Father deliberately drove into big rig, killing 2 kids and himself, authorities say

A car crash early Monday in Castaic that killed a father and his two children wasn’t an accident -- it was the violent, tragic end to a custody dispute between a divorced couple, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said Tuesday.

Alan Dean Edwards, 46, his son Eric Dean Edwards, 9, and daughter Alona Marie Edwards, 5, were killed about 1 a.m. Monday when Edwards deliberately drove his Honda Accord into the back of a parked big rig on the 5 Freeway in Castaic, authorities said.

Investigators concluded that “the suspect deliberately crashed into a parked tractor-trailer at a high rate of speed … without any attempts to stop,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida.

Authorities said Edwards, of Lancaster, picked up his children on Friday as part of a custody agreement with his ex-wife. When he didn’t drop the kids off Sunday, his wife filed a missing persons report, Nishida said.

The three were pronounced dead at the scene, California Highway Patrol officers said. One of the children was in the passenger seat and the other was behind the driver’s seat, said CHP officer Francisco Villalobos. The big rig was parked in a brake check section near Templin Highway where drivers stop before a steep downgrade into the Central Valley.

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