Men accused of killing Fort Myers 5-year-old released from jail

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- The two men accused of killing a 5-year-old in Fort Myers last year are free.

A judge granted release to Terrance Irons and Thomas Edison Tuesday afternoon, after a key witness in the case changed her story.

The men were named as suspects in a drive-by shooting that killed Andrew Faust Jr.

WINK News was in the courtroom when the woman who accused the two men of killing the 5-year-old changed her story and said she can’t remember what happened that night.

Friends and family of Edison and Irons formed a big group outside the Lee County courtroom Tuesday afternoon.

The men have been in jail for the past eight months. Cashae Smith was the only witness to  ever come forward to identify them, giving a statement to police three days after the murder.

Since then, Smith has refused to cooperate with the State Attorney’s Office.

The defense tells WINK News Smith finally gave a deposition where she told them, she couldn’t remember anything.

Last month, Smith told the court she had been threatened, and that’s why she stopped cooperating. Then, she apparently denied that in her deposition.

Edison and Irons still face charges in the murder. It’s up to the State Attorney’s Office how to move forward now that Smith has changed her story.