Naman Shrestha
The Halloween night of 2020 turned into a real nightmare for Livye Lewis, who was found shot to death inside her own car in Hemphill, Texas. At the crime scene, she was accompanied by her bloodied and seemingly disoriented ex-boyfriend, Matthew Edgar. He claimed that he had a complete blackout after the pre-Halloween party, but when the detectives found incriminating evidence against him, he was taken into custody. The entire case and the shocking court proceedings that followed are covered in a detailed manner in CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Blackout Murder of Livye Lewis,’ which also consists of insightful interviews linked to Livye and the investigation.
Matthew Edgar Killed Livye Lewis in a Fit of Jealousy
Born in the latter half of the 1990s to Cindy Hogan, Matthew Hoy Edgar was 23 years old when he first met Livye Lewis, who was a senior in high school. At the time, he was married to Montana Bockel, with whom he shared two sons. Despite being in wedlock, he got involved in an extramarital affair with the high school student, reportedly starting around November 2019. Although the affair soon ended, Matthew reached out to Livye again a few months later, claiming that he had cheated on his wife again and was in an unhappy marriage. However, she chose not to become involved with him.
A couple of months later, he talked to Montana about ending things, texting her, “Ain’t you it’s me” and “Me always cheating on you.” After moving out, he once again turned to the 18-year-old, who got into a relationship with him. The new couple had a volatile relationship, with Matthew allegedly being physically abusive towards Livye. Still, she moved in with him and took care of his two sons. By October 2020, he had also cheated on her with his ex-wife, Montana. Livye parted ways with him, but the two crossed paths again, in the early morning hours of October 31.
The previous night, both Livye and Matthew attended a pre-Halloween party at the house of Bobby Ozan, their mutual friend. Montana was also at the party. Around 2:30 am, when Matthew heard that his ex-girlfriend was going to sleep with Bobby, he lost his cool and, in a fit of jealousy, kicked his ex-wife’s car. As he was going to attack the two women, Bobby tried to restrain him. While Montana managed to go inside his grandparents’ house safely, Livye was in grave danger. Matthew got his hands on a rifle and shot her in the neck, killing her. When the authorities arrived at the crime scene, he was found in the fetal position behind her car, claiming that he had blacked out and had no memory of what happened. The detectives linked him to the murder by DNA evidence and arrested him while he was in the hospital. However, he soon got out on bond.
Matthew Edgar is Currently Incarcerated at a Texas Prison Facility
On January 4, 2022, Matthew Edgar’s murder trial commenced. When he failed to show up on the third day of testimony, the authorities knew that he had gone into hiding after letting the battery of his ankle monitor die. In his absence, the trial continued and the jury found the fugitive guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend, Livye Lewis. After several months of trying to locate the convict, the investigators finally apprehended him on December 29, 2022, at around 8:30 pm. He was found hiding in a family friend’s property just a few yards away from his grandparents’ house. A few days later, on January 3, 2023, Matthew Edgar was formally sentenced to 99 years in prison with the possibility of parole after serving three decades.
During the sentencing, Livye’s grandmother, Janice Lewis, addressed the killer and said that he had no clue about how her family had been broken after Livye’s death. “Today in court, whenever I ask him certain questions. He nodded his head yes to me. That assured me like, yes, ma’am, I did do it,” she said. Meanwhile, Livye’s mother, Darci Bass, stated, “I hope God wraps him around his arms. At first, I had so much hate and everything, but I’ve gotten over that. I look back now, and I think things were for a reason. Livye lived her life.” As of today, the 29-year-old killer is serving his sentence at TDCJ Ellis Unit in Huntsville, Texas, with his parole eligibility date scheduled for May 2052.
