From his room in the house he shared with his mother in a small town near Chicago Edward John Best led a solitary existence. An IT worker he spent many hours online for his job and pleasure - gaming and linking up to chat rooms.
In 2018 via the platform Discord, he began talking to a number of people. One, a woman, from Tameside, he was attracted to. Their mutual exchanges continued for three years - but they never met.
A GMP detective has revealed how Best then began to make strange demands of her. On one occasion he asked to listen to her sleeping, according to GMP. He also persuaded her to send images of herself and threatened to show them to her family and post them publicly if she did not send more, the force said.
