Trooper honored for making arrest in Uniontown murder case
State police trooper John F. Marshall of the Uniontown barracks received an award from the Law Enforcement Agency Directors of the Western District of Pennsylvania for arresting a man who could face the death penalty for allegedly killing four members of the Bobish family, including an unborn male child. Marshall was among 18 state and local police officers, federal agents and prosecutors honored in the agency directors’ annual ceremony, held last week in the Union Trust Building in downtown Pittsburgh.
It was the second time the directors honored Marshall during his 12 years of service as a trooper in Fayette County.
A criminal investigator and an assistant fire investigator, Marshall arrested 19-year-old Mark Duane Edwards Jr. of Bierer Wood Acres on April 18, just four days after the incident.
Edwards allegedly shot Larry Bobish Sr., 50; his wife, Joanna Bobish, 42; and their daughter Krystal Bobish, 17, who was five months pregnant.
Their son, Larry Bobish Jr., 12, was shot and his throat cut, but he survived and was found outside the house, which Edwards allegedly set on fire after shooting the family.
“We waited for the boy to feel like talking to us,” Marshall said. “He just lost his whole family.”
He also needed some time to recover from his injuries, Marshall said.
After talking to the young victim, Marshall arrested Edwards, who was charged with four counts of homicide, arson and related offenses, attempted homicide, aggravated assault and burglary.
His trial is tentatively scheduled for January and the Fayette County district attorney’s office has served notice that it intends to seek the death penalty if Edwards in convicted.
Marshall was the criminal investigator assigned to the case and he assisted trooper William Large, a fire marshal at the Uniontown station.
“It was like two investigations into one,” Marshall said. “You work the fire scene and the criminal investigation.”
For helping solve the case and handling the suspect’s alleged confession, Marshall was nominated for the award by Sgt. Dave Heckman, the head of the station’s criminal investigation division.
Troop B Commander Capt. Roger Waters presented Marshall with a plaque from the agency directors on Oct. 17.
“It was an honor. We were honored through the state police, too. Capt. Waters gave me a letter of commendation for the same case,” Marshall said.
He took his wife to the ceremony, where the guest speaker was Alice Hoglan, whose son, Mark Bingham, was one of the heroic passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville on Sept. 11.
It was the second award Marshall received from the agency directors. The first came in 2000 when he managed to identify a man who had been murdered and found buried outside of Masontown from stenciling on his underwear.
No arrests have been made in the case and it remains under investigation.
Marshall said he took his dad to the 2000 award ceremony because he wanted to meet the guest speaker, former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Jim Leyland.