New charges have been filed against a South Windsor man accused of killing his wife in May.
Tahj Hutchinson, who was initially charged with the first-degree manslaughter of Jessica Edwards, has had that charge upgraded to murder. Risk of injury to a child and tampering with evidence charges have also been added.
“I was elated. Finally, something, I feel like something has been done,” said Hope Edwards, Jessica’s mother.
Jessica’s sister, Yanique, explained that these are charges she expected.
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“I think that should’ve been the charge from the beginning. So, I believe they gathered enough evidence just to make sure that their case was going to be solid,” said Yanique.
Edwards, who was the mother of a then 7-month-old son, was first discovered missing on May 10. Her family says she was last seen at a Mother’s Day gathering at her mother’s East Hartford home.
According to South Windsor Police, Hutchinson initially claimed Edwards got into car the morning of the 10th with friends and never returned. Police doubted this story and widespread searches in South Windsor, Manchester and East Hartford took place.
Data from Edwards' cell phone led investigators to a wooded area near Driver Road. That’s where Edwards body was found on May 21.
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Hutchinson was arrested and police say he confessed to a physical altercation that led to her death. He’s been held since on $1.5 million bond.
Edwards’ family arrived at Hartford Superior Court on Monday expecting Hutchinson to face the new charges in a virtual hearing. That hearing, though, never materialized.
For reasons that are unclear, the Department of Corrections in Cheshire was unable to get the accused into the virtual hearing, which was scheduled for noon.
“It’s just frustrating. You know, we came out here and we wanted to see something happen to progress the case and it didn’t happen that way for us today,” said Yanique.
Judge Hope Seely has rescheduled the hearing for Dec. 20 at 2:30 p.m.
“I’ll wait,” said Hope. “We’ll be here next week. I want to see justice served.”
The Edwards family says it will continue to attend each hearing until this concludes.
