Baltimore homicide suspect gets life plus 38 years in interstate case

Pablo Agosto Acevedo was sentenced to life in prison plus 38 years for killing Pedie Edwards II and trying to hide the crime by moving his body from Baltimore to New Jersey. The punishment closes a case that began when Edwards’ family reported him missing on Nov. 1, 2023, after he never came home.

Baltimore police and prosecutors said Edwards was last seen with Acevedo in Southeast Baltimore, and trial evidence placed the shooting in the 600 block of North Decker Avenue in McElderry Park. Investigators later reviewed video they said showed Acevedo and Edwards together in a car before Acevedo appeared to shoot Edwards from the front passenger seat. Police then said Acevedo moved the body and drove away in a stolen vehicle.

The case stretched far beyond Baltimore City. Edwards’ body was recovered Dec. 9, 2023, from the Hackensack River in Secaucus, New Jersey, in Hudson County, more than a month after he vanished. By then, investigators had linked the homicide to evidence from Maryland and New Jersey, including a burned car found in Dundalk that police said contained evidence tied to both Edwards and Acevedo. One trial account said Acevedo fled the country after the killing and was later found in Puerto Rico.

A Baltimore jury reached a unanimous verdict on Feb. 11, 2025, convicting Acevedo on all counts after a weeklong trial. Court records and trial reporting identified the charges as first-degree murder, multiple firearm offenses and tampering with or altering physical evidence. The sentence adds another final step after years of work by Baltimore homicide detectives, prosecutors in Ivan Bates’ office and law enforcement partners in New Jersey.

For Edwards’ family, the verdict and sentence brought a measure of accountability after a long wait. His sister, Tarento Brown, said her brother was treated like garbage. Another family member said, “My brother didn't deserve what happened to him.”

The outcome also shows how homicide cases in Baltimore can hinge on evidence scattered across jurisdictions, from neighborhood surveillance in McElderry Park to a body recovery in Secaucus. In this case, video, vehicle tracing and forensic links helped stitch together a killing that crossed Maryland, New Jersey and Puerto Rico before ending with a sentence that, for now, closes one of Baltimore’s more complex recent homicide investigations.