Edley, 70, died after being shot in an alley on Clifton Avenue between East Rose Street and Rice Street late July 14.
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At the time of this death, his cousin Cynthia Fite said he was living in Holmes County, serving as a missionary to the Amish people. She said he travelled every week from Amish Country to lead three men’s prayer fellowships on Saturdays in Wilmington, Heath and Springfield — where he was on the morning he was killed.
Fite said a delegation of Amish will be coming for Edley’s funeral, and since they don’t drive, they’ll have to hire someone to take them on the nearly three hour trip.
“My cousin lived full out his faith. That’s why this way that he died is so abhorrent,” Fite said. “I can’t tell you how much we miss him.”
She said the only reason she can think of as to why Edley would have been in that neighborhood late at night was because someone needed help.
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“If he was over there in that bad neighborhood, it’s because he came because someone called him to rescue them,” she said.
The events that led up to the shooting have not been released by police.
No one has been charged in Edley’s murder as of Tuesday afternoon, but Fite urges anyone with information to come forward.
“We need to go tell them that even though they took out our brother and our cousin, the kids’ father and grandfather — we still forgive them,” she said.
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