Update: Jonathon Edington—Fairfield Attorney Who Stabbed Neighbor to Death
When it broke, Crime Rant covered this story and there were some fairly heated discussions going on about Jonathon Edington and his reported vigilante justice. Edington, a patent attorney, had stabbed his neighbor to death after hearing that the neighbor had sexually abused his two-year-old daughter.
Here’s some of what you had to say. Many of you questioned the veracity of the child’s accusations:
Kimpossible said:
I wonder if it’s too late to test the little girl, and even if they do, and find no DNA but evidence of sexual abuse, it can never be proven that James molested her. Unless like you pointed out, other little girls come forward and share their stories. If he is a ped, I’d find it hard to believe that he started acting out on it at 57. I will say that if I found out someone had touched my son, who knows what I would do? Stabbing? Maybe…
Another ARF said:
Wow. Well, if it were my 2 year old who had been molested I would have been tempted to do the same thing. However, the one thing that bothers me is the age of the child.. I mean at two they aren’t exactly articulate and I HOPE Edington had his child examined by a Dr to confirm the abuse before he acted.
If the child was in fact sexually abused by James it wouldn’t surprise me if Edington gets off with a light sentence. I think people are sick and tired of protecting the rights of these sicko’s at the expense of our children.
Allison Brennan said:
Hmmm, there’s something weird about this whole thing. Not Matt’s reporting, just the story itself. Edington isn’t acting like a normal person in this. What normal person–even a person completely destroyed by sexual abuse of their child–doesn’t report it to the police? Take their daughter to the doctor? It doesn’t ring true. I can see his wife telling him, I can see him snapping, but to me that would a sign that there were other problems with this guy. Maybe if there was other evidence that the father saw or his wife showed him then it might lend to the reason he snapped. But we don’t know if there was or what he knew.
Becky in Germany said:
“Surprise or not, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. How many people sit their family members down and say, “I’m going out to molest some kids tonight, don’t wait up!”
What did the kid exactly say to her mother, number one….
What was the length of time between kid (supposedly) telling mom of molestation and mom updating dad? How concrete was the info shared between mom and daughter? What is the language capability of this two year old? My son could say dadadadadada at two. Maybe a few more babbles.
For a complete recap of your comments, check it out here.
Now comes the incredible accusation by the Fairfield Police that after a two-month investigation it could find no evidence that the child was abused in any way.
From the New York Times:
HARTFORD, Oct. 19 — The police in Fairfield said on Thursday that they had concluded that a 2-year-old girl had not been molested by a next-door neighbor who they say was stabbed to death by her father after he was told she had been abused.
The father, Jonathon Edington, 29, a Fairfield patent lawyer, broke into the home of his neighbor, Barry James, on Aug. 28 and repeatedly stabbed him, just minutes after his wife told him that Mr. James had molested their daughter, according to the police.
But on Thursday, police Capt. Gary MacNamara said: “We are confident in our investigation that Mr. Edington did in fact kill Mr. James. We’re confident that Mr. James did not molest the Edingtons’ daughter. We’ve concluded that no molestation occurred.”
He declined to specify how investigators had reached that conclusion other than to say that detectives trained to investigate allegations of child molestation had been working on the case since the attack.
One expert on child molestation said that to determine whether abuse took place, physicians interview family members and observe a child at play to determine if the child is preoccupied with sex or, at the other end of the spectrum, phobic about changing clothes or being bathed.
The family of alleged child molester Barry James plans to file a wrongful death suit against Edington.
Does this change the scope of pending criminal trial for Jonathon Edington?
October 20th, 2006 at 8:19 am
Uh, yes, I would say it changes the scope of the pending trial. Something is very strange here. From the beginning I have wondered about the mother of the child.I hope the police are looking verrry closely at the her and asking why she told her husband the child was molested. Wonder exactly what she told him to make him fly into homicidal rage… something isn’t right about this whole thing. We aren’t hearing everything.
October 20th, 2006 at 8:20 am
If no molestation occurred, why did the mother say that, and why did the child? Something’s fishy about the whole situation. I’m curious to see what comes out next.
October 20th, 2006 at 9:53 am
I still think that if Mr. Eddington believed what his wife said, that it would probably bring him to a temp insanity.
Especially since Barry was doing the flashing thing. Remember people this Barry dude is creepiola. Other neighbors have confirmed his behaviour. I dont know how you can prove that he didnt do it after the fact. If the wife made it up SHE should be charged. But 2 year olds do NOT make stuff like that up.
October 20th, 2006 at 10:31 am
I agree Melissa, I can’t imaging a 2 year old making something like that up. Did we ever hear exactly what the child was supposed to have said to the mother?
October 20th, 2006 at 11:04 am
I agree with Melissa that 2 year olds don’t make this stuff up, unless perhaps they are coached. Does anyone know if the child ever did make any allegations? What was it the Mother said he did to the child?
And while the victim was creepy and maybe even a perv, the guy next door can’t get away with killing him for that.
There is so much more we need to know about this before making any judgements.
October 20th, 2006 at 11:14 am
Yah, she supposedly said that she was afraid of Barry, that barry puts his “thing” on her stomach and her nose and then it feels like rain.
And he comes to her in the starry starry nights.
October 20th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Well, she actually didn’t say (according to the mother of course) “his thing” it was he puts “it” yada yada. I know two year old’s don’t like, but adults do.
I don’t know, I have to believe Jonathon believed what his wife told him, and like Melissa said, “this Barry dude is creepiola”. So, who knows, maybe wifey was playing into her hubbie’s paranoia? Sure hope all the truth comes out, but in a case like this, it probably won’t. I’ll bet Johnny does all he can to protect his wife.
Now, my one comment is: How do the police know for a fact that Barry didn’t molest the child? She never “said”, he puts it in her privates. IMHO, they still have no way of stating this fact publicly.
I’ve mentioned before that I have a pedophile moving in across the street on November 1st. I’m ALREADY going nuts, God knows if my son came home and told me something happened what I would do. Hate to even think about it.
And here’s something to ponder. What if Jonathon was also molested as a child? And this put him over the edge? A lot of times adults tend to start remembering abuse when they have children. I don’t put anything past our society anymore.
October 20th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
I meant two year old’s don’t lie, not like. Valley girl took over
October 20th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Kim, my gosh, how are you handling a pedophile moving in so close? I’d be a wreck and extremely ticked off about the whole thing.
Good point also about Jonathan possible being molested as a child. Like I said before, there is something fishy about the whole thing. Should be interesting to see what comes up next.
October 20th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
KDuba – I am ticked off, that’s for sure. I was a wreck when I found out, on my birthday to say the least, but now I’m just angry. Trust me when I tell you, and I can’t give you details in writing, that we’ve got as a neighborhood all our ducks in a row.
Not to mention, he’s not JUST a pedophile, he’s a boylover, all that NAMBLA spouting sh*t. And my son is 9, and it’s literally a stone’s throw across the street.
That’s why I’m saying, I just don’t know what I’d do if this deviant, whether he be a child molester or not, does something to my boy.
October 20th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
The snap syndrome, one can only study it in vivo.
The tard ‘lawyear’ is gonna get thirty years until parole.
October 20th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
I think it was very unethical for Captain MacNamara, the police officer quoted yesterday, to come to such an early conclusion about what the child said, and then to leak it to the media is kind of outrageous. Usually, this kind of case involving a very small child would be handled with more sensitivity, ie: the parents and child would confer with psychologists as well as LE, and the evidence or lack of, would be presented at trial. What was released to the mass media was, I believe, a condemnation of that little girl without any opportunity for Mr. Edington’s attorney or the family to reasonably respond. Yes, I believe it will affect the trial, I don’t think the girl would make it up either, and I feel certain the defense attorney will present strong argument at the trial, unless the father agrees to a plea deal. A sad case, for sure.
October 20th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Saba I am confused by your comment.
October 20th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
I have mixed feelings here…..so, let me address part first. Remember the McMartin School Molestations (Manhattan Beach, CA in the 1980’s)? I was a young baby sitter at the time and I often sat for children that attended this preschool. There where all kinds of perverse accusations, some very descriptive involving devil worship, underground tunnels and specific references to physical molestations. Without intending to offend anyone (and I was molested by a friend’s father as a kid), I need to say I really do not believe anything actually happened back then. It is very confusing and convoluted to describe, but I believe an entire family, a number of workers and a business was destroyed because of hyper-mania. I personally think the kids involved were mislead (though not intentionally) by parents and therapists.
Now, as far as the neighbor flashing….something is up there. You don’t flash yourself around naked to all of your neighbors because you have no agenda. I highly doubt it was a man in his fifties that accidentally exposed himself and there also was no prior inappropriate behavior – most likely not this guys first rodeo in exposing himself – and I’m sure participating in much more.
Did the neighbor molest the little girl? He very well might of – prison would have been a wonderful punishment for him. I don’t like predicting what I would act like if I thought my kid was molested, because I’m not sure. I’m sure I would freak, but I seriously cannot imagine killing someone over one accusation and the fact the accused had flashed before.
Something was going on at that kids house, I am sure of it. I would have liked to have been a fly on that wall. The flasher too had issues obviously, but it all sounds suspicious.. Out of everybody, the dad of the alleged molested child interests me the most….I wonder what the background is on the story for all of those people.
October 21st, 2006 at 2:28 am
We all saw something not quite right about this at the start and I guess we’ve been proved correct. I have continued to follow this story and thought about it a great deal. If I had been in the wife’s position I know I would have had to hold my husband back from at least confronting this guy, but from instant justice? I don’t think so.
By its very nature crime is secretive, sometimes unfathomable and very often unreasonable, which is why it interests us.
Kim, is it because of Megan’s Law that you know this guy is moving into your neighbourhood? Here in the UK we would be kept totally in the dark. I would be freaking out myself if I was in your position, and certainly don’t think he should be moving into a family based residential area. I do wonder though, what else can be done? Is it unreasonable to suggest that if you sexually molest a child you should be kept away from them forever?
What a sad and depressing topic, but still fascinating. I think I need another quick look at the JMK pic before I start the laundry!
Millie
October 21st, 2006 at 2:28 am
I meant to ask, and forgot, will someone please tell me what an ARF is.
Millie
October 21st, 2006 at 6:33 am
If they’re not charging the lawyer with first-degree murder, then something IS wrong….
Yesterday my three-year-old showed me a little boo-boo on his thumb and told me that he was bitten by a crocodile.
October 21st, 2006 at 6:54 pm
ARF stands for Ann Rule Fan.
Ann Rule is another true crime writer and, in fact, it was thru her website that I found out about Mat and Gregg and Crimerant.
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:49 am
Ohhh! Thank you, guess I was an ARF and didn’t even know it. I only need two more books to have her entire collection.
Millie
October 22nd, 2006 at 8:15 am
Millie,
There is another site set up by Ann Rule fans, if you are interested.It is called The True Crime Readers Forum. Mat and Gregg and Kathryn Casey have been known to join in from time to time, much to the delight of all.
October 22nd, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Millie, LONG story, trust me. Suffice it to say, he’s not registered, and the only reason we know is because of some wonderful anonymous people that informed our street. Obviously by their letter, their child has been a victim in the past.
To date, there are 4 “tall one” beer cans in his yard, tons of trash, and it’s only October 22nd, he doesn’t move in til Nov 1. The only great thing is that he has no idea any of us know, he’s in for a big surprise.
Stay tuned
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:30 pm
Kimpossible, has anyone ever thought of placing a sign that reads ‘WARNING-PEDOPHILE LIVES HERE’ in his yard late one nite? He may not want to stay in a place where everyone knows what he is.
Of course, that would probably be violating his rights and that just wouldn’t be right. Poor guy. Wouldn’t want him to feel violated or anything.
October 22nd, 2006 at 6:18 pm
How did this male neighbor have access to their two year old??
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:12 am
Kim, thanks for the updates. From a distance I can think of all sorts of questions that would have me playing devil’s advocate, but I’ll keep it zipped! It’s not my street after all.
Another ARF, I just registered yesterday, thanks for the heads up.
Millie
October 23rd, 2006 at 5:45 am
Millie – all those questions went through my mind for sure also. Like, was the letter from a disgruntled ex-wife? That’s why I took the next day off work and started investigating. The letter had just enough information to get me started – for example – the username he goes by online all the time. After a day of phone calls and web surfing, voila, the letter is true. Verified by more than myself. Gosh, like I said, very long story, I could go on for hours about the way everything was discovered.
Another ARF – funny you should ask that, about the sign that is. It’s against our homeowners to have signs in our yards, cuz I was going to put one in mine (or several), but it’s not against it to put them in your windows. Which is what I’m doing. And who knows, maybe someone else will put the sign in his yard, it surely wouldn’t be me
Now – one thing that IS legal, sidewalks are public property, and all of us have sidewalk chalk. Gosh, the possibilities are endless!
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:22 am
Kimpossible, is it against your homeowners to put flags in your yard or attached to your house??? They are very easy to make. Just a thought.
As for signs in his yard, well you know teenagers will do all kinds of silly things late at nite….
October 23rd, 2006 at 7:58 am
Crazy kids!
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:11 am
Kim – How is it that he is not registered?
Leah – He could have gotten in through the window. I still dont rule out Barry the perv.
And Laura, the crocodile analogy is silly. 2 year olds dont make up stories like the one that she supposedly told her mom. If the kid did not tell that story and the mom made it up then the mother should be charged. But if the kid DID tell that story then odds are its true. And this would be a crime of passion, not First degree murder. If I thought someone did that to my kid I might lose my mind as well.
October 23rd, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Edington killed some one, case closed, he goes to jail for that, hopefully for a long time. James deserves more than being call a “perv”, he was a human being, whose mother now has to mourn her childs passing.
October 24th, 2006 at 1:10 am
Yes, Joe, if you kill someone for no reason you deserve jail, but James only deserves more than he got if he wasn’t a perv. As I’ve said before there is more here than meets the eye. My nosy part hopes we find out what.
Millie
October 24th, 2006 at 9:58 am
James was a perv. Other neighbors confirmed it.
Perv perv perv. Drunken loser perv.
October 25th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Something in Edington’s physical and mental composition has a LOWERED BOILING POINT. His perception was and is distorted. This is my take on this matter.
Edington did not ‘come off’ to me as an intentional perp. He also did not display teenagerish infactuations with details, people, concerts, and the latest hi-fi gadgets.
Rather Edington came off as the native midwesterner he is…..if his wife says that daughter says the neighbor put his pee pee on her in the “stary-stary-night” who is to fucking believe otherwise???? Do we fault his WIFE for hearing it (only…..and ONLY IF…she planted it). Do we fault her for sharing the load with her husband (of which mental composition is yet to be known)? Once again, my personal answer is NO. Oh yeah, baby….I could ‘charge’ my husband with many things BUT I WOULD NEVER EVEN ATTEMPT TO KILL HIM!!!
Sorry Lu LU…..You fucked up major-bigtime. Your climb out of this one wil
Nope.
A bleeding heart cannot see within the psyche or the soul without hemolyzing-blood-windshield wipers. Wipe that goo away and you find a person. Sometimes naked, scared and alone….and sometimes in a Queen’s Robes feeling the end. And even other times reveling with internal balance and knowledge.
So, bleeding heart……..where did you go?
Stop what you are doing.
Raise your glass.
Propose it to yourself. For the year that will define you. Committ to yourself. Once you are done you can give even more (more effortlessly) to every cromagnon (kids and husbands lol) every single day.
And who knows…
Maybe some day THEY can pamper us (yeah right LOL)
October 25th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
sorry….my above statement was WAYYYY BLONDE MOMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was at a loss for words (shhhhhh…don’t tell my husband that….he thinks I am the Queen of mouth-diarrhea)!
(some one PLEASE pass the LOMOTIL!!!!!)
October 25th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Oh yeah….and ONE MORE POINT (from my blonde, ding-bat self)…
Perhaps Edington’s actions speak louder (and more succinctly) then words..
He hears wife’s report on possible child abuse. Moments later he is crawling in the neighbor’s window stabbing him multiple times until he died.
This was an up front and personal crime.
To all those fellow Dad’s and Mom’s out there….Would you…COULD you….jump so quickly to conclusions and break down the ‘killing barrier’? Most of us CANNOT (except for the psychopaths).
Yeah.
Just a little food for thought….
November 13th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
Melissa, get your facts straight and do the research.
From what has been posted, James was walking in his bedroom in his underware. The Edingtons’ kitchen window looks into his bedroom. They saw him and called the police. James was not charged.
Drunk driving. Yes.
Answer the following questions and then I may agree with your conclusions:
How was James able to get in and out of the house without the Edingtons’ dog(s) barking?
Were James’ fingerprints found in the child’s bedroom?
How did James know when the child would be in the bedroom?
Did the Edingtons’ have a baby monitor?
Why didn’t the child cry out as James is entering or leaving?
Why didn’t anyone on the street see James come thru the window?
Did the child say Barry or Beary?
Is the child 24 or almost 36 months old? (Big deleopmental gap there.)
Why is it “Barry comes to me” and not Mr. Barry or Mr. James? (Most adults try to teach their children respect for adults or maybe it was just my generation.)
How far does the child’s window open? And how does it open? If it’s a crank window, it can only open so far. And the Edingtons’ didn’t use A/C and that they’d leave a first floor window unlocked so that anyone can break in?
How long was James supposively in the home?
No one in the home herd anything?
Were the bushes or grass near the window trapped down?
Was there any hairs or DNA found of James in the childs bedroom?
Do the floors in the house creak?
Was the child’s bedroom door kept completely shut or was it left partly open?
Did James use a flashlight or night vision goggles?
I agree that molestors are evil people, but in the case we have a babbling 2 year old with an over jealous mother accusing the neighbor of a crime.
Am I missing something. There is not piece of physcial evidence to support the claim.
But no, children can’t lie.
No, I say Jonathon Edington has is a mad man who needs to be locked up.
You side with him, then there’s nothing to stop your neighbor from killing you in the sameway.
Edington should have stopped and thought before he acted. He murdered in a very violent way.
May 16th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Barry James had a health problem.
He had problems with his legs that would have made it impossible for him to climb thru a window.
June 20th, 2007 at 7:43 am
[...] We covered the story of Fairfield, Connecticut, lawyer Jonathon Edington here and here on Crime Rant when it broke last summer. To recap a bit: On Monday, August 28, 2006, 87-year-old Rita James found her 57-year-old son lying bloodied on the floor of his bedroom. When police arrived moments later, Barry James, an otherwise quiet, reclusive man, was dead—stabbed to death more than 12 times. [...]
July 26th, 2007 at 7:36 am
I’ve never read that Barry James “flashed” his neighbors. I read that Mr. Edington did not like the fact that Mr. James would walk around in his own house in varying stages of undress with “the window shades not full completely down”.
Well, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve stepped out of the shower to find I’d forgotten to grab a towel from the linen closet. Hopping into the hall in the altogether and seeing the hall window open on a spring day. If any neighbor is looking in, I can only say what you see is what you get!!
They also have a name for it. “Peeping Tom”
September 1st, 2007 at 5:50 am
Well so much for vigilante justice. Eddington was WRONG,so was his wife and an innocent person is dead. The twelve years is not enough. I truly hope the victims parents are triumphant in the civil suit. The Eddingtons deserve to lose everything. They caused this mans death and now they should have to help care for the victims elderly parents. He took that mans life and now his life should never be the same for it.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:24 am
What get’s me about this is that all of the facts will only come out at the Civil Trial, unless there is a huge settlement. Just the fact that the victim’s elderly parents watched the whole thing sickens me. Both Edingtons are very sick. I hope that child is safe! 12 years is not enough, I hope some prisoner takes 50 yrs of hurt out on the guy before he is released.
September 9th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Come on people…we are all humans…we act out when we a p. off. The father was protecting his child, this is our job as parent. I have to kids..and if anyone ever hurt one of them…I would most like do the same thing…we may didn’t have intercouse with the 2 year old, but molestation can accur in other ways…I find very hard to believe that the 2 year old would make this up…and even harder to believe that police can assure that the girl was never molested, after all the law always protects the bad guys…and I am sure that the DEAD dude had done it before, I hope if anyone out there had been molested by this man to come foward and this way help this family man, his daughter needs him. My
prayers are with you brave dad.
October 29th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
In reading Edingtons letter to the post he talks about a peeping Tom in the 80s or 90s appearing in a local paper that looked like James.. Does anyone know anthing about thAt?