Police trick murderer into revealing location of body in Florida

Lisa Spence was last seen on October 7, 2009. Her friends and family began to receive text messages from her that said she had moved overnight to Jacksonville, Florida.

Miami, Fla - Police, however, learned that Lisa Spence's boyfriend, Paul Edwards, was the person texting those messages to Lisa's family and friends. Pretending to be Lisa, he told them she had left Miramar, Florida, where she had lived up until her murder. Lisa Spence went missing on October 7, 2009, leaving work at the end of the day, and never returning again. Her sudden disappearance prompted her boss, Avril Absolum, to report her missing. The text messages began shortly after Spence disappeared. The woman's family was suspicious about the text messages, claiming Spence did not use text messaging. They contacted police, who got the phone records for Spence's cell phone, learning the phone had never left Miramar. That's when suspicion towards the boyfriend, Paul Edwards, began to grow. Miramar Detective Yessenia Diaz told press

"Our investigation revealed that her cell phone and his cell phone were always together, and they were always in Miami-Dade County or Broward County, and nowhere near outside that area."

In November 2009, police had Spence's cell phone number rerouted to a new phone and sent a text message to Edwards: "Just wait til I got better." Spooked, Edwards visited the location where he had left Spence's body, never knowing he was followed by the police. Police found Spence's body, sans head, in a barrel. Edwards was arrested on April 14th. The 44 year old man was charged with murder in the first degree and held without bail. Apparently it took months to get and match DNA from Spence with her daughter in Trinidad, delaying the arrest. Absolum told media Spence had been trying to leave Edwards, but was trapped in a cycle of violence.

"She wanted to have a life with her children and sadly she underestimated the person she was dealing with. She has had a cycle of abuse with him. Many years. This has gone on for quite a while."

Edwards was a former prison official, originally from Trinidad. Spence had been stabbed 33 times. She was 35 when she was killed. She has an 18 year old daughter and 10 year old son living in Trinidad. The confirmation that Spence was murdered -- and so brutally, has traumatized her friends and family. Her head still has not been found. Miramar is situated near North Miami.