A grieving mother lashed out at her daughter’s killer when they came face to face at a convenience store in Texas.
Darci Bass was shopping for groceries at a local store in the town of Hemphill, near the Louisiana border, when she found herself facing the man accused of murdering her 19-year-old daughter, Livye Lewis.
The meeting was anything but calm. Overcome with grief and rage, Bass uttered four heartbreaking words to Matthew Edgar, the man accused of her murder: “You killed my daughter!”
“When he walked in the door, I started throwing everything I could at him and went for him,” Bass said. CBS News as he recounted the moment that turned his stomach.
Livye was murdered on Halloween 2020, after being found dead on the side of a remote road in Hemphill in the early hours of the morning.
She was found hunched over the wheel of her car in a chilling scene after being shot in the neck with a rifle.
Investigators immediately suspected that Lewis knew his killer.
“She was sitting there with her legs crossed,” Sabine County Sheriff’s Investigator JP MacDonough told 48 Hours. ‘
That tells me she wasn’t afraid. She felt comfortable with whoever she was talking to.
Grieving mother Darci Bass, left, lashed out at the killer of her 19-year-old daughter, Livye Lewis (center), when they came face to face at a convenience store in Texas.
Livye Lewis, 19, who had plans to become a nurse, was murdered on Halloween 2020.
Investigators found Matthew Edgar, 23, her boyfriend, curled up in the fetal position behind their car, near where Lewis’ body was found. He claimed not to remember anything.
Not far from Lewis’ body, investigators found Matthew Edgar, 23, her boyfriend, curled up in the fetal position behind her car.
Next to him lay the rifle that quickly became the center of the investigation.
Bloodied but unharmed, Edgar was rushed to the hospital, where MacDonough interrogated him.
—When was the last time you saw Livye? MacDonough asked.
“Tonight,” Edgar replied, although he claimed not to remember how he ended up at the scene covered in blood.
—Don’t you know how you ended up on the ground behind the car… with the dead girl inside? MacDonough insisted.
“No, sir,” Edgar replied. “I have no idea.”
Despite Edgar’s sudden “amnesia,” his arrest seemed inevitable.
Lewis was found dead on the side of a remote road in Hemphill in the early hours of the morning.
Darci Bass, Lewis’ mother, is seen approaching officers asking for details about her daughter.
Overcome with grief and rage, Bass screamed at Matthew Edgar, the man accused of her daughter’s murder: “You killed my daughter!” You killed my daughter!’
Lewis had plans to go into nursing.
Investigators immediately suspected that Lewis knew his killer.
But his defense lawyer, Rob Hughes, disputed the case and pointed out significant gaps in the evidence.
“No fingerprints were taken and no DNA was extracted from the gun,” Hughes argued.
This uncertainty left room for doubt, even as investigators remained convinced of Edgar’s guilt.
As the investigation stalled, the pandemic further delayed justice.
With the courts closed and no grand jury convened, Texas law required that Edgar be released on bond.
For the mother, Bass, it was this confluence of circumstances that months later saw her encounter Edgar at her neighborhood store and her latent grief turning to rage.
“I just remember saying, ‘You killed my daughter… you killed my daughter,'” Bass recalled.
The verbal confrontation then turned physical when the couple walked out to the parking lot.
Bass grabbed a chain from Edgar’s truck and smashed it through his windshield.
Sabine County Sheriff’s Investigator JP MacDonough is Confident Edgar Was Lewis’ Killer
The rifle used to kill Lewis quickly became the center of the investigation.
A rifle, Edgar’s boots and a baseball cap were found on the side of the road.
Bass, right, was charged with assault after confronting the man who killed her daughter, left. The charges were later dropped.
‘She loved you!’ Bass cried in anguish, still desperate for answers. ‘She loved you and was good to you, your children and your family. What made you think that this was the answer to everything that was happening?
Edgar filed a complaint, which led to charges against Bass for assault, retaliation and criminal conduct, although public outrage and her anguish as a grieving mother led to the charges being dropped.
Finally, in March 2021, justice seemed to be within reach. A grand jury indicted Edgar for murder and his trial began.
On the fourth day of his test, he let the battery on his ankle monitor run out and ran.
The authorities went ahead with the trial in his absence and the jury found him guilty of the murder of Livye Lewis.
Edgar managed to evade capture for 11 months but when he was finally apprehended, he was sentenced to 99 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years.