A Baltimore jury has handed down a punishing sentence to 41-year-old Pablo Agosto Acevedo, giving him life in prison plus 38 years for the 2023 killing of 38-year-old Pedie Edwards II and an attempted cover-up that stretched from Maryland to New Jersey and New York. Jurors convicted Acevedo in February after a weeklong trial, finding that he shot Edwards, moved the body, and tried to conceal the crime by transporting the remains out of state. Prosecutors said the case was built on a trail of surveillance footage, a burned vehicle, and license-plate reader hits charting a route toward New York City.
State's attorney praises cross-jurisdiction effort
Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates credited the sentence to dogged work across agencies, calling it proof that his office and law enforcement partners would not let the case slip through the cracks. "This sentence reflects the unwavering commitment of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners to pursue justice," Bates said, while singling out the coordination that tied together clues from multiple states. Assistant State’s Attorney Rita Wisthoff-Ito led the prosecution. The office released details of the sentence on Tuesday, according to WBFF/FOX45 News.
Surveillance, burned car and shell casings
During the trial, prosecutors played surveillance video they said showed Acevedo firing the fatal shots while Edwards sat in the driver’s seat, then loading the victim’s body into the same vehicle and driving away. Investigators later discovered that the vehicle had burned in Dundalk. Inside and around the charred car, they reported finding a credit card in Edwards’ name, a driver’s license bearing Acevedo’s name, and three .40-caliber shell casings. Forensic experts testified that bullets recovered during the autopsy matched casings from the destroyed vehicle, according to Baltimore Witness.
Body recovered in New Jersey
More than a month after the shooting, the investigation shifted north when a body was pulled from the Hackensack River near Secaucus, New Jersey. Fingerprint analysis later confirmed the remains were those of Pedie Edwards II. The Essex County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide caused by gunshot wounds, prompting a full-blown, cross-state homicide probe. Relatives told reporters they had reported Edwards missing on Nov. 1, 2023, and spent weeks in limbo waiting for answers, according to WMAR-2 News.
License-plate readers traced route to JFK
Prosecutors said technology helped fill in the gaps. Port Authority license-plate readers picked up a stolen gray 2023 Nissan Altima moving through the Lincoln Tunnel and onto the expressway leading to John F. Kennedy International Airport. The car was later found abandoned in an airport parking garage. According to evidence presented in court, Acevedo flew out of JFK on Nov. 2, 2023, bound for Puerto Rico just one day after Edwards was killed. Investigators argued that the car’s path and Acevedo’s travel records tied him directly to the transport and disposal of the victim’s body, as reported by WBFF/FOX45 News.
Prior conviction and firearm charge
Court records introduced at trial showed Acevedo had a 2015 Baltimore City kidnapping conviction, which meant he was legally barred from possessing a regulated firearm in Maryland. That history underpinned the felon-in-possession-of-a-handgun charge that accompanied the murder count. Jurors ultimately convicted him of first-degree murder, use of a handgun in a crime of violence, possession of a handgun by a felon, and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors told the court that voicemail messages, phone records, and neighborhood doorbell camera footage helped them assemble the timeline of Edwards’ final hours, according to Baltimore Witness.
After the sentence
Following the sentencing, prosecutors said the outcome sends a message that crossing state lines and torching evidence are not get-out-of-jail-free cards. Relatives of Edwards, who first raised the alarm when he stopped returning calls and messages, told reporters that while nothing can undo the loss, the conviction and lengthy sentence offer some measure of relief. Metro Crime Stoppers had previously offered a reward as investigators kept working the case in the months after the killing, according to WMAR-2 News.
