Edwin Lee Newlander Charged in 2021 Tacoma Murder After Cigarette DNA Match
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 11
Edwin Lee Newlander Charged in 2021 Tacoma Murder After Cigarette DNA Match
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 11
Summary
Tacoma prosecutors charged 59-year-old Edwin Lee Newlander with second-degree murder after DNA from a cigarette he discarded during a June 16 traffic stop linked him to a 2021 killing.
The cigarette filter's DNA profile matched evidence from the unsolved murder and two rape cases, giving detectives their first hit after a prior CODIS search in the homicide came back empty.
The murder victim, identified in court records as K.S., was found in a ditch on Oct. 12, 2021; witnesses saw a man flee in an SUV, but darkness prevented a useful description.
A 2025 rape investigation helped narrow the suspect: the victim told detectives in May that her attacker was a short, stocky, balding white man in his 50s named "Ed."
Newlander is being held on $1 million bail after an initial court appearance Tuesday, faces up to life in prison if convicted, and remains under investigation in the rape cases.