Town file
Edwards, Mississippi
Edwards, Mississippi (Hinds County, Mississippi) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 630, "Down South Death Demon" (12 September 2025).
- Town
- Edwards
- County
- Hinds County
- State
- Mississippi
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 630
- Approximate location
- 32.333, -90.606
Episode 630 / 12 September 2025 / 73 min / express
Down South Death Demon
"We're going to Mississippi this week... Mississippi, Edwards, Mississippi, to be exact. This is in Hinds County." about 0:03:04
The case: Murder of Ethel Simpson (September 13-14, 2010); Murder of Virginia Fay Rarden (September 2010). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2025
- Population
- about 1,060
- Median household income
- $28,688
- Median home value
- $102,900
- Bail
- $4,000
- DNA match frequency
- one in 276 billion
- People on death row in Mississippi
- 36
- Years since Mississippi last executed anyone
- 13 years
History, in brief
- The first settlement in the Edwards area was known as Amsterdam. about 0:04:48
- The town was big in the 1830s and then faded away until it no longer existed. about 0:05:14
- A cholera epidemic in about 1832, plus the railroad being put further away than the town wanted, killed it off. about 0:05:21
- A yellow fever epidemic in 1897 decimated the town again. about 0:05:34
- During the yellow fever outbreak whole families were ill at once and people were buried without their families finding out. about 0:05:41
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Quiet and calm without all the noise that the city makes."about 0:06:00
3 stars
"The world's only cactus plantation is still open but hurry: John, 81, has had three major surgeries and is looking for a buyer; he used to have ten greenhouses and now has two, one about a quarter full of Easter lilies."about 0:06:09
1 star
"A small town several miles east of Vicksburg, normally overlooked by travellers, with only a preschool and a handful of convenience stores, a population under two thousand and on the downslope for 60 years."about 0:07:34
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Vaughn, Mississippi43 miles
- Hattiesburg, Mississippi104 miles
- Petal, Mississippi105 miles
- Dry Prong, Louisiana124 miles
- Starkville, Mississippi129 miles
- Wiggins, Mississippi134 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.