Officers were initially called to the La Sierra South neighborhood in Riverside, California, on Friday just after 11 a.m. to check on the welfare of a girl who appeared distressed while getting into a red Kia Soul with a man, the Riverside Police Department said in a news release.Authorities were also able to identify the man she was seen with as 28-year-old Austin Lee Edwards of North Chesterfield, Virginia, who detectives learned had worked for the Virginia State Police until being recently employed at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia.Several hours later, authorities were able to track Edwards' vehicle as he was driving with the teen through San Bernardino County in the unincorporated area of Kelso."Detectives determined Edwards had met the female teenager through the common form of online deception known as 'catfishing,' where someone pretends to be a different person than they actually are," the Riverside Police Department said.Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez encouraged families to talk to their children about how to use the internet safely in a statement shared about the triple homicide."