales that,

"It's a moment I'll never forget ... you feel like you got to do something for Catherine there ... You know, like physically got to do for her, is take those cuffs that bound her when she was murdered and put them back on the guy that murdered her ... It may seem small to some, but it was a really big deal to us, and it felt good."

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To learn more about Mary Edwards's death, watch the upcoming episode of 48 Hours, titled Tracking the Killer of Mary Catherine, airing on CBS on November 9, 2024, at 10 pm ET.