John Edwards was 18 when he was murdered on a camping trip with his big sister, who was raped. Now, as Loran Cole is set to be executed, Edwards’ friends are closing a chapter.
In early 1994, college students John Edwards and his big sister met for what was supposed to be a fun weekend camping trip in the Ocala National Forest in north central Florida. It turned into a nightmare.
Edwards, who was just 18 years old, and his 21-year-old sister were the victims of a surprise attack while on a trip to the Marion County recreation area. Edwards was brutally murdered, while his sister survived, but not unscathed.
Two men, Loran Kenstley Cole and William Paul, were later arrested, charged and convicted of murder, kidnapping and robbery. Cole was also found guilty of sexually abusing Edward’s sister and sentenced to death, while Paul received a life sentence.
Cole, now 57, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Florida on Thursday. His friends say they are looking forward to putting this chapter behind them.
As the execution fast approaches, USA TODAY looks back at Edwards’ life and death, as well as his sister’s courageous escape, to remember who they were and what their loved ones lost.
An attempted visit to a pond and a surprise attack
On February 18, 1994, Edwards and his sister were setting up camp when they met Cole, then 27, and William Paul, then 20. Cole introduced himself as “Kevin” and Paul as his “brother” and helped them finish setting up their site.
After chatting around the campfire, the strangers offered to take the siblings to a pond. According to court documents, the four headed to a pond around 10:45 p.m. to take photos of alligators.
They never made it.
Before reaching the pond, Cole jumped Edwards’ sister and handcuffed her. Edwards then attacked Paul and then Cole helped Paul subdue the brother and threw him to the ground next to his sister, court documents say.
Paul led the woman further up the trail and Cole stayed behind with John Edwards, who died of a slit throat and numerous skull fractures.
Cole, Paul and Pam Edwards returned to the campsite, where Cole threatened to kill her if she didn’t have sex with him. The next day, he raped her again, then gagged her and tied her with rope between two trees, court records say.
Cole and Paul then left the campsite in one of their cars. Edward’s sister, who had freed herself by biting through the rope, looked for her brother but could not find him.
A driver found her and called 911. Her brother’s body was found by police later that day.
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“A good, friendly soul”
John Edwards was a freshman at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
At the same time, his sister was attending Eckerd College, a private liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida, about 260 miles south of her brother’s school. She was a key witness in the state’s trial against Cole.
Edwards was born in July 1975 and attended high school in Japan, where his parents were military instructors.
Edwards was accepted into FSU’s Honors Program and studied chemical engineering as a freshman, his brother Chris Spires told USA TODAY. Edwards was the youngest member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, many of whom remained together for life after his assassination.
“He was a good, kind soul and never had anything bad to say about anyone. He was a smart, slim guy who loved baseball and basketball,” recalls Spires, now 49. “He would run around the house pretending to dunk on Bob Sura, who was FSU’s star basketball player in 1993.”
“John was always a positive, kind, charismatic and down-to-earth person,” Barrett Atwood, another FSU graduate and Phi Gamma Delta, told the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Spires said he and his brothers learned of their friend’s murder on the six o’clock news.
“We were in shock,” Spires recalled. “We had just come home from the President’s Day holiday, so they were camping. We were all freaking out… We talked about finding the men and killing them, but the president of our fraternity calmed us down. Two days later we learned that they had caught William and Paul, and later we learned what had happened to his sister.”
“We have not forgotten him”
Spires, a financial advisor who now lives in Atlanta, said he and some of his fraternity brothers have been following the case for years.
“We stayed in touch around the fifth, 10th, 15th and 20th anniversaries of his death,” he said, until after Cole’s conviction the case slowly faded from the spotlight.
Then came July 29, when Spires learned that Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis had signed Cole’s execution warrant.
“I knew it would happen one day. I was planning on going there and holding a vigil for John to remind people that someone had actually died, but when I saw the article, I started to cry,” he said. “What was taken was an 18-year-old with potential. He would probably be married with kids coaching his kids’ baseball teams.”
Cole, who claims his co-defendant is responsible for Edwards’ killing, has filed more than a dozen appeals over the years.
On Friday, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously denied Cole’s lawyers’ request, arguing that the lethal injection would cause “unnecessary pain and suffering” because Cole has symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, which he has suffered from since 2017 and which causes his arms and legs to shake.
Cole also claimed that his life should be spared because of the “horrific abuse” he suffered in a closed, notorious state reformatory.
Spires said he recently contacted Edwards’ mother, who lives in Florida.
“I told her to know that even though 25 years have passed, we haven’t forgotten him,” Spires said.
He said Edwards’ mother thanked him and said: “The family is still close to John.”
“The brothers with whom I am in regular contact and I look forward to this chapter being closed,” Spires said.
USA TODAY contacted Edwards’ mother and sister. It was initially unclear whether they would attend the execution.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X at @nataliealund.
