According to Tahj Hutchinson, Jessica Edwards’ husband, the couple spent three days fighting over the guinea pigs he gave her for Mother’s Day. On the third day, the argument became physical.
What We Know:
- The confrontation began on May 8, went on through May 9 (Mother’s Day), and reached a “breaking point” on May 10. He claims Edwards hit him on the head with a laptop and grabbed a kitchen knife. While wrestling for the knife, Hutchinson pinned Edwards to the ground, flipped her onto her stomach, and kneeled on her back and neck.
- Hutchinson also declared Edwards stopped moving; since he didn’t know why she was motionless, he got up to tend to their 7-month-old son. After not seeing her move for a while, he understood she died. Instead of calling the police, Hutchinson left her on the ground for the rest of the day, eventually throwing her body into the back of his Jeep Grand Cherokee.
- Yanique Edwards, Jessica’s sister, told the police she went to the pair’s South Windsor condominium after not hearing from Jessica all day. She noticed a blanket thrown over something in Hutchinson’s car and that he drove off shortly after she arrived. Yanique then reported her missing.
- Court documents state that Hutchinson professed he chose a “random GPS location” while driving to the East Hartford Police Department. He then threw Jessica’s body into the woods arrived at the law enforcement agency at 11:15 to report his wife was missing. He informed officers he drove to the East Hartford department because Jessica was previously at a home there. South Windsor police arrived for questioning quickly after Hutchinson filed a report.
- Throughout the following days, Jessica’s family organized search parties around her condo and distributed fliers with her picture throughout Hartford. Hutchinson also wrote a Facebook post asking her to return safely, despite knowing her whereabouts. He told the Edwards clan that Jessica left the morning of May 10 in a random car and left her phone.
- Both the East Hartford and South Windsor Police Departments considered Hutchinson a suspect because he entered the East Hartford location barefoot, appeared unemotional whenever they questioned him, and never asked for any updates on the case. Additionally, when police asked him about scratches on his face, Hutchinson said he got them while replacing his car’s brake pads. Yet, after obtaining several search warrants to acquire evidence, officials secured video surveillance footage, proving he never worked on the truck.
- Hutchinson came clean last Friday when investigators located Jessica’s remains near the Hockanum River Linear Park in East Hartford; location data from Hutchinson’s phone revealed he went there “just before and a few hours after” going to East Hartford Police. Officers arrested him on Friday night and charged him with first-degree manslaughter. Although medical examiners officially declared Jessica’s death a homicide on Monday, officials must wait for the investigation’s final results before adding extra charges.
Hutchinson’s bond was held at $1.5 million after an arraignment Monday in Superior Court in Manchester. However, Jessica’s loved ones asked the judge to deny him bail completely. “TJ should be denied bail the same way he denied the truth when he said Jessica got into a car with someone he never saw before… the same way Jessica’s baby boy is now denied the chance to grow up with his beautiful mother,” the family wrote in a statement to the court.
