Following a weeklong trial, jurors reached a unanimous decision on Feb. 11, convicting 41-year-old Pablo Acevedo on all counts for murdering Pedie Edwards II and dumping his body in New Jersey’s Hackensack River before fleeing the country.
The 39-year-old victim’s body was recovered on Dec. 9, 2023, over a month after he was fatally shot in Ellwood Park. Jurors were shown footage from home security and area surveillance cameras on North Decker Avenue where the murder unfolded, and where the defendant was seen pulling Edwards’ body into the rear of an Infiniti SUV before leaving the scene.
Investigators later found the SUV burned. Law enforcement tracked Acevedo’s personal vehicle to a parking lot in New York City’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, from where Acevedo fled to the Caribbean. It was along the route from Baltimore City to JFK Airport that investigators located Edwards’ body.
Acevedo, who has been convicted of first-degree murder, four gun violations and altering physical evidence in a criminal case, has yet to receive a date for sentencing.