Memorial service set for children, mother killed in Vinings apparent murder-suicide

A service is set for next week for the three members of a prominent Atlanta family killed in an apparent double murder-suicide.

Marsha Edwards, 58, and her two children, 24-year-old Christopher Edwards II and 20-year-old Erin Edwards, will be remembered during a memorial Wednesday in southwest Atlanta, according to a spokesman for the family.

The service is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at Cascade United Methodist Church, which is at 3144 Cascade Road.

Credit: Marsha Edwards' Facebook Page

Credit: Marsha Edwards' Facebook Page

Investigators believe Marsha, the former wife of surgeon and civic leader Christoper Edwards, shot and killed the couple’s children before turning the gun on herself. Their bodies were found by police Wednesday inside her upscale Vinings townhouse after officers were asked to perform a wellness check.

RELATED: Ex-wife of Atlanta Housing chairman killed 2 children, herself, police say

Lots of questions remained unanswered Friday. Among them:

• Who requested the wellness check?

• When did the shootings take place?

• What kind of gun was used?

• Who is the registered owner of the gun?

• What evidence prompted authorities to classify the investigation as a double murder-suicide?

It could be weeks before autopsy and toxicology results shed light on those and other questions.

“Dr. Edwards, his extended family and friends are in a state of grief and shock, and privacy of the family is paramount as arrangements are being made,” spokesman Jeff Dickerson said Thursday in an emailed statement.

A longtime fixture in the Atlanta medical community, Edwards serves on the board of trustees of the Morehouse School of Medicine and was formerly on the board of Grady Memorial Hospital. He is the chairman of the Atlanta Housing Authority board.

As news of the deaths spread, condolences poured in from those who knew the family and strangers touched by the tragedy. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and her husband were among the mourners.

Erin Edwards, a Boston University student, was an intern in the mayor’s communications office last summer. Christopher Edwards II joined the Atlanta film and entertainment office in 2018 as a digital content manager.

Both were Woodward Academy graduates.

They were “promising young adults and budding NABJ media professionals,” said Sarah Glover, the former president of the National Association of Black Journalists. Glover said on Twitter she met the siblings at a conference in 2017.

Their mother, a medical equipment provider, was also a member of the organization, which advocates for and supports black journalists.

AJC.com has reached out to Cobb police for additional information about the deaths.

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