Baytown man kills his ex-wife sentenced to 46 years in prison
BAYTOWN - District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Allen Dale Edwards, 44, was sentenced to prison for fatally shooting his ex-wife, 29-year-old Keyanna Cherrell Gardiner.
According to Ogg, Edwards was convicted of murder on March 19, 2016, and sentenced by a grand jury on Oct. 31 to 46 years in prison.
"Domestic violence can take a lot of different forms, but too often we see it escalate into murder.There is absolutely no reason this man’s ex-wife and the mother of his children should be dead," Ogg said.
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Authorities say the former couple had two children, divorced, and were living separately for 3 years. Both Edwards and Gardiner had difficulties in their co- parenting relationship with unresolved problems over child custody.
According to officials, around 3a.m. on the night Gardiner was killed, she was riding in a white SUV with her female friend, and sleeping in friend's back seat.
The friend drove to Edwards' home and allegedly threw an aerosol can to break one of his windows at the house. After Edwards heard the window break, he told his mother to call the police. Then he grabbed his gun and drove after the two women in his car, not waiting for the police to arrive.
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Edwards eventually caught up to his ex-wife and friend's car on Highway 146 heading towards the Fred Hartman Bridge.
Officials say Edwards shot at the SUV through the glass of his driver’s side window, leaving a bullet hole in the tinted window.
Then Edwards got out of his car and fired into the SUV again. One bullet hit Gardiner in the chest, killing her.
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Following this, Edwards walked over to the friend's side of the car and punched her. Authorities say a Harris County Precinct 8 constables' deputy happen to be in the area and arrested Edwards.
Gardiner was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The Baytown Police Department did investigate the incident and soon filed charges on Edwards.