Avinger man murdered

On September 10 31-year-old Avinger man Blake Edward Reddock was found dead in Harris County of apparent stab wounds. At that point, sheriff ’s deputies worked around the clock with very little sleep to investigate the homicide.

On social media, rumors circulate about the crime. In response, Mom posted a text message that seemed to appear that Reddock had picked up a hitchhiker, and then was not heard from after that.

However, during the press conference with Harris County Sherriff ’s Department, the rumor was dispelled. Instead, the text was likely sent by suspect, and friend Canton James Echols, 33, of Harleton.

In the initial press release from the Harris County Sheriff ’s Department, it was noted that “on September 10th, 2022, at 9:00 p.m. Harris County Sherriff ’s Office Deputies responded to Hershel McCoy Road regarding an unresponsive male near the roadway.

“Upon arrival, Deputies located Blake Edward Reddock W/M, of Avinger deceased. HCSO Investigators were immediately notified and responded. The manner in which Reddock was found has confirmed this to be a homicide investigation.“ At Monday’s press conference Sheriff Brandon Fletcher noted that when officers first found the unresponsive body, they rolled it over to find multiple stab wounds at approximately 7:04. Earlier in the evening, at 5:26 police were called to a vehicle fire. Later they were able to cross-match to Reddock through the VIN number.

The vehicle was found burned up on Oscar Reagan Road, and the body was found on Herschel McCoy Road which both belonged to Echols. Sheriff Fletcher said during the press conference Monday evening that the suspect Canton James Echols, 33, of Harleton, had been taken into custody in the Harrison County Jail. He has been charged with first-degree murder.

In the process of seeking to arrest Echols, “one of our unit vehicles came across Canton Echols on a bicycle at 7:26 on Blackburn Road. As units moved in on him, obviously he was taken into custody,” he said. “Thankfully no one was injured.”

Two search warrants have been served for both Echols properties, according to Fletcher.

During the investigation, Sheriff Fletcher said that around the time they found the body, Reddock’s mother received a text from her son’s phone saying he had picked up a hitchhiker and was some gas money to take him somewhere. After a few replies from the mother, which were shown as seen, his phone had been turned off.

It was noted during the press conference that the police did not want to dispel the rumors of the hitchhiker right away because they didn’t want to tip off the suspect.

“If we believed the public was in danger (from a hitchhiker serial murderer) we would have been all over that. We did not want to get on there and say that there was no hitchhiker because we didn’t want to give our hand up on what we were looking at.”

As stated before, those texts were most likely sent by Echols in order to throw investigators off the trail. At that point, several tips came in from social media, which most, said Sheriff Fletcher, were useless.

In fact, said Fletcher, Facebook caused a little bit of grief and made them chase down a couple of dead ends. Instead, the breaks came in the case through video surveillance.

The videos showed first, that Echols was seen on video at a pawn shop Saturday afternoon with Reddock, then later a deputy was flagged down by a homeowner that showed Echols and Reddock passing by his property, and then on the way back the same vehicle only seemed to show Echols.

Investigators are still looking for more video surveillance as they work to create a timeline of the murder. They are asking that anyone who may have footage or additional information call the sheriff ’s office at 903-923-4000.