(NewsNation) — Edward Wayne Edwards, a traveling handyman, kept his family on the move as he bounced from job to job in the late 1970s and early 80s. But murder seemed to follow them, and one day, someone put the pieces together: his daughter.
“As far as how long I knew, you know, as children, we see things that our parents don’t realize that we see. And when I first started seeing some things, I didn’t understand what they were and what it meant until I got older,” said April Balascio, Edwards’ daughter, on NewsNation’s “Banfield” Wednesday.
“So I had always known some things but didn’t start putting the pieces together. And I think my eyes really started opening around the fifth or sixth grade when I was in elementary school.”
April Balascio turned her story into an upcoming book, “Raised by a Serial Killer: Discovering the Truth About My Father.”
Edwards, who confessed to five murders, was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to death row. He died at 77 in 2011, a few months before his scheduled execution.
Balascio began researching cold cases and eventually tipped the police off about her father.
“He was he was well-liked. He was very charismatic, and that’s why when I turned him in, people that we knew, that knew us, they just couldn’t believe it. They didn’t. They were shocked,” Balascio said.
Edwards confessed to five murders, including the 1980 killings of a teenage couple later dubbed the “Sweetheart Murders.”
His daughter said she remembers he was abusive toward the family growing up.
“There was always that constant fear that his anger would erupt. You just never knew,” Balascio said. “He could be his happy self, the life of the party, or he could be angry and next thing you know, fists would be flying, or things would be flying.”
Edwards also admitted to killing his 25-year-old foster son in 1996.
“I watched him hit my mom in (her) stomach while she was pregnant. I saw him break my mom’s jaw,” Balascio said. “He’s thrown me across the room. He was just very abusive, so yeah there was a constant state of fear.”
Balascio, who also co-hosts “The Clearing” podcast detailing her story, said she doesn’t want the negatives about her father to overshadow the positives.
“He was still very loving, and I still remember good things, and I choose to remember the good things over the bad things,” she said.
Balascio’s book release date is Dec. 3.