Jerry Odum: Florida man confesses to brutally killing fiancee with baseball bat 2 months before wedding

OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA: Unsettling video footage has surfaced that shows the moment a Florida man confessed to fatally beating his fiancee, saying that they couldn't afford to get married.

Jerry Geisler Odum, 64, was given a life sentence in prison in 2021 for the murder of Vickie Edge, 59, of Okaloosa County, Florida.

A few months prior to Edge's death in August 2020, the couple had planned to get married.

In a bodycam video, Odum is seen being questioned after Edge's death. He coolly explains that he beat her with a bat because he couldn't afford the lifestyle he believed she desired.

'Broke' Jerry Odum promised Vickie Edge to buy her house and boats

In the video, Odum can be heard admitting that he was "broke." "I guess basically I was going broke, you know, so okay - and we started dating each at the beginning of May and you know she started talking about getting married."

He further added, "You know, one thing led to another and she was talking about wanting to get a house and I was just agreeing to it even though I didn't have the money to do it realistically."

Odum appeared calm during the interview and answered questions patiently. He continued to say, "I guess I didn't know how to get out of it and then that's what precipitated what happened yesterday."

Odum misled Edge into thinking he was rich and that he would purchase her house and boats, even though he lacked the funds to keep his word.

In court documents, Odum testified that, just before the attack, he gave Edge a $15,000 check to arrange their wedding, Crime Online reported.

Odum killed her in their Milton home because he knew the check would bounce and didn't want to take the chance of her leaving him.

Jerry Odum killed Vickie Edge using baseball bat

He later told the investigators that he had killed his fiancee on that particular day. "She was getting ready to leave and I told her that I had another surprise for her and she put this blanket over her head," Odum admitted.

"I had a baseball and I hit her with it a couple of times. She said "why are you doing this" and I guess it was all precipitated with all this."

"I didn't have the money to pay for it. I had no way to get out of it. I didn't know what else to do," he added.

"I knew basically I couldn't afford it," Odum said. "I was just kind of going along with a ride. I thought maybe it would end beforehand but I just kept getting deeper and deeper into the relationship."

When asked if he had ever considered killing his fiancee, he said, "'I thought maybe this might be an end result, you know, because, I mean, I went down, I bought the baseball bat from Walmart."

According to Daily Mail, he killed her, took off her car's license plates, and spent hours driving around before checking into a hotel thirty miles away. "I couldn't bring myself to stay there with a body," he said.

The crime scene was documented in hundreds of photos by the police, and they also found surveillance footage showing Odum purchasing the baseball bat. 

What they also discovered was a birthday card Edge sent to Odum, which said, "I'm so thankful God put us together looking forward to many more together." He told the detectives he could have used the guns he owned, but "didn't want to go that route."