Edward Covington | World's Most Evil Killers | Forensic Files

[audio logo] narrator: On Mother's Day, May the 11th, 2008, in the quiet community of Lutz in Hillsborough County,
Florida, a rage-filled man unleashed a nightmare on Lisa Freiberg and her two children.
Troy J. Morgan: He brutally attacked every single thing in that house. He killed three innocent people just because it's
what he wanted to do. narrator: The killer had left a trail of bodies for the police to find.
Dale Bunton: The mutilation that was done to these victims, the extent of the blood
around the house, this was a pretty horrific scene. narrator: Detectives found the killer hiding in a cupboard,
35-year-old Edward Covington was Lisa Freiberg's partner. Shawn Freiberg: He's not a human.
He's a monster. How could he do that? I don't know. narrator: Edward Covington's Mother's Day massacre
had revealed him to be one of the world's most evil killers. [theme music] ♪ ♪
[tranquil music] On May the 29th, 2015, seven years after the murders of Lisa Freiberg and her two children, seven-year-old Zachary and
two-year-old Savannah, 42-year-old Edward Covington was sentenced to death in the Circuit Court of Hillsborough
County, Florida. It was a triple murder that sent shockwaves through the small community.
♪ ♪ Jared Leone: Edward Covington committed one of the most horrific, brutal crimes
that Lutz community had ever seen. When you think about when it happened and who it happened to
and how it happened, it's incredibly horrific. ♪ ♪ narrator: The local press labeled Covington a monster.
Geoffrey Wansell: The case of Edward Covington was called by the press a "Mother's Day Massacre," and
that's genuinely what it was. He killed because he could and because he wanted to.
It was a remorseless, horrid, obscene set of killings. ♪ ♪ narrator: This killer's story begins in Florida
on June the 13th, 1972. Edward Covington's life got off to a particularly bad start due to a mistake at the hospital where he was born.
Geoffrey Wansell: We know comparatively little about his upbringing as a child, but what we do know
is that as an infant, newborn, he was given a massive overdose of antibiotics in hospital, which
caused him 30% hearing loss. And I think that had an impact on the rest of his life.
[grim music] ♪ ♪ He wants to become a Navy pilot, but the hearing loss meant that he couldn't.
And so there was always that inner rage, that sense of resentment that he always had,
and that stayed with him. Dale Bunton: He thought very highly of himself. He didn't respect anyone else.
He didn't give people consideration. It was all about him. narrator: As a teenager, Covington's mental health
started to decline. Geoffrey Wansell: At the age of 15, Covington was hospitalized with the first
of a number of episodes of mental problems. He was diagnosed with a chemical imbalance
in his brain, and he was later diagnosed as being bipolar. ♪ ♪ Jane Monckton-Smith: He was on medication, but on top of that,
he started to use illicit drugs. [suspenseful music] narrator: As Edward Covington reached adulthood,
in a neighboring county, Lisa Freiberg was growing up with her parents and younger brother, Shawn.
[somber music] ♪ ♪ Shawn Freiberg: Lisa and I got along really well. We were about a year and a half, almost two years,
difference in age. We were always together. ♪ ♪ I have cerebral palsy. And because Lisa being the older sister,
in school, she didn't let no one bully me. She was just the best bigger sister ever.
♪ ♪ If my mom needed her, she would come to her in a moment's notice. She was always reliable, always thinking of others.
♪ ♪ She gave her shirt off her back to just anyone that needed help. narrator: On January 13, 2001, when Lisa was 19 years old,
she gave birth to her first child. Shawn Freiberg: Zachary was a big surprise to all of us
because Lisa was pretty young at the time. But you know, accidents happen, and gratefully, it
was a good accident. And she had an amazing son that was really caring, just like her.
narrator: Zachary's father didn't stick around, and Lisa was left to bring up her son alone.
Shawn Freiberg: Lisa was very concerned on how to be a mother at first. But working with our mom, she turned out
to be a great mother herself. Our mom taught Lisa how to do basically everything.
And she took that and ran. ♪ ♪ narrator: In 2004, Lisa met a man and fell in love.
And on May the 20th, 2005, when Zachary was four years old, she gave birth to a daughter,
Heather Savannah. Shawn Freiberg: Heather was her legal name because that's what her dad wanted.
However, we always loved the name Savannah, and that's the name Lisa wanted. So that's what we called Savannah.
When Zachary found out that he was going to have a little sister, he was super excited that he was going to be the big brother.
They loved each other. You could tell that they loved each other. narrator: Shawn has fond memories of his time
with the family. - I was the cool uncle and I always played with them and gave them horseback rides or
play video games with Zachary. There was a lot of laughs, a lot of love. Just every day was special.
[ominous music] narrator: Lisa and her family lived in the small community of Lutz in North Hillsborough County,
Florida. Jared Leone: It was a very working class neighborhood, where people knew each other, and
it wouldn't be a stretch to say people struggle in that area to make ends meet and to get by.
♪ ♪ Shawn Freiberg: She worked a full time job, did a lot of overtime hours just
to make sure she could give both children the life that they needed and she wanted to give them.
♪ ♪ narrator: Meanwhile, on July 19, 2004, 32-year-old Edward Covington had got married,
but his drinking and drug-taking had spiraled out of control. Dale Bunton: He had a history with crack cocaine and alcohol.
When he was sober, he could be quite personable and very intelligent, but it seems every time
he did mix those two, it would bring out a violent tendency in him. Narrator: And it was Covington's wife who bore
the brunt of his violence. Dale Bunton: He was physically abusive to her. He broke her wrist.
He strangled her. He broke teeth out. narrator: At the time, Covington was working as a prison officer for the Florida Department
of Corrections, and he used this to his advantage whenever his wife called the police to report his violence.
Dale Bunton: Any time there was any kind of contact with law enforcement, he was using
that to sway their opinion, hoping that he would be more believable than, say, somebody else.
And he pulled that trick multiple times to get out of trouble. Jane Monckton-Smith: The entire thing
is about him getting what he wants and manipulating everyone in his life. narrator: Covington's wife had put up with enough.
In 2007, she filed for divorce. Geoffrey Wansell: The marriage had been a terrible failure.
In fact, when she left him, he took his revenge on her and decapitated three of her cats.
♪ ♪ Now, that's not the action of a man who's entirely in control of himself. It's a violent, vengeful, horrible thing to do.
♪ ♪ Jane Monckton-Smith: That suggests to me that he escalates, and he escalates
quickly when he is challenged. He's clearly got problems with relationships. He's clearly got problems with women.
And he's clearly somebody who's quite happy to go to killing when he's challenged.
♪ ♪ narrator: When his marriage ended, Covington moved into a trailer owned by his parents,
20 miles away from where Lisa Freiberg and her family lived in Lutz. In the same year, Lisa's relationship
with her daughter Savannah's father came to an end and Lisa decided to try online dating.
[unsettling music] ♪ ♪ Troy J. Morgan: I know she was a single mom. She was raising her two kids.
Relationship wise, I know she was looking for somebody. narrator: The dating site threw up a potential match for Lisa,
35-year-old Edward Covington. Shawn Freiberg: I did hear that she was meeting this new guy, Edward,
but I trusted her judgment. She was smart. She knew that her kids meant the most to her.
And, you know, that's what she was looking for, was a father figure for Zachary,
a father figure for Savannah. He seemed like a great guy at first. [grim music] ♪ ♪
narrator: But things were about to change. In the spring of 2008, Covington and Lisa
took their relationship to the next level. Geoffrey Wansell: Because of his behavior,
his parents threw him out of the trailer that they owned. But at that point, Lisa said, well, you could
come and live with us in Lutz. They'd only known each other about six months. And I don't suspect she had any inkling
of his very checkered mental history and his violent first marriage. Troy J. Morgan: She meets this individual,
and she entrusts him with her children, and he just used that as an opportunity to take advantage of them.
So he was taking care of the children while she was making the money. narrator: Lisa's family soon became concerned
about Covington's behavior. Shawn Freiberg: Once he moved in, we did start noticing more of a temper range.
We noticed that he seemed like to snap quickly towards her. There was a cloud of uncertainty,
almost like the kids didn't want to be there. narrator: Lisa's family was starting to grow concerned
for Lisa and the children, but they had no idea how much danger they were in until it was too late.
[suspenseful music] ♪ ♪ By May 2008, Edward Covington had moved in with his girlfriend Lisa and
her two children, seven-year-old Zachary and two-year-old Savannah. Lisa's family had started to notice
a change in the children's behavior when Covington was around. ♪ ♪ Shawn Freiberg: I was told by my mom
that when Zachary was getting in the truck with Lisa and if Covington was there, Zachary
had a scared look on his face. narrator: When Lisa's family started noticing mysterious bruises on the children,
they started to have concerns that Covington was harming them. They took photos of the injuries that they'd seen.
Shawn Freiberg: It just added ammo for our case against him that we were trying to build to show Lisa,
get away from this guy. We have pictures. We have the proof. narrator: But Lisa's desperate family
didn't get time to stage the intervention they felt was needed. Just two days after they took those photos was Mother's Day,
May the 11th, 2008. Shawn Freiberg: We were surprised when Lisa didn't show up to see her own mother on Mother's Day.
And that's when we figured out something was wrong. Narrator: The next morning, Lisa's family
were notified that Lisa hadn't turned up at the childminder's or at work. Lisa's mom, Barbara decided to go over to her daughter's home.
She'd no idea she was about to encounter a scene of unimaginable horror. [somber music]
Dale Bunton: When the mother arrived at the trailer to check on her daughter, she managed
to get in the front door enough to then see one grandchild, obviously murdered there on the floor
in front of her. ♪ ♪ At that point, she backed out of the trailer and called her husband and called the police.
narrator: Barbara had seen her seven-year-old grandson's body lying by the front door.
Zachary had been stabbed to death. ♪ ♪ Geoffrey Wansell: It's almost impossible to imagine
the scene that confronted her. It was of such butchery, such carnage that no one could really describe
it without being horrified. Dale Bunton: I can't imagine walking in and seeing my grandchild like that.
♪ ♪ narrator: Police and emergency services raced to the scene. They included detective Troy Morgan.
[suspenseful music] Troy J. Morgan: We showed up there at the location and discovered that there had been
three people murdered inside. When I looked in the front door, the entire house was just trashed.
Lisa's son was laying just inside the door. The one thing that stuck out the most
was the area where his penis and his scrotum would be was missing. And it was just, you could see that it
had been done postmortem because there was no blood. There was no anything. [somber music]
narrator: Two-year-old Savannah was lying just a few feet away from her brother.
She had been decapitated. Dale Bunton: What could a two-year-old child have possibly done to incur that kind of wrath?
Troy J. Morgan: I couldn't see where Lisa was actually at until I went around on the backside.
And then I could see her laying there in the hallway. ♪ ♪ narrator: Lisa's body was covered in multiple injuries
and her throat had been cut. ♪ ♪ - It was probably one of the worst scenes I've ever been a part of.
Geoffrey Wansell: As they searched the house, the police also discovered that the family dog had been killed.
- It was a lot to take in because there was just so much chaos. Seeing the level of dismemberment, it's not normal.
narrator: There was no sign of the attacker. Police presume the person responsible
must have fled the scene. But then someone heard a noise coming from the closet.
Troy J. Morgan: Patrol deputies were clearing the house, and then one of them heard something
and they located him inside the bedroom closet. narrator: Crouched down and covered in blood
was Lisa's boyfriend, Edward Covington. Dale Bunton: He was hiding, but they were able to see part of his actual body there,
and they called him out and had him show his hands and come out. Geoffrey Wansell: As he was escorted out of the house
and put into the back of the police cruiser, he says to the officers, I can't believe what I've done.
♪ ♪ Narrator: It was left to Lisa's mom, Barbara, to break the news to Shawn. ♪ ♪
- I was getting ready to go to work and I was actually pulling out of my aunt's driveway
when my mom called me and told me to not go to work, to come home. Once I got home and I saw the police cars
in front of the house, my mom broke the news to me right in the driveway, that she found Lisa and the kids,
and they were no longer with us. ♪ ♪ narrator: Within hours, the local press had got wind of the tragic story unfolding in Lutz.
Jared Leone: Monday morning came in, just expecting to do the normal reporting I do of the week,
and instead got a phone call that I'd be helping cover breaking news and cops beat that day.
I went out there not having any idea what to expect, and then it turned out to be one of the most horrific crimes
that that community had seen. There were dozens of sheriff investigator vehicles.
There was an incredible amount of emergency personnel, investigators out there. They had us backed up a block away
just to keep prying eyes from the extensive crime scene. narrator: Details of the crime were filtering
through to the press. Jared Leone: Hearing about the nature of that crime really seemed that whoever did this had no humanity left.
[grim music] ♪ ♪ Jane Monckton-Smith: The violence against Lisa and the incredible violence against the children
as well is absolutely breathtaking. ♪ ♪ I don't think there are words to describe
how awful that scene must have been. - All along the street, investigators would walk in and come back out,
and it was shocking to see how it impacted them as well. There were officers who were holding each other and
others that had all the color out of their face from going in and coming out. narrator: Detective Dale Bunton remembers
arriving at Lisa's property. - At that point, multiple detectives had responded.
The scene had been taped off. When they were describing to the detectives outside
of the scene how bad inside was, it was a very graphic description about the mutilation that was done
to these victims and the extent of the blood around the house. This was a pretty horrific scene.
♪ ♪ narrator: Reporters started speaking to the neighbors to try and glean some information about the family
who lived there. Jared Leone: They kept everyone back quite a way, but the neighbors had come out and filled the street.
That street's a very quiet street. That's what made it such a shocking ordeal for some of them, that they had seen the victims
just a day earlier. And that's kind of how Lutz was. Neighbors knew each other. narrator: The press were also being given
information by the police. - Throughout the day, we had multiple updates from the sheriff's spokeswoman.
In between the updates, obviously there's chatter, there's information that trickles out.
And until it's confirmed, it's still not official. But one of the pieces of information
that had trickled out before was there was someone found in the closet. The neighbors knew that Lisa had a boyfriend.
No one thought that that's who had done it. ♪ ♪ narrator: What the press and the neighbors
didn't know at that point was that police already had their suspect in custody, and
what Edward Covington would tell detectives in his interview-- narrator: --would shock them to the core.
[suspenseful music] ♪ ♪ On May 12, 2008, police had been called to the scene of a horrific triple murder
in Hillsborough County, Florida. 26-year-old Lisa Freiberg and her children, seven-year-old Zachary and two-year-old Savannah,
had been found butchered inside their home. Lisa's boyfriend, Edward Covington,
had been discovered concealed in the closet. ♪ ♪ Jane Monckton-Smith: Hiding in the cupboard
is very strange behavior. There could be an element in that he had nowhere to go.
Where was he going to go? He could not escape that he was responsible for what had gone on in that house.
The forensics would have been absolutely everywhere. narrator: On May 14, 2008, after he'd
been assessed by doctors in a secure hospital, Edward Covington was interviewed by detectives.
Geoffrey Wansell: Covington is amazingly calm and collected. He's not weeping and wailing, and
he confesses to the killings. Troy J. Morgan: It was as if I'm just sitting, talking to,
you know, someone about what we had for dinner last night. I think he was wanting to get it off of his chest.
narrator: Covington gave detectives his side of the story. He'd been drinking and using crack cocaine the night
before Mother's Day. Troy J. Morgan: He wants to take her car to go get more drugs.
And then he gets upset because she won't allow him to. Dale Bunton: He knew that by combining alcohol and
the cocaine he was using, it was going to cause a bad reaction. He still did it anyway.
Troy J. Morgan: He wanted what he wanted. And he didn't care what was going to be in his way.
To lead to this type of violence on this family, and to take three people out of the lives of all their loved
ones is horrible. narrator: At approximately 10:00 in the morning and already simmering with rage, Covington
found two-year-old Savannah out of bed and lying on the couch. narrator: Two-year-old Savannah was the first to experience
Covington's wrath. Troy J. Morgan: He admitted everything he did, telling me how brave she was.
Because I asked, was she scared? Was she screaming? Was she crying? And he's like, oh, no.
She was so brave. And he seemed so proud of that. [grim music] - He was just as matter-of-fact about everything he did.
But he did indeed almost cut that little girl in half. ♪ ♪ narrator: Lisa Freiberg had been awoken by the sound
of the attack on her daughter. Dale Bunton: Lisa came out, and he then turned his violence on her.
She had multiple stab wounds, blows to her head. ♪ ♪ narrator: After killing Lisa, Covington
had then turned his murderous rage onto a sleeping seven-year-old Zachary. ♪ ♪
Troy J. Morgan: He said that there was really no movement, fight, nothing. Neither one of the kids put up a fight.
♪ ♪ - You're this close to this person when you're stabbing them, or you're cutting their throat,
or you're doing all those other things, that's personal. That's a different level.
♪ ♪ Geoffrey Wansell: Covington was quite open that he was responsible for the killings,
but what he never did was offer any kind of explanation about why he did it. narrator: Troy tried to determine
a motive for the murders. Troy J. Morgan: There was a lot of details that we had to continually ask because he
cut the boy's penis off. So my thought is, what is the purpose behind this? Is this sexually-driven?
And he literally was like, oh, gosh, no. Jane Monckton-Smith: I think he'd have deflected from that because that's something
that he would not want people saying about him, that he was a sex offender. He would rather be thought of as angry
than being sexually-motivated. And I think he'd have been quite adept at trying to get the police
to concentrate on the anger and ignore the sexual motivation. narrator: Detectives question Covington about where
he'd been found hiding. Troy J. Morgan: Most times you'll be interviewing somebody, there's some level of remorse,
right, for what they did. This one was definitely way different. narrator: As the interrogation continued,
Dale was tasked with investigating 35-year-old Covington's background. Dale Bunton: Even with somebody who confesses immediately,
you still need to build that case to prove it. narrator: Dale questioned Covington's previous employers.
Dale Bunton: He had worked for the Department of Corrections. They explained to me that they did have problems
with him, disciplinary issues, the tardiness and the just not even showing up for work.
He also had investigations on him for abusing inmates. narrator: On May 14, Dale got a call from a potential witness
to the Mother's Day murders. Dale Bunton: This gentleman was friends of a man that lived
right next door to the scene. He was helping him install a roof on his deck. And while he was there, he and his friend
kept hearing noises coming from the crime scene before it was known to be a crime scene.
And he was looking over there and he saw a window that was unobscured. The blinds were pulled off to the side
and he saw the gentleman that he knew frequented there. He could tell he was striking something.
He would also hear a subsequent what he thought was a dog yelping in pain. It was later determined that that dog
was beaten with a hammer. Being beaten 15 or more times, one after another, after another, after another, it's just so cold.
Shawn Freiberg: I think he did that just out of spite, because even though he already killed my sister,
he wanted to hurt her more because she knew that she loved all animals, and that
was another way to get her. [somber music] Dale Bunton: The animals, for some reason,
are my weak point now. I can disassociate myself from the human aspect usually pretty good.
When I get into the animals, I have a more difficult time. ♪ ♪ narrator: Dale needed to find out if the man in the window
was indeed Edward Covington. Dale Bunton: I went back to the office and used the suspect's photo as a base,
and then created a photo pack of similar looking individuals so that they could do an identification of the person
that they saw at the scene. And I told him, I want you to study it. I don't want you to just pick one.
And after 11 seconds, he said, it was this one right here. And he identified Edward Covington.
Jared Leone: It didn't come as a shock when he was named as a suspect. It just didn't make sense any other way
than it to be Edward Covington covered in blood, found in the closet. narrator: Edward Covington was charged
with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of abuse of a dead body,
and one count of animal cruelty. He'd confessed to the brutal and senseless murders
of the family who'd put their trust in him and allowed him into their home. It seemed he was willing to take
accountability for his actions, but that was about to change. [suspenseful music]
♪ ♪ On May 14, 2008, in Hillsborough County, Florida, 35-year-old Edward Covington had confessed
to the Mother's Day murders of his girlfriend Lisa and her two children, seven-year-old Zachary
and two-year-old Savannah. ♪ ♪ Troy J. Morgan: If you look at all the facts, it seems what other recourse does he have really, other
than just fall on the sword? Or is he going to take a chance and hope that he gets lucky?
And that's exactly what he tried to do. narrator: Despite his detailed confession,
at his plea hearing on June the 5th, 2008, Covington pled not guilty. Geoffrey Wansell: For almost six years,
Covington fought to be considered incapable of standing trial because of a mental imbalance.
In other words, I'm not guilty because I'm mad. Jane Monckton-Smith: This man is highly manipulative.
He must have known that he was not going to be able to beat the forensics. All he can do is try to defend what he did.
Now, one of his ways of defending himself is to raise the idea that I'm mentally ill,
that I had a psychotic moment. Maybe that had something to do with crouching in the bedroom,
hiding in the cupboard, just adding to this idea that this man is insane. And certainly, the crime scene looks
like only an insane person could have done that. [somber music] Geoffrey Wansell: Covington, he would work the system,
and that's exactly what he did for all those years before he actually came to trial.
♪ ♪ narrator: Ultimately, he was deemed competent to stand trial. And on October the 22nd, 2014, over six years since
the murders, 42-year-old Edward Covington finally appeared at the Hillsborough County
Circuit Court in Florida. The following day, after the opening statements had been read, Covington changed his plea to guilty
and waived his right to a jury for the penalty phase of his trial. Jane Monckton-Smith: And that might
look as if this is a man who's accepting responsibility for what he's done, but it's equally
possible that he's reached the end of the process. This trial is going ahead now.
All of his insanity pleas and everything, that's all been done. Now, if the trial goes ahead, all the detail comes out.
And the only way to protect himself from that is to plead guilty so there is no trial.
No jury gets to hear all of that stuff that might make him look like a sexual predator
or in some way he doesn't want to be represented. So I think it's quite possible that that guilty plea
at the last minute is another manipulation of the system to his benefit. narrator: Detective Troy Morgan was called to testify
at the sentencing hearing. Troy J. Morgan: We started playing the interview, and Covington asked not to be present
because he didn't want to relive it again, which I thought was selfish. He's worried about himself, which
I guess at this point in time, I guess that's all he's going to worry about. The judge made him come every single day to say,
I don't want to be here. And then they let him go, sit in a holding cell. Everything about Covington is selfish.
Everything is motivated around what he wants, what he needs. And that was clear in this murder.
narrator: The findings of the autopsies were presented to the judge. Dale Bunton: The youngest child,
the two-year-old daughter, Savannah, that was especially brutal. She had radiating fractures in leg bones, arm bones.
It was learned that he probably had picked her up by the legs and threw her against a wall and into the couch.
She had multiple stab wounds, just outrageously brutal. Savannah, I'm sure, felt the terror of what he was doing.
♪ ♪ narrator: Lisa had multiple injuries. Her skull was fractured. She'd been stabbed in the chest and her throat had been cut.
Dale Bunton: Zachary also had multiple stab wounds in his chest and his back and his neck.
♪ ♪ narrator: The numerous psychiatrists who evaluated Covington also gave evidence.
Geoffrey Wansell: One of the psychiatrists working for the state described him to the court
as threatening, aggressive, hostile, and angry. And I think that's exactly what he was,
and he couldn't control it. narrator: The details that came out during the hearing
were almost too much for the family to comprehend. Shawn Freiberg: He's not human.
He's a monster. How could you do that to a two-year-old? How could you do that to a seven-year-old?
How could you do that to a mother that was just trying to survive and find love?
How could he do that? I don't know, but that's why I consider him a monster and not human.
♪ ♪ narrator: Lisa's mom, Barbara, was invited to read a victim impact statement to the court.
♪ ♪ Barbara Freiberg: [recording] I miss Lisa, Zachary, and Savannah with everything in me.
I miss them so deeply that most times I can't stand it. I miss their voices, their smiles,
their hugs, and their kisses. The day I found them is the day I died too. My life has never been the same.
♪ ♪ narrator: For the family, the pain of losing Lisa, Zachary, and Savannah still
weighs heavily on their hearts. Shawn Freiberg: Lisa did so much for me and I could never tell her how much I love her.
I wish she was still around because I miss her that much. I miss her friendship.
I miss her guidance. She was my world. ♪ ♪ narrator: On May 29, 2015, at the Hillsborough County
Circuit Court, 42-year-old Edward Covington was sentenced to death. ♪ ♪ Troy J. Morgan: I would say that Edward Covington's murder
and dismemberment of this family was probably the most evil murder that I worked in my career.
♪ ♪ Thankfully, we won't have to worry about him hurting anybody else ever again.
Shawn Freiberg: Before this, I wouldn't be sure if I believed in the death penalty.
However, after going through what my family has gone through, I found that it is OK to be not thankful
but accepting of the death penalty sentence. Narrator: Edward Covington remains on death row
at the Union Correctional Institution in Florida, awaiting his fate. - I look forward to that day, and
I think that's when we can truly close the door and move on, once he is executed.
♪ ♪ I want this behind us. I want the monster gone. ♪ ♪ narrator: Covington slaughtered an entire family
in a murderous, drug-fueled rage. He went on to mutilate and violate their bodies
in one of the most horrific crimes that Hillsborough County has ever seen. He's never apologized for his actions
or offered any reasonable explanation for them, which is why Edward Covington will go down in history as one of the world's
most evil killers. [theme music] ♪ ♪

On Mother's Day in 2008, Edward Covington unleashed a horrifying and brutal attack on his girlfriend and her two young children in their home. He then spent hours mutilating and dismembering them before the police found him.

An in-depth look at the lives and crimes of some of the world's most evil killers, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez, Cary Stayner, Leonard Lake, Dorothea Puente and more.

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Brief Summary

Edward Covington brutally murdered Lisa Freiberg and her children in a Mother's Day massacre, revealing a history of violence and mental health issues.

Key points

Mother's Day Massacre. On May 11, 2008, Edward Covington unleashed horror on Lisa Freiberg and her children.
The Aftermath. Seven years later, Covington was sentenced to death for the brutal murders.
A Troubled Past. Covington's violent tendencies escalated after a failed marriage and substance abuse.
The Mother's Day Murders. Edward Covington confessed to the brutal murders of his girlfriend and her two children.
A Grieving Family. The impact of the murders on the family is profound and heartbreaking.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He's not a human. He's a monster.

Shawn Freiberg describes Edward Covington.

0:47WatchJun 19, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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