On Dec. 16, 2021, Darci Bass had a shocking encounter with Matthew Edgar, the man accused of killing her daughter, Livye Lewis. Darci was in a convenience store when Edgar walked in. Immediately, she began throwing things at him and confronting him, saying, “You killed my daughter.”
This tragic story began on Halloween night in 2020. Livye Lewis, 19, was found dead in her car on a road in Hemphill, Texas. She had been shot in the neck. Darci, devastated, wasn’t told about her daughter’s death by the police. Instead, a friend alerted her, and she rushed to the crime scene. There, she cried out for answers: “I want to see my child!”
Sabine County Sheriff’s Investigator J.P. MacDonough quickly suspected that Livye’s killer was someone she knew. At the crime scene, he found her boyfriend, 23-year-old Matthew Edgar, lying behind her car, bloodied but not injured. Edgar was holding a rifle. Despite being rushed to the hospital, Edgar claimed he didn’t remember how he ended up at the scene.
The case wasn’t as clear-cut as it seemed, according to Edgar’s defense lawyer. There was no DNA evidence or fingerprints found on the rifle, and Edgar denied remembering anything about the shooting. Some of Edgar’s friends, like Shaun Dunn, believed Edgar was also a victim and that someone else might have pulled the trigger.
Despite the confusion, MacDonough arrested Edgar. However, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed court proceedings. As a result, Edgar was released on bail. Months later, in December 2021, he walked into the convenience store where Darci Bass was. This time, she confronted him. She followed him outside and hit his truck with a chain, asking, “What made you think this was the answer?”
Edgar reported her, and Darci was charged with assault and other offenses. She turned herself in, but the charges were later dropped.
Finally, in March 2021, after months of delays, a grand jury indicted Edgar for Livye’s murder. However, Edgar went on the run during his trial after his ankle monitor battery died. He was eventually found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
