Jonathon Edington
Written by Tiffany
In this day and age it seems as though more times than none when we pick up a newspaper or turn on the nightly news that we hear of children being beaten/tortured/raped/murdered by parents,loved ones, or babysitters. It’s really heart breaking. So let me ask you, as a parent, what would you do if you found someone had hurt your child? Would you call the police or take matters into your own hands? What if you had already called the police previously and they did nothing but write their standard police report?
The father in this story is 29-year-old patent attorney from Fairfield, Connecticut named Jonathon Edington. To most people you ask about Mr. Edington he’s a well respected young family man that loves and cherishes his 2 year old daughter. Jonathon and his wife Christina had filed previous police reports involving their 59 year old neighbor, Barry James of walking around his 1st floor bedroom naked. Some of you might say, “That is Barry James’s business how he walks around his home,” but you see it’s adjacent to the toddler’s room. In fact the toddler saw Mr. James naked and that’s when her parent’s called police. Nothing was done except for the routine police report and the advice from the police to “put up mini-blinds and/or curtains.”
A short time later Christina, and her daughter were on an outing to Rhode Island to visit her family. At that time the child confided in her mother that she didn’t want to go home because she was scared of the neighbor Barry James. When the mother questioned the child about why she was scared the little girl told her, “Barry comes into my room at night and puts “it” (she pointed to the genitals) on my belly and my nose. He also makes noises that sound like hee-haw and it feels like I got rained on.” The horrified young mother then called and explained the allegations to her husband.
On 8-28-06, Mr. Edington, furious and in a “fit of rage” retrieved a kitchen knife, entered Mr. James’s room through a window and stabbed him 13 times in the chest, heart and hand, fatally wounding him. He then left, went home, called 911 and told the dispatcher to send an ambulance and police to the home because someone had been stabbed. When police arrived Jonathon was washing blood off his hands and the bloody knife was nearby.
In June 2007, Mr. Edington pled guilty of 1st degree manslaughter but in October 2007 the judge sentenced Jonathon to 12 years in prison and 5 years probation.
Barry James’ family still deny the molestation allegations and said that their son/brother had been killed for no reason at all. They’ve filed a $5,000,000 lawsuit against Mr. Edington and have filed a civil lawsuit against Mrs. Edington for telling her husband about the abuse in which he then killed the man. The family attorney, Richard Maahan Jr., has stated that he thought it was unlikely that a child as young as Edington’s daughter could make those statements. He also stated, “I have a granddaughter that age who I think is a bright and precocious child but even she couldn’t articulate these type of accusations.” Police have also said they can not prove the allegations of sexual abuse.
So I guess just because his granddaughter can not “articulate” things such as these that neither can this child huh?!? I have a hard time believing a child of this age could make up a story such as this.
So my questions to you, our faithful readers, are: Was Mr. Edington justified for killing Barry James? Were the local police at fault, to a degree, being as how they wouldn’t follow up on the claim Mr. James exposed himself to the child previously? Should Mr. James’ family be awarded monetary damages due to the death? Finally what would you do in this situation?
Thank you Tiffany for your contribution! Good job! To read about the civil case against Jonathon Edington read this article. No proof was ever found that Barry James was ever in the Edington home — no fingerprints, no DNA. Barry James needed help climbing stairs so climbing through a window was “improbable” according to police.
Does Jonathon Edington deserve hell?
- No, he was defending his daughter from a molester. (78%, 657 Votes)
- Yes, he murdered a man when he should have called police. (22%, 187 Votes)
Total Voters: 843
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131 Comments »
I don’t think it was right of Mr Edington to kill Mr James. It is not right to take the law into your own hands. That being said. I totally understand why he did it, and I likely would have done the same.
I also do not think you can fault the police. If they did not want their child to see the naked neoghbour, it is their responsibility to put up blinds. Furthermore, the naked body is nothing to be ashamed of, Their is a difference betwheen exposing yourself, as say a flasher, and just going about your bussnies without clothes.
All that being said of course, Mr James was most likely a pedofil, and the world is a much better place without him.
Horseshit. The authorities do nothing- look at all the priests just moved along… The only thing in this scenario that is wrong is that Mr. Edington was given time, and not a medal. Society owes this man a debt of gratitude.
Dosent that attorney Mr Maahan Jr kind of prove that Mr James was a pedofil with a statment like that? Yes your young granddaughter could not articulate those kind of things. That’s becuase your granddaughter has never (at least I hope so) been molested. Kids are not supposed to know about things like that. Molested kids know because the sick bastards did this things to them. They are speaking from experience. It’s like saying, well my kid has never seen an elephant, and thus can not describe it. That means that your kid, who has seen an elephant, can not either.
I actually got confused by that statement and thought he was a lawyer for the Edingtons. So I totally agree with you.
If they didn’t want her to see the naked neighbor like someone said, blinds, or they could have switched rooms with her. And apparently they needed to lock the window.
To me, it is obvious that something happened by the way she expressed “being rained on”. The child explained what was happening to her by relating it to what she knew….. If that story was spoon fed to her by someone else it would have most likely described the events a bit more clearly…..
I am sure that the “rain” is sperm…..
When one gets rained on for a few seconds one gets wet by drops in places – nt soaked…. so the daughter has never been left outside in the rain, but has gotten wet by rain drops.
But Fred, it was Jonathon’s wife who reported that that was what the child said. His wife wanted to move. Isn’t it possible she LIED, that she made up the story to convince Jonathon they should move? I’m sure she had no notion that he would go off the deep end and murder the neighbour.
There was absolutely NO PROOF that the neighbour was a pedophile. No computer files, no pictures, no complaints, no movies, no hanging about playgrounds, nothing. And there were no fingerprints, no DNA, no footprints in or around Jonathon’s house to prove he was ever there. The man was disabled! The man needed help getting out of a chair! All there was was an accusation made by Jonathon’s wife, period.
I believe the girl. I know when I was little I never made up stories about seeing my neighbors naked or entering my bedroom at night, and I have yet to meet any that have. There’s no way you wouldn’t know that your neighbors could see you, or that your room was adjacent to a kid’s room. I think that anyone who isn’t Mr. Pedo Bear minion would have either put up curtains, or started wearing pants. Neighbors or not, I do both, and I’m sure any normal person would do the same.
i dont think he should have killed Mr James. why would police do something about a guy walking around naked in his own house. like they said, get some blinds for their daughters room. I would be on his side for killing the guy if they would have reported the abuse and the police did nothing but killing him after getting a phone call from your wife about it and then going right over there, thats not right.
How awful, now his poor baby girl will grow up with Daddy in jail for this. I understand it but he really should have restrained himself. How horrific. His actions made this so much worse though…
The dad saved many more children from becoming victims of this piece of shit! I’d be willing to bet that as that little girl grows up, she will appreciate what her father did for her.
Now wait a minute… her father is a murderer in jail and she is supposed to appreciate it? Not only does she suffer through child abuse, she now has to grow up separated from her father and enduring the stigma all her life. It horrifies me to think that he just went straight over there and killed the guy. He should have at least attempted to find proof first. Couldn’t he have caught the guy red handed one night and organised a police ambush or something? Then he would have been a REAL hero and he and his family would have been safe.
“Catching the guy red-handed”? So, he should have waited for the man to abuse his daughter again? What if things escalated? What if the poor girl was raped? I don’t think he should have waited. He should have filed charges and moved his daughter away from the man immediately.
No, you don’t have to let the guy abuse your daughter. Obviously if the guy enters your house in the dead of night he is not there to drink beer and watch the game. Wait for him to come in the house and greet him with a 12 gauge, most states allow you to protect your family and house, using deadly means if necessary, from intruders with unknown intentions.
Dad saved children? Speculation. Dad killed neighbor. Fact.
You and your post are full of shit. If you ever want out of jury duty just show them your post, they may pay you not to show up. There is this thing called evidence. You really should look up the definition of the word drama queen.
I can only speak from a UK perspective, but IF the cases ever make it to court here, the perverts are given ridiculously short sentences in prisons that offer a better standard of living than many law abiding citizens ever experience, only to be released early and go on to reoffend. If someone hurt my child I don’t think I would stop and think, I’m pretty sure anger would make me take matters into my own hands immediately and no, I wouldn’t regret it. I would have got pay back for my child’s pain and ensured that there would be no future victims which is a dam site more than our so called ‘legal system’ can do. I am convinced that the courts etc do not offer us the protection we are entitled to and are heavily on the side of the accused. Mr Edington did what many honest citizens would do and should have been spared jail due to the circumstances.
I think it would be different thought, if there were some kind of evidence, or there had been an ongoing investigation. Now, all they have to go on is the kids word. Granted I belive her (the daughter) but it isnt enough to convict Mr James. Thats why they had to convict Mr Edington. While we may understand why someone acted in a certain way, the law is the same for everyone.
I totally agree with everything you said. Pedophiles cannot be “cured” and the trail of victims usually number in the 100′s. I am sorry the dad was convicted but I would do the same if my child was a victim of a pedo!
Don’t cut US courts any slack. In a lot of states, all a predator has to do is raise their own victim. A person who enters a home and rapes a child is looking at an average of 10 years. A person who does the same in his own home could get some time, but might actually get “sentenced” to “therapy” and the child might be forced to help the scumbag “heal.” TAs for this case, I don’t know any two-year-old who would be able to say what happened in those words. Not saying the girl didn’t make the allegation, but the words are almost certainly the mother’s. I can totally understand his actions, but it is too bad he was unable to make things right another way.
Hi Ed.
I know that this will come out wrong, so I want to say first that I don’t doubt that what you are saying is true.
I was just wondering about what you said/wrote about the victims being forced to “help” in the predators threapy. Do you have any examples? I find it very intresting (probably not the right word, but english is not my native language)
Not at all bothered that this man killed a sicko. Two year olds cannot make up stories like that. No way. The only thing that troubles me is that they left the kid’s window unlocked, or any window or door unlocked so that Chester Molester could get in and get at the baby. Call it OCD or whatever, I do triple checks on my doors and windows, especially my kids’ windows because I read PYSIH!!!
I would’ve cut off his penis and let him bleed to death. Theres no cure for pedophilia, the sentences are a slap on the hand and the guy would re offend again and again, making other children his victims. Kudos to the dad, the pig got what he deserved! (my apologies to all pigs for the comparison).
The little girl may or may not remember it for the rest of her life, making her a lifelong victim of this trash! I’m sorry the dad got such a long sentence, I hope he gets out in half that time.
I’m surprised this story made it onto this site… yes, he was a bit out of line for killing the guy, but it’s a child molester.
Theocracy aside, I think the pervert deserves hell; the father who acted (stupidly) to protect his daughter gets a few years in purgatory at most.
I hope PYSIH isn’t going soft on pedophiles…
Actually, I wrote this story to see how others felt about it. I voted that he shouldn’t go to hell, that’s just my personal opinion. I have a 5 year old daughter and I can’t say that I wouldn’t kill someone if they molested/raped her. I see the whole “Now the child has to live without a parent” argument but I also see the “Don’t touch my kid or I’ll kill you” point.
I was just wanting to hear other’s opinions. No way am I or PYSIH going soft on Pedos!!!
But.. but… it’s not even clear that the next door neighbour was guilty! I am totally confused by this article.
Actually, I wrote this story to see how others felt about it. I voted that he shouldn’t go to hell, that’s just my personal opinion. I have a 5 year old daughter and I can’t say that I wouldn’t kill someone if they molested/raped her. I see the whole “Now the child has to live without a parent” argument but I also see the “Don’t touch my kid or I’ll kill you” point.
I was just wanting to hear other’s opinions. No way am I or PYSIH going soft on Pedos!!!
My post isn’t showing up, maybe it will now.
My 3 year old can lie like a rug at times, but we can easily tell when she is, and it’s never about anthing like that. If she told me our neighbor did something like that to her the only thing that might stop me from going over there and killing them with my bare hands would be the thought that I would have two kids who need me at home and not jail.
I just can’t believe a two year old made that up. I cannot fault a father for wanting to kill his child’s molester. Almost every father I know would do the same thing if he could. I wish he called the police because his poor daughter is going to grow up without her daddy and have to live with what he did for the rest of her life.
Did the police tell the Edingtons to get a curtain or the neighbor? I had a nudist neighbor and when local parents complained they told him to get the blinds or face an indecent exposure charge.
i have a 3 year old and when she was 2 she could speak really good. this little angel may have not “articulated: the words perfectly but a mother knows what her child is trying to say. the fact is that she said this man touched her and the father did something about it so that’s great and no he doesn’t deserve hell Barry James shouldn’t have fucked with him.
With no evidence and only the words of a two year old, filtered through a mother who might be understandably distraught by the allegations, I will be the odd man out and say I think Edington deserves his sentence. My 4 year old has made up and exaggerated things which could have got people into a world of trouble and it turns out they are things she has got from overhearing adult conversations or inappropriate TV shows. I also know of a 2 year old who was set up by the mother to give abuse allegations against the father, admittedly that was in a divorce proceeding but it damn near ruined his life even though the child admitted later to the judge that she had lied. The allegations should have been taken to the police and child welfare and properly investigated, and in the meantime precautions taken at home to prevent any chance of someone coming into the home or the child seeing the man or vice versa. Stabbing the man 13 times was not the answer and now there are two ruined families who will never know the truth.
Well.. Alls well that almost ends well… Maybe more research should have been done but I completely understand dad’s premature actions.
Kids this age sure as hell CAN make up some crazy crap. This man NEVER should’ve done what he did. You cannot just kill someone on an allegation from a 2 year old with no evidence to back it up. My 3 year old, over a year ago when she was 2, “articulated” the following statement…”Dada pee pee on me, and fingers in ‘gina”. Now if I didn’t trust my husband, and wasn’t there when she said this and seen what had happened, wouldn’t that make me stand up and take note? Wouldn’t it you? I was right there in the bathroom when he sat her on the potty, told her to pee pee, and then showed her how to wipe. THAT is when she said this. What she was trying to say, happily, was that dada told her to pee pee, and helped her wipe after.
I do not “understand” nor “condone” this man’s actions at all. I myself am a victim of childhood sexual abuse, and of child pornography, and if my child told me such a thing, knowing the things that kids pickup, the way a mother can misinterpret and even add words to it while distraught (not deliberately…even seasoned cops and psychologists will tell you sometimes victims of real crimes exaggerate because their traumatized memory adds stuff that didn’t happen), I would want to question her thoroughly and then take it to the police, while having my child physically examined first.
No, it’s not the fault of police that they couldn’t do anything that he was walking naked in his own home…it’s the parent’s responsibility to put up curtains or blinds. And if you’re going to take those words as the exact words the child actually said, then it sounds like it supposedly happened more than once…how was this man supposedly getting in and out of the house repeatedly and the parents never heard or noticed anything?
There are way too many cases out there that have currently come up cleared where EVERYTHING pointed to a person being guilty, only to find out that all that info was wrong and the person was absolutely innocent. Yes, some kids can articulate that well at that age, but kids also pick up wildly inappropriate stuff from tv and other people and their own imaginations, and repeat it. Frankly, it sickens me that here and elsewhere, people are cheering this man when there was no evidence whatsoever…and the possibility that this was just an old man who enjoyed his naked time (my own husband loves his around the house) and he died as a result of a child’s imagination and a mother’s fear and a father’s idiocy really, really disturbs me. Why is no one questioning this father’s actions or temper? Sounds to me like he is off in the head, not a “loving” father…if I called my husband up frantically over something like this, I know what his response would be…and BELIEVE ME, this man loves his girls and would kill anyone he KNEW hurt them…but his first response wouldn’t be to go kill a man. His first response would be to say “What? What the hell are you talking about? Calm down, tell me again…ok, when you get home, I’ll talk to her alone and see if she repeats it, and then we’ll call the police if we need to” He’d be worried, upset, but he’d want to hear for himself what I’m talking about, especially if I’m hysterical when I call him as this woman was. Why? Because he’s had three kids, and been a kid himself, and KNOWS how things can be misinterpreted.
What scares me even more, is that if some neighbor toddler decided to make up some wild story after overhearing adult conversation, seeing something on tv, or trying to explain something, about me or my husband, many of you would be cheering if we were slaughtered in our beds, without asking “are they SURE this happened”. Assuming this man was a pedophile and deserved death without a chance to defend himself is every bit as sick and twisted as if he were a pedophile. It’s all fun and games, till it happens to YOU.
Also, let me add this, since it wasn’t mentionened in the article…the mother refused to cooperate with the investigation, and was found to be suffering from severe post partum depression at the time of the accusation.
There is a lot not mentioned in this article. Christina Edington was found to be suffering from postpartum depression bordering on psychosis by her own defense attorney’s psychiatrist. Edington’s wife also claimed that her two?year?old said that James came to her in the “starry night” and laid things on her stomach and nose. This scenario is hard to imagine with two parents sleeping in the same house and hearing nothing plus the girl not saying anything until she and her mother were on vacation, and the girl wanted to stay at the vacation spot. With all that alleged activity, changes in behavior would have been obvious even to the casual observer. The police found no evidence of molestation by anyone. Even after Fell’s Acres, Little Rascal’s, and other witch hunts, the gullible insist that children do not lie about sexual things. But in those cases, the coercion of children to become victims for the state was as criminal a behavior as any pedophile. It was carried out by police, prosecution, and social workers. They got away with it. Some of these children believed, after becoming adults, that they were hanged upside down in trees that were seen by passersby; or that they were tortured in secret rooms that are known to be nonexistent. Anyone who is interested should check out the William Faulkner short story “Dry September” which really mirrors this case. It’s very sad that this man gets accused of pedophilia without any evidence to back it up, and his murder is applauded by people. That’s actually more frightening than this case, the fact that so many are ready to start up a lynch mob.
Amazing you have so much info on the moms ppd. Where did you come across this info? Link? And what does pod have to do with what her daughter said. I suffered ppd and I wouldn’t exaggerate things said o me I was too busy being bed ridden from depression and hormones.
Personally if my kid said something was put on his face by a neighbor and then it rained wtf else would that mean??? If I told my husband he would kill the guy too. Though I wouldn’t have called him I’d tell him in person as to not kill him and call the police.
And no offense but no evidence was found of sexual assault which meant this 2 year old had to spread them for the dr. How traumatized do you think that made her? Was it made clear a black light scan of her bed was done? If sheets were washed in between the raining and the police search my guess it was washed, then uh no black light would obviously pick it up. So yes lack of evidence is due to a smart pedo who never touched her down there and there isnt a penis scanner for Tummys and noses yet, so he knew to stay away down there or he would get caugh so had police followed up he would have gotten off and the little girls widow would get locked. (I leave windos cracked in the spring and fall for a cool night air, but I have locks so the don’t open moree than a crack cause I read this site) so I don’t fault them for the open window.
Meant to add that the pedo would just find another victim.
So, yeah not too sorry he’s dead
This is one of those stories that makes one feel like a hypocrite no matter how it’s addressed. I for one would want to kill anyone who touches my children wrong. But… Would I actually do it? I don’t know.
My gut is telling me that the wife had to have been told by the little girl something. And either asked yes or no questions or exagerated the whole story that she told to her husband. My step mother at one time tried to talk me into saying a neighbor molested me when I was younger just to get attention. Yes the neighbor was accused of such actions, but not by me. When I denied it she told me, “It happened you just don’t remember.” I ended it by telling her, “If it had happened I wouldn’t have hesitated to tell my grandmother as soon as it had because that was the relationship I had with her.” I still think that the step mom wanted attenetion that she felt the other girl’s mother was getting.
I may get slack for thinking that way, but after seeing it done before I think it’s very possible that the man’s wife just wanted attention for being the mother of a victim. There is a name for it starts with an M and ends with an N and has Syndrom by Proxy at the end. I can’t think of that one word and too lazy to use Google. It’s where mother’s abuse their children to get attention. Maybe that happened and the husband in this story did what all father wish they could do?
Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
Hi Gabby…..you are thinking of Munchhousen by proxy syndrome. You may have a valid guess here…..because parents who have this syndrome, intentionally cause their chidlren illness and injury repeatedly, in hopes of receiving attention and concern. It’s a pretty nasty illness & so difficult to accept that people d these horrendous things to their own kids. You have to be mentally ill & that’s all there is to it! As for your first paragraph? I agree with 100% AND I KNOW I WOULD DO IT. NO PROBLEM!!
There are SO many things wrong here besides a murder.
1. I agree w/ several comments that state the PARENTS should have blocked out their daughter’s window to begin with….AND ALSO BE 100% CERTAIN ALL WINDOWS AND DOORS OF THEIR HOME WERE SECURELY LOCKED….ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT!
2. Although I DO believe the child (she absolutely could NOT have been that detailed and graphic if the act did not take place…even with a child’s “imagination.”) Having said this, I also wonder why the child did not tell her parents IMMEDIATELY as opposed to a bit AFTER the fact.
3. The mother was irresponsible to have panicked as she did and CALL the father. This was something she should have sat down and told her husband, so they could discuss how to deal with such an egregious allegation (crime).
4. The father “snapped” as 9 of 10 parents would have…and acted in a moment of insanity, so to speak….to avenge his daughter’s attacker.
5. The story says nothing of any type of Police investigation as to having the child examined thoroughly, both for sexual molestation and her emitonal sate.
6. I actually feel for these parents and this little girl….and especially the father. I feel he received too harsh a sentence under the delicate circumstances.
1- I’m not going to argue this point. I agree 100%
2- Children wait to tell their parents or a trusted adult about abuses all the time. They’re afraid, they’re ashamed, they don’t know what’s going on. And pedos have a tendency to tell them that they’re going to hurt/kill mommy/daddy/siblings if they tell. When an adult tells you not to say anything and if you do you won’t be believed and bad things will happen to you, young children tend to believe them. Molested children are terrified, and often never tell anyone. Many times is the adults around them who have to figure it out. It took a bit of training, and unfortunately some experience, for me to be able to tell an abused kid from an unhappy one.
3- How is it irresponsible for a wife to want to call her husband, the adult she’s supposedly closest to in the world, not to mention the father of the child in question, to report something that their child said? I did it all the time, granted for injuries and such and never possible molestation. If I got angry at someone I thought mistreated my daughter, you can bet I was on the phone with my husband. When I thought the daycare teachers in her class weren’t doing a good job paying attention to her because I picked her up and she had a bruise and a cut and no one knew what had happened I was on the phone with him before I was out of the building- and I WORKED there. Before I went to my boss and demanded to see the tapes I called him, because he is her father, he has a right to know what’s going on, and I needed to talk to someone I was close to and who I didn’t feel might be more interested in covering the company’s ass. I had no one but him I could call.
4, 5, 6- I also agree with you. I think the poor man reacted with his emotions and not with his mind, and I think he got too harsh a punishment. He took a life, he should be punished, and we can’t teach people it’s okay to act on those feelings even if we ourselves would like to. But I mostly feel sorry for that little girl. She did what she was told to (if her mother coached her, which is starting to seem like the more likely of the scenarios), or spoke out about something horrible that happened to her, and her daddy went to jail because of it. She’s too young to realize why daddy went to jail, just that he loved her, he tried to protect her, and he’s behind bars for it now. If this doesn’t breed a sense of distrust in the police with her I’d be surprised. That said, I a physical and psychological exam as a victim can be brutally traumatizing for an adult. I’m sure it’s part of the reason why so many rapes go unreported- you report it and suddenly you’re stripped, poked, prodded, have things inserted into you, and then questioned to the point where anyone might feel like they did something wrong. It would be terrifying for a child, and they’d probably need years of counseling to get over it- probably a good idea for this little girl anyways. I would want to find out what happened to my daughter more than anyone, but I can see where a parent might be reluctant to put their child through all that, especially if the person accused is dead and any physical evidence they get from examining her couldn’t be used to prosecute him.
Again, anyone take note of the fact that this woman was suffering, by admittance of her own attorney, from postpartum depression bordering on psychosis, at the time of the “accusation” and that she refused to cooperate with an investigation allowing police to talk to or examine the child? Man, people are so quick to judge and ruin someone’s rep and life over a kid’s words that may never even have been said.
And keep in mind how “detailed” the the descriptions were from toddlers in the mcmartin and little rascals’ cases. Kids can be coached, people.
I posted earlier, but for some reason it didn’t go through, but my now 3 year old, when she was 2, said these words…”Dada peepee on me, and fingers in ‘gina”. Know when she said them? When we were in the bathroom, all together, and my husband put her on the potty, told her to peepee, and helped her wipe after. This was her happily repeating what had just happened with the words she knew. Anyone who heard those words and decided to slash up my husband and kill him would apparently be cheered on by the people here. THAT is sick, and scary. I am a former child victim of sexual abuse and child pornography, and even I know to question what my child says, no matter how detailed it is. Children absolutely CAN and DO come up with stuff that seems or IS sexual at this age…they overhear adults, catch snippets from tv, and add their imaginations to it. And they can be “persuaded”. Even if those were the exact words of the child, seasoned cops and psychiatrists will tell you that traumatized victims accidentally add words and elaborate on descriptions because their memory goes haywire when distraught and trying to describe what happened. But I’m with the previous poster here, who pointed out this woman had postpartum depression and wouldn’t let her kid be questioned, and that makes me think this kid was either coached or the whole thing was made up. And as I said earlier in what was never posted, this man seems off to me…even if I called my husband upset with such an accusation, as defensive as he is over his daughters, his first reaction would be to want to get all the facts, and question her himself, especially if I was in a hysterical state. He would want to hear it from his child himself. Sorry, but something is wrong with this man’s emotional reaction here…to act that way when you’ve discovered evidence of the fact, and know it for certain, and the man is getting away with it, sure, THAT I would understand…but on one quick, unclear, hysterical call from a wife you know has postpartum depression, NO. I just find that very, very odd.
Wow. The really, really scary thing for me is realizing that from the comments of people here and other places on line something like the McMartin case could happen all over again. I hope that man’s family sues the shit out of the woman who started all of this.
Barry James’ family did sue and they won. Edington has to ante up $315,000 for wrongful death. The court heard that Barry’s heart and neuropathy were so bad he needed help even getting out of a chair. The court also heard that Christina Edington hadn’t been happy living there and had wanted to move. It was Christina who told her husband what the little girl said. He didn’t hear it directly from his daughter. Just sayin.
Ummm for a guy who can’t get out of a chair how was he walking around naked infront of the little girls room?
What happened to going over to the neighbor’s house and beating the shit out of him? That’s how it would have been handled in my old neighborhood. Besides, assault carries a lot less of a penalty, and you still get the satisfaction of knocking his teeth out.
I’ve often wondered why this does not happen more often. I guess it matters how you are wired. I’m a non violent kind of guy but if you molested or hurt one of my children I’m pretty sure I’m going to hurt you 10 times worse – probably to death. Was this father justified? Nope. Would I do the same in his place? I hope so. Note to pervs: Two of my children are not yet adults and live at home – stay away.
He should have wait in the dark of his daugther’s room for the pedo to break in and then..
Too bad he have to go to jail for that!
Little girl can be proud of her dad! THIS is family!
He WASN’T a pedo…as cleo and others pointed out, the man accused and killed could barely get up out of the chair, the mother wanted to move and was suffering from post partum depression/psychosis, and she also refused to let her child be questioned or examined. It boggles my mind how people are running with this and accusing this poor guy who was murdered by a psychopath who didn’t care enough about his family and the position he would put them in or the possibility of killing an innocent person to wait until they arrived home and question his daughter himself. Kids come up with stuff all the time, some of the stuff my toddler has said after learning her body parts and having my husband and I help her go potty and wipe could make a stranger think she were being molested, and it terrifies me that people would assume we were “pedos” and cheer if someone decided to slash us up and kill us because they misinterpreted what my toddler said. This whole story stinks to high heaven of manipulation, and I can’t believe people are so quick to form a lynch mob mentality.
After reading other people’s comments, I would like to alter my wievs. While I can’t say that it did not happen, the story is rather fishy. If he never molested the kid, I don’t think you can blame the mother, because in her head, he really did those things. It’s the disease talking, not her. On the other hand, just because she is sick, does not necessearily mean it did not happen. That’s why he really shouldnt have killed him, and should have let the police handle it. Even if they could not prove anything, they would still be able to say wheter or not it was likely.
I believe 100% this litle girl could have given clear details about what was going on. My daughter at the age of 2 could tell me very clearly what she did at daycare on any given day or would tell visitors about sliding down the slide in the pool and making big splashes that got mommy and her sister all wet too. They have pretty good memories and I would definitely believe my daughter if she ever told me someone did something inappropriate to her. Not that I think I could bring myself to do what her father did…at the same time, this guy must have been cleaning this little girl up pretty good for her parents not to notice any dried semen on her or her bedding?
I also wonder if they seached Mr. James’ computer/video collections to discover any child porn?
This is starting to sound like a case of a perfect storm of stuff colliding to make one tragic event, and I’m not sure who is the demon here, but I’m really leaning towards it NOT being Jonathon Edington.
First, if my daughter had told me she had been molested, and I was out of town, you know I’d be freaking out and wanting to talk to my husband immediately. If the daughter told the mother that there had been molestation, I wouldn’t wait to see my husband face-to-face. I’d be so distressed I’d call him and tell him what was going on.
Jonathon acted on what information he had, and he did it in a fit of rage. He’s not the only parent who, when told their child is being molested by their neighbor, would act out violently towards that neighbor. People have killed their children’s molester before, and they’ll do it again, and many people will applaud them if it’s proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they really were a molester. Trust me, there wouldn’t be many tears if the head of NAMBLA turned up dead, especially from parents. Hell, there’s a good chance my husband would go next door and beat the living shit out of the neighbor if he was told that our daughter said she was molested by him. Protecting your children is an involuntary thing that most parents feel, and part of that is to remove any threats. Jonathon did what he thought was right, he removed the threat to his daughter and punished the man he THOUGHT was a molester. He did it in the heat of the moment, and had he had to drive back from Rhode Island/finished his shift/put his children to bed/ANYTHING that would give him a few hours thinking time the shock and initial rage might have subsided and there might have been a very different outcome in this case. Hell, even if he had someone else to talk to in the house, not just his wife on the phone, he might have been able to calm down enough to not act as many parents would want to react upon recieving the news. I’m not going to act high and mighty here, if I thought my daughter had been molested I would probably have to be held back from doing something violent in those first few minutes before my rage subsided.
The mom was suffering from postpartum depression bordering on psychosis. I suffered from postpartum depression, but not that severe, however I don’t think that it’s all the disease talking. Maybe it’s a combination of the disease and Munchausen by Proxy, but unless she had a history of making up false situations before why would Jonathon think she’s lying. Maybe the two year old never said anything to her, we’ll never know, but Jonathon had no reason to doubt what his wife told him. Now, if it came to light that she had a long history of claiming that Elvis was wooing her while she was walking the dog or something, then he should have paused, but if she had no such history, he had no reason to doubt her. And I’m not thinking she had Munchausen by Proxy. In my experience those parents, mostly women, would willingly submit their child to exams and such. They might have to harm their own child to make things look plausible, but if they have no problems making their children sick for attention, what’s a bit of an injury? (PLEASE don’t think I’d actually do that to my kid, I would never harm either of them). Her signs sound like an attention seeker, but I’m not sure it’s MBP.
Barry James was old and infirm, and had problems going up and down the stairs, but unless they had a lot of contact with him no one should expect Jonathon to have known that or applied this to ‘maybe he had problems climbing through a window’. It sounds like all he really knew was he liked to hang out naked by the window that could be easily seen from a toddler’s room, and frankly that’s a bit weird to me. I’ll admit to have walked around my house in the nude before, but only when the windows were completely covered and I had no chance of anyone, of age or not, seeing me. I’m skewed here, as I said in an above post, because I had a ‘funny’ neighbor who liked to walk around naked in his house with the windows open, but that guy gave me the creeps. Nothing ever came of it, but most people prefer to enjoy their time in the buff where young people might not see it. I can’t fault Jonathon for thinking something might be a bit fishy about someone who can look out his window into a toddler’s room and still chooses to walk around naked without covering the window.
None of this changes the fact that a man is dead, and it’s most likely that he is innocent. However I don’t think Jonathon Edington is a monster. He reacted in such a way that, had Barry James been a molester, many people would be cheering him and petitioning for a short sentence. Barry James probably isn’t a monster, just someone who made some debatably questionable choices (though I admit it is his right to walk around nude in his house, though once he found out a child saw him I would think he’d at least try to hide it). The two year old certainly isn’t a monster, either she repeated what happened to her, or did exactly as mommy told her to do, and two year olds are notorious for trying to please their mommy. The only one I think might be hell-worthy in this situation is the mother. There’s a good chance she made up the story while trying to convince her husband to move. If that was the ONLY reason, send her to the fryer for not having the guts to figure out a reasonable solution to the ‘I want to move and Jonathon doesn’t’ situation. She probably has a mental illness, but I don’t think that excuses setting off a chain of events that got a man killed. But she’s only a monster if she made up the story (though she’s acting suspiciously like she did). If the two year old had, out of nowhere, said those things and she was just passing the info on from the two year old then I don’t see her as guilty of everything.
I don’t think this story will ever have all the answers, and I think that there will be defenders both for Barry James and against him, but unless the mother starts telling the truth we’re never going to get all the facts.
Tunnels were found under McMartin Preschool. The parents paid a professional team to search for them. They found the tunnels. The tunnels were definitely made by humans (large, showed signs of tool use) and exited where the children said they did.
The IPT did a thorough investigation into these supposed tunnels, found no evidence of any access point in the concrete floor (save for a sewer line), that there was no way for anyone to cover up an access point, and that the artifacts in the tunnels (none of which predated 1966 save for a few pieces that had the potential to have been planted by parents/investigators hired by the parents or dragged in by rats) had a benign explanation- rubbish pits, construction residue, and the like, and there was no structure or lining to the tunnels. The conclusion is that the empty spaces thought to be tunnels were merely leftovers from construction or prior use, and this is widely accepted by respected, non-biased scientific circles.
I am sorry, I do not know what the IPT is. I am talking about the finding of E. Gary Stickel, ph.D. from UCLA who did find some tunnels that had been filled in with soil that did not match the area. He also looked for evidence the tunnels existed prior to 1966 and were used after 1980. I tried to post a link, but can’t. I have not gone and seen the tunnels or not tunnels with my own eyes, so I guess I cannot positively say either way.
Here is a video about the report on the tunnels:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDYQtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQVweJZp6elI&ei=t-A0T-z_L4OCgAf-l_TnBQ&usg=AFQjCNGVkE_2t9aporESMxIxf4G7srS7HA
He talks a lot at first about judging evidence, etc. But he does get to specifics re: the tunnels. This was just the first video I found. There might be better ones.
I’ve posted about this before, a long time ago before he met me, my (much older) ex-partner killed his father-in-law in a fight after discovering the father-in-law had been molesting my ex-partner’s daughter.
My ex went to jail for nine years for manslaughter. Aged 20-29 was spent in jail. His daughter spent from age 3-12 without a dad. Fast forward a couple of decades and she is dead from a heroin overdose after having a habit for many years. Nobody won in this situation. I understand the rage my ex must have felt, clearly, otherwise I would not have been with him (he told me about it before we got together). But I wish, for him and his daughter, that things had been different. RIP Jade.
wow. That’s all I got.
If you get caught nakid thru the window once, it’s an accident. If you keep getting “caught”, it is NO accident.
Agreed, he had to address the problem, and police are often useless. (They’ve been useless for me as well)
He shoulda been more subtle in handling this, used a lil imagination. Maybe mouse traps on the window sil would catch his attention. Maybe a baseball bat flying thru the window would have? Either would have been better than a knife, bloody hands & a long prison sentence. Who’s protecting the family now? He sure aint. But then, mr nakid-window-pants is not around to pester anyone anymore…
hmmm. interesting. good article!
Bad neighbors suck. Some just suck worse than others.
im not sure where i stand on what happened as the details are kinda vague but i will say one thing as someone suffers from peripheral neuropathy thats its possible to need help one day to even scratch your own nose and the next day be able to move about a lot more freely.a lot of the symptoms are on a day to day basis not 24/7 basis
just sayin :)
This story doesn’t pass the smell test. Did anyone else see the man walking around naked repeatedly? And why no blinds and an unlocked window? No one with an ounce of sense would leave a toddler with no protection like that. I don’t think the kid said thing– I think the mother made it all up. I don’t think the neighbor did anything at all.
The neighbor was murdered.
That is my thinking too.
I can see this side of it, too. I just don’t feel like we have enough information to know what exactly happened.
It could be the mother just really disliked the neighbor and since her dislike wasn’t enough to get her husband to move them… well…
Smilee makes some excellent points. While the rage at the neighbor is understandabe (and frustration with the police), hauling off and murdering someone causes other problems. Such as his daughter growing up without a father and possibly feeling guilty.
While there are some two-year-olds who speak very clearly, the dad didn’t hear directly from his daughter. Then again, by the fact he immediately flew into a rage makes me think he had a good reason to believe. Maybe the little girl’s behavior had changed recently?
As far as naked neighbor goes… it does sound like he wanted someone to catch sight of him. Which is disgusting considering one of the possible viewers was young enough to be traumatize merely by glimpsing him (not that anyone else wanted to see it).
P.S. Smilee, I am so sorry about your Jade.
I am sorry, it is Mrs. Me whose daughter Jade died. I am so sorry for your loss.
I’ve got to support him here. I don’t think I would’ve murdered the guy if I was in his position, but he definitely deserved it.
This man committed an unconcionable act, he broke into this innocent unsuspecting man’s home and brutally murdered the poor guy, a 12 year sentence is a mockery of justice, he should have gotten life without parole or death.
How can you people praise this sick man?
And the 2 year old daughter – I am sure the little slut just deserved such???
While I hope I would have handled the situation better, the fact is that he attacked the man that is attacking his daughter. Plain and simple.
Maybe if the pervert just watch and took care of himself with porn, like many of us do, he’d be alive today.
There is virtually no evidence that the 2 year old was assaulted Fred. That is why Mr. Hankey states as he does.
Mr. Edington was told something second hand by a wife that HIS attorney’s psych witness says had serious mental health issues. People who are qualified to interview witnesses this young are highly trained and very careful about how they question so as not to get false accusations. The child was neither interviewed nor physically examined.
Leads me to wonder if the so called “walking around visibly in the nude” could have been a fabrication as well.
Uh…hate to tell them, but there are 2-year-olds who are very smart and can talk quite well. When my niece was 2, she could speak in full sentences, and almost none of it with “baby talk” pronunciation. She could tell us everything that happened at daycare and used to make us laugh telling us what the teachers would gossip about during naptime. She would lie awake listening to them and fill us in on the gossip, so yes, it is very possible for a child that age to articulate that type of abuse.
Uh…hate to tell them, but there are 2-year-olds who are very smart and can talk quite well. When my niece was 2, she could speak in full sentences, and almost none of it with “baby talk” pronunciation. She could tell us everything that happened at daycare and used to make us laugh telling us what the teachers would gossip about during naptime. She would lie awake listening to them and fill us in on the gossip, so yes, it is very possible for a child that age to articulate that type of abuse.
Sorry about the double post… I got the “page cannot be displayed” so I didn’t think it even posted once!…oops
Until people who are defending the pedo can give some links to the crap spewing on this family, it just looks like more of the victims being blamed. Amazing how that happens. A 2 year old is assaulted, by a smart pedo who knew sticking it down there would mean someone would actually notice assault, no instead he just decided to money shot the poor girl yet SHE is now to blame. Oh no wait that’s the mom being labeled a crazy bitch with PPD. While I can see making up a story about a naked neighbor, making up a story about molesting seems a bit far fetched. I hope she appeals the civil Case she doesn’t deserve to pay the family who is probably lying about his medical conditions. Not hard to promise a pay off to a dr either. Nope I fully support a fathers love. I just hope she her life doesn’t end like jades but that’s not daddy’s fault she got into heroin. She used him not being here as an excuse.
“Until people who are defending the pedo can give some links to the crap spewing on this family….” That’s pretty rich, coming from someone who considers the flimsy evidence to be conclusive evidence that “the pedo” did it.
What he should have done was to “sleep” in his daughter’s room one night and waited for this pervert to come in, then send him on to hell on the express route.
Great story!
My 16 year old daughter who lives 1200 miles away from me was taken advantage of by her friend’s father.
In time, when more action has been taken, I will write about this bastard and let the world know who he is.
There were other options he could have taken, but I don’t think he deserves hell. I think the molester deserves hell, if anything else.
I just can’t vote on this one, I’m too torn between the 2!
Some of these comments are absurd.
The note at the end of the article makes it clear that the police have serious doubts that James was guilty of anything. People should think twice about whether they are defending the murder of an innocent man. Everyone has the right to presumed innocence; until and unless evidence that Jones was guilty of a crime, there is exactly one violent criminal in this story. If evidence is found, there will be two.
If Edington had “walked in” on the alleged crime taking place, there would have been every justification for using lethal force then and there. But there can be no justification for killing someone rather than contacting police upon hearing an accusation.
Note: I’m not saying James wasn’t guilty. But without a shred of evidence to say he was, I won’t be passing judgement.
I would have done the same thing! Dirty bastard!
It is extremely rare that a sex offender can be rehabilitated.
my niece was 2 years old when she told my mother (her grandmother) that her dad peed in her mouth. My sister took her to the police, they refused to do anything because she was to young to be a credible witness. So, hell yes he was right.
How can anyone think it’s “not right to take the law into your own hands”? Have you noticed the broken justice system lately? Also, this person is clearly not a parent. I would spend the rest of my life in prison if they hurt my child. DO they really believe mom just made it up? Ridiculous. That man deserves to be dead. If it happened to this child, then it happened to others.
You all need to take a look at the Brazilian way of doing things. They take anyone accused of such a crime and wallop them with sticks and bricks till they can’t move. Then they pour some accelerant on them and through a match. You can hear the screams till the accused dies. I guess I want to do it if it were my child. But I once heard a lawyer say that he could just as easily defend a scumbag, as well as prosecute him, for it is not the accused, or the crime he is defending or prosecuting, but the justice system itself. The justice system is the most important thing we have. He speaks from experience having seen the Salvadoran death squads at their best. You have to take a step back an look at the bigger picture. But yes, in all fairness, it’s easier said than done when it’s not your child.
Nobody here is questioning that there are sociopathic scumbag lawyers out there who perceive the law as a game and can hop from side to side with no crises of conscience whatsoever.
But when clients buy into that mindset and try to get away with it because that’s the game, they shouldn’t be surprised when they are perceived as sociopaths. A lot of people set a higher standard for themselves than scumbag defense lawyers.
By the way, snottiness aside, I should probably thank you for what seems like your honest point of view. One does need to try to make sense of things like this. It’s not the most important reason, but something real I did get out of doing things the way I did – if I’d done it the other way, you-know-who would have probably just stepped aside and kept his mouth shut and I wouldn’t have understood him the way I do today.
I understand the whole story way better than I did in 2008. Jonathan Edington didn’t give it that kind of time.
Oh, and yeah: I don’t know if anyone cares about this any more. But if you do, I didn’t want to out anyone at the time, but here you go. It’s not based on inside information, but I’m a professional writer, I’m good at this. Open a sizable chunk of Mary Goodnight’s writing, open a sizable chunk of Chloe’s writing, read them side by side and tell me they weren’t written by the same person. Mary Goodnight was Chloe, guys. I don’t run places like that.
And if you don’t want to take it from me, just watch the show. I never ran that place, not on any level of reality. He even gave the woman who ran the place red hair, it should be easy enough to recognize the major players. I will say that the omission of Uschi always shocked me. It’s not like that was the only thing wrong with the show. But Uschi, you definitely would have been in my version, I don’t know how you fell out.
Sorry but I don’t believe the molestation story for a second. There is no way in hell a 2 year old would have been able to tell the story. I bet the mother hated the neighbor for some reason and made up the molestation story. The murderer never heard the kid say it, only heresy from his wife. She didn’t like the neighbor, called the policed and claimed he was walking around naked, when the police didn’t do what she wanted she escalated her lies.
Okay, here’s what I would say about Jonathon Edington:
I do understand why a father of the victim would wonder if he had a moral obligation to defend his child in a manner beyond the law. But this guy did it in a day, he didn’t try to learn anything more about what had happened, he didn’t give himself time. The act of doing it the same day seems to contain the implicit admission that if he waited a year, he wouldn’t be able to do it. And if it isn’t right a year from now, it isn’t right today.
In fact, I can go further: one of the reasons I did it the way that I did it in the case that life dragged me into was, it was clear that the father of the victim had given a lot of thought into doing a hell of a lot more than breaking his neighbor’s foosball table. The easiest way for ME was to give it to the National Enquirer and let it find its way to the court that way. And a big reason I rejected that method was, I felt there was a very real chance that the father of the victim, if handed the information in that manner, would have felt that he had no choice but to do what Jonathon Edington did.
I tried very hard to be guided by the principle of HWUNHDI, How Would Uschi Not Have Done It, and it was quite a bit harder for me to do it that way. The very last thing I ever expected was for one of the principals (not the defendant) to taunt me for my alleged powerlessness in the situation. It was my perhaps-incorrect belief that if I had had it as a goal, I could have taken a very serious shot at taking the defendant off the face of the planet without leaving the comfort of my guest house.
No fake-friendly role-playing bullshit, it is my very sincere belief that the father in my case would say that he is glad that he stayed his hand, that he has rebuilt his life and that I no longer possess the power I did in 2008. No normal person wants power like that. It keeps you up at night. It follows you through your day.
Wow, the father created an even worse situation because if he was right, there will never be any way to find out, if there were other children involved. If He was innocent and just happened to be a creepy old man who liked walking around the house naked, he murdered an innocent man in cold blood.
Either way, pedo or not, the father fucked up. Sorry but I don’t want to be convicted of anything by a judge, jury and executioner of one. While it is not impossible for a child of 2 to articulate sexual abuse-it is also JUST AS POSSIBLE that the mother, for whatever reason, in her delusional mind fabricated this story for other purposes. It happens people…it happens. Is it monstrous to molest children? Of course…but it would be even more monstrous to make up something about somebody simply because you didn’t like them as a neighbor. Yes, and It happens ALL THE TIME in this country. And while many here seem to get hung up on the pedo issue, the more disturbing fact is that even with nothing but verbal evidence, provided not by a child with a verified child abuse investigator in the room but hearsay postulated by one of the parents(the crazy postpartum one, right?) that people are saying it was okay this man was stabbed TO DEATH. fuck you people-you are worse than the pedophile you claim to hate. Ever been accused of something you didn’t do? Imagine being KILLED for something no one has ANY PROOF you actually did, then having strangers go “Yeah! We’re glad he’s dead!” this is terrifying.
Come on guys if this was your child you probaly would have done the same. This man ruined this little girl FOREVER. This poor child would need therapy and much more. The dad knew this and that’s why he did it . If I was him and knew that the sick, evil, triwsted freak who did this to my baby was right next door… I wouldn’t be abled to take it. You all say” well she’ll grow up with out a dad.” Are you serious…really don’t she also has to grow up with this memory of being raped…
I’m sorry, I try to just say my own thoughts here and let others do the same. But what you wrote contains a creepy assumption you need to think about.
Sexual predators do not “ruin” the people they target. I say that as someone who was targeted by a sexual predator. I wrote about it in the Mark Bedford thread. I met someone on the internet who told me she was a woman. She wanted to see pictures of me, and more. Imagine my shock when I found out “Melissa” was a bald, rather homely middle-aged man.
Should I feel ruined by this? Okay, I was too trusting. Okay, somewhere out there on the internet some porno-creep has splooged all over the photos I showed him. How does this ruin me?
What you learn is, a sad part of being a beautiful girl is that there are going to be perverts who decide they’re your boyfriend, and there are going to be perverts who decide you’re a slut because you like somebody else more. You can’t let those people define you.
There is nobody more ruined than someone who has left his sexual problems become his life, who has let his sexual problems hurt other people. Sexual predators sit on their toilets stroking their penises and thinking “you’re my victim, I victimized you once, you’re my victim forever” until they splooge on their sneakers. But why would a nice person like you want to think like a sexual predator?
Maybe you should try therapy, or a support group. It really helps to talk to others. There’s a beautiful six-foot-tall blonde girl in my group, she could work as a model. An internet pervert invaded her computer with the intent of causing her emotional harm. And as anyone who followed the Lori Drew trial can tell you, invading a protected computer with the intention of causing emotional harm is punishable in the state of California by a sentence of five years in prison by a first offense. Did this pervert’s actions somehow “ruin” this beautiful girl? I can tell you she does not think so.
A lot of us have had tough childhoods. But the sad truth is, there’s a reality to the cycle of abuse. No matter what was done to you when you were young, once you let yourself become the next generation of abuser, you must be prepared for others to react to you as the creature you have let yourself become.
Really? I’M the one who’s offensive?
The simple version of what I had deleted is, sexual predators don’t “ruin” their targets. It is the predators themselves who are the ruined people.
Internet sexual predators like the one who targeted me are the people who should be ashamed to have their stories told publicly. The weirdo who hacked Scarlett Johansson’s cell phone pleaded guilty today and will be sentenced in July. People are starting to get that this isn’t a game. There are laws on the internet, too.
You know, Chrissy, you’re probably better off that there’s no permanent record of what you wrote. The act of the post being deleted probably means that it reached its intended recipient.
I understand your emotion, but I have to say that even I was shocked by some of the places you went with that. Let’s talk it out at our next session. Kylie’s coming this week!
Chrissy girl, that was a fastball high and tight. You might have dialed it into the red zone that time.
You were always such a sweetie pie, the world needs you to bring the nice. People who deal successfully with sexual predators are cool, brave people. Respect. Okay?
Even though this write-up suggest that Barry James is some sort of a nut case because th murderer suggested he walked around naked in his own house, that suggested evidence was never substantiated.
If you google and search outside this site you will find that the investigative team suggests that Barry James was innocent of all charges stated by Tiffany.
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/tragic-twist-slay-cops-girl-2-abused-dad-believed-article-1.560028
One could even suggest that J Edington had a more threatening past profile then the dead man – http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/01/nyregion/01stab.html
personally I think that given the facts outside the minimal information given in this website (Tiffany) that J Edington should have been charged and convicted of murder 1 http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/first-degree-murder-definition.html , there is simply not enough evidence to prove Barry James committed the crimes suggested by the Edington family.
If you think otherwise, please explain and give URL/ links to prove your argument, simply stating noted facts given in this write-up will not substantiate the case.
prove it
This man was sick in the first place to be leaving his windows open for ANYONE to be able to see him like that in his house…..Yes, it may be his house but who cares? That man should have gotten in trouble for that alone! It’s ridiculous! Another thing, there are some very smart children out there. I have a 20 month old that knows more words than some adults. The reason that this man took matters into his own hands is bc authorities didn’t and don’t do shit to help out the public. They are more worried about writing a speeding ticket than they are catching a child molester. It’s sad!
I call B.S.
The wife fabricated the TWO YEAR CHILD’S account of being molested to compel her husband to do something and facilitate greater police involvement and more serious police attention.
I think she didn’t expect this reaction from her husband.
People need to take greater responsibility. If you don’t like looking at naked people who are in the *privacy of their own homes and bedrooms*, close the drapes and never open them. You might want to lock that window as well.
I have no sympathy whatsoever for hot-headed vigilante types, like this dope.
This is no different that ‘honor killings’ that occur in every third-world hell-hole on Earth– except the ‘molester’ probably did nothing worse than undress in his own bedroom.
Should he have killed him? No. Am I glad he did? Yep. One less sicko.
I can see a parent losing their mind temporarily. I cannot say how I would react if it was my child.. I honestly do not think any of us could… As far as him killing him, I believe it would have been better to call the police and make a report, but his frame of mind and the lack of response by the police the first time may have already made him insane… I believe the police failed when ensuring that he was not showing his private areas in an open window where a child could see him… I think if he would have rectified that and even told the couple he was sorry that he was unaware, anything that would give them a hint he was not purposely showing his genital area to the child… I do not believe a youth of that age could manifest such a story… The child would not know those things.. This whole matter should have been done differently.. And personally, if they are filing a law suite, they should include the names of the police department to that list…
I dont care if it is 15 years… 25 years….or even a Lifetime!
If anyone touches my kid in a funny way like that, I would bring hell to him i will make sure the guy/girl gets a very long tortures death, so horrific that I will even appear in this site just like Mr. Jonathan Edington but mine will be under a new Categories…..something like ‘Quick trips to Heaven’
I salute you Mr. Jonathan Edington!
First how was the neighbour supposed to get in the little Girls room & Second wouldn’t the family have heard a noise from the neighbour making his hee haw noises? Why didn.t the wife wait until she got home to tell her husband. Obviously he was going to do something to the neighbour, most people who had been told by their child that the neighbour got his twinky out and touched her and it felt like rain most people would retaliate, the wife should have waited till she came home. At least then she could have tried to stop him or made sure a friend was with you when telling him what his daughter had said. I don.t think its made up how would a little girl articulate something like that to be made up. Only had to have happened for what the little girl said. Look at this part of the statement “Until it rained on me” Only a child that thats happened to would word it that way,
This man was killed-oops-murdered because of the unverified second-hand accusation of a wife with mental issues. In hindsight, considering the neighbor’s health issues, I believe the original accusation was false. What a tragedy!
I didn’t read all of the comments, which is surprising for me. Let me say that I have 5 children and I can’t say for sure that I wouldn’t react the same way. That being said, I have a question and keep in mind I haven’t read all of the comments so I am not sure if this has been asked… but, couldn’t it be considered a crime of passion if he immediately got off the phone with his wife and went and committed the crime. Also one of my kids, who happens to be only one of my daughters is 2. Granted she is almost 3, (three weeks away) but she is still two. I don’t know how far along this little girl was into her “two-ness” but my daughter could have made that claim, even 6 months ago…..
I think the father handled it all wrong. He should have started hiding out in the daughter’s bedroom at night. When the guy comes back, blow his head off. That way it’s justified because he’s on your property.
I have 3 kids, one girl and 2 boys. If one of my children were to tell me someone was doing what that little girl told her mom this man was doing I honestly dont know if i could control myself enough to just call the police in. However, I think that it is strange if he “made it feel like it rained” on her that her parents never noticed anything in her hair or on her person. **Not saying she lied, jst that I find it strange.
Bunch of idiots in this thread. Mom was crazy, daughter was used as a pawn/excuse to get her husband off… I don’t think any sexual abuse occurred. And a bunch of redneck responses applauding the guy for killing his neighbor. Some of the people that respond are almost as idiotic as some of the people that commit these crimes.
YOU don’t think any abuse occurred? HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW??? WERE YOU THERE????
It doesn’t mean a damn thing what YOU think happened.
Oh, and by the way….I was molested by a family member at the age of 2 and a half. Want to hear what I TOLD people about it at the time? People like YOU are the reason that children don’t come forward….because they aren’t believed!
The neighbor was disabled!!! Could not have done what the crazy mom stated happened!!!
Just another case of a woman ruining two mens lifes with her lies and iniquities.
Nice try, troll.
Personally ~ I think he should of cut it off, diced it up so it couldn’t be reattached – and let him live
I am terrified by the majority of the comments here, any good defense attorney would look for any shred of DNA evidence when fighting a twelve year sentence. I worked at a cheap motel in my younger days and semen is very hard to remove from bedding, comforters, etc. DNA evidence is convicting and getting people pardoned accurately every day. And I got news for you people but when a man ejaculates it’s not exactly precision shooting, it goes everywhere! I have kids myself and I would kill to protect them but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get caught up in the idiotic, ra ra hero mentality that you people are in. Use some common sense! If there were any justice in the world this woman would serve the sentence for lying. This poor man was just walking around like a king in his castle, I do it all the time when I’m home alone though I draw the blinds, and then this wrongly raged lunatic climbs through his window and stabs him to death. This woman is going to hell and God forgive her husband. LOL, maybe he’ll go to hell for marrying such and idiot, idk.
Yeah, I was a molestation victim, so let me give you my insight. I’m also Christian. I would never fight in the military, for example, because I think that killing other than in self-defense is murder, and both wrong and damning. I totally understand the way this man felt – probably how my mom felt when she found out what my dad was doing (my mom was violently ill because my father was poisoning her, and so she was in the hospital probably half of my life before age 7 when they divorced. This gave him free reign of me. She divorced him, and “miraculously” got better [they thought she was suffering from MS]. At least, it was miraculous until I regained my repressed memories of him drugging her food and drink…anyhow…). We’ve tried to get my ‘dad’ (he’s no dad to me) arrested, put away for a long time, but the cops knew him and interrogated (seriously, grilled, screamed, and banged on tables [Municipal Police]) me and my sister when I was 7, she; 12. I’m 24 now. The abuse happened from my birth in 88 to 95. He’s never been charged, despite our efforts (I could have had him charged, but never convicted – no physical evidence, my word versus his – I felt that endangered my family and myself too much). So, did we shoot him? Take a wild guess. Hell yeah we did! No, I just wanted the shock value. Of course we didn’t. That is not how you deal with something. My accusations against my father are true. The validity of what this child said is unknown. I almost always believe children in these subjects (why would they lie?), but I have no reason to trust (equally, no reason to distrust, I’m neutral) these parents. Perhaps the wife had a vendetta or was just a crazy bitch. If it was true, the appropriate punishment would be for this man to rot in jail for the rest of his mortal life (and, if you follow my religious belief system, and then get some REAL appropriate punishment). The child’s father is where he belongs. He acted on something he had no right to act on and no direct knowledge of. He murdered another human being. I think that’s wrong, and, if that guy really did molest his girl, then it’s still just as wrong. We do not live in an anarchistic society for a reason – it doesn’t work, and most because of situations like these. It’s a shame for all involved, but, mostly, if the allegations are true, that little girl. I wish her all the luck in the world. You don’t recover from that. I was molested 20 years ago (along with all the other sick shi* done to me) and I’m still (working on) recovering.
-Dax
How is he going to hell? My dad would kill anyone who touched me or my sister. I say go john. he should be going to heaven.
Because there was no proof, and there is a possibility the neighbor was innocent and butchered for no reason other than he was a little weird. There’s a chance the wife made the whole thing up.
That being said, I know a lot of men who would have done the same thing out of pure anger. I don’t think rationality came into this situation. I don’t think Jonathon deserves Hell, especially if it comes to light that the woman made everything up. He did what most fathers would want to do in such a situation. But there’s also a good chance he killed an innocent person. There were a million better ways to deal with the situation.
Mothers with PPD, and Munchaussen(sp?) by proxy have killed their very own offspring TONS of times in the past; where have y’all been for the past twenty years??? How many parents among you have heard your toddler utter things that you have no clue how they learned them??? I don’t even have kids, and I’ve seen plenty of friend’s kids speaking or describing things that they shouldn’t know about- It’s part of a child’s learning. On the other hand, I’ve seen countless cases of mothers with PPD doing much worse than making up allegations= IT’S CALLED PSYCHOSIS FOR A REASON. My vote is that she(mother) fabricated this shit do to her mental condition. More so, No One, in their ‘right’ mind, barges into someone’s home and stabs them 13 times; That’s some Mike Meyers shit right there, especially based on the words of a two-year old recounted by a mentally-unstable woman. Ever hear of the SALEM WITCH TRIALS???- Any idea how many women were burned alive based on the accusations of not one, but several girls aged 10 and under, at an era presided over by Puritans???….Bloody Lynch Mob, the lot of you, .
I think this little girl simply had a bad dream and confused it with reality. being so young and all. how could this guy get to her room? was she on the first floor or some shit?
I’ve been around a lot of little kids, and dreaming of molestation is not a common occurrence. The only ones who dream of being molested are dreaming that because they have experience.
I’m not totally convinced that the mom didn’t make up a story, but don’t put it on the little girl.
If I remember the story correctly the girl did live on the first floor, and had a view of the man’s window.
He deserves a Father of the Year award, that’s what he deserves.
I’m an attorney and if I were licensed to practice in CT, I would represent him pro bono in a heartbeat.
Fucking moron.
This is a messed up story. We can’t possibly deduce anything from the molestation allegations without due process, and seeing as all we have is hearsay before such a time as the accused was stabbed 13 times in cold blood by Jonathon Edington, obviously the jury’s out on whether or not Barry James was guilty. James was an innocent man until such a time as he may have been proven otherwise, though absent that proof, we must then presume his innocence.
With that said, I have somewhat of a hunch that he did commit the crime, however that in no way justifies Jonathon Edington’s actions – which seems to be a worrying sentiment shared by many moral contrarians in these comments. Of course, not only was this murder heinous for all the usual reasons murder is, but it was also egregiously irresponsible on behalf of Mr. Edington not to think lucidly before acting, as now, not only is it impossible to get closure on the matter of alleged molestation, the father is locked away and won’t be able to protect his own daughter in the event, heaven forbid, harm should ever come to her in the future.
The thing that piques my curiosity most about this case is Christina Edington, namely that of her testimony sounding somewhat contrived. Then maybe, because I’m dissatisfied that I’ll never be afforded the verdict on Mr. James, that i’m now boxing at shadows and clasping at straws. At any rate, it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility that Christina Edington was lying about what her daughter had allegedly confided to her, that she may have fabricated the molestation tale for a number of possible reasons; delusion, money, an extra marital affair. Let’s humour this tangent by running with the latter. Perhaps after a while the affair between the neighbours had soured and Christina was feeling ambivalent and pressured, it could well have been that she feared the wrath of her husband in the event that he found out (he sounds like the sort of guy with violent propensities, maybe he was suspecting something?). So she wanted out for whatever reason, but didn’t know how. Perhaps upon being rebuffed, James felt so despondent and manipulated, he appealed to Mrs. Edington threatening to confess the affair to her husband, perhaps out of spite, or in some last ditch attempt to prevail on her conscience or even black mail her into continuing sexual relations. Let’s go out on a limb and say Christina Edington didn’t quite like that, having her cushy lifestyle jeopardised by such a damning truth which would’ve destroyed her family, drawn the ire of her husband. Perhaps she worried that the affair might have resulted in divorce and subsequent loss of money, how would she provide for her daughter? So then, knowing the temperament of her husband, the extent to which he would go upon hearing the news that his daughter was molested, or possibly even ordering her husband to murder, Mrs. Edington reacted in a way that was unpredictable to Mr. James, concocted a lie implicating him in the rape of her daughter and later called her husband to have it all taken care of. It may sound far-fetched, that’s probably because it is. But this sort of twisted shit also happens more often than one would think. I’ve definitely heard crazier stories…
Beyond that idle speculation though, it is strange how we live in a world where more people are falsely accused of child molestation than who actually molest children, and yet all and sundry will assume the absolute guilt of a man, by default, based on hearsay evidence alone. Stranger still is that we live in a world in which a man, innocent and never proven guilty until his heinous murder, is done away with in cold blood by being stabbed 13 times in the heart, and is then given a send off with little but a “good riddance” as if murder is somehow justified in the slightest… Glad to see moral thuggery is still alive and well. Keep calling the kettle black, folks.
It is unbelievable how far reaching some people will go to believe a monster exists and facts do not support or play a role in the matter. But if you step outside of your comfort zones and assume I say assume all that you believe to be true does exist how do you make sense of it all. Let’s put down assumptions Barry was invalid could not walk fast or even climb stairs and get into bed without assistance; Mrs Eddington was upset with her surroundings; The 2 year old made a statement to her mom on vacation after 2 weeks when they were supposed to leave; the father received a call while he was home from his wife explaining what the child said; Mr. James walked around his bedroom naked; police were called to the scene after complaints; the child’s statement he put it on me and it rained; Mr. Eddington was a lawyer; Mr Eddington broke into Mr. James house and stabbed him; children can articulate and they do repeat what they hear around the house and adults; there was no evidence of Mr. James entering the house. These are the assumptions maybe not all but most agreed. Then let’s put them in order and find a plausible reason of How they fit together. Well if Barry was invalid how did he enter the house? How if he was invalid did he enter without making any noise? Why didn’t the child scream out when confronted with this monster in her room? Why not tell Mom and Dad at breakfast that there was a monster in my room last night? Why did not her parents see the residue on their child from the rain? Why wait till on vacation weeks later to tell her mom? Why did a man who is a lawyer and knows the law do what he did? Where was any common sense? Why didn’t Mr Eddington call the police? Why is all any of can ask? But what if? Now we have another view point that is like everything else posted. What if the child was right someone was in her room! Who wouldn’t the child be afraid of? Her father? What if it was her Father who abused her and made it rain? He was never asked if that was a possibility! He was never accused! What if he was trying to cover up his wrong doing and saw a way to accomplish this? What if he didn’t want to share his daughter? Or Have his daughter remember it was Daddy standing there! What if Daddy was sexually frustrated by no access to his wife who was away; who was pregnant; who was vindictive and demanding ; who was complaining constantly; who was badgering her husband. What if she cut him off until he did something? What if she coerced her daughter? What if she just plain old lied? Why would you be upset with the thought of a molestation and not make your daughter available or co-operate with the authorities for the TRUTH? Why was no child pornography found anywhere in the James house ? Child molester always have something around right? What if Mr. James was just an easy dupe and defenseless man? A man who lived with his aging parents who were both sharing the day to day life with their own problems just getting by helping each other out? A devoted son who needed his parents help. A household that felt secure having their son close to help around the house keeping them independent from the burdens of being alone and counting on strangers or society. Why didn’t you move your daughters room? Why didn’t you secure the windows and doors? What kind of parents are they who let this happen? What happened to innocent till proven guilty? Is this allowed to be Mr. James final send off? Well he must have done something? Why would the child lie? Maybe not to go home to see Daddy maybe not to leave a fun vacation place! Who was Mom with on vacation? Why didn’t daddy go? Wasn’t he invited? Are the Eddington’s in a habit of traveling alone for weeks at a time? Whose life style now looks a bit off kilter? But this is all speculation! I was not there! I was not involved i do not have all the facts; just like all of you were not there and not involved and not all the facts. I am just questioning all those people so eager to convict without evidence. Are you convinced that there is more to this story than is known as FACTS? Or are you still holding onto your misguided beliefs that there was a monster next door who entered, abused a little girl? No mention though of how many times he did this; was it one. two or more times? Funny no mention of that. Once is all any one would need if it really happened true! But we will never know! But if you think outside the box my conjecture and suspicions hold more water than all of your rush to judgements. Think about it?
Holy goddamn wall of text batman.
You know, walls of text and stupid people are the main reasons I didn’t follow through with plans of going to law school like I planned in high school…well those, and the tooth fairy didn’t drop tuition under my pillow when I was a kid,
DAMN YOU DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON!
Also, I’d be far to tempted to just call people liars. pretty sure that’s frowned upon
Side note, is anyone else getting a [an error occurred while processing this directive] whenever you put a message through, or just me?)
Pretty sure the father just murdered the guy and made up an excuse to cover it up. There is absolutely no proof that the guy did it, in fact, there are far more facts arguing against him doing anything. None of it adds up when you listen to their story. Why did they never notice anything odd before? How come the daughter never showed any signs before? If she did, then they should have published that. More telling is the fact that the first thing dad did was kill the dude.
Either there are a lot (A LOT) of facts being left out, or dad is a scummy murderer and liar.
This ‘story’ is poorly written for this particular site. No facts. Last time I heard it wasn’t illegal to walk around your house naked or not close your curtains. That said, the Edingtons’ ‘story’ sounds way off. No record of pedophilia on computer or otherwise, OFF. The fact that Mr. Edington is a lawyer and the wife left town with the child and this occurred is very, very suspicious indeed. Plus the fact that they reported him “walking around his house naked” a few times previous, smells like a set up for the actions that followed. I might also say that it doesn’t mention which one filed the reports about the nudity(it says the Edingtons) both. So did she tell her husband about these alleged episodes as well? After all he is a stand-up, hard working lawyer and is she a stay at home mom sees this naked man day in and day out?HHMMMMM.
Now, the child. Two years old. Articulation. Can articulate that he came in through the window and put( the pointing to the genitals)(not weewee or thing) on her belly and nose and like it was raining on me. The fact of the matter is that she didn’t want to go HOME.
Can you say set up the neighbor for DADDYS wrong doing? Kill neighbor before any evidence is brought up in court? according to the ‘story’ no fingerprints, no DNA, no window tampering. What exactly is the evidence against Barry James? NONE!
The way the story plays out in my mind is DADDY didn’t get enough time in prison cause he knows the legal system and he is most likely the pedophile and MOMMY set up the neighbor or DADDY posed as the neighbor while violating his own daughter.
That said. At least they had the decency to get the child far away before executing their plan!
Let me just say this is my opinion because of the way this ‘story’ was told. With no facts or anything resembling evidence against Mr. James. Good luck to the James family in their lawsuits against the Edingtons!
By the way, you should sue the wife too and she should go to jail for inciting a murder! The little girl? No idea. Sounds like the Edingtons family are pretty fucked up.
another thing…Even tall healthy two year olds aren’t tall enough to grab and get on tippytoes, look over the sill into the window of the house next door. Unless of course your baby’s bedroom window is like a patio door and also unlocked? HHMMMM. This ‘story’ is stupid and unworthy of this site.
If I were in his shoes, I would let my wife and daughter come home and sleep in our bed. I would have stayed awake in her room with a gun for as long as it took. Lead poisoning (via bullet) is the only way to cure pedophilia.
Barry James is the one should rot in hell!!