Father of Los Osos Woman Found Dead in Nevada Speaks Out

“Margay touched so many lives, and was so outgoing and gregarious”, says Jeff Edwards as he reflects on the life and sudden death of his 27-year-old daughter Margay Edwards whose body was found decomposing in the Nevada desert near the town of Pahrump, just outside Las Vegas, last week, “disbelief is the first thing that crosses your mind, surrealism, you want to wake up from a bad dream but it doesn’t happen.”

Edwards says the cause of his daughter’s death has not yet been revealed by the authorities in Nye County, Nevada where her body was found by ATV riders in the desert.

“We were notified a week ago today by the Nye County Sheriff’s Department that they had found a body in the desert and there was a driver’s license found bearing Margay’s name, the detective contacted me and it was concluded that it was likely Margay they found”, Jeff Edwards says in the living room of his Los Osos home, “positive identification took several days, she had apparently been in the desert for over a week and so identification was difficult, that was confirmed and now the investigation continues, they are now looking for her vehicle.”

Edwards says he is in constant contact with the lead detective in the case which is focused on why Margay was in Nevada.

“Her body was found approximately one mile from a couple that she knew in Pahrump, Nevada, the names of those individuals are with the detectives”, Jeff Edwards says, “they are following up on that situation and hopefully between finding the car and perhaps obtaining further information from this couple in Pahrump, if they have any, maybe that will be helpful.”

“One of the key bits of information that’s needed is the whereabouts of the rental car that she had, a blue Hyundai Accent”, Edwards says, “it hasn’t been discovered yet, and that’s something that the detectives are working on.”

Margay Edwards was enrolled at San Diego State’s Business School for the Fall semester when she decided to rent the car in northern San Diego County last month and visit her family in Los Osos the second week of September.

While Margay was never reported missing, Jeff Edward says alarm bells went off when Margay stopped responding to her mother’s text messages.

“I’m not sure what prompted her to rent the car, I know she rented it in Carlsbad and drove it here to Los Osos, so she had this vehicle and I’m not sure when she had to return it exactly”, Jeff Edwards says, “her mother had been texting and calling her since the weekend she left town, left Los Osos, and hadn’t received anything which heightened the worry.”

“Her mother spoke to her Sunday morning (September 14) and Margay told her she was in Las Vegas, and that was the last time her mother spoke to her. Margay also sent a text to her mother to tell her step-brother Jack that she loves him, and that was the last text she sent.”

Margay Edwards grew up in the Baywood Park section of Los Osos where she was very fond of the waterfront pier area and was well known in the tightly-knit seaside community.

She graduated from Morro Bay High School in 2005 and for years worked at the famous Firestone Grill in downtown San Luis Obispo while taking classes at nearby Cuesta College where she earned her AA degree before moving to the San Diego area.

“Margay is particularly close with her mother and they did a lot of things together, they traveled together, they ate a lot of food at restaurants together and they were very close and her mother is saddened beyond description”, Jeff Edwards says about his ex-wife whom he divorced in 2000, “whenever she came to San Luis Obispo we would get together, but she was a grown woman, going to school and so we spent time together but she spent most of her time with her mother.”

Edwards says Margay met the couple in Pahrump in the San Diego area and spent time with them at their Nevada home last December.

“I know Margay was at their home in Pahrump in early September and I know she was there on Sunday, September 14, and her body was found a mile from their house”, Jeff Edwards says “why Margay ended up in the desert? So to the extent that people can help, if they have any information whatsoever, Detective McGill at the Nye County Sheriff’s Department has done an excellent job, and they have an ongoing investigation.”

Edwards says he’s confident detectives will eventually find the person or persons involved in his daughter’s death.

“Her body was sent to Texas for specialist, forensic anthropologists to do additional testing and so that will take some time”, Edwards says, “it could be as long as two months so this investigation is going to be going on for awhile.”

Jeff Edwards say he’s been overwhelmed by the support from people near and far as he and Margay’s entire family struggle to cope with her sudden and mysterious death.

“There’s been an outpouring of support from her friends many of which I never met or never knew she had”, Edwards says fighting back tears, “I’d say for mothers, its as bad as it can get for a mother for sure, for fathers its certainly difficult, I always loved Margay, but we’re just trying to get through one day at a time.”

“Keep your children close, whether they are 5 or 25, or 50”, Edwards says, “keep them close and love them because you don’t get a second chance.”

Jeff Edwards says Margay loved animals, especially dogs in local shelters, and encourages people to adopt a rescue dog in her memory.