Edward Mars is a U.S. Marshal who had been hunting for Kate Austen for three years before he finally tracked her down in Australia, giving a farmer Kate was working with $23,000 in exchange for her. Mars was escorting a handcuffed Kate back to the United States when the plane crashed. He was hit on the head and knocked out by a piece of luggage that fell out of an overhead bin during the crash. Kate stole his keys to the shackles, put an oxygen mask on him and then put one on herself. Mars was injured but still alive after the crash and tried to strangle Kate for a moment while she was checking his injuries.