Cut-N-Shoot Man Fakes Death, Turns Up in Vegas DMV Office

CONROE, TX — File this one under "what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas," a Cut-N-Shoot man who tried to fake his own death in Liberty County showed up in a Las Vegas DMV office.

Charles Roger Edgell, 42, was facing a charge of sexual assault of a child in Montgomery County. So, on Aug. 15, he allegedly drove his 2006 white Ford Mustang to Moss Hill and parked it along SH 105 at the Trinity River Bridge.

Edgell called 911 at around 11 p.m. and got the Liberty County dispatcher. He allegedly told dispatch that he had cancer, that he'd lost his job and that "he had a lot going on in his life," so he was planning on ending it.

Liberty County Sheriff's deputies combed the banks of the Trinity until dawn, and then came back with cadaver dogs, but they didn't find Edgell's body.

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Sgt. Billy Knox of the LCSO began to get suspicious when he heard that another vehicle was seen near Edgell's car about the same time Edgell disappeared.

Knox's suspicions only grew when he interviewed the parents Edgell's girlfriend, Jennifer Burkes. Two weeks after Edgell disappeared, Knox was doing a follow-up investigation when he got a phone call from some cops out in Nevada.

It seems that after Edgell's 'death' he and Burkes split for Vegas. They'd apparently been lying low for a few days. For some reason Edgell allegedly decided to go and get a Nevada driver's license.

So he and Burke allegedly went to a DMV office in Vegas with Burke's late husband's Social Security card, coincidentally Burke's dead husband was also named Charles.

When a DMV clerk ran the Social the computer kicked out the word deceased. Someone decided to have a little chat with Edgell about why he was allegedly using a dead man's Social Security card.

Edgell wasn't feeling in a particularly talkative mood so he allegedly split, leaving Burkes to answer all the questions. Since Burkes hadn't done anything wrong at the DMV, never mind the fact that she allegedly gave Edgell the Social Security card, the Nevada cops let her go.

While the DMV was trying to figure out how Edgell got the Social Security number of a dead man they called the dead man's family. After the Nevada DMV confirmed that Edgell wasn't Burkes' late husband back from the grave they called Knox.

As the Nevada cops were investigating Edgell for the Social Security card, they found enough evidence to charge him with a burglary charge. All told, Edgell has three warrants out for him in Nevada.

He also still has that sex assault charge out of Montgomery County to worry about. Right now, Edgell and Burkes are in the wind, no one's sure if they are going to stay on the run or come back to Texas to face the music.

Although, Billy Knox can now cross Edgell off the department's missing persons list.

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