CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A convicted serial killer currently in the Clayton County Jail could soon be extradited to Florida, where he is suspected of two murders there.
Edward Cherry has already pleaded guilty to three murders in metro Atlanta.
Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that she expected Cherry be extradited to Jacksonville, Florida, where he is expected to answer to those murders.
Winne spoke to Cherry one-on-one inside the Clayton County Jail.
“How do you feel to be called a serial killer?” Winne asked Cherry.
“I don’t think I’m a serial killer. I just think in situations; I just do what I got to do. That’s it. I’m always … I’m put in situations and I’m just the one who shoots first,” Cherry said. “Are you the one who started calling me a serial killer?”
“Do you expect them to seek the death penalty against you in Florida?” Winne asked Cherry.
“Probably,” Cherry said.
Mosley and Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Broadnax told Winne that after a guilty plea in Clayton County on Thursday for taking the life of Shakai Gordon in 2020, ending the life of Lydia Tate Foran about three days later, both by gunshots, and for other crimes, Cherry was sentenced to life to run at the same time as a life sentence he got in Fulton County in March for another murder.
He’s a cold-hearted serial killer. He has no heart,” Mosley said.
“I’ve never seen anybody as cold, as heartless, as Edward Cherry,” Broadnax said.
“You chose to take responsibility here and in Fulton County, is that correct?” Winne asked Cherry.
“Correct,” Cherry said.
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“What made you step up to the plate and take responsibility?” Winne asked Cherry.
“That was the best option for me. I did what was best for me in the situation. That’s simply the only thing,” Cherry said.
“Life in prison was your best option?” Winne asked Cherry.
“Life in prison, in this state, is only 30 years,” Cherry said.
Broadnax said if Cherry’s mention of 30 years in our interview referred to the parole eligibility for his life sentence, it’s highly unlikely he’d ever get it.
“I think he just has a misunderstanding of the criminal justice system, and I don’t think he understands where this is leading to,” Broadnax said.
Both prosecutors said they expect Cherry to be extradited soon to Jacksonville, Florida, where he is a suspect in two more murders, and the life sentences here will give authorities there -- an opportunity to seek death for Cherry.
“What’s your response to those allegations?” Winne asked Cherry.
“I talked to my family, that’s it,” Cherry said.
“You’re not saying you did it or you didn’t do it?” Winne asked Cherry.
“No, I’m just saying I talk to my family about my personal matters,” Cherry said.
Mosley said if Cherry meant to suggest to us that his Clayton County victims intended to rob him, that’s false.
“I had a lot of money, I had a lot of drugs,” Cherry said.
The DA said his murder victims in Clayton County didn’t even know each other.
Fulton County Executive District Attorney Adam Abbate said on March 5, Cherry pleaded guilty to four Fulton County indictments, one of them including a murder charge in the 2024 jail stabbing of a Fulton County Jail inmate, Leonard Fortner.
“The dude who died in Fulton County, I told that dude to just leave me alone. I don’t want no problem. Just leave me alone, let me go about my business, and he just kept on bothering me,” Cherry said.
Another indictment was for aggravated assault on College Park Police Lt. Charles Landrum, whom Cherry shot at the end of a chase.
“Where did he shoot you?” Winne asked Landrum.
“In the neck,” Landrum said. “When I called out that I’d been hit, I called out for Jesus to protect me, and when I said that, I literally felt him come down all around me,” Landrum said.
“Where did your life go wrong?” Winne asked Cherry.
“I don’t know, somewhat. I’m not sure, to be honest with you,” Cherry said.
Mosley said she believes the Clayton County murders were because he wanted the victims’ cars.
She said while he may not fit the movie idea of a serial killer, the fact that he allegedly committed so many killings in so many places qualifies him for that description.
Our files indicate that in March, we reported we’d been told there were currently no charges in the Jacksonville cases.
We don’t know that that has changed at this point.
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