Chilling newly revealed footage has brought to light the shocking moment when a Florida man calmly confessed to brutally bludgeoning his fiancée to death with a Walmart baseball bat.
The motive? He couldn't afford to pay for their impending wedding.
Jerry Geisler Odum, aged 64, was sentenced to life in prison in 2021 for the harrowing murder of his fiancée, Vickie Edge, aged 59, of Okaloosa County, Florida.
As reported by The Independent, the tragedy occurred just two months before the couple was set to exchange vows.
In the unsettling video footage - which was initially obtained by Law&Crime - Odum confesses to authorities: "I didn't have the money to pay for [the wedding]. I guess I didn't know how to get out of it, and that's what precipitated what happened yesterday."
Recounting the horrifying events that unfolded, Odum revealed: "She was getting ready to leave, and I told her I had another surprise for her… I had a baseball bat, and I hit her with it." He chillingly added these details about the bat he purchased from Walmart with the intent to commit murder.
As Vickie found herself under a brutal attack, she pleaded: "Why are you doing this?" Her desperate screams echoed in their home as Odum continued his gruesome account, stating: "I put a chokehold on her until she went to the ground, and I choked her after that."
Edge's lifeless body was discovered on the living room floor of their Milton, Florida, residence in August 2020, leading to Odum's arrest. Shockingly, the footage of Odum's chilling confession has only recently come to light.
Odum is currently serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree premeditated murder, as reported by WEAR.
During the interrogation captured in the video, Odum appeared emotionally detached. He shared that he was "basically going broke" when he met Edge on a dating app just three months before the tragic incident.
Odum went on to explain how their relationship rapidly progressed, with discussions of marriage and purchasing a home. He admitted to writing Edge a $15,000 check for their wedding, scheduled for October 2020, even though he lacked the necessary funds in his bank account, the New York Post reports.
"I knew, basically, I couldn't afford it," Odum admitted during the interrogation. He confessed to feeling trapped, saying: "I was just kind of going along with a ride. I thought maybe it would end beforehand, but I just kept getting deeper and deeper into the relationship, and I didn't know how to get out of it."
When asked if he had contemplated killing Edge in the past, Odum chillingly responded: "I thought maybe this might be an end result."
After killing his fiancée, Odum removed his vehicle's registration plates and embarked on an hours-long aimless drive before finally seeking refuge in a hotel located 30 miles away.
"I couldn't bring myself to stay there with a body," he confessed.
Law enforcement meticulously documented the crime scene, capturing hundreds of photographs, and unearthed surveillance footage of the 64-year-old purchasing the baseball bat at the Walmart store.
Among the chilling discoveries authorities found in the home was a birthday card from Edge to Odum, which read: "I'm so thankful God put us together looking forward to many more together."
Additionally, police uncovered firearms owned by Odum. Despite having access to the guns, he expressed his reluctance to resort to such means, stating: "I didn't want to go that route."
Following his sister's death, Edge's brother spoke out about the reservations he had about her relationship with Odum.
He revealed: "They started talking about buying a house and a wedding. I thought it was going to be the first of the year, but they were talking about maybe moving it up to October, and I was like 'whoa, whoa, slow down,' you know? I had to remind her it takes a year to know somebody before their true colors come out."
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