Solving Murder of Beloved Texas Teacher | Bloodline Detectives with Nancy Grace | Forensic Files

[OMINOUS MUSIC] NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Beaumont, Texas, 1995-- the worried parents of Mary Catherine Edwards
let themselves into their daughter's home. The scene they find will haunt them the rest of their lives.
BRANDON BESS: Mr. Edwards walks upstairs and finds the bedroom to be in disarray.
It looks like there's been a struggle. And the mother finds Catherine handcuffed, shower curtain
is laying on the ground. She was deceased at that point. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): All investigative leads go cold.
Then, a new company and new forensic science offers a hope-- a hope of catching a killer.
I felt a sense of urgency. I had to identify him, and I needed this to happen today.
NANCY GRACE: This is the story of a 29-year-long hunt for a vicious predator who is finally
brought down by his own DNA. I'm Nancy Grace. This is "Bloodline Detectives." [THEME MUSIC]
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Beaumont, Texas, 1995-- Beaumont, located in the southeastern part
of the Lone Star State. In the early 1900s, Beaumont, the epicenter of the largest
oil boom in US history. In 1995, Beaumont is home to Mary Catherine Edwards. Friends and family call her Catherine.
She's a beautiful, vibrant, 31-year-old schoolteacher who is beloved not just by her students, but all
across the local community. MIKE LAIRD: Everybody talked about what a wonderful teacher she was, how much she loved her students.
Without a doubt, the number one thing in Catherine's life was her family. Her sister is her identical twin, and they are best friends.
There was a point in time where their photos were mixed up in the local yearbook, which was a long standing joke about how
no one could tell 'em apart. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): January 13, 1995--
Mary Catherine Edwards goes about her normal day. She's unaware of the terror that awaits her.
MIKE LAIRD: Mary Catherine Edwards was at work doing her usual thing, teaching fifth grade.
She had left her dog at her sister's, as she did every day. She went to her sister's, got her dog, she went home,
had a glass of wine. She talked to her sister on the phone. They had plans for the next day to have lunch with the family,
as they normally did. Saturday afternoon, they were planning on going to a movie.
AARON LEWALLEN: There was a man that she was dating at the time that was out of the state, and they spoke that evening,
probably around 10:30, 10:45. And then-- then she said she was going to go walk the dog
and then come back. And they spoke again and, to my knowledge, that's the last person that had contact with her.
January 14, 1995, Catherine had had plans to have a family lunch. And she did not show, and they had not been
able to reach her by phone. And they were concerned, so they went to her house to check on her.
Her house is in a very nice area of town, very safe neighborhood normally. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Mary Catherine Edwards' parents
are so concerned she's not at lunch, they decide to go to her home where they come across a horrible scene.
BRANDON BESS: Mr. Edwards walks upstairs and finds the bedroom to be in disarray.
PATRICK KNAUTH: It looks like there's been a struggle. Part of the bed post was broken off.
There's some stuff scattered on the floor. The sheet, the comforter, and that were pulled off so you
can see part of the mattress. And the mother finds Catherine draped over the bathtub, handcuffed, naked from the waist down.
The shower curtain is laying on the ground. She's screaming. TINA LEWALLEN: He did try to see if she was alive.
He moved her, laid her down. In an absolute perfect response of a father trying to protect his daughter, he pulled her back from the bathtub
and covered her. Because she was naked from the waist down. MIKE LAIRD: And the mother said he started hugging her.
He was just holding her, and crying, and weeping. She was deceased at that point.
The 911 calls to Beaumont Police began. TINA LEWALLEN: Being a mother, I cannot imagine what she went through that day making that phone call.
BRANDON BESS: So then Alison also made a phone call to Beaumont Police, relaying what her mother had said,
and in a very confused tone. You know, you could tell immediately that the reality of what her parents had called and told her
was not sinking in at all. MIKE LAIRD: When you go into a crime scene like this,
you don't know what becomes relevant. You never know what you need to take and what you need to leave behind.
So what they did was they took everything that they could think of. It appeared as though there was a struggle,
and possibly that Catherine had been raped on top of that bed. So they took all the comforter, sheets, pillowcases, everything.
MIKE LAIRD: They even took greeting cards, journals that she wrote in. They took calendars.
They even took travel brochures that she had, setting out, travel books that had little notes in it.
They did a very thorough job of grabbing everything they could think of and going through it.
SONNY ECKHART: And then they dusted a number of different points that would seem logical
where someone would touch-- the door and the door frame around the bathroom where Catherine was found.
And there were a number of prints and partial latent prints that were found. NANCY GRACE: The most unusual, and perhaps
one of the most vital pieces of evidence, are handcuffs that are used to restrain Mary Catherine Edwards.
Police wonder who would have access to handcuffs. BRANDON BESS: In my 32 years of law enforcement and 20-something
years in investigative services, I never worked another case that involved handcuffs.
NANCY GRACE: Mary Catherine Edwards' parents and her identical twin sister, Alison, try their best to cope with their devastating loss.
Meanwhile, Beaumont detectives try to track down a killer. Are the handcuffs a clue that the perp works amongst them
within the police force? We find out next on "Bloodline Detectives." [OMINOUS CHORDS]
[OMINOUS CHORDS] [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): January 14, 1995--
the body of 31-year-old Mary Catherine Edwards discovered by her distraught parents in her Beaumont,
Texas, home. The school teacher, found half-naked in her bathtub with handcuffs still on her wrists.
Police, concerned the handcuffs indicate the attacker could be in law enforcement.
They hope autopsy will reveal important clues. In Catherine's case, it was determined
that her cause of death was drowning, and that it indeed was a result of homicidal violence.
Catherine had well over 30 injuries to her body, which indicated to me, when reading that,
that she had put up a fight. However, just like we use handcuffs to control people that we arrest, the suspect
used handcuffs to control her. And it becomes a very effective means of control,
and there's not a lot of fighting you can do. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Beaumont detectives interviewed
Mary Catherine Edwards' neighbors, in case they heard or saw any suspicious activity that night.
PATRICK KNAUTH: The neighbors that were right next to the apartment had indicated that they had
heard some sounds during the night, which could have indicated a struggle. AARON LEWALLEN: One was a young boy that heard somebody
running down the stairs, and then a door slam, and then a car drive off with loud music.
Another was a neighbor that shared a wall with her bedroom that heard some loud thumping and wasn't quite sure what it
was, but just went back to sleep and, of course, didn't tell anybody until they were knocking on doors
to canvas the neighborhood. He heard thumps for 60 to 90 seconds, and that was probably her putting
a fight plus the sexual assault occurring. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Two men quickly become prime suspects
in the investigation-- Mary Catherine Edwards' current boyfriend and an ex-boyfriend.
The man that she was dating at the time was out of state. He cooperated and was able-- his alibi was he was out of state,
and that was pretty easy to establish. However, she did have an ex-relationship, an ex-boyfriend
that had been the focus of the investigation for quite some time. He lived in Houston at the time.
And he did come in, and was interviewed, and participated in a polygraph, and freely gave a DNA
sample in the form of a blood sample in an effort to help the case. They cleared him early on with DNA.
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): The two boyfriends are ruled out as prime suspects. Detectives decide to re-examine a crucial piece of evidence.
TINA LEWALLEN: With the use of handcuffs, which law enforcement carry on them every day, all day,
we absolutely could not eliminate that the suspect was in law enforcement. They looked for prints on them and got no results.
Then they tried to trace the origin through the manufacturer of these handcuffs, and we're not able to find
an original point of sale. AARON LEWALLEN: Smith and Wesson is one of the major brands
of handcuffs in the country, but there are several others, as well. You know, one of the things that was kind of the elephant
in the room for years was that, you know, it could've been a police officer. It did kind of lead us down a path
that maybe it was one of our own that did it. TINA LEWALLEN: There was a lot of law
enforcement interviewed, a lot of DNA taken from law enforcement. Some was taken voluntarily and some was
taken without them knowing it. PATRICK KNAUTH: All the Beaumont police department
had-- every police officer had to turn in their handcuffs, and they went through that.
They looked at prior police officers that had had disciplinary problems, that had been let go.
Two doors down, one of the neighbors had been involved in law enforcement, and they took a sample from that person.
Of course, that person was excluded as well. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): A male DNA profile
belonging to the killer is created and then uploaded to the CODIS national database.
Law enforcement can take a sample from someone, either the suspect or someone that they've arrested,
and they can actually send it into the database to see if it's a match. AARON LEWALLEN: In this case, we did take a sample
from the sexual assault kit, entered it into CODIS, and it didn't generate any leads--
telling us either that our suspect had never been arrested or at least never had DNA taken from him.
Usually, these types of cases, or these types of crimes involve someone that the victim knew.
When that doesn't produce any viable leads, you just continue to expand that search, and expand that search,
and expand that search. And if no leads develop, then obviously the case goes cold.
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): One by one, every single lead runs dry. Months turn into years, and Mary Catherine
Edwards' murder case goes cold. PATRICK KNAUTH: Periodically, people would take a look at the case to give it new eyes.
As the technology was advancing, we were re-examining it. Checking this, checking that, and would
rule out different suspects through the years. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Police periodically
revisit Mary Catherine Edwards' murder case throughout the years. DNA science also continues to advance.
By 2019, a revolutionary forensic technique is available to law enforcement who are working on cold cases.
It's called investigative genetic genealogy. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] Forensic genetic genealogy is a tool for law enforcement
to solve their cold cases. They utilize DNA databases. So once a profile is built, it's uploaded to DNA databases
where that profile is matched with its genetic relatives. AARON LEWALLEN: There's a database
that we use called GEDmatch. And it's very much like a commercial DNA database, except that the user has to opt in to help law enforcement.
And that's the database that we use. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Arthur M. Labs is a Texas-based company specializing
in investigative genetic genealogy, and Arthur M. contacts Texas Ranger Brandon Bess.
BRANDON BESS: I was doing some cold case work at the time. They learned of some cases that I had worked with the FBI using
forensic genetic genealogy to solve a 40-plus-year-old homicide. So they reached out and said, hey, we're a new company.
This is what we do. We'd like to come talk to you. So we connected at that point, and I
began looking at my cases that had DNA that didn't have hits in them. AARON LEWALLEN: So I was approached
by Ranger Brandon Bess. He had come into contact with him on another case that he was working and told me about the--
the wonderful things that they were doing in DNA research and genetic genealogy.
I thought it was great. And Brandon asked me if we thought we had a case that this would work on.
And I first thought of Catherine Edwards. I said, absolutely, we do. NANCY GRACE: It's 2019.
Beaumont, Texas detectives collaborate with cutting edge Othram Labs to try and solve the 1995 murder of a beautiful,
young 31-year-old schoolteacher, Mary Catherine Edwards. But will investigators be able to harness groundbreaking
science and ID Catherine's killer after 24 years? That's next on "Bloodline Detectives."
[OMINOUS CHORDS] [OMINOUS CHORDS] [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Beaumont, Texas, 2019--
detectives partnered with Othram Labs to try and solve a rape and murder back in 1995.
That's when the body of Mary Catherine Edwards, found in her home by her own parents.
The 31-year-old school teacher discovered handcuffed, half-naked in her own bathtub.
Othram, a leader in the science of investigative genetic genealogy. This new forensic weapon allows investigators
to use DNA from an original crime scene to build a family tree, which could lead to a prime suspect.
KRISTEN MITTELMAN: Othram is the first lab in the world that was purpose-built to identify perpetrators
and victims from crime scenes. By purpose-built, I mean we built technology from the ground
up, called it forensic grade genome sequencing, that allowed us to work with the most intractable DNA
evidence from forensic crime scenes and still be able to build DNA profiles that can be uploaded
and compared to fresh DNA profiles that people can send into DNA databases for law enforcement
to search and help you identify the matches necessary to identify the perpetrator or the victim
from a crime scene. So we ended up meeting with the DA's office and Othram went through their sales pitch with them
and told them what they were capable of. And it was a match made in heaven at that point.
KRISTEN MITTELMAN: The evidence that was given to us was cuttings from the comforter that
contained semen of an unknown male, and also the vaginal swab. We extracted DNA from both, and the better
perpetrator DNA fraction appeared to be from the vaginal swab. So we proceeded with testing that sample
to build a DNA profile. It turned out that this person belonged to a Cajun population, which is an endogamous population.
In genealogy terms, it means that the founding families for this population are fewer and fewer,
and so you will look like you're more related than you actually are. When we started the investigation
and we saw what the difficulties were going to be in a Cajun ancestry case, we thought,
this is going to be brutal. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): The team at Othram Labs creates a DNA profile belonging to the killer.
That profile is then uploaded to a commercial and public website, GEDmatch, April 2020.
And then, in January of '21, we got our first GEDmatch hit that was some distant
relative of our suspect. From there, we started building the family tree, you know,
using open source records. I was at the kitchen table one day talking about it, and Tina's like, hey, let me if I can help.
So then it became a partnership amongst our own marriage and partnership of us working together to solve this case.
She would work the family tree. When she would give me a name. We would look for commonalities common to our case,
whether it be age, location being Beaumont, any connection to Catherine along those lines.
And we would check different databases that we'd have to try and develop suspects.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] TINA LEWALLEN: I felt a sense of urgency. I had to identify him before he died,
and I needed this to happen today. And as I'm building trees, I keep seeing this lady's
name that she's building trees. So as I'm researching a person, I see this other person has
already researched them and they're on a family tree that she built. So we'll reach out,
we'll contact her and see what role is she playing in this. How far has she gotten?
I got a phone call in January of 2021 from Detective Aaron Lewallen, and he told me that they
were working a cold case. I told him that I was a genetic genealogist, I helped adoptees, I had worked a couple of law enforcement
cases before, and that I was happy to help them in any way that I could. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Shera LaPoint
works as an independent genetic genealogist and as a lecturer. Much of her genealogy work has crossed over
with Detective Aaron Lewallen. The kit that matched their information the highest,
I knew that was my father-in-law's DNA kit. I knew it wasn't a close relationship,
that it was at least a second cousin or further. And I wasn't concerned that it was one of his uncles or nephews
or anything like that. And I kept thinking that this process works, and if it were my daughter who was raped or murdered,
I would want every lead to be followed. Most of the tree working that we did was from generations back.
And then, as we built down to the living, we were able to reach out and get DNA samples.
There were times when people would look at us really skeptically, you know, like, I don't want
the government to have my DNA. And I would talk to them and say, look, Google the police
department, to verify who we were so that we would gain a level of trust with them.
And as this went on, we would meet with them and they would give us either a buccal swab to get their DNA that way,
or what we found a lot of the time was that they had already done one of the commercial DNA companies, and they
would just give us their kits. Not everybody that we approached, we wanted to approach that way.
Because it could have been a suspect. Right? So there were times when we might have had to do some things
that were surreptitious. I remember one time we swabbed a door handle and a gas cap on a vehicle that was at a university parking lot.
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Beaumont detectives work together almost nonstop. They collect DNA samples from distant relatives of the killer.
And finally, a breakthrough, they get a match. We found a gentleman who matched my father-in-law.
His DNA was compared. He was almost twice the amount as my father-in-law, so he was a closer match.
And what we did at that point was build his family tree out. But we weren't sure if it was on his mother's
side or his father's side. We actually did both. I gave them names. They contacted people on both sides of the family.
And we were able to finally determine determined that it was on his mother's side of the family.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Beaumont detectives take a closer look at the mother's side of the family.
SHERA LAPOINT: Census records showed that their parents lived in the Beaumont area
and that they had two sons. And I remember finding yearbook pictures of the sons.
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): The two sons become prime suspects in the 1995 brutal sex assault
and murder of a young school teacher, Mary Catherine Edwards. We had DNA on both sides.
And when you're doing this work, that's a signal that there's something to check into.
It had both led to these set of parents, and that the suspect was going to be an offspring of this set
of parents, the Foreman parent. We were in our living room, and got very excited that there were two brothers
that were from Beaumont. And they were the right age range for the suspect we were looking for.
The actual names of the brothers who were in Beaumont were Clayton Bernard Foreman and Michael Foreman.
So I give my husband the names of those brothers-- AARON LEWALLEN: And I run it through a database
that we have access to. And as I'm scrolling through it, looking at it, I find that this guy has a sexual assault from 1981.
So that next day, I was still communicating with the records supervisor, and I got her to pull the case
file and send it to me. And as I read through it, the clouds parted and angels sang.
It was just a wonderful moment of discovery because we saw similarities. The suspect in the '81 sexual assault
told the victim, that he a police officer. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] We had that-- that connection of the handcuffs
in Catherine's case. This guy's telling this victim that he's a police officer, and then continues to--
to reassure her that he's OK-- an OK guy, because she went to school with his brother.
She had been stranded, it had been raining, and he offered to give her a ride. Ultimately, he did not go directly to her home.
He took her to a secluded area and sexually assaulted her. He pulled a knife on her and ultimately bound
her hands behind her back. He did ended up bringing her home and then made some sort
of apology, "I hope I didn't hurt you," when he dropped her off. She ultimately did come to the police.
There were so many things that just went wrong. Our victim was 19 years old. She was absolutely traumatized.
How law enforcement handled that case is not the way it would be handled now. We have so many checks, and balances, and rules in place,
there would immediately be a submission of DNA. He would immediately go into CODIS.
If you're arrested for a felony, any felony, your DNA goes into CODIS now. Had that happened, and had CODIS been a thing in 1981,
his DNA would have went into the system upon his arrest. Having been given a deferred sentence, which allowed him
to basically not be a convicted offender, not having to register himself, not having to do all these things,
that would have solved this crime in 1995. So then we did a quick search of the brother,
who had a crystal clean criminal record. BRANDON BESS: So you got two people to look at.
Who is your most likely target? We have a sex crime and we have a sex offender. He's our guy.
He's who we go for. PATRICK KNAUTH: He was identified as Clayton Foreman. He did go to school with her, as did his brother.
And we learned that this is something he was absolutely capable of. All the evidence strongly points
to one man and one man only-- Clayton Foreman. But where is Foreman now? Detectives need a DNA sample from Foreman
to confirm, beyond a doubt, he is the one that raped and murdered Mary Catherine Edwards back in 1995.
That's next on "Bloodline Detectives." [OMINOUS CHORDS] [OMINOUS CHORDS] [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): April 2020, Beaumont, Texas-- police reopen the 1995 sex assault
and murder of 31-year-old teacher Mary Catherine Edwards. Mary Catherine, found half-naked and handcuffed in her bathtub.
Now, investigators using investigative genetic genealogy to narrow down to one suspect living in Ohio.
His name? Clayton Foreman. Being able to decipher the source of the DNA on the vaginal swab was a very important step in moving
that investigation forward. It was stalled for years because they were unable to find
a match in CODIS. TINA LEWALLEN: The law enforcement in Ohio obtained Foreman's trash that was left
on the side of the road, and they sent it to my husband, who got it to the lab. And the lab was able to make a confirmation that the DNA
was the same as our suspect. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] AARON LEWALLEN: We had our match,
that it was indeed Clayton Foreman who had left his DNA in Catherine's home. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Detectives
believe it's time to tell Mary Catherine Edwards' family about the suspect. Her parents and brother had passed away,
but they are able to share the news with someone very special-- her identical twin sister, Alison.
I had never spoken to her. I had never met her up until that night. I called her to get her address, told her we had some news.
And there was an immediate emotional moment. You know, she came and gave me a big hug
and it was-- we were both crying. So we sat down and I gave her the information,
the identity of the suspect. And that's when she told us that they'd gone to school with him
and that they knew his ex-wife, and that both her and Catherine had been bridesmaids in his wedding
in 1982. All throughout all the journals, all throughout all the cards, all throughout everything
that the police went through, there was only one mention of Clayton Foreman in the entire group.
And that was a letter from his wife to the girls, or a card thanking them and-- and mentioning him in the card.
SONNY ECKHART: We believed he used his relationship with his ex-wife as a way to gain entry
into Catherine Edwards' house. TINA LEWALLEN: Beaumont, Texas, detectives are building their case against Clayton Foreman,
but they don't want him to know they're after him. So they work carefully to make sure he doesn't find out.
So it was kept very quiet who our suspect was. He actually did have a lot of friends in law enforcement.
We had a mutual friend in law enforcement that I knew they did not talk regularly,
but they were friends on Facebook. So he was keeping me posted if there was something I needed to know.
And it was either the next day or two days later, after I tell him I need you to monitor this and let me know,
he said, hey, just letting you know they are packing up and moving out of state.
That's all I know. We just weren't sure where he was going to move to, whether we
would lose him, how long it would take him to show up on the radar for us to locate him again.
We knew exactly where he was right now. There was no need to wait any longer. They flew me and Brandon Bess to Ohio,
where we coordinated with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. They went and did a knock and talk with Clayton Foreman.
And the ruse was that there was an investigation of a woman who was missing a purse, and he was an Uber driver at the time,
and would he mind cooperating in this investigation. So once they brought him to the station,
we meet him in an interview room and introduce ourselves as detectives from Texas, and that we're here to talk
about Catherine Edwards. He already had an arrest warrant, but we wanted to do a noncustodial interview.
So we allowed him the opportunity to leave. And he chose to engage us in conversation
and could have left at any point. We even gave him the option of sitting at the chair
closest to the door, asking him to check the lock, make sure it wasn't locked, to reassure
him that he was not in custody. So from there, you know, we had kind of already learned
that he was enamored with police work, and we really thought that him being interviewed
by a Texas Ranger would get his tongue moving a little bit easier. So Brandon led the interview.
Did you know who Catherine was? Did you ever date her? Did you ever have dinner with her?
All his answers were, they were just in my wedding. He seemed to be very relaxed in all his answers.
And, of course, all his answers were doing nothing but sinking him further, and further,
and further. MIKE LAIRD: You have DNA on someone, all they have to do is say I had a relationship with them.
And that puts us in a bad position, because there's a reason for the DNA being there
and we have to disprove it. But when they deny any contact with them or ever being there,
that's-- that's gold. So once we backed him into those corners-- well, if all these answers are no, and if all that's true,
then can you explain how your DNA ended up on her? He goes, I don't think I want to answer that question.
I think I need a lawyer. We got what we needed. He just didn't know that we got what we needed.
He confessed without confessing. BRANDON BESS: So we allowed him to walk out of the room.
My recollection is he made it about probably 25 steps, around a corner, and we went around and announced that,
Clayton Foreman, you were under arrest for the murder of Catherine Edwards. We used the handcuffs that he used on Catherine
to handcuff him with. MIKE LAIRD: He was told, the last time these handcuffs got used, you left them behind.
Well, he was taken to the local jail there, and then it became a process of extraditing him.
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Beaumont Police, preparing for a trial they've been waiting on nearly 30 years.
We find out what happens next on "Bloodline Detectives." [OMINOUS CHORDS] [OMINOUS CHORDS]
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): 2021, Beaumont, Texas-- police arrest a suspect in the 1995 sex assault
and murder of a beautiful young school teacher, Mary Catherine Edwards. His name?
Clayton Foreman. But now detectives must build a case against Foreman so he can be brought to trial.
PATRICK KNAUTH: When you have a case that's almost 30 years old, people die, people move on, record keeping
becomes not as good. It's better now than it was back then, you know, and so you're trying to piece together what happened
30 years ago and then trying to, you know, get people to remember what happened.
We knew one of the first people we wanted to interview was his ex-wife here in town.
I told her that Alison said she might be able to answer some questions for me. She told me about him not coming home at night, all night long.
And they had one car between the two of them. Something made her look in the trunk of the car,
and in the trunk of a car was a briefcase with pornographic magazines, handcuffs, and a gun.
It was very obvious to me, in the back of her mind, this had been haunting her for years.
At trial, it came out that he had some sort of weird obsession with the Edwards twins.
Even though they didn't know him at all in high school, he told his ex-wife, who was his then girlfriend, that he
felt protective of the twins and thought they were such wonderful people. It's absolutely eerie.
His first wife and Mary Catherine could be sisters, they look so much alike. It gave me chills.
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): The trial commences March 12, 2024. BRANDON BESS: I love going to trial.
I love testifying. Some policemen are terrified. Some people are terrified to speak in public.
But again, going back to what I said earlier, that's the point where I really get to speak for Catherine.
SONNY ECKHART: Looking for jurors that will understand some of the complex topics that might come up in a case like this,
especially if they have to hear from a competing DNA expert from the defense. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): Mary Catherine's
identical twin sister, Alison, now 60 years old, and she bravely decides she will testify at trial.
MIKE LAIRD: There wasn't a dry eye In the house. Because just listening to the gut wrenching sorrow
that she had for losing her twin, I mean, it really was emotional and impactful.
And it was important for her, but it was more important for the jury. Because the jury needed to know that it's not about him.
It's about this lady that was a sister, who was a school teacher, who was a daughter, a good person, that she
had been brutalized, and that-- the effect it had on everyone else. NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): The jury
also hears from another woman who was sexually assaulted by Clayton Foreman back in 1981.
Not one time did his expression change. There was not any sign of remorse. Even when the 1981 rape victim testified,
and we're all crying because she just broke our hearts, not one tear. Not one-- not even one flinch.
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): The trial of Clayton Foreman lasts seven long days. 30 people testify, but the jury is
quick to decide Foreman's fate. It did not take them very long, about, I think, under 40 minutes.
And the verdict was a guilty on capital murder. BRANDON BESS: And-- and this led to a life sentence.
I believe that Clayton Foreman's sentence was appropriate, and I believe that the rest of his life
is going to be miserable. He's evil, and he's a murderer and rapist, and I hope he spends what short life he
has locked up and reflecting upon the evils that he's done and the mess of his life.
TINA LEWALLEN: When I think of justice, I think of the scales of justice, and they're balanced.
Catherine's not here. In my heart, this isn't justice. This is the best we could do with what we've got.
This case really hinged on forensic genetic genealogy and on the DNA testing, because they
really didn't have a good lead on who the person was. MIKE LAIRD: I know that the DNA put the nail in the coffin,
but we wouldn't have gotten to the DNA without the forensic genetic genealogy. My goodness.
Technology-- when I started doing this seven years ago, what can be done now as to what could even be done then
is mind blowing. And it's forever changing. AARON LEWALLEN: So her brother passed the week
that we got our first lead and, of course, her parents passing years before, it is sad.
Because I would have liked for them to have seen closure prior to their passing here.
SONNY ECKHART: Because of the good, kind-hearted people that they were, finding the killer
was really an afterthought. Because what they really wanted was their daughter. TINA LEWALLEN: Alison, more than anything,
she wants her sister to be remembered and for people to know who her sister was.
A loss this deep is a scar. And it heals, but it's never like it was before. [SOMBER MUSIC]
NANCY GRACE (VOICEOVER): For Alison Edwards, the loss of her identical twin sister, Catherine,
means a part of her also left this Earth that winter's day, 1995. Her 29-year-long wait for justice finally comes.
Why? Because of the amazing work of detectives and scientists and, of course, genealogists who would never quit until a killer
is behind bars. I'm Nancy Grace. Thank you for joining us here on "Bloodline Detectives."
[OMINOUS CHORDS] [OMINOUS CHORDS] [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

1995, Beaumont, Texas, the parents of Mary Catherine Edwards find her brutalized body in her bathroom. The killer evades justice, that is, until forensic science catches up on him.

Now in its fifth season, Bloodline Detectives is the leading true crime series that explores how police departments harness genetic genealogy to solve crimes that were once considered "unsolvable," bringing long-awaited answers to victims' families.

Brief Summary

Mary Catherine Edwards was murdered in 1995; Clayton Foreman was identified as her killer through DNA evidence and genetic genealogy.

Key points

The Discovery of a Tragedy. Mary Catherine Edwards is found deceased in her home, shocking her family and community.
A 29-Year-Long Hunt. Nancy Grace narrates the long investigation into the murder of Mary Catherine Edwards.
Breakthrough in Cold Case. In 2019, detectives use groundbreaking forensic techniques to revisit the cold case.
The Discovery of Evidence. A breakthrough moment occurs when crucial evidence is found linking the suspect to the crime.
The Arrest of Clayton Foreman. Clayton Foreman is arrested for the murder of Mary Catherine Edwards after nearly 30 years.
Trial Commences. The trial for Clayton Foreman begins, with emotional testimonies from family and victims.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is the story of a 29-year-long hunt.

Nancy Grace introduces the case.

1:04WatchMay 25, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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