Livvy Lewis died from a rifle shot to the neck. She was found draped over the steering wheel of her car in the early morning hours of Halloween 2020.
Matthew Edgar was found in a fetal position behind Livvy's car, covered in blood, with a rifle, shoes, and a hat nearby. He claimed to have no memory of the events, but his relationship with Livvy and his erratic behavior at a party prior to the murder raised suspicions.
A tiny speck of Livvy's blood was found on Matthew's pants, and her phone was discovered in the truck he drove to the crime scene. Additionally, her keys were found at his grandparents' house, handed over by his mother.
Matthew Edgar and Livvy Lewis had a tumultuous relationship. They began a secret affair while Matthew was still married, and despite Livvy ending the relationship multiple times, Matthew continued to pursue her. The relationship was marked by jealousy, abuse, and manipulation.
Montana Bokel, Matthew's ex-wife, had an unusual friendship with Livvy after their initial animosity. Investigators questioned her involvement due to her close relationship with Livvy and her failure to call 911 after receiving threatening texts from Matthew. However, she was cleared of any involvement in the murder.
Matthew Edgar was found guilty of Livvy Lewis's murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years. He fled during the trial but was later captured and sentenced.
Livvy Lewis dreamed of becoming a nurse and then a physician's assistant. She was already a certified nursing assistant at a local nursing home, where she was loved by residents and colleagues.
Matthew Edgar fled during his trial after the battery on his ankle monitor died. He took a gun with him, leading authorities to believe he might harm himself or others. He was eventually captured after an 11-month manhunt.
The texts between Matthew Edgar and Montana Bokel revealed his anger and jealousy over Livvy's decision to stay at a friend's house. In one text, he threatened to kill Livvy, Montana, and Bobby Ozan, which became key evidence in the case.
Darcy Bass was outraged when Matthew Edgar was released on bond. She confronted him at a local store, throwing items at him and accusing him of killing her daughter. She was later arrested for the confrontation, but the charges were dropped.
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Limited availability in select areas. Go to att.com slash hypergate to check eligibility. Coverage requires extenders at additional charge. Hey, show him here. Where's my kid? I don't care. Where's my kid? It's a blur. Will y'all tell me something? Where's my kid? Where is she at? I didn't know anything. I just wanted her to be okay.
She's alive? Huh? Come here. She's not alive. I want to see my child. I just needed to know, is she alive or is she dead? Libby Lewis, where is she? Where is she at? You don't want to sound cliche, but Libby was a perfect child. She was kind and loving. That's why she went into nursing. She obviously had something about her that she loved to take care of people. She was selfless.
Where is my child? I told you where your child is. In this car. What car? She's in this car right here behind us. I didn't know if I wanted to believe that she was in that car. I didn't want her to be. Because if she wasn't, then it was real and she was gone. How y'all doing? Who was the one that actually drove by? You saw it first? So I pulled over and I seen throughout my passenger seat and I was like,
She must be just pumped over. Maybe she's just drunk. The door was already open. I was like, hey, like I shook her. And that's when I called 911. 911. 911. What are you doing? So what are they looking like to yelp? Six o'clock in the morning. I'm at home when my telephone rings. Sheriff wanted me to come in.
sit with Matthew at the hospital. All right, Matthew. Matthew Edgar, right? And while I was there, I interviewed him. No clue. You have a girlfriend? He was found in the fetal position behind the vehicle that Levy was found in. When was the last time you saw Levy?
He remembers drinking on his porch, and the next thing he remembered, he was waking up in the back of an ambulance. You don't know how you ended up on the ground behind the car? With the dead girl in it? There was a rifle, some shoes, and a hat also on the ground. How'd you get all the blood all over your face? Because the hospital said you don't have any injuries.
What are you thinking? I'm thinking that he's not telling me the truth. He's just basically telling you a Texas fairy tale, right? Correct. I'm going to be flat out honest with you. But unfortunately, there is a deceased female in that vehicle that's in front of yours. And my job is to find out why she's dead. Who is the dead girl? Did they tell you her name? Maybe. I informed him that Ms. Lewis had passed.
He started with this, what I would describe as forced crying. Did you see any tears? Not a single one. The world seems to think that Matthew Edgar is a murderer. Do you believe that? I do not. Do you believe that someone else pulled that trigger? I do. I believe it was someone that was close to Matthew, someone that was involved in the events of that evening.
We got all the DNA results back, and there were some holes in the case. There were no fingerprints taken or DNA lifted off the gun. There were DNA samples from Livy that showed there was another man. I have no doubt, and I'm going to make this perfectly clear, Matthew Edgar killed Miss Lewis. And you put your reputation on that? Absolutely. Peter Van Sant reports, the blackout murder of Livy Lewis.
In the early morning hours of Halloween 2020, a day when the boundaries between the living and the dead become blurred, Libby Lewis was discovered draped over the steering wheel of her car.
dead from a rifle shot to the neck. Here's her ID. Livvy had just turned 19. I don't know if dispatch has notified her next of kin or not. It happened in Hemphill, a tiny town in Texas with a population just over 1,000, the kind of place where no one is a stranger and news spreads like wildfire. Isn't that Darcy Bass's daughter? Yeah, that's what I was...
That is how Livvy's mother, Darcy Bass, heard the news when a friend called to say that Livvy had been shot. You didn't know if she was dead or alive? No. I'm going to save my child! The next time I saw her, she was in a casket. I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
By all accounts, Libby Lewis was a remarkable young woman, a straight-A student and recent high school grad with a scholarship to a local college. So I'm Libby Heather Lewis. Just imagining my future and the goals that I will accomplish makes me excited. Her dream was to go on to college, become a nurse, and then become a physician's assistant.
Livy was already a certified nursing assistant at a local nursing home. She was loved by all the residents there. That's a tough job, too. Yes, and she loved it. That was her passion.
That's also where she met one of her best friends, fellow nursing assistant Taylor Barnett. We worked together, and then she just started staying with me all the time. Taylor was nearly six years older and had a young daughter, but she says Livvy fit right in. If you've seen Livvy, you've seen me. We just clicked, like, automatically. Bailey Williams met Livvy in kindergarten. She was a person that wanted stability and stability.
didn't want to play like the kid games. She was ready to be grown up. That's probably why Livvy fell for an older man, Matthew Edgar, who was 23 when they met. But I was dating a guy who was actually friends with Matthew. So we all just kind of started hanging out. Livvy was still a senior in high school when she and Matthew began a secret relationship. Matthew was married to Montana Bokel, the mother of his two young sons.
Phone records indicate that Livy and Matthew began texting each other in November 2019, when Matthew wrote, "You do realize you cannot say a word to anybody that we are even texting lol." Livy responded, "Well, obviously I'm not gonna brag about texting a married man, but thanks for the clarification."
It appears that after a very brief affair, Livy quickly and firmly ended things. But Matthew wasn't done. About four months later, he texted to complain about how unhappy he was in his marriage. "I cheated again," he said. But Livy held her ground. "I'm not really down for being a homewrecker," she wrote.
Nearly two months later, Matthew ended his marriage in this text exchange with his wife, where he said, ain't you, it's me, me always cheating on you. Four days later, Montana hired a divorce attorney. Matthew moved out and circled back to Livy.
At just 18, Livvy was now navigating a relationship with a man who had two young sons and a soon-to-be ex-wife. At first, they didn't get along. Livvy and Montana didn't. I think that was out of jealousy on Montana's behalf. And then it was kind of just like the flip of a switch. All of a sudden, Montana wanted to be Livvy's best friend, and they talked all the time. I think in Livvy's eyes, she was definitely...
thinking she had a friend. And in Montana's eyes, what do you think? I think that she was jealous. I think that some people get close to people and they have another reasoning behind it.
And so do you think in some ways a dangerous love triangle had formed? Yes, definitely a dangerous love triangle. Yes. You can call it that, absolutely. Sabine County Sheriff's Investigator J.P. McDonough questioned Matthew about his relationship with Montana and Livvy. What's your relationship like with both of them? Awesome.
- Okay, so it's not a typical, I hate your guts. - Hell no. - Okay. - It's awesome. - Okay. - My ex-wife and her were big buddies. - I just told Livvy to just be cautious. You can get along with her for their children, but don't be too close with her. I mean, because that's his ex-wife. - But Taylor says that as time went by, it was Matthew's behavior that became the most menacing. - He was pretty much abusive.
In more ways than one. For a little while, he was staying at my house with her. And he would just get drunk and crazy and either holler at her. And, like, it got so bad that, like, I didn't want him there at my house anymore. Phone records show that the relationship was a rollercoaster ride. While at times, Matthew sent texts to Livvy like, "'Goodnight, baby. I love you.'" Livvy's texts alleged physical abuse.
"I don't know why you keep putting your hands on me like that. My body hurts today." I think that she was in love with who Matthew could be because she knew who he was and knew that what he was doing to her wasn't right, but she still stayed. Livvy had been planning on moving to her new college campus.
But in the summer of 2020, she stayed on that roller coaster ride, agreeing to move in with Matthew and help take care of him and his sons. She even redecorated the boys' rooms. But things seem to have quickly turned ugly. In August of 2020, Livy writes to Matthew saying,
I want to be in our home with you, but I can't do the way you act when you drink. I'm scared of you. You've laid your hands on me multiple times. I deserve better than that. Had she told you at that time that she had been violent? No, she didn't. No, she didn't tell me that. Probably figured that I would go do something crazy.
And she didn't want me probably getting in trouble. Livvy did tell her cousin, Sydney Ebar, what was going on. She sent you a disturbing photograph. Yes. Evidence of physical abuse, correct? Yes, sir. And do you have that photo? I do. Can you show it to me? Yes, sir. He busted her nose. It's not clear what caused the altercation, but texts would later show that Matthew was cheating on Livvy with, of all people, Montana.
On October 4th, 2020, Livvy's birthday, Matthew texted Montana. I didn't cheat on Livvy with multiple women, just you, LOL. He was continuing a relationship on with his ex-wife and had my daughter in the middle of it, not knowing that she was being manipulated by all of them. I was in an abusive relationship, so I just said, Livvy, you know it gets worse. And she said, I know. And I said, okay, I love you. Livvy broke up with Matthew.
But in a small town like Hemphill, you can run, but you can't really hide. In the early morning hours of Halloween 2020, Matthew and Livy would end up together again on the side of this road.
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Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show American Scandal. We bring to light some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history. Presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our latest series, NASA embarks on an ambitious program to reinvent space exploration with the launch of its first reusable vehicle, the Space Shuttle. And in 1985, they announced they're sending teacher Krista McAuliffe into space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, along with six other astronauts, but less than two minutes after liftoff.
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The morning Livvy Lewis was killed on the side of the road, her ex-boyfriend Matthew Edgar found himself in a hospital bed, claiming he had no idea how he got there. Despite the blood on his face, Matthew wasn't injured, but he did admit to Sheriff's investigator J.P. McDonough that he'd been drinking. How much? Jim Bean? Anything else?
a few beers earlier in the day he said he'd been at a party the night before at his friend bobby ozan's house that's when he claims he last saw livy okay oh so you left bobby's went to your house and that's where matthew claims he blacked out
and simply can't explain how he ended up in a fetal position between a black truck that wasn't his and Livvy's car. You don't know how you ended up on the ground behind the car with the dead girl in it. McDonough took swabs of the blood on Matthew's face for DNA testing. All right, Matthew, I'm going to leave this one on the chin.
And Matthew's clothing was taken into evidence. I'm going to go through some of your clothes, okay? Yes, sir. Then McDonough placed Matthew under arrest. The charge is going to be homicide, all right? Now pay attention to me. I want you to understand why, okay? Yes, sir. Okay. You were found behind the vehicle where the decedent was. There was some kind of relationship between you and her. There is a weapon laying on the ground behind the vehicle.
What's his reaction to that? He had none. But he didn't say, you're going to do what? I didn't do anything. Nothing at all. Nothing at all.
With Matthew jailed, McDonough was on a legal deadline. According to Texas law, the district attorney's office now had 90 days to present enough evidence to a grand jury to indict Matthew, or they would have to release him on bond. So McDonough enlisted the help of the Texas Rangers and began piecing together what happened to Livy.
Matthew was just an easy arrest. Sean Dunn is an old friend of Matthew's. He told me, hey, look, you know, I didn't do this. Yes, I was there at the scene, but, you know, I didn't I did not do this. I loved her.
Sean, a former Texas oil and gas man, once employed a then 20-year-old Matthew as a supervisor on his pipeline. I know Matthew. I spent a lot of time with him. He was a hard worker. You know, he loved his family. He valued his friendship with people. Sean was also once a deputy sheriff and says in his personal and professional opinion, Matthew is innocent.
When you're in law enforcement and you sit across the table from somebody that has taken someone's life as a cold-blooded killer, there's a certain feel that you get from that person. I've never seen him reach that point. Sean believes Matthew when he says he has no memory of what happened. The cause of death for that girl is not natural. And thinks this moment... Did they tell you her name? Libby. ...was very real.
I believe that was genuine, that that was the first time that he knew that she was deceased. Which raises the obvious question,
If Matthew Edgar did not kill Livy, who did? That's kind of still up in the air. In my opinion, there's plenty of other people that could be involved in this. Sean won't name names, but Matthew and his mother Cindy have insinuated that someone else killed Livy. Montana. Listen to this recorded jailhouse call. But I'm saying, Matthew, if it turns out that Montana did this...
Sheriff's investigator J.P. McDonough says Montana's unusual friendship with Libby did get his attention. My husband left me for this woman, but she's my best friend. You know, I...
I have to question that as an investigator. This is one of the last photos ever taken of Libby. She is with Montana, and they are at that party Matthew told investigators about at Bobby Ozan's place.
I'm going to say there's probably about 20 people there. Including Matthew and Montana's sons. Bobby told investigators Matthew spent the night watching Livy and Montana party with everyone but him. He would try to come over there and talk to them, and they just really wouldn't say much to him. They were just basically ignoring him.
Investigators learned that Livvy had broken up with Matthew just weeks earlier, and he had taken up with another young woman in town. I am trying to find out your relationship with Matthew Edgar. We were having sex. Just, I met him that Monday, and we saw each other every day. So you just know him a week? Yeah.
but it was clear to bobby that matthew wasn't over livy he was just hurt and then now she don't want nothing to do with him no more she's going on with her life just like you don't exist anymore bobby says matthew was stewing at the party he just wasn't himself he's on edge just drinking beer and drinking heavily yes sir yeah and the more he drank the angrier he got exactly
What do you think of Matthew Edgar's story? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X. As the party at Bobby Ozan's was winding down, Matthew Edgar says he called it a night. So you left Bobby's and went to your house? I was at my house.
That's where Matthew's memory goes blank. But his ex-wife, Montana Bokel, remembers much more. The day is October the 31st. In this audio recording, Montana told investigators Matthew suddenly came back to the party and learned that Livvy had decided to stay overnight at Bobby's. You think he heard Livvy say she was going to stay the night? Oh, I know he heard her, because that's what made him so mad. During the course of the investigation,
And during my interviews with family and friends, Matthew had intended to ask Miss Lewis to marry him. That's how significant he felt about Miss Lewis, to hear her back at the house say that I'm going to stay with Bobby.
was just... Meaning sleep with Bobby. Correct. That was too much. That was just too much. According to Montana, Matthew was so angry, he even took it out on her. He tried to choke me, and then that's when I went and got Bobby. So I went outside, and he had kicked all the doors in on our car and was punching on the window. At one point, Bobby had to pin...
Matthew against the car in order for the girls to be able to leave. The whole time I'm holding him, he's screaming atop his lungs, I'm going to kill y'all, I'm going to kill y'all. Montana says she and Libby left in separate cars. In search of safety, Montana says she headed toward the home where Matthew's mother and grandparents lived, and that's where Matthew caught up with her.
He pulled in behind me. I went to get out and he started choking me again. Their children were in the back seat of Matthew's van. And I was honking the horn so somebody would come outside. In all the racket, Montana says Matthew left and headed for his own home a short distance away on the same property. A shaken Montana says she asked to stay the night with Matthew's mother and grandparents and then began texting with Matthew. I have a message.
What does he say? You took part in it and you are guilty as she is, wrote Matthew, as he angrily accused Montana of playing a part in Libby's decision to spend the night with Bobby Ozan. Those texts would become damning evidence in the case against Matthew Edgar. He said, you knew what was going on.
A decision that appears to have enraged him. He said, "I will take your life, her life, and his life. Mark my words." At 3:22 a.m., Matthew texts, "I'm leaving. Better get here and get your kids." McDonough says evidence shows that a drunk and angry Matthew then got behind the wheel of his truck, where he kept his rifle and went hunting for Livy.
I think she pulled over to talk to him, and I'll tell you why. She was just sitting there with her legs crossed. Indicates to me she was not afraid. It was not a fight or flight thing where she was prepared to just bolt out the car. She was actually, to some degree, comfortable with who she was speaking with. Twelve minutes after texting, I'm leaving, Matthew texted, I'm home. I got Libby's keys and her phone. Montana asked, where is she? Matthew's response, nothing.
Montana told investigators she didn't call 911 because she didn't believe he was serious. Instead, Montana texted Matthew. Can I come down there? His reply, yeah. But Montana claims that Matthew's mother wouldn't let her leave. So she just fell asleep. I never left. I didn't even know anything had happened until I woke up at around 6 o'clock this morning.
But Matthew didn't go to bed. McDonough says evidence shows that not long after sending that text that Livvy was dead, Matthew did something no one can explain. He went back to the crime scene, this time in his cousin Zach's truck. It's that truck that was found parked behind Livvy's car. Why would he go back then? Why would he return to the scene of the crime? That would be a question you'd have to ask Matthew. I can't explain that.
Also hard to explain, Montana's failure to call 911. It made no sense to Livvy's friend, Bailey. She knew who he was and what type of person he was. And then she was receiving all those texts. I don't think that you can just take that with a grain of salt after you've received those text messages. Yeah, it's time to call police. Right.
McDonough says he and his team of investigators wondered if Montana had been to the crime scene that morning to try and help Matthew cover up Libby's murder. I know you don't believe me, but I can't tell you stuff that I don't know happened. Two months after the crime, Montana was given a polygraph exam. Are you covering for the person responsible for Libby's death?
After monitoring her physiological responses, Montana was told she failed the polygraph. There's no doubt that you have something out. There's something you're not telling me. But after an in-depth multi-agency investigation, investigators concluded that Montana was never at the crime scene and had nothing to do with Libby's shooting or any cover-up. And so to all those who think somehow she's involved, you say...
Not true. Not true at all. All the evidence, says McDonough, points to one person, Matthew Edgar. Is there a motive in your mind? Jealousy. Jealousy. Plain and simple. In February 2021, the COVID pandemic shut down the courts and this case. With no grand juries being convened, a judge was forced by law to release a still unindicted Matthew Edgar on a reasonable bond.
$50,000. For them to set it so low was insane to me. Months after Matthew's release, Darcy was at her local convenience store when Matthew just strolled in. When he came in the door, I just went, started throwing whatever at him and went for him. And I just remember saying, you killed my daughter. You killed my daughter. And I just
Matthew pressed charges against Darcy, and she was arrested. The charges would eventually be dropped, but Darcy says she just wanted some answers. She loved you, and she was good to you and your kids and to your family. What made you think that this was the answer to anything that was going on?
On March 16th, 2021, four and a half months after his arrest, "Charge is gonna be homicide." a grand jury finally heard the evidence against Matthew Edgar and indicted him for the murder of Livy Lewis. But Matthew, who was still out on bail, wasn't done breaking the law and tormenting Livy's family. I just was like, "Are you serious?" You don't believe in ghosts? I get it.
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As January 2022 and the trial of Matthew Edgar approached, Darcy Bass was confident that the evidence in the murder of her daughter Livy would finally prove that Matthew had killed her. What in this case struck you as the most powerful evidence against Matthew Edgar?
From him saying that he was going to kill them, her, to him being at the scene, to it being his gun. Then there were all those venomous texts between Matthew and Montana that Taylor and Bailey say ended with a clear confession. When he texts and said she's dead. Because who would know that except...
the person who did it. And remember that text that read, I got Livvy's keys and her phone. Well, Livvy's phone was found in the truck Matthew had driven to the crime scene. Her keys were found on the driveway at his grandparents' house and reluctantly handed over to investigators by Matthew's mother, Cindy Hogan. Is it true, in your opinion, that she tried to keep Livvy's keys from investigators? That was the indication that...
Cindy Hogan also tried to help her son by suggesting that Livy had been killed by a drug cartel because Matthew owed them money. And that the cartel had killed Livy and staged it to make it look like Matthew did it because they were out $30,000. What do you think of that theory? Ha ha ha!
I think it's a far-fetched fairy tale. - It was so far-fetched. It was just a crazy story to try to distract people from the truth. - On Monday, January 24th, 2022, the trial of Matthew Edgar began with jury selection. Matthew, who is still out on bond, walked in and out of court every day like a free man. - Due to the nature of the crime and the emotion,
throughout the county. We had security arrangements in place for trial. We even had Matthew wearing a bulletproof vest. On the first day of testimony, the state began presenting its case, which included DNA lab results that detected a tiny speck of Livy's blood on the pants Matthew was wearing when he was found at the crime scene. How important is that piece of evidence? It's
It's critical. It puts him there at the time that that injury caused her death. But Matthews' court-appointed defense attorney, Rob Hughes, argued that a tiny drop of blood doesn't prove a thing. How else could that speck have gotten on his pant leg if not coming from blood spatter from the shooting? You can get DNA transferred from just touching something. Hughes says there's no telling how long that blood had been there.
and all that blood on Matthew's face that McDonough swabbed and had tested, it wasn't Livy's or Matthew's. And once they were excluded, investigators didn't pursue other matches. Hugh says there were additional DNA tests that also raised questions about who else may have been at the crime scene.
There were other people's DNA on Matthew, and Livy was excluded as a contributor to those DNA samples. Hughes tried his best to argue that the DNA should be considered reasonable doubt,
but admits that his biggest obstacle in defending Matthew were those texts and Matthew's insistence that he has no memory of sending them. In your entire career as a defense attorney, have you ever had a client who was functioning during the course of a crime, texting, conversing with people, driving an automobile, who then said they had no memory whatsoever of the events?
I have not and you understand why that would be hard for people to believe yes Hughes also asserted that the murder weapon had not been tested for fingerprints or DNA but conceded the rifle belonged to Matthew after a second day of testimony the prosecutor notified Hughes that he would be resting his case the next morning
and it would then be Hughes' turn to call witnesses. Sean Dunn says that he had been Snapchatting with Matthew, who was feeling optimistic about his chances. - He was so confident that he was gonna need a job and asked me would I find him a spot to go to work. - But the next morning, as Rob Hughes arrived at the courthouse, he got a panicked call from Matthew's mother, who told him her son
was now a fugitive. She just started frantically telling me that Matthew was gone. Matthew had run and he had taken a gun with him. She was afraid he was going to kill himself. Are you serious? Like, he's gone? He shouldn't even been out on bond. Then he had an ankle monitor on. What happened with that? Authorities say Matthew had simply waited for the battery on his ankle monitor to die and then left home, most likely on foot.
We started getting assets from all over. Lufkin PD SWAT, DPS, Texas Rangers. We even had tracking dogs from the prison unit. They followed a trail through the woods roughly two miles. Meanwhile, Matthew's trial went on without him. That very same day, defense attorney Rob Hughes began presenting his case. The jury was not told that Matthew had fled.
But they must have wondered. So a case that's already very difficult for you has now become, I'll use the word, impossible. It made it much, it didn't help, that's for sure. No one was surprised when after deliberating for about an hour and a half, the jury found Matthew Edgar guilty of murder.
But he was still on the loose, out there somewhere, an armed threat to himself and the community. I mean, I think that it was like a scary time because it's him who he knows where everybody lives at.
That was a terrible, crazy time for me, knowing that he's out there, supposedly loved my daughter but murdered her. And me, the one that's actively trying to make sure that he goes to jail, what would he have done to me? Darcy says it felt like no one was searching for Matthew, so she became a mother on a mission and hung this homemade wanted poster all over town.
But she wasn't alone. JP McDonough had been joined by Jeff Coulter, a special deputy with the Eastern District US Marshal Service, and they were on the hunt for Matthew. Do you consider him right off the bat to be a dangerous fugitive? Oh, absolutely. From what I was told from the murder, the crime scene, yes, no doubt. See a timeline of the night of the murder at 48hours.com.
But her car was right here before this sign. This is the very spot where 19-year-old Livvy Lewis was murdered. Now a memorial lovingly tended to by her mother, Darcy. I just want everyone to remember what happened here, what Livvy had to go through.
It's also a place that Darcy is convinced Matthew Edgar visited after becoming a fugitive. I just felt it as a mother. I was like, he's coming here. He's not far. Darcy says she also heard rumors that Matthew's mother had been spotted buying her son's favorite cigarettes and liquor in large quantities. Where is she taking them to?
One week after Matthew ran from the law, Jeff Coulter, a special deputy with the U.S. Marshals, was asked to take over the manhunt. When you first begin your investigation, do you start with his family to see if they've heard anything? No, no. I don't like being lied to. I've already heard their stories claiming she was killed by the cartel. So, no, I didn't even waste my time.
Coulter says he quietly spent nearly a year working with the sheriff's office and other law enforcement agencies around the country to chase down every lead that came their way. We had put in a lot of hours, a lot of weekends, a lot of late nights. Then a tip that Matthew might actually be hiding in plain sight, just yards from his grandparents' property in this house.
It looked great, it sounded great, but we physically have to put eyes on him before we make a move on his residence. The house, which belonged to a family friend, was surrounded by woodlands. So Coulter enlisted the aid of two wardens with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The plan? To get as close as possible under the cloak of darkness, using night vision to ID their man. We were going to enter into the woods, make our way up to the back of the property, get as close as we could, and sit there and see if we could get a visual of him. While Coulter led a team of three men into the woods, J.P. McDonough and his deputies were on the opposite side of the house, near the driveway
but out of sight in their vehicles. My job was to sit right there at the front door of that house. If Coulter and his men made a positive ID on Matthew, they would finally have him cornered. We went in about 4:30 in the afternoon. We knew it was going to get dark about 5:30. We got to probably about 100 yards of the house and we heard barking. Come to find out they had a pretty good-sized right waller in the backyard. Then we're out there for an hour or so, we could hear voices. We could hear female voice, we could hear male voice.
but it's so thick we can't see. Then we catch a violent thunderstorm. Lightning and thunder and torrential rain. It was miserable, but it was a blessing in disguise. And the noise covered our movement. They were 30 yards from the house when a second storm hit, but there was no giving up. That's 11 months and two days. This needed to end tonight. Drenched and exhausted, Coulter and his team could hear voices on the back porch of the house, but couldn't see faces.
until about 8:00 PM when a man stepped off the porch.
walks around the side of the house, and he stands there. One of Coulter's men immediately recognized that man as Matthew Edgar. He goes, "He's here. I got eyes on him." We got word that they had made a confirmation. Drove down, pulled in the driveway. Back in the back, back, back. Watch the front. I got-- I got moved. They're in the house. Once we saw the lights, it was a 30-yard sprint, all four of us. We break the corner, and we started screaming, "Law enforcement, police." Sheriff's office, anybody inside? Come out with your hands up!
He jumps up and he throws himself against the wall like, oh crap. You got me. Yeah, it was over with. Did you guys make eye contact? Absolutely. He said, hey JP. I said, hey Matthew. And then he asked me, you haven't proven my innocence yet? And I said, no Matthew, I have not. Coulter says that's not all Matthew had to say that night. He said, please don't shoot my mother.
- Mother, please come out of the house. - His mother is in the house? - His mother's at the house. - Was she crying? Was she upset? - No, I think she acted amazed that he was there, like she didn't know what was going on. - Really? - Yes. Surprised he was there. - Jail for something I don't even know nothing about. - Was she arrested as well? - Not at the time. She was not. - Can somebody get my purse with my seizure medicine? - Cindy Hogan was eventually charged with hindering apprehension.
We reached out to her attorney for comment, but did not hear back. On January 3rd, 2023, Matthew Edgar was formally sentenced for the murder of Livvy Lewis. 99 years in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 30 years. Does it give you, I don't know what the word is, not any peace, but in prison he will likely suffer for decades? Can only hope. But he doesn't suffer like
Like her brother. He doesn't suffer like her little sister. Darcy hopes to be there when Matthew comes up for parole and Taylor and Bailey say she won't be alone. And I don't care. However, he says that he changes while he's in there. I don't think that that's something you can ever come back from because she's definitely not coming back.
Meanwhile, Darcy is trying to save up enough money to buy a headstone for Livvy's grave. How do you carry on and honor your daughter's memory? I just got to get up every morning and just remember the good things. And I want to make her proud. I don't want her to be remembered as the girl that got killed in a small town. I want her to be remembered for the way that she carried herself and the happy person that she was to be around.
Cindy Hogan is awaiting trial. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.