TULSA, Okla. — In the 1990s, Edgar Eddington raised and trained champion pit bulls for show competition.
But one February night in 1997, someone brutally murdered him inside his home, leaving investigators to wonder if the motive was his prized dogs.
In 1964, Wanda Watkins,15, met her neighbor, Eddington.
"He was three years older, and he had just graduated," she said.
They fell in love and headed down the aisle. Next came the kids, Derrick, Jodie, and Shelly.
"He sold dogs, trained dogs, all kinds of ribbons and trophies. And, you know, made different things on how to pull 'em," said Watkins.
Their marriage ended after nine years, and though Eddington remarried, they remained close.
"We stayed in contact because of the kids. And he always wanted to see them," said Watkins.
Then, on February 5th, 1997, Eddington's wife made a disturbing discovery.
"Vicky got home and found Eddie was deceased and that she called the police," said Watkins.
Wanda had to make a call of her own.
"Mom called, and Jodie answered, and then after he got off the phone, he said, 'Mom's telling us to come over there right now. I wonder what's going on.' We didn't think of nothing," said Shelly, Eddington's youngest daughter.
It was more than nothing; the man who walked her down the aisle had been murdered.
"I was just in shock. And it was like I was screaming, but you couldn't hear me," said Shelly.
The Tulsa County Sheriff's Cold Case Unit said the crime was brutal.
"He had been stabbed multiple times and beaten," said Rick Lawrence, a cold case investigator.
They said Eddington fought hard to getaway.
"Eddie appeared to have jumped out the window of the mobile home he was living in. But, somebody apparently caught him, drug him back in the house," said Lawrence.
Investigators believe at least two people were involved in Eddington's death.
"Because of the fact that there are several different shoe prints that was found outside the mobile home," said Lawrence.
And they have a possible motive.
"There's a possibility that there was one dog that was taken at the time, but we're not absolutely 100 percent sure at this time," said Tressi Mizell, Tulsa County cold case sergeant.
However, they aren't ruling anything out.
"The level of violence in this crime was extreme. And it's one of the most brutal scenes I've come across. I believe this could be something more personal than a dog," said Mizell.
Shelly lives with the pain of losing her father.
"They hurt me so bad. They hurt everybody with that," she said.
Anyone with information about the death of Edgar Eddington, contact the Tulsa County Cold Case Unit at 918-596-5612.
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