A lawsuit has been filed in Cherokee County Circuit Court against the Coroner and the former Chief Deputy Coroner by the daughter of one of three women murdered in Cherokee County back on November 15, 2015.
According to Court Documents filed on January 13, 2017 at the Circuit Clerks Office, the suit identifies Sarah Edwards, who is daughter of the deceased Clara Lee Edwards as the Plaintiff and Cherokee County Coroner Jeremy Deaton and then Chief Deputy Jeff Walsh as the Defendants.
Clara Lee Edwards along with Sylvia Sue Duffe and Pamela Oshel were all three the victims of a triple homicide back in 2015, Edwards and Duffe are sisters.
According to the suit the murders occurred at the home where all three victims lived and shortly after the murder Deaton and Walsh arrived at the crime scene. There were no witnesses present to identify the decedents and it is believed that Deaton and Walsh purported to preliminarily identify the decedents because Deaton had treated her cat at his veterinary practice.
The suit goes onto allege that Deaton and Walsh did not take appropriate steps to positively identify each decedent which led to Clara Lee Edwards being identified as Sylvia Sue Duffe and vice versa and the wrong body being cremated.
Sarah Edwards is suing on counts of Negligence And/Or Wantonness, Outrage and Breach of Fiduciary Duties and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined by a jury.