Officials: Dad kills neighbor accused of molesting girl

**voivod** · 08.30.06, 06:55 PM

FAIRFIELD, Connecticut (AP) -- A lawyer climbed through a neighbor's bedroom window and stabbed him to death after being told by a family member that the man had molested his 2-year-old daughter, authorities say.

Barry James, 58, was stabbed in the chest nearly a dozen times Monday. The lawyer, Jonathon Edington, 29, was charged with murder and burglary and was released on $1 million bail Wednesday.

Capt. Gary MacNamara said that police had not received a complaint about the child being assaulted before the killing, and "we have no indication it's true or not true."

Edington's attorney, Michael Sherman, said the information came from Edington's wife. "The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark," Sherman said.

James' 87-year-old mother discovered his body. When officers went to Edington's home, they found him standing by his kitchen sink with what appeared to be blood on him, and a large kitchen knife next to him on a counter, authorities said

"He's in shock," Edington's attorney said. "This is the most unexpected turn of events one can imagine with this young man's background."

Police had gone to the neighborhood before, when Edington called to complain that he could see James through a window, police said. "Either he was partly clothed or revealed parts of his anatomy that were inappropriate," MacNamara said.

Edington, a graduate of Syracuse University and Fordham University Law School, has been practicing patent law, Sherman said. Police said Edington has no criminal record.

Rita James declined to comment on her son's death.

James served two days behind bars in 2001 on a drunken driving charge, according to the state Correction Department.

"He had some bizarre behavior over the last month," said Darrell Maynard, a neighbor. "He drove his car through his garage, hit the other neighbor's building."

Another time a neighbor found James intoxicated on the street, Maynard said. James shouted obscenities at children, he said.

As for Edington, Maynard said: "Something had to happen that was terrible for this to have occurred." Edington "seemed like a computer geek or something. He was not anybody you would ever feel you were threatened by."

**sisca** · 08.30.06, 07:03 PM

sounds like perfect justice to me. should be done to all child molesters and rapists.

**loveevhsince79** · 08.30.06, 07:05 PM

Wow, I could totally see that switch flipping if someone hurt one of my babies. Probably more so for a dad thinking someone hurt his daughter. Then again, I have to wonder if the guy was actually guilty.

**JCJanko** · 08.30.06, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by sisca

sounds like perfect justice to me. should be done to all child molesters and rapists.

I concur, and I would like to know the information the 2 year old gave. It's not as if 2 year olds have some great way of making things up they have never seen before.

**Axxman300** · 08.30.06, 10:39 PM

My grandmother soffered a series of strokes before she died. We didn't figure it out until she started walking around the house naked.

**sisca** · 08.31.06, 12:10 AM

HUH?

**ZeoBandit** · 08.31.06, 05:34 AM

Originally Posted by Axxman300

My grandmother soffered a series of strokes before she died. We didn't figure it out until she started walking around the house naked.

I'm sorry to hear that, but what does it have to do with a neighbor being killed because he may have molested someone's daughter?

**Buschman** · 08.31.06, 05:48 AM

I wouldn't know what I would do if I found out someone molested Steven. I would probably do the right thing and call the cops. BUT, with all my strength and will power I would have to hold back the urge to shove a pine cone up the person's ass and rip his nutts off (if it was a guy).

About this guy, who knows what is really true. A 2-year old telling her mother that she was molested, makes you think if the girl is telling the whole truth. The truth about this debacle will be told in the near future and I would like to see what really happened if the girl wasn't molested.

**Viking** · 08.31.06, 06:05 AM

It's hard to do anything legally with child molestation. My Nephew, who was about 3 at the time, told my Brother some disturbing things that his mom's new boyfriend was doing to him. Her boyfriend was basically jacking him off and who knows what else. However, once they reported it and took him into social services or whatever, my Nephew wouldn't say anything, so they couldn't do anything to her boyfriend. Even though there was physical evidence, they wouldn't pursue anything without my nephew's testimony.

When he started telling my Brother what his mom's boyfriend was doing, my Dad had to calm him down, or else it could have been very similar to what happened to this guy. My Dad said it was one of the hardest things he's had to do.

**loveevhsince79** · 08.31.06, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by Axxman300

My grandmother soffered a series of strokes before she died. We didn't figure it out until she started walking around the house naked.

Are you meaning that the guy might be suffering from some sort of mental problem that they are not aware of yet?

**smithjc** · 08.31.06, 09:59 AM

How sad. The two-year old must really communicate well for her age.

**namedmydaughterHALEN** · 08.31.06, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by loveevhsince79

Are you meaning that the guy might be suffering from some sort of mental problem that they are not aware of yet?

i believe he was refering to the old man who was killed. maybe he did have some mental problems....hell he was still living at home with his folks.

this is a tough case... you gotta think the kid is too young to make something like that up. but then again my daughter tells me things that i know arent true.
sad that they will never know.
had it been my daughter....it would take some major restraint to stop me.

**Axxman300** · 08.31.06, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by loveevhsince79

Are you meaning that the guy might be suffering from some sort of mental problem that they are not aware of yet?

Re-read the article. The guy had recently been banging into things with his car. Something was wrong. I'm just pointing out that the old man may have had a problem and that a two year old shouldn't have the final word on if a guy dies or not.

There is not enough information in this story to make a more informed comment. I was just pointing out that, in my case, we didn't know anything was wrong with our grandmother until she started acting strangely. When we got her to the doctor we'd found that she'd had several strokes going back 11 months.
My brother was 17 at the time and most of his friends were that age or younger. A bunch of them were hanging out with my brother when she came dancing out to the garage where they were. Today, the parents of my brother's friends would have called for her to be arrested and we would have been sued. What if one of them came over with a gun?

Nobody hates child molesters more than I do. Sometime I'll have to tell you why. If I ever snap, I will hunt down - CONVICTED - child molesters and kill them. This means that I don't have a problem with vigillantie justice.

However...

Emptying a shotgun into a guy's chest cavity isn't always called for, even in some cases of pedaphilia. In this case, how could a two year old even know she'd been molested? What did she actually tell her parents? My guess is that there was a history between these people. Maybe the old guy did it, maybe the father just assumed the worst. If they had a history of trouble, what is a two year old doing running around unsupervised? I would have killed MOM too.

If the guy actually witnessed the molestation then that's different, tear his arm out of his socket and beat him to death with it.

There has got to be more to this story.

**billy007** · 08.31.06, 02:22 PM

Why do people keep calling the alleged paedophile old? Dude was 58!

**willyum** · 08.31.06, 04:12 PM

sounds like a through the fence deal-e-o as another article stated the kids always stayed in the backyard.

my daughter is 2 and we have pretty good talks... she's very communicative and i don't think a 2 year old is capable of lying about something like this.

it would take a fuck load of restraint for me not to have done the same thing.

i hope this guy gets off on temp insanity.