How Edwina Atieno Onyango died in US searching green pasture

Edwina Atieno Onyango, a 34-year-old Kenyan healthcare worker, moved to the U.S. to build a better life. Her legal status was uncertain, so in March 2001 she entered a marriage of convenience with Ernest Troy Freeby, a 34-year-old Pennsylvania bartender.

Freeby wanted the marriage to look stable for a custody battle over his children in foster care, while Edwina hoped it would lead to a green card and U.S. citizenship.

They never lived as a real couple. Freeby stayed with another girlfriend and fathered three more children with her while still legally married to Edwina.

Freeby had prior legal trouble, including a 1997 arrest for allegedly burning down the Coaldale American Legion building where he worked, though he was acquitted in 2000. By 2007, he wanted to legally marry his girlfriend, but his marriage to Edwina blocked him.

Instead of filing for divorce, which could expose their fraudulent marriage, he chose to kill her.

On December 9, 2007, Edwina went to Freeby’s home in Lansford, PA, and never left. Prosecutors proved he assaulted and killed her in the basement, where a massive amount of her blood pooled into the dirt floor.

After killing Edwina, Freeby tried to hide the crime by painting the basement to cover bloodstains and keeping her car with her purse and ID inside.

He also used her stolen debit and credit cards on a shopping spree across Eastern Pennsylvania, which was caught on ATM and store surveillance.

Edwina’s family reported her missing on December 17, 2007, after she stopped calling daily. Police investigations uncovered the basement crime scene and Freeby’s fraud.

In May 2012, a defiant Freeby was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 2 years’ probation for tampering with evidence.