Mother Drains Pond to Fine Son’s Remains, Who was Murdered In 2015

Connie Goodwin has patiently waited seven years to properly lay her son to rest after he was murdered in 2015.

After she rented a sump pump to drain a Missouri pond with her husband and grandson, thus uncovering the last of his remains, she can finally do just that.

Edward Goodwin, 32, went missing from Poplar Bluff, Mo., in the summer of 2015, leaving behind his son Gage, 15 at the time, and loving parents Connie and Ed Goodwin.

For two harrowing years, Connie looked high and low for her son, holding rallies and putting up billboards urging authorities to find him.

In 2017, the Butler County Sheriff’s Department found partial remains of Edward in a small lake in Poplar Bluff after they drained most of the water during an investigation.

The Sheriff’s Department found 40 percent of Edward’s remains, which was enough to use as evidence against the two men suspected of killing him, but Connie felt she didn’t have closure until she found the rest of her son.

“They promised they were going to go back, even in the newspaper they said they were going to go back, but they never did,” Connie said. “I called them about every other day trying to find out when they were going to do it.”

Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs says, “Authorities returned to the location in fall of 2021, but didn’t have the equipment to drain the rest of the muddy water.”

“I told them months ago that if they don’t do it, I told them that one of these days, I’m going to do it myself,” Connie said in reply to Dobbs’ claims.

That’s exactly what she decided to do!

On Saturday morning, Connie, Ed and Gage, now 22, all arrived at the body of water, which after the initial draining, is now a pond and not a lake. At 8:30 a.m., they began pumping out water with the rented sump pump. Two hours later, they saw bones.

“We saw two bones sticking up, so we kept pumping and then the next thing you know we started seeing the concrete blocks and then barbed wire and more bones,” Connie says, referring to the materials used to sink Edward’s body to the bottom of the water.

Connie then contacted the Butler County Coroner, Jim Akers, who came to the scene. Once the remaining water was out of the pond, Akers, who was knee-deep in the mud, began digging the skeletal remains out by hand.

“The mud was two to three feet deep, very thick, and infested with wildlife,” Akers said. “Dental records were able to confirm that the skeletal remains, did in fact, belong to Edward.”

In 2017, the same year that partial remains of Edward were found by the sheriff’s department, two men were arrested for his murder, Rickey Hurt and Eldrid Smith. Hurt and Smith both pleaded guilty in 2021 and are now imprisoned for the murder of their one-time friend.

Connie says, “Edward’s son Gage has been deeply impacted over the years by his father’s death. When I look at Gage, I see my son Edward, he is the spitting image of his daddy.”

Edward’s family still remembers him for all of his great qualities. They are now relieved they can finally give him a proper resting place.

“He was a loving father; he was a loving son, and he’d do anything for anyone,” Connie says. “He loved his kids and his nieces and nephews. He loved his whole family and his family loved him.”