Gun used in three murders, suicide was stolen from suspect's parents

In the days before this month's homicide at the Main+Stone parking garage in downtown Greenville, Jessica Edens became distraught and developed a plan to cause "everlasting consequences" for her husband, according to a statement issued late Monday by the Pickens County Sheriff's Office.

She had been involved in a Family Court proceeding with her husband, Ben Edens, in the same week as the shooting, and she was upset about it. 

"Text messages and other written content clearly indicate that Mrs. Edens developed a plan in the next couple of days that she felt would cause everlasting consequences for her husband," Pickens County Chief Deputy Creed Hashe said in a written statement.

The day before the homicide, Edens drove to her parents' house while they were out of town and and stole a .40 caliber handgun they owned, according to the statement.

According to Anderson County court records, Edens' mother and stepfather are Leslie and Mike Mitchell. Mike Mitchell is the chief deputy at the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.

Mitchell said it was too difficult for the family to comment when he was contacted on Monday night.

"That weapon, which was legally owned by the parents, is believed to be the same weapon used in the Greenville murder and the murder/suicide that subsequently occurred inside the shooter’s vehicle while parked in Pickens County," Hashe said in the prepared statement.

Meredith Rahme, 28, was shot July 13 in the driver's seat of her vehicle on the third floor of the apartment complex's parking garage, according to Greenville police. But some details about the deaths of Rahme, Edens, and Edens' children remained private until Monday, after they were all laid to rest.

Hashe said investigators have determined Edens drove straight from the parking garage where Rahme was shot to the Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley about 7 miles away, where the bodies of Edens and her children were later discovered in Edens' Jeep that same night. Edens, 36, and her children, 9-year-old Hayden King and 4-year-old Harper Edens, all suffered gunshot wounds, according to Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley.

Jessica Edens reached out to her husband again before taking her own life, according to the Sheriff's Office.

"Based on a phone call made by Mrs. Edens to her husband while he was in the presence of Greenville authorities, along with other evidence and observations at the scene, it is believed that the children were shot while seated in the rear cargo area of the SUV. There were no signs of a struggle," Hashe said in Monday's statement. "Detectives feel that the children were shot before Mrs. Edens placed what would be her final phone call to her husband and then she took her own life as she sat in the back seat of the Jeep."

The Greenville Police Department and the Pickens County Sheriff's Office on Monday also released 911 recordings connected to Rahme's death at the Main + Stone parking garage.

Greenville police also released two other phone calls made to city police related to the case.

An unidentified male reported the shooting in a call to 911 that lasted six minutes.

"I was pulling up in my car, and I heard a loud pop ... it sounded like a gunshot. Then it turned out it was," the caller says. 

The man, who did not seem to know Rahme, tells the operator he believes Rahme had been shot in the head and that he thinks she is already dead.

About a minute into the call, the man says he's going to go get a gun "in case that woman comes back."

The man also can be heard speaking with an unidentified woman in the background. He tells the operator that the woman is checking Rahme's pulse. The operator instructs the man to try to remove Rahme from the vehicle and begin chest compressions until police arrive.

Twice the caller describes a black or dark blue Jeep he saw leaving the scene as well as a "bigger white woman" driving the vehicle. 

Witness information later helped officers identify the suspect as Jessica Edens, police said. 

Edens' black Jeep Patriot was found parked at the back gate of the Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley less than two hours after the shooting.

Also Monday, the Pickens County Sheriff's Office released a 911 call made by a WYFF news photographer who found the Jeep.

John Hendon, who identified himself in the call, tells the operator he found the SUV parked in "a very weird place" with the engine running at the Speedway off State 124. 

Hendon says he pulled up to see the license plate, but he couldn't get close enough. 

"I cannot get up to it to tell you because it's running," Hendon says. "There could be someone in there with that gun."

The operator tells him not to put himself in any danger. Hendon then goes on to describe the vehicle's exact location. 

"I just had a weird feeling here that this is what they're looking for," he says. 

Greenville police released two other phone calls connected to the case. Both calls had been edited.

In the first, Ben Edens, estranged husband of Jessica Edens, calls 911 to report receiving harassing phone calls and text messages. The operator takes Edens' information in order to set up a call from a Greenville police officer.

In the second, Rahme calls 911 to inquire about how to handle internet harassment.

Rahme tells an operator that someone who was angry with her had been using Facebook to contact "everybody that I know and work with and sending hateful messages about me." 

Rahme says she reported the harassment to Facebook but wants to know if there is more that can be done.

"She has contacted me in the past, but right now it’s family, friends and co-workers," Rahme says before asking if a restraining order is possible.

Both Rahme and Edens' estranged husband called police about harassing text messages and social media postings with "derogatory material" in the weeks leading up to the shootings, Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller has said.

He said Ben Edens called police again two days before the shootings asking for a welfare check on the children at their mother's home in Easley.

Miller said police had no indication that Jessica Edens was planning to inflict violence on herself or her children until after their bodies were discovered.

Related:Loved forever: Friends remember Meredith Rahme

Related:Four linked deaths tear apart families and community

Anna Lee contributed to this story.