5 years after TC Edwards was killed, his best friend still fights for justice
Yesterday, TC Edwards would have turned 49. Instead of celebrating, his friends hunt for his killer with the help of a Little Rock detective.
On February 17, 2020, a man named TC Edwards would have turned 49 years old.
But instead of celebrating a birthday, his friends hunt for his killer with the help of a Little Rock detective.
And all it could take is one person to solve his murder nearly five years after it happened.
"He was part of our group, our team, our circle." "He was part of our group, our team, our circle."
TC Edwards was a passionate musician and a rock star. He was a fixture at Pizza D's, a popular restaurant and bar in Little Rock's Stifft Station neighborhood.
"He was my brother, my best friend," said Mike Poe. "My everyday best friend."
The two were tied together in life— Poe and Edwards were family.
Since TC was mildly autistic, Poe was his part legal guardian and social security payee. He was TC's protector.
At Pizza D's, Edwards would often perform with his rock group, TC and the Eddies. He was well known for his kind spirit and positive attitude. Poe said he was like a heavy metal kitten.
But no one could've protected TC from what happened on a cold December night in 2014.
"The police just came by here and [said] 'TC's been murdered,'" Poe said.
Because of his condition, TC followed a strict routine.
He slept during the day, worked until very late at night and walked to his nearby house between 3 and 4 a.m.
On December 7, he called his roommate at 3:24 in the morning to say he was walking home from Pizza D's.
He would've made it home within minutes, but TC never made it home.
The call to the Little Rock Police Department came in five minutes before 4 a.m. It was an alarm call at 2221 South Howard Street, two and a half miles from Pizza D's.
"They were checking out the residence, making sure nobody broke into the house," said Detective Tommy Hudson.
It was there in the carport of the house, where TC was found shot to death.
A case gone cold
Mike Poe found out the next day what happened and he was immediately suspicious.
Months before the killing, there was a robbery at TC's home in January 2014 and then a harassment call in February of that year.
Then in April 2014, Pulaski County prosecutors filed charges against Andre Smalley for aggravated robbery, residential burglary, theft of property and aggravated residential burglary.
The victim of those crimes? TC Edwards.
In the months that followed, court dates were set and then delayed by Smalley's attorney.
And then when TC was murdered, the case was abandoned.
Smalley was accused of terroristic threatening, battery one and battery two, and charged with aggravated robbery— all against TC before he was murdered.
"It had to be dismissed because the witness is no longer with us," said U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland.
He first learned about Smalley during another case in Pulaski County, a few months after TC's murder. He pleaded guilty to a federal offense after he was involved in a convenience store shooting.
Smalley was sentenced to serve 96 months in federal prison.
"Our job is to make sure that with violent repeat offenders it's as painful as possible, and that's our goal," Hiland said. "Mr. Smalley fell into that category for us."
And while Smalley went to prison, TC's murder case still needed to be solved.
"No arrest, no conviction."
Detective Tommy Hudson, who recently took over the case, believes he can finally bring the case to a close.
He said he's well aware of Edwards' history with Andre Smalley.
Hudson won't comment if Smalley is the main suspect in the case, but he said the police department is working on testing evidence again.
"There's some forensic evidence we're gonna have tested again," Hudson said. "We've got some new techniques that we've started working here in the last year."
Hudson also believes someone out there knows more than what they are saying— that possibly, someone knows who killed TC after the murderer bragged about it.
But for Mike Poe, hearing the community he still calls home could be hiding the truth of his best friend's murder, is angry that the case is still open.
Nobody has ever been arrested for the murder. No arrest, no conviction.
"Nothing. Nothing whatsoever," Poe said.
There has been no justice for TC Edwards, a musician and kind soul loved by so many, murdered and left in the cold years ago
"Just a really kindhearted person [that] just got a bad guy that got mad at him for whatever reason and brutally murdered him," Poe said.
Poe, a filmmaker, is working on making a documentary about TC's life and murder.
There is at least a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in TC Edwards' murder case.
If you have any information, you are asked to call (501) 404-3128.