Search Continues For Fugitive Who Fled During Trial For Murder Of Teen Girlfriend

The manhunt for a Texas fugitive who fled while on trial for the murder of his 19-year-old girlfriend continues.

Matthew Hoy Edgar, 25, vanished while on trial for the 2020 Halloween murder of Livye Lewis. After two days of showing up in a Hemphill court for the trial in January, he vanished, KLAS reported. Shortly after he vanished, the trial jury convicted him of the first-degree murder for Lewis’ killing. Despite his absence, he was sentenced to 99 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Now, investigators are trying to get him in custody so he can serve that sentence.

"We are doing everything we possibly can to find the subject, and we run down every single lead that comes down to us,” Sabine County Sheriff Tom Maddox told KPLC-TV. 

Earlier this month, Maddox said that the search “has intensified and broadened,” East Texas News reported. Investigators have been sifting through leads yet haven't secured his capture.

“As these investigative leads come in, they are assigned to a deputy or completed by the lead investigator for the Sabine County Sheriff’s Office,” Maddox said. “Several of the leads to date involve leads from East and Northeast Texas as well as Western Louisiana.”

Investigators have also investigated sightings in both Jasper and Orange counties. They believe Edgar could even be in Nevada.

Lewis' mother Darci Bass told KPLC, “I just want to start healing, you know. I mean, I am never going to walk the same. It’s like I’ve lost a limb, all of my limbs, and I’m learning to crawl again.”

Edgar is considered armed and dangerous. He was last known to have short brown hair, blue eyes. He stands about six feet tall.  Anyone with information is urged to call either 911 or 409-787-2266.