Castaic Lake crash possible murder-suicide

CASTAIC, Calif. (KABC) -- A violent crash that left a father and his two children dead on the southbound 5 Freeway near Castaic Lake Monday is being investigated as a possible murder-suicide.

Alan Dean Edwards, 46, deliberately killed himself and his two young children, 9-year-old Erick Edwards and 5-year-old Alona Edwards.

Investigators say Edwards entered the Whitaker Brake Check area and slammed his white 1997 Honda Accord into the back of a parked big rig at a high rate of speed at about 1 a.m.

When paramedics arrived, they found the Honda wedged underneath the big rig. Investigators say there were no skid marks on the road.

Edwards' neighbors say he was on the losing end of a nasty custody battle over his children with his estranged wife and was being forced out of his home.

"All what he was going through that possibly made him, made him snap, and to me it seems like an acute case of depression, said neighbor Kevin Parham. "He was on the verge of being homeless, no job, he wanted, I think, joint custody of the kids, that didn't happen."