Who murdered Tim Edwards? He didn’t have any enemies. In fact, he was known as a very nice man. He was just going about his business, carrying hay home to his little ranch near Silver City, when someone drug him out of his truck and slit his throat to the spine. He didn’t deserve this brutal death and his family doesn’t deserve the lack of closure they have received.
John Timothy Edwards, who went by Tim, was known as a very good man. After lengthy careers as Central Arizona College teachers, he and his wife retired and made their dream of owning a ranch come true by purchasing the Montaña del Oso ranch near Bear Mountain in the Silver City area. Their children and grandchildren loved visiting them for holidays and spending time on the ranch, making memories that they preserved in huge photo albums. Tim and Lynn had lived there for about nine years and became quite liked in the Silver City community. Edwards was the type of guy who loved to help people. When people broke down on the side of the road or became lost near his land, he always offered to help them out. When people partied on the national forest land he leased for his cattle, he never yelled at them or called the cops on them, he just gently told them to behave. He volunteered at the Pinos Altos Fire Department and was president of the Grant County Cattle Growers Association.
So when he was brutally murdered on December 30, 2005, no one could think of a possible motive or even a suspect. Edwards had met a friend for a drink at a neighboring ranch, then picked up groceries for New Year’s and hay for the animals. He was driving home in his truck, laden down with hay, when he called his wife and said he would be home in about thirty minutes. After an hour elapsed, Lynn went searching for him. She soon found his truck on the side of the road, his headlights on but his engine off and no sign of him. After looking for him in town and calling people who might know where he was, she returned to the truck and noticed that his phone was in the center console. That’s when she knew something was definitely wrong. She called a friend named Pattie to join her with flashlights and she began to search the woods near his truck. She soon found a trail of blood that led to him. He was facedown, stabbed many times, and his throat had been slit to the spine. His glasses lay nearby and his coat had rolled up from being dragged. Lynn rubbed his back and said goodbye to him.
The Edwards family was understandably devastated. Even worse, they have never received answers. Lynn thinks that Tim probably saw someone and pulled over to help them. But they were probably in the midst of something illegal, like a drug deal, and they killed Tim for being a witness. She cannot think of any other reason why someone would do this to her husband. Her family has never felt the same after losing Tim. Holidays are not complete and only pain and questions linger during what should have been a happy retirement on the Montana del Oso. Lynn eventually sold the ranch and moved back to Arizona, her dream of running the ranch with her husband of 42 years shattered.
About a week after the homicide, Alan Snyder came forward saying that his son had confessed to the murder. Police questioned his son, Michael James Snyder, a meth addict who lived near Bear Mountain and worked at an auto body shop. Snyder initially claimed he had been on Edwards’ road with two men and a woman, engaging in a drug deal. He claimed he hadn’t killed Tim Edwards but he had witnessed the murder. Later he denied being at the scene at all. He was arrested and held on a $2 million dollar cash-only bond. He underwent a competency exam prior to trial which determined that he was not a reliable witness.
Police could not find the two men he claimed to have been with at the scene. However, the woman was found to exist – Tammy Patrick, also known as Tammy Dyer. Dyer and Snyder had been in a relationship at the time of the murder. Police had a lot of trouble locating Tammy Dyer and she did not show up to her questioning appointments with them. They finally did arrest her in Belen in March 2007 and question her. Evidently that lead did not pan out. Police have also interviewed other individuals that they felt might be involved. Again, nothing.
The case now lingers, a heavy weight on the Edwards family. It was featured on America’s Most Wanted three separate times, again not developing any significant tips. I think that Snyder and Dyer would most likely involved, but there just wasn’t sufficient evidence to convict them.
If you know anything, anything at all, please bring peace to this family and call the Grant County Sheriff’s Office at 575-574-0100 or the Grant County Crime Stoppers at 575-538-5254.