July 12, 1964. Vidalia, Louisiana. 25-year old Joseph “Joe-Ed” Edwards is seen leaving his place of employment, the Shamrock Motel. Shortly thereafter, an eyewitness sees Joe-Ed’s vehicle pulled over by the side of the highway and three white males and what appears to be an unmarked police car are also at the scene. Joe-Ed is never heard from again and his abandoned vehicle is discovered one week later. As the years go by, rumours circulate that Joe-Ed was the victim of a hate crime and may have been murdered for attempting to kiss a white woman. Some local police officers and members of the Ku Klux Klan are suspected of being responsible for Joe-Ed’s disappearance, but even after multiple investigations by the FBI and Department of Justice, no one is ever charged and no trace of Joe-Ed is ever found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel back to the Civil Rights Era and explore the horrific and tragic story of an unsolved racially-motivated disappearance which took place only ten days after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law.

Additional Reading:

https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/joseph-joed-edwards-notice-close-file

https://www.hannapub.com/concordiasentinel/frank_morris_murder/cold-case-whatever-happened-to-joseph-edwards-was-he-silver-dollar-group-target/article_fa868fb0-41a4-11e3-8e10-0019bb30f31a.html

https://www.hannapub.com/concordiasentinel/frank_morris_murder/cold-case-mysteries-of-the-night-joseph-edwards-disappeared/article_faa1f7bc-4af7-11e3-9d26-001a4bcf6878.html

https://www.hannapub.com/concordiasentinel/frank_morris_murder/cold-case-who-killed-joseph-edwards-doj-names-suspects-closes-1964-case/article_71dc31ee-424c-11e3-848f-0019bb30f31a.html

http://lsucoldcaseproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Joseph-Edwards-SCANNED.pdf

“Unsolved Civil Rights Murder Cases, 1934-1970” by Michael Newton

https://web.archive.org/web/20130429140958/http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=6830

https://web.archive.org/web/20130518114607/http://www.concordiasentinel.com/print.php?story=7297

https://web.archive.org/web/20130429111854/http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=5108

http://charleyproject.org/case/joseph-edwards

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“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.