Edward Cherry Responds to the "Serial Killer" Label: WSB-TV Jail Interview with Mark Winne, 2025

Name: Edward Cherry Responds to the "Serial Killer" Label: WSB-TV Jail Interview with Mark Winne, 2025
Uploaded: 2025-08-12T00:00:00Z
Duration: 4 min 3 s
Description: Days after his last Georgia guilty plea, Edward Cherry told WSB-TV's Mark Winne he does not think he is a serial killer, that his plea "was the best option for me", and would not discuss two Florida murders.

Days after his last Georgia guilty plea, Edward Cherry told WSB-TV's Mark Winne he does not think he is a serial killer, that his plea "was the best option for me", and would not discuss two Florida murders.

Subject: Edward Cherry
Recorded: about August 7, 2025
Runtime: 4:03

Content warning: Concerns murders by shooting and stabbing and the shooting of a police officer; no graphic detail.

The Interview

In August 2025 WSB-TV Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne interviewed Edward Cherry one-on-one inside the Clayton County Jail in Georgia, days after Cherry pleaded guilty in Clayton County to two murders. The four-minute report, broadcast as a live shot on Channel 2 Action News and posted by the station on YouTube, sets short clips of Cherry's answers beside the prosecutors' account of his crimes and an interview with a police lieutenant he shot. Cherry's own words amount to roughly a minute of the report.

Historical Context

On March 5, 2025, Cherry pleaded guilty in Fulton County, Georgia, to four indictments, including murder in the 2024 stabbing of Leonard Fortner in the county jail and aggravated assault on College Park Police Lt. Charles Landrum, whom he shot at the end of a chase; he was sentenced to life. On Thursday, August 7, 2025, he pleaded guilty in Clayton County to the 2020 shooting murders of Shakai Gordon (March 31) and, three days later, Lydia Tate Foran (April 3), and to other crimes including kidnapping and hijacking, and was sentenced to life plus 10 years, to run concurrently with the Fulton sentence. Prosecutors said they expected him to be extradited to Jacksonville, Florida, where he is a suspect in two more murders. WSB-TV reported in March 2025 that no charges had then been filed in the Jacksonville cases, and did not know in August whether that had changed.

Circumstances of the Interview

The interview took place in the Clayton County Jail shortly after the Clayton plea, with extradition to Florida expected. Winne asked Cherry about the "serial killer" label used by Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley, about his decision to plead guilty, and about the Florida suspicions.

What the Interview Covers

Asked how he feels about being called a serial killer, Cherry says he does not think he is one: "I'm put in situations, and I'm just the one who shoot first." He says pleading guilty "was the best option for me" and suggests that life in prison in Georgia is "only 30 years"; the report notes that, if he meant parole, prosecutors consider it highly unlikely he would ever get it. Asked about the Florida allegations, he says only that he has talked to his family, and declines to say whether he did it. He appears to suggest that his Clayton County victims meant to rob him ("I had a lot of money. I had a lot of drugs"), which DA Mosley says is false; she believes he wanted their cars. Of the man killed in the Fulton County jail, he says he told him to leave him alone. Asked where his life went wrong, he says he is not sure.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report records Cherry's own response, immediately after his final Georgia plea, to the "serial killer" description that prosecutors apply to him, alongside their answers to his claims.

Archival Importance

A short, recent jailhouse interview that documents the case at the point of Cherry's Georgia pleas, before any Florida proceedings. Its value lies mainly in his first-person responses on the label, the plea and the Florida suspicions.

Important Caveats

Cherry's statements about why he killed, about his victims' intentions and about his parole prospects are his claims; prosecutors dispute the robbery suggestion. The Florida murders are suspicions only: no Florida charge had been reported as of the broadcast. "Serial killer" is the prosecutors' description and the station's headline; Cherry disputes it. This is a short news package with brief clips of the interview, not the full interview.

Mark Winne: Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley says, in addition to three murders, and to which Edward Cherry has now pleaded guilty in metro Atlanta, she expects Cherry to be extradited to Jacksonville, Florida, where he is suspect in two other murders. We interviewed him in Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen's jail.

Mark Winne: How do you feel to be called a serial killer?

Edward Cherry: I don't think I'm a serial killer. I just think, in situation, 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 shoot first. Are you the one who started calling me a serial killer?

Tasha Mosley: He's a cold-hearted serial killer. He has no heart.

Mark Winne: Do you expect [unclear: "him" / probably "them"] to seek the death penalty against you in Florida?

Edward Cherry: Probably.

Mark Winne: What are you expecting to happen now?

Jacqueline Broadnax: I'm expecting him to be extradited to the state of Florida. I've never seen anybody as cold as heartless as Edward Cherry.

Mark Winne: Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley and Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Broadnax tell us, after a guilty plea in Clayton County 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, Edward 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.

Mark Winne: You chose to take responsibility.

Edward Cherry: Okay.

Mark Winne: Here and in Fulton County. Is that correct?

Edward Cherry: Yes.

Mark Winne: What made you step up to the plate and take responsibility?

Edward Cherry: That was the best option for me. I did what was best for me in the situation. That's, that's simply, that's all it is. I did what was best in the situation.

Mark Winne: Life in prison was your best option.

Edward Cherry: That's life in prison in this state. It's only 30 years.

Mark Winne: As 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.

Jacqueline Broadnax: I think he just has a misunderstanding of the criminal justice system, and I don't think that he understands where this is leading to.

Mark Winne: Both prosecutors say they expect Cherry to be extradited soon to Jacksonville, Florida, where he is suspect in two more murders, and the life sentences here will give authorities there an opportunity to seek death for Edward Cherry.

Mark Winne: What's your response to those allegations?

Edward Cherry: [unclear: "I have not."] I talked to my family. That's it.

Mark Winne: You're not saying you did it or you didn't do it?

Edward Cherry: No, I'm just saying I talked to my family about my personal matters. That's all I'm saying.

Mark Winne: DA Mosley says if Cherry meant to suggest to us his Clayton County victims intended to rob him, that's false.

Edward Cherry: I had a lot of money. I had a lot of drugs.

Mark Winne: DA says his murder victims in Clayton County didn't even know each other. Executive District Attorney Adam Abbate says March 5th, Edward Cherry pleaded guilty to four Fulton County indictments, one of them including a murder charge in the 2024 jail stabbing of Leonard Fortner.

Edward Cherry: The dude who died in Fulton County, I told that dude to just leave me alone. I don't want no problems. Just leave me alone. Let me go on about my business. And he just kept on bothering me.

Mark Winne: And that another indictment was for aggravated assault on College Park Police Lieutenant Charles Landrum, whom Cherry shot at the end of a chase.

Mark Winne: Where'd he shoot you?

Lt. Charles Landrum: In the neck. Right here.

Speaker Not Identified: Come on.

Speaker Not Identified: [unclear: "Start a corn. Start a"]

Lt. Charles Landrum: 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.

Mark Winne: Where did your life go wrong?

Edward Cherry: I don't know. I don't know. Somewhat. I'm not sure. I'll be honest with you.

Mark Winne: And Ms. Mosley says she believes the Clayton County murders were because he wanted the victims' cars, which did not seem to be what he was claiming to us. She says while he may not fit the movie idea of a serial killer, the fact he allegedly committed so many killings in so many places qualifies him for that description. Our files indicate in March we reported we'd been told there were currently then no charges in the Jacksonville cases. We don't know that that has changed at this point. Reporting live in Clayton County, Mark Winne, Channel 2 Action News. [04:01 to 04:03: no speech in either machine source; recording ends.] ---