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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Dad Kills in 'Perv Rage' |
| 2006-08-31 |
| An enraged Connecticut lawyer leaped through the window of the house next door and plunged a knife into his neighbor's chest a dozen times - after being told the man had molested his 2-year-old daughter, police said yesterday. Patent-law attorney Jonathon Edington, 29, turned vigilante after receiving a phone call Monday evening from his wife - who was away on vacation with their daughter - telling him that the neighbor, Barry James, 58, had been sexually abusing the little girl. That prompted the seemingly mild-mannered Edington to storm over to James' house in the quiet suburban neighborhood, jump through a kitchen window and stab him, said Capt. Gary MacNamara of the Fairfield, Conn., police. The victim's elderly parents looked on in horror. When Edington returned to his house, James' 87-year-old mother called police. Officers found the lawyer in his kitchen trying to wash blood off his hands and the murder weapon lying on the counter, MacNamara said. Edington was arrested without incident and was charged Tuesday with murder and burglary. His lawyer said his client simply lost it after being told his daughter had been sexually assaulted. "The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark," attorney Mickey Sherman said. He would not say when the alleged molestation occurred. MacNamara said police have no evidence that such an assault took place but were investigating. "Mr. Edington had received information from a relative leading him to believe Mr. James had sexually assaulted his daughter," he said. "We have no information [that] any improper conduct occurred between Mr. James and Mr. Edington's daughter. We have no indication if it's true or not." MacNamara said cops had not yet interviewed Edington's wife, Christina, and had no indication "of any sort of family problems." But he added, "There is the potential that we now have a 2-year-old sexual-assault victim and we are continuing to investigate that." Several detectives went to Edington's house yesterday and examined a window panel that they took from the scene. It wasn't immediately clear why. Edington was released yesterday after posting a $1 million bond in Bridgeport Superior Court. He hopped into a car loaded with luggage and rode off. No one was at the family home yesterday, and his whereabouts were not clear. Edington's wife could not be reached for comment. Neighbors, however, said James - who lived with his parents - had problems with alcohol, shouted obscenities at neighbor- hood children and even went outside in the nude. "There have been battles with them over the years - mostly over drinking - and he has been known to walk around in his yard without clothes on," said one neighbor, who would not give her name. James had once served as a town councilman, neighbors said, but ran into trouble with alcohol and increasingly erratic behavior. He worked most recently at a funeral home, and had lately begun acting particularly strange. "He had some bizarre behavior over the last month," said neighbor Darrell Maynard. "He drove his car through his garage, hit the other neighbor's building." James served two days in jail in 2001 on a drunken-driving charge, according to the state Department of Correction. On June 30, police received a complaint from Edington that James had been parading through his own house "in various stages of undress" and in full view of neighbors. James was never charged, MacNamara said. Others found it hard to believe James would molest a child. "But then again, you don't know," said neighbor Pat Wysocki, who has known the James family for 39 years. James' parents declined to comment, but an attorney for the family said they strongly deny the molestation accusation. Edington, his wife and daughter moved to Fairfield in March, their landlord said. Their house - a modest, one-story, ranch-style home - stands about 15 feet from James' tidy bungalow-style house. A white Toyota Camry was parked in their driveway. Edington graduated from Fordham Law School in 2004 after getting his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University. He practices law at the Fairfield firm of Perman & Green, which specializes in patent and intellectual property matters. Although he had passed the Connecticut bar exam, he had not yet been formally sworn in, according to the state Bar Association. Attorneys at Perman & Green declined to comment. Neighbors described him as a doting father. "He seemed to be a very nice, low-key man," Maynard said. "It seemed like he really loved his daughter. He was really good with her. "Something had to happen that was terrible for this to have occurred," Maynard said. "[He] seemed like a computer geek or something. He was not anybody you would ever feel you were threatened by." Attorney Sherman said Edington - who has no criminal record - was stunned by what had transpired. "He's in shock," he said. "This is the most unexpected turn of events one can imagine with this young man's background." Don't know if he did molest the child, but if so, I nominate this guy for Lawyer of the Year. |
| Posted by:mcsegeek1 |
| #6 Something smells about this story, and Penguin hits it. The wife calls while on vacation to tell the guy the kid has been molested? What evidence? What medical confirmation? I have a child, and if she were molested I'd have blood in my eye. I too would be looking fondly at the kitchen knife rack. But I'd damned sure would want to know, absolutely, without a doubt, 100%, that a horrid crime had been committed before I got out the cutlery. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-08-31 18:22 |
| #5 I thought it was guns that killed people, not knives. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2006-08-31 17:14 |
| #4 His wife calls him from vacation to tell him this news? Fifty bucks says the murder victim was a strange guy with alcohol problems. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2006-08-31 16:52 |
| #3 I have two little girls. If my wife said my neighbor had done something like that I think I might be heading to the knife rack too. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2006-08-31 16:49 |
| #2 I wonder if the funeral home gives employee discounts? |
| Posted by: Sheter Ebbinelet8319 2006-08-31 15:50 |
| #1 He worked most recently at a funeral home, and had lately begun acting particularly strange. Now, that raises some unpleasant images...... |
| Posted by: Whogum Shaving4522 2006-08-31 15:42 |