Police Believe Child Was Killed With Welding Torch

Horrific, beyond anything ever recorded before!

12-31-2010 Texas:

HOUSTON -- Homicide investigators said a welding torch is the likely weapon used in 12-year-old Jonathan Foster's death, Local 2 Investigates reported Friday.

"We're talking crematorium-type of hot," said one Houston Police Department Homicide Squad officer assigned to the investigation.

Police said they confiscated a badly burned section of carpet from the home of Mona Yvette Nelson, 44, who stands charged with capital murder.

She had a welding background and police found welding equipment in her home on Allwood Street in the Fifth Ward area of Northeast Houston. Police said a section of carpet was badly burned and the smell of a human body filled the area around that carpet.

DNA tests are being ordered to analyze any bodily fluids.

One investigator assigned to the case said it now appears Foster was killed at that spot in Nelson's home within hours of being kidnapped from his family's home near Shepherd Drive and 43rd Street in Northwest Houston.

Police say she was acquainted with some members of the boy's family.

One officer said on Friday that the autopsy has ruled out any trauma on the child's body. There were no broken bones or any signs of strangulation or head wounds, so officers said it now appears the child was killed with a welding torch that could be capable of 6,000-degree flames.

"I've never seen burns like this," said one officer who viewed the boy's body after it was found in a ditch off the Hardy Toll Road on Tuesday.

He said that killers often try to cover their tracks by burning the victim's corpse, but in this boy's case, the burning was so intense and thorough that many veteran homicide investigators are struggling with the notion of such a grisly and painful way to die.

Nelson told a community activist from behind bars that she had nothing to do with killing the boy, and she mentioned her own grandchildren as proof that she would never harm a child in such a manner.

As for a motive, one HPD investigator said officers believe sexual abuse was behind the crime.

The officer said there is no evidence to confirm the theory at this point, but police say there was no ransom demand after the boy was kidnapped, so one officer said, "That's the only other motive (that makes any sense)."

Neighbors near the home where police believe the child was killed with a torch are struggling with the new details of the crime.

"That's sick. That's really sick, and I think the person who did it needs to pay for it. Pay dearly," said one business owner on the same block.

Connie Morris also works nearby, saying, "That's just cruel and mean if anybody would do that to a 12-year-old innocent boy."

Nelson is jailed without bond with a court appearance set for Monday.

Police spent Friday interviewing the child's family once again, shoring up the timeline of events and filling in routine gaps in the statements that were given immediately after the crime.

They also spent several hours organizing the carpet and other evidence confiscated from Nelson's home. One officer said, "We got all we need (from there)." ..Source.. by Stephen Dean

Man convicted of killing step-grandfather

Posted in Related Deaths

2-24-2009 Pennsylvania:

An Allegheny County jury convicted a Forward man of first-degree murder this afternoon in the killing of his step-grandfather.

Timothy Large Jr., 31, was acquitted of burglary but also convicted of theft, receiving stolen property, access device fraud and abuse of a corpse.

Mr. Large, who was expressionless as the verdict was read, will be sentenced to a mandatory term of life in prison May 27.

This morning, defense attorney Veronica Brestensky, of the Office of Conflict Counsel, asked jurors to convict Mr. Large of voluntary manslaughter -- and not a more serious murder charge -- because he killed 71-year-old Vernon Hayden Sr. in a fit of passion.

Mr. Large testified that he had been sexually abused by Mr. Hayden as a child, and he accused Mr. Hayden of abusing his grandmother and sister as well. When Mr. Large went to Mr. Hayden's Elizabeth Township home the night of Dec. 7, 2007, he testified, Mr. Hayden made a sexual advance and slapped Mr. Large when he turned him down.

"It's not self-defense, but at that particular time, everything welled up and he lost control," Ms. Brestensky said.

In her closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Julie Capone argued for first-degree murder, saying that Mr. Large broke into Mr. Hayden's home with the intention of stealing his truck. When Mr. Hayden caught him, she said, Mr. Large decided to kill him.

Mr. Hayden's corpse was found more than a month later in Bedford County, after Mr. Large finally revealed its location. Mr. Hayden had been struck twice with a hammer and shot twice with a rifle.

Mr. Large never had mentioned sexual abuse in interviews with police, Ms. Capone said.

"I find it offensive and insulting," she said. "He's murdered him in cold blood and now he's going to say he's a molester on top of everything else. . . . He's a liar." ..News Source.. by Daniel Malloy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"I cut him up with an ax, put him in garbage bags"

(Posted in Other Deaths) Assuming the truth of his claims this is a terrible case on multiple levels without the historical claims of killing child molesters and others. Deaths counted were his sister and his roomates, the rest were ignored.

6-30-2009 Arizona:

A Texas man is accused of killing three Tucson area residents. Michael Carlson is charged with first degree murder for the death of his sister. He's also the prime suspect in the deaths of his roommates.

Could investigators have a long-time serial killer behind bars?

Michael Carlson has made some startling confessions.

Journalistically, News 4 decided Carlson's interview is relevant TV news because Carlson admits to personally killing multiple people. If his claims turn out to be true, his victim's families may finally get the answers they've been waiting for.

Unshackled and face to face, Michael Carlson begins with a bold warning.

"I'm fixing on taking you through a journey through the depths of hell," says Carlson.

His tales of cold blooded murder and revenge date back 46 years.

"I just want the truth to come out," he says.

Carlson's straight faced confessions begin with the recent double murder of his roommates Kenneth K.R. Alliman and Becky Lofton, in Picture Rocks.

His motivation? Justice for theft, he says, they committed.

"And this is the only killing, pardon my language that bleeped my head up, and I still have problems with it today and I have no problems with the people I've killed in the past," says Carlson.

Carlson even confesses to the murder of his own sister, Maria Thoma a mother of three.

Carlson says witnessing Maria physically abuse her children set him off.

"Once again that rage inside me had taken control," he says, "And I had to end it, had to put her to sleep."

He admits to shooting and killing Maria in 2003, leaving her body in a field for deputies in Vail to find.

"I couldn't make Sissie disappear, she's still my sister and she needed to be laid to rest properly," he says.

News 4's Rebecca Taylor asks, "How many other people have you killed?"

"Probably, counting Sissie, J.R. and Becky, somewhere between 10 and 12," says Carlson.

His so-called "hunts" for justice read like a Hollywood horror flick. They begin at age eleven in of all places, Hollywood, California.

"This child molester had hurt a little boy," he says claiming that in 1967 he shot the man, asleep in his bed. Then set his mobile home on fire.

"I have no compassion, I have no sympathy, no mercy for child molesters," says Carlson.

Then in 1971, at 15 Carlson says he hunted down a young woman's accused rapist in Wichita, Kansas, stabbing him to death.

"And then I saw the ax, and I cut him up with ax, put him in garbage bags," says Carlson.

In 1973, at 17 Carlson says he shot and drowned a man in Arlington, Texas for smacking his son.

"He went swimming and he never came back from his swim," he says.

A year later in Gainesville, Texas Carlson says he gunned down a man at a rest stop for hitting a child.

"I walked him deeper into the woods and I shot him," he says.

In 1980 Carlson says he slowly skinned alive and castrated a drug dealer in Ft. Worth, Texas for raping a friend's teenage daughter.

"It's a pain that's intolerable and I wanted this garbage to suffer because I kept remembering her face," he says, "and it's like something just takes over, something just takes over me."

Carlson also admits to shooting a drug dealer in Tucson and dumping his body down an abandoned mine in 2005.

News 4 requested an interview with cold case investigators about Carlson's confessions, but Pima County Sheriff's Deputies declined our request.

News 4's Rebecca Taylor has shown Carlson's taped confession to K.R. and Becky's loved ones, who say in a way it brings them closure. Their interview will air on News 4 at 10 on Tuesday. ..Source.. by News4

Three men indicted in beating death

Posted in Related Deaths. This news article speaks about a person WHO IS NOT A SEX OFFENDER and was killed. (See blog title "Related to a sex offender or a sex offense" which means their life crossed paths (here by being accused of a sex offense) with a situation involving a sex offense or a sex offender. Related does not mean they are, please reread the title.

6-8-2010 Rochester, New York:

Two men charged in the fatal burning and beating of a Rochester man told police that the victim was attacked because he molested a child.

A grand jury has indicted Jeffrey L. Newton with the felonies of second-degree murder and first-degree gang assault and Peter J. Barkley and Darrel Hoffman for first-degree gang assault in a June 8 attack on Martin Quinn in Quinn's apartment on Grand Avenue.

According to court documents, Newton and Hoffman claimed that five people attacked Quinn because of allegations that Quinn had sexually abused a child they knew.

Police said Quinn, 46, was burned with a clothes iron and beaten with pipes, sticks, bottles and a television set. He was dumped in a bathtub and died 16 hours later.

Before Quinn died, Hoffman said Quinn cried out, "Help! I can't breathe! I'm not going to make it!" according to court documents.

Newton, 28, Barkley, 31, and Hoffman, 25, are scheduled to be arraigned Friday before state Supreme Court Justice Daniel J. Doyle. Newton and Barkley are being held without bail in Monroe County Jail; Hoffman is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

If convicted of murder, Newton faces a mandatory prison term ranging from 15 years to life to 25 years to life. A conviction for first-degree gang assault brings a mandatory prison term of up to 25 years.

Although police said five men participated in the assault, Newton, Barkley and Hoffman are the only ones to be charged so far. ..Source.. by Michael Zeigler • Staff writer

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3 men indicted in beating death in NE Rochester

6-30-2010 New York:

A grand jury has indicted three men in a beating death in Rochester earlier this month.

Jeffrey L. Newton is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree gang assault and Peter J. Barkley and Darrel Hoffman are charged with first-degree gang assault in the June 8 beating of Martin Quinn in his apartment on Grand Avenue.

Police said Quinn, 46, was burned with an iron and beaten with pipes, sticks, bottles and a television set. He died in his apartment of his injuries 16 hours later.

Newton, 28, Barkley, 31, and Hoffman, 25, are being held in Monroe County Jail. They’re scheduled to be arraigned Friday before state Supreme Court Justice Daniel J. Doyle. ..Source.. Michael Zeigler

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Three Men Indicted in Beating Death

A grand jury has indicted one man on murder charges and two others with assault in connection with a beating death earlier this month.

On June 8th, 46-year-old Martin Quinn was found dead in his first floor apartment on Grand Avenue. Neighbors said they heard a commotion in the home. Police said Quinn was tortured with sticks, bottles, hit with a TV, and burned with an iron, before he was killed.

28-year-old Jeffrey Newton (pictured) is charged with gang assault and murder. 31-year-old Peter Barkley and 25-year-old Darrel Hoffman are charged with gang assault. ..Source..

Elderly Bithlo man beaten to death after being mistaken for sex offender

5-13-2010 Florida:

Deputies arrested Michael Garay, 32, in connection to the beating death of Hugh Edwards, an elderly Bithlo man.

An elderly Bithlo resident was beaten to death with a black Louisville Slugger baseball bat because the killer mistakenly thought the man was a sex offender, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies arrested 20-year-old Robert Pascale on Thursday on a charge of first-degree murder with a weapon after deputies with dogs tracked him to a muddy pond near Sixth Street in Bithlo, where he was hiding. Pascale was submerged in the water, only his face exposed.

The dead man, Hugh Edwards, 78, had no criminal history. It's unclear why anyone thought he was a sexual offender.

Details about Edwards' killing became public in the arrest report for Pascale's friend, 32-year-old Michael Garay, charged with accessory to murder.

Deputies were alerted to a possible homicide when Christa Limerick called 911 early Wednesday and said she thought her acquaintances had killed a man inside a trailer, reports show.

Officers were dispatched to Fifth Avenue in Bithlo around 4:24 a.m. and found Edwards dead in a pool of blood. Officers noted signs of a struggle.

Limerick told deputies she was drinking with a group of friends when Pascale asked her what she would do if she had kids and lived next door to a sex offender, the report shows. Limerick said she would kill the person, according to the report.

Shortly after that conversation, Limerick said, she watched Pascale and Garay walk into the elderly man's fenced yard and return a short while later.

Garay later told deputies they returned to the home to get a baseball bat. Then they walked back over to the man's trailer, and Pascale "jimmied" the lock open, the report says. Garay told deputies he waited outside while Pascale went inside.

Garay told deputies that he heard several "thumping" sounds come from the trailer.

After the beating, Garay, Pascale, Limerick and another woman, Amber Baker, got into Limerick's car. The group drove to a nearby retention pond where Pascale dumped the baseball bat, according to the report.

Next, the group drove to Pascale's mother's house so Pascale could change clothes. Once back in the car, they drove over to an area known as "Dead Man's Trail" where the two men got out of the car, reports show.

Garay told deputies he and Pascale walked along a dirt path and Pascale walked into the woods to ditch the bloody clothing. Garay's jacket, which also had blood on it, was discarded, according to the affidavit.

The men then met up with the women at a nearby Circle K convenience store about 20 minutes later.

Deputies have recovered the bat and the clothing, the report says.

Records show Garay's criminal history includes arrests on charges of battery of a law-enforcement officer.

Pascale has a violent criminal past and spent two years in a state prison for stealing a car, burglary, robbery with a deadly weapon and battery on a detention-facility staff member, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

He was released from prison in March, records show. Three weeks later, he was arrested on a charge of possession of marijuana and held overnight at the Orange County Jail. ..Source.. by Sarah Lundy and Susan Jacobson

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Suspect caught in Bithlo murder over mistaken identity

5-13-2010 Florida:

Orange County Deputies got a tip that murder suspect, Robert Pascale, 20, was hiding out near 8th St. and Belvedere Rd. in Bithlo.

They arrived at the scene around 4:00 pm Thursday, and the suspect fled into the wood. Deputies chased after using bloodhounds to track his scent.

"We went down about 200 yards, found him laying on his back in the mud," said master deputy Gary Dolton. "Just a little bit of his face was showing and that was all."

Deputies say Pascal beat Hugh Edwards, 79, to death with a baseball bat in his Bithlo mobile home. Investigators say the killing was likely a case of mistaken identity. Rumors swirled through the community that Edwards was a sex offender who molested children. Records show he had no history of sexual crimes.

Michael Garay, 32, was arrested as an accessory to the murder. He told detectives that he waited outside while Pascal went in the trailer with the bat. ..Source.. by Drew Petrimoulx

NY Sex Trafficking Couple Charged in Baby Death

This is the murder of a 2 month old baby (See second news article).

10-19-2010 New York:

A New York couple accused of sex trafficking is adding more charges to their rap sheet: murder of a three month old baby, Carlos Santillana.

Domingo Salazar and his wife, Norma Mendez, have been charged with the murder of a baby in a death that involved beating him and then placing the child's remains in a tub full of wet concrete for eleven months. The remains were found following the couple's sex trafficking arrest.

The child is believed to be the son of the girl the couple was trafficking. After Salazar empregnated the girl in Mexico, he brought her to the United States forced her into prostitution as a source of income for the couple.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the couple pled guilty to forcing the then 17 year-old mother to work as a prostitute in New York and outlying states.

The additional charges against the couple reads like a laundry list of bad crimes: manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide, improper disposal of a body, reckless endangerment in the first degree, and five counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Both Salazar and Mendez are both "criminal aliens" -- a term used to describe aliens that commit a non-immigration crime. When more crimes are charged against individuals than the initial charge, the sentencing is typically delayed until the prosecution can build enough evidence for every crime. In the unique case of Domingo Salazar and Norma Mendez, their case is relatively clear cut and the District Attorney's office hopes that prosecution of the NY sex trafficking couple will remain on schedule. ..Source.. by Laura Strachan

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Enslaved hooker's dead baby found during bust of sex trafficking ring

11-26-2009 New York:

A bust of a sex trafficking ring in Brooklyn led to a ghastly find - an enslaved hooker's baby entombed in concrete.

Feds and cops raided a Sunset Park flophouse late Tuesday and arrested the brothel's ringleaders and found a 10-gallon Rubbermaid container filled with cement.

X-rays revealed the body of a two-month-old boy sealed inside, officials said.

Domingo Salazar, 33, and Norma Mendez, 32, appeared in Brooklyn Federal Court last night on sex trafficking charges and could face additional counts, law enforcement sources said.

The couple, illegal immigrants from Mexico, forced a young woman into prostitution, viciously abused her and barred her from getting medical care for the infant when he fell ill last January, investigators said.

When the baby died, Salazar and Mendez allegedly forced the mom to dispose of the body in the container, which sat in the 40th St. apartment until yesterday.

"It's horrific," said Carmen Burgos, 45. who works nearby. "I can't have kids and I can't believe they did this to a baby. They couldn't be in their right minds."

The duo launched the prostitution ring out of their 40th St. apartment in April 2007, according to a federal affidavit.

Two months earlier, Salazar met the young woman in Mexico, got her pregnant, and smuggled her into the United States - telling her galpal Mendez was his sister, sources said.

She gave birth to Salazar's son soon after arriving in New York in November 2007, officials said. He still insisted she repay the $2,500 smuggling fee.

"She was working in a candy store but then she was forced to sell sex," said Special Agent in Charge James Hayes Jr. of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "She was in bad shape."

The woman was driven to customers across the city, made to service up to 25 clients a night and forced to turn over all her earnings, officials said.

Salazar and Mendez frequently abused the woman, punching her in the stomach, slashing her in the arm, hitting her in the head with a brick and bashing her in the face with a wooden board, officials said.

After investigators received a tip about the brothel, the woman, whose name was not released, was rescued from the 40th St. home and is now recovering.

"The girl was always in a short skirt and covered in bruises," said a neighbor. "You'd see different men coming in and out."

Investigators believe Salazar and Mendez also forced other immigrant women into prostitution but they have not been located. The accused pimps face 15 years to life in prison if convicted.

"The trafficking of human beings and sex slavery are unconscionable in this day and age and will not be tolerated," said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell. ..Source.. by
John Marzulli, Kerry Burke and Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Man, 12-year-old daughter found dead

Posted in Related Deaths

5-31-2007 Pennsylvania:

A few weeks ago 12-year-old Mandie Coco told friends her father was molesting her.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mandie and her 41-year-old father, Christopher Coco, were found dead lying on his bed, both shot in the head, in an apparent murder-suicide, Stroud Area Regional police said.

Police said they were looking for a motive, but Mandie's friends and others in the Normal Street public housing development in East Stroudsburg said they always thought her father was an odd man who screamed at children and sported a pistol strapped to his hip.

The father and daughter were found about 2:30 p.m. in the front bedroom of their home at 453 Hill St.

Police went to the apartment to check on Mandie at the request of KidsPeace, where she was enrolled, because she had not been seen at school since Friday, Capt. William Parrish said.

Police got no response when they knocked on the door Wednesday morning and when an officer returned about six hours later and noticed flies clumped on inside windows, he became suspicious, Parrish said.

The officer got the Monroe County Housing Authority, which runs the development, to get him inside the two-story apartment, Parrish said.

The bodies were found upstairs next to each other, Parrish said, and a 9mm semiautomatic handgun was found under Coco.

Police were not certain how long they had been dead, but they believed it was more than 24 hours.

''I would not say it happened today based on what we saw inside,'' Parrish said.

There were no signs someone had broken into their apartment, Parrish said. The windows were locked and both doors were deadbolted from the inside, police said. One door had a snow shovel wedged under the doorknob and another door had a crutch jammed under the knob, police said.

Coco and his daughter lived alone in the apartment, police said.

Mandie's friends rode bicycles and gathered on the other side of the yellow crime scene tape around her apartment, which had a crucifix dangling above the doorway and what appeared to be big towels with pictures of angels hanging in the front windows.

They recalled Mandie as a happy girl and her father as someone to avoid, especially on the days when he screamed at neighborhood children.

''Something was wrong with that man,'' said Dannell Wallace, 30, of 466 Hill St. ''He was crazy. Everybody thinks he's crazy.''

Diana Abreu, 30, of 452 Normal St., said Mandie told her daughters that she was being molested by her father.

''I reported he was molesting her,'' she said. She said she called Monroe County Children & Youth ''a good five weeks ago.''

''I think his secret was going to come out,'' she said.

Wallace said she heard ''pop, pop'' sounds that sounded like gunshots Friday night after 11 o'clock but was half asleep and didn't give it a second thought until Wednesday afternoon when she heard what happened inside the Coco residence.

''I always thought he was a pervert because he was too protective of his daughter,'' Wallace said.

A friend of Mandie's, 12-year-old TaNiro Lundy, said he will always remember her as a ''nice, caring girl.''

''She was very confident in herself,'' TaNiro said.

But, TaNiro said, Mandie was always walking around with bruises on her arms and legs.

''You could tell he beat on her,'' TaNiro said. ''She always came outside with new bruises…and made-up excuses.''

About a week ago, he said, she started wearing a cast on her arm.

Eleven-year-old Arthur Malin said Mandie told him ''over 20 times'' that her father had molested her, and said it happened on birthdays and holidays.

Sometimes Coco made veiled threats to neighborhood children, warning them about what happened to his wife, Arthur said.

''He told us, 'I killed my wife,' '' Arthur said. ''He said: 'She's buried out in the back of the house.'''

It all added up to one thing, said 9-year-old Raven Stewart.

''He was mean,'' Raven said. ..more.. by Joe McDonald Of The Morning Call

GA- The Christopher Michael Barrios, Jr. Story

March 2007 Georgia:

This story must be prefaced with other information which the media, in all reports we can find, have failed to report and is very relevant to this case. Christopher, pictured on the right, was killed by three people -two of which were registered sex offenders- because Christopher lived in the same trailer park as those just mentioned.

Christopher lived there because his father was also a registered sex offender (Christopher Michael Barrios, Sr.) who was forced to live where the Georgia Sex Offender Residency law permitted; the trailer park was a permitted area. Accordingly, the state's "Residency Law" played a significant part in little Christopher's death.

While there is no way to determine if the trailer park was a cluster of former offenders because the media never investigated that aspect, we do know that the law caused these folks to live in close proximity to each other. Why the media never brought this out is unknown. Clearly this case shows that such laws provide no protection for families of registered offenders.

eAdvocate

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One of the many news stories of this case:

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Molester, His Parents Charged In Christopher's 'Horrific' Slaying

Prosecutor To Seek Death Penalty Against 3

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- A convicted child molester and his father took turns sexually assaulting a 6-year-old boy while the molester's mother watched, then they choked the boy to death, according to an indictment returned by the Glynn County grand jury on Wednesday.

The indictment charges George Edenfield and both his parents with murder, kidnapping and child molestation in the slaying of young Christopher Michael Barrios, whose body was found last Thursday inside a trash bag dumped by a roadside.

Glynn County District Attorney Stephen D. Kelley said he will seek the death penalty against 32-year-old George Edenfield, who has a prior child molestation conviction from 1997, and his parents, David and Peggy Edenfield. "This is one of the most horriffic crimes that I have seen in 21 years of prosecutions," Kelley said.

Christopher went missing for a week before police found his body about three miles from his trailer park home outside Brunswick, a Georgia port city 60 miles south of Savannah. The suspects lived in a mobile home across the street from the boy's grandmother.

The indictment contains grim details about the case that police and prosecutors had not previously revealed. It says Christopher died from asphixation March 8 -- the day he was reported missing -- after the suspects choked him while "ignoring his complaints that they were hurting him."

"It makes me sick and it makes me so angry," said Christopher's grandmother. "All four of them need to be charged with murder and they don't need to be kept alive long. They killed our baby. They don't even need to be alive now."

The indictment does not say which of three caused the boy's death.

It also claims George Edenfield and his 58-year-old father sodomized the boy and forced him to perform oral sex while Peggy Edenfield watched and masturbated.

"They deserve the worst, for them to torture my son like that, every last one of them," said Mike Barrios, the slain boy's father.

A friend of the Edenfield family, Donald Dale, was indicted on charges of concealing a death and tampering with evidence. Kelley said Dale did not become involved until after Christopher had been killed.

Nathan Williams, the attorney for 57-year-old Peggy Edenfield, declined to comment Wednesday. Attorneys for George and David Edenfield did not immediately return phone calls.

Glynn County police arrested the Edenfields four days after Christopher vanished while playing alone outside. Police Chief Matt Doering said all three suspects confessed to playing roles in the boy's abduction.

Police have said Dale admitted to investigators he helped the Edenfields dispose of Christopher's body. Other charges against the Edenfields include false imprisonment, cruelty to children and enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Police have described George Edenfield as mentally slow, but capable of understanding right from wrong. They have said he is not retarded.

Christopher Barrios Jr. disappeared from a playground hear his home about 6 p.m. on March 8. His body was found a week later in a trash bag near the Burnswick airport.

Ironically, the Edenfields moved into the trailer park where Christopher lived last year because of a Georgia law intended to keep child molesters away from children.

Sheriffs' deputies told George Edenfield in September that he had to leave his home near downtown Brunswick because it was too close to a playground. Georgia law prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools and other places that draw children.

His family went to live in the trailer park in October after George Edenfield was arrested for failing to move as ordered. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to probation March 5, three days before Christopher disappeared.

George Edenfield was required to register as a sex offender after he pleaded guilty in 1997 to molesting two boys, ages 7 and 9. Prosecutors said he rubbed his clothed body "in a sexual manner" against the boys, who also were fully dressed. He was sentenced then to 10 years on probation.

His father, David Edenfield, pleaded guilty to incest in 1994. He was accused of having sex with an adult relative who was not his son. ..Source.. by News4 Georgia.com

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Previous Stories:

March 21, 2007: As Slain Boy's Viewing Begins, 3 Charged With Murder

March 19, 2007: Child Molester Got Probation Days Before Slain Boy Vanished

March 17, 2007: Community Copes After Boy's Search Ends In Tragedy

March 16, 2007: Missing Boy Found Dead; 4 May Face Murder Charges

March 15, 2007: Body Of Missing Brunswick Boy Found

March 15, 2007: New Search, More Evidence, But No Sign Of Missing Boy

March 15, 2007: Police Search Pond, Follow New Tips In Missing Boy Case

March 14, 2007: 2nd Search Warrant Executed At Sex Offender's Home

March 14, 2007: Sex Offender, Offender's Mother Arrested In Boy's Disappearance

March 13, 2007: Police Search Sex Offender's Trailer In Hunt For Missing 6-Year-Old

March 12, 2007: After 4 Days, Police Believe Georgia Boy Was Abducted

March 11, 2007: $27,000 Reward Offered For Missing Georgia Boy

March 10, 2007: Searchers, Family Determined To Find Missing 6-Year-Old

March 9, 2007: After 24 Hours, No Sign Of Missing Georgia Boy

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Defendant ruled incompetent in Ga. child's killing

8-3-2010:

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A judge has found a 34-year-old convicted child molester incompetent to stand trial for the sexual abuse killing of a 6-year-old boy.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett declared George Edenfield incompetent on Tuesday to stand trial for the killing of Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. in 2007.

Scarlett ordered Edenfield committed to a state mental hospital.

The child was molested and strangled inside a mobile home before his body was wrapped in trash bags and dumped near a road. Edenfield's father was convicted of murder, and his mother also faces charges in the case.

Prosecutors and Edenfield's lawyers asked for the declaration and cited evaluations by state and defense psychologists showing that Edenfield has a diminished mental capacity and is unable to assist in his own defense.

The judge also ordered state mental health experts to issue a prognosis in 90 days about whether it's likely Edenfield ever will be competent for trial.

"He's smart as a darn whip. He's got them all fooled. He's just putting on a good show," Christopher's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, said after the hearing.

Prosecutors previously conceded that Edenfield has a diminished mental capacity, but they had insisted he was competent to stand trial.

Edenfield's father, David Edenfield, 61, was found guilty of murdering and molesting Christopher last October. The jury imposed the death penalty.

Christopher went missing March 8, 2007, from the Brunswick mobile home park where his father and grandmother both had homes. His body was found a week later.

Edenfield's family had moved into a home across the street from Christopher's grandmother four months earlier. Police found one of Christopher's toys, a Star Wars lightsaber, in Edenfield's front yard.

In a recorded confession played for jurors, David Edenfield said he and his son sodomized the boy, then choked him to death. He is seeking a new trial on grounds that a prosecutor inflamed the jury by calling him an animal.

No trial date has been set for Peggy Edenfield, 58. She will not face the death penalty because she testified against her husband, and agreed to testify against her son. ..Source.. by AJC.com