‘Catfish cop’ presented himself as detective in California and more Va. headlines

• Former Virginia law enforcement officer Austin Lee Edwards presented himself as a “detective” to trick a California family into cooperating with him before he killed three people and tried to abduct a 15-year-old girl, according to a relative who spoke to him on the day of the killings.—Los Angeles Times

• The Washington County Board of Supervisors recently rejected a wrongful death claim filed by relatives of Edwards’ victims, with the county attorney saying neither the local government nor the sheriff’s office have “any responsibility” for what occurred in California.—WJHL

• A Florida man arrested at a Northern Virginia preschool with an AK-47 in his vehicle will remain in jail while his case plays out, a judge ruled Thursday.—CNN

• In 1799, a Rockingham County man was indicted in a plot to assassinate George Washington, according to a recently rediscovered document filed in the county courthouse.—WHSV

• A group of Rockingham fourth graders started their own newspaper featuring articles about their elementary school and a comic strip “about a superhero that defeats a giant avocado.”—Daily News-Record