The Lisa Spence murder was a 2009 South Florida killing in which 35-year-old Lisa Spence was stabbed more than 30 times and decapitated by her boyfriend, Paul Edwards, who hid her body in a 55-gallon barrel in a Miami Gardens field. Miramar detectives cracked the case by cloning Spence’s cell phone and texting Edwards from it, prompting him to drive straight to the spot where he had dumped her remains. Edwards was convicted of first-degree murder in July 2015 and sentenced to life in prison.1Sun-Sentinel. Man Convicted of Beheading Girlfriend Sentenced to Life in Prison
Who Lisa Spence Was
Lisa Rhonda Spence was a native of Trinidad and a mother of two who had moved to South Florida about four years before her death to live with Edwards, also Trinidadian and a former officer with the Trinidad and Tobago Prisons Service.2Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. Former T&T Prisons Officer Charged in Florida Murder She worked as a cashier at Bella Beauty Supplies and at a Kwik Stop off Pembroke Road in Miramar.3Los Angeles Times. Texts From Dead Woman’s Phone Spur Boyfriend to Lead Cops to Her Body The relationship with Edwards was described as abusive.4Orlando Sentinel. New Details of 2009 Miramar Beheading Case Revealed in Felonious Florida Podcast Spence spoke by phone with her daughter, Cerline Stewart, who lived in Trinidad, several times a day.1Sun-Sentinel. Man Convicted of Beheading Girlfriend Sentenced to Life in Prison
The Disappearance and the Suspicious Texts
Spence was last seen on October 7, 2009, at the beauty supply shop where she worked.5Sun-Sentinel. Man Accused of Beheading Girlfriend Told Police He Didn’t Know Where She Was She had been planning to move out of the apartment she shared with Edwards and wanted to pack while he was away.3Los Angeles Times. Texts From Dead Woman’s Phone Spur Boyfriend to Lead Cops to Her Body When she failed to call her daughter after her shift, Stewart grew worried.
Within a day, friends and family began receiving text messages from Spence’s phone claiming she had suddenly left town for a job, possibly near Jacksonville. Stewart later testified that the texts sent to her misspelled her own name and that her mother did not usually communicate by text.1Sun-Sentinel. Man Convicted of Beheading Girlfriend Sentenced to Life in Prison When Miramar detectives interviewed Edwards on October 14, 2009, he said Spence had simply left him. Officers noted he was sweating, appeared nervous, and had cuts on his hand and forearm.6District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District. Edwards v. State, No. 4D15-3253
The Cloned Phone Ruse
Cell tower records undercut the story the texts were telling. Although the messages placed Spence near Jacksonville, her phone had never left South Florida, and Edwards’ phone tracked alongside it.3Los Angeles Times. Texts From Dead Woman’s Phone Spur Boyfriend to Lead Cops to Her Body Investigators also found blood matching Spence in the couple’s apartment and in the back of a rented Toyota Highlander Edwards admitted driving around the time she vanished.
On November 5, 2009, Miramar detectives assigned Spence’s phone number to a new device and sent Edwards one message: “Just wait til I got better.”7Palm Beach Post. Texts From Dead Woman’s Phone Lead to Arrest Minutes later, Edwards got into his mother’s car and drove to a series of locations across South Florida with police following. One stop was a friend’s home in Miami Gardens, next to a vacant field.1Sun-Sentinel. Man Convicted of Beheading Girlfriend Sentenced to Life in Prison
Finding the Body
On December 16, 2009, police returned to the vacant field in the 20700 block of Northwest 41st Avenue with cadaver dogs. The dogs led officers to a sealed 55-gallon barrel containing Spence’s body.7Palm Beach Post. Texts From Dead Woman’s Phone Lead to Arrest A friend of Spence’s identified the barrel as one previously seen at the couple’s apartment and next to Edwards’ SUV before she disappeared.6District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District. Edwards v. State, No. 4D15-3253
The autopsy found roughly 30 stab wounds, several of them independently fatal, and confirmed the decapitation. Erin Barnhart, the medical examiner’s fellow who performed the autopsy, testified that she could not determine whether Spence was alive or dead when the decapitation began.8Sun-Sentinel. Jurors See Grisly Autopsy Photos in Miramar Beheading Case Her head was never recovered.9Sun-Sentinel. Texts From Dead Woman’s Phone Spur Boyfriend to Lead Cops to Her Body
Trial and Conviction
Edwards, then 44, was arrested on April 14, 2010, charged with first-degree murder, and held without bail.10NBC Miami. Man Accused of Decapitating Girlfriend He waited more than five years in the Broward County Jail before trial. The case went to a jury in July 2015 before Circuit Judge Andrew L. Siegel.
Prosecutors built a circumstantial case: witnesses who had seen the barrel at Edwards’ apartment and beside his SUV, cell tower records placing both phones together around the time of the killing, and blood evidence from the apartment and the Highlander. They pointed to Edwards’ shifting accounts of where Spence had gone, telling her daughter she moved to Jacksonville, telling police she left on her own, and separately telling them she left with another man.6District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District. Edwards v. State, No. 4D15-3253 Spence’s brother testified that Edwards told him during a phone call, “it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
The defense argued Spence had voluntarily packed and left, and that investigators had tunnel vision. Defense attorney Josie James told jurors there was no proof Edwards sent the suspicious texts and that his drive near the body was coincidence.11Orlando Sentinel. Miramar Man Convicted in Girlfriend’s 2009 Beheading The jury deliberated for about three hours on July 24, 2015, and returned a guilty verdict that evening.
Sentence and Appeals
On July 29, 2015, Judge Siegel imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison. Edwards did not speak. Cerline Stewart, then 23 and still in Trinidad, addressed the court by phone, saying her mother had disappeared just before her 18th birthday and that “words cannot express the pain my family has endured since my mother’s death.”12NBC Miami. Man Gets Life Sentence for Killing, Beheading Girlfriend
Edwards appealed, arguing the circumstantial evidence was too thin to sustain the conviction. On November 1, 2017, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal disagreed, finding the evidence let jurors infer guilt to the exclusion of every reasonable alternative, and rejected his other issues as meritless.6District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District. Edwards v. State, No. 4D15-3253 A later postconviction motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 was denied, and on January 12, 2023, the Fourth District affirmed that denial without a written opinion.13Justia. Edwards v. State, No. 4D22-1516 Edwards remains in prison serving his life sentence.