CHRISTOPHER BARRIOS - 6 yo (2007) - Brunswick FL

Jury selection is set to begin today in the trial of a Brunswick man charged in the rape and murder of a 6-year-old boy.
Christopher
Barrios disappeared from his mobile home park in March 2007. David
Edenfield, 61, faces he death penalty if convicted on charges of
kidnapping, child molestation and murder in Brunswick.Due to
pre-trial publicity in the case, the jury will be picked in Jeff Davis
County, southwest of Savannah, and brought to Glynn County for the
trial. Edenfield, along with his wife, Peggy, and adult son George, were charged after searchers found the boy's body.Edenfield's
wife is expected to testify against him. Police say she watched her
husband and adult son take turns raping the 6-year-old before killing
him.Peggy Edenfield and the couple's 34-year-old son, George, who is a convicted child molester, will be tried later.

Dozens of volunteers spent a week helping police look
for 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios after he vanished while
playing in the mobile home park where the boy lived with his father and
grandmother.
Their search ended in shock, tears and outrage. On March 15, 2007, a
Georgia game warden found the boy dead, his body wrapped in a plastic
trash bag and dumped by a roadside about 3 miles from his home.
More than 2 1/2 years later, the first of three neighbors charged in
the boy's death is scheduled to stand trial on charges of kidnapping,
child molestation and murder in the coastal city of Brunswick, 60 miles
south of Savannah. Jury selection begins Monday and could last a week
or longer.
David Edenfield, 61, faces the death penalty if convicted. Witnesses
expected to testify against him include Edenfield's wife, Peggy
Edenfield, who police say watched her husband and adult son take turns
raping the boy before killing him.
Peggy Edenfield, in exchange, won't face the death penalty for testifying against her husband.
"I'd hate to see her get off without anything other than 25, 30
years. I'd hate to have her one the streets knowing that she's someone
who can sit there and watch a child suffer and punished," Michael
Barrios, Christopher's dad, told First Coast News.
Sue Rodriguez, the slain boy's grandmother, lived across the street
from Edenfield and his family. She moved out six months after his
death, depressed at the constant sight of the home where police say her
grandson died a helpless captive.
"You'd come home every day and see that trailer sitting out there,
and you'd know what the monsters who lived in that trailer did," said
Rodriguez, who hopes jurors will sentence Edenfield, and eventually his
son, to death.
Edenfield's defense attorneys question whether he can get a fair
trial in Glynn County, where hundreds of strangers attended the boy's
funeral in 2007. Several wore T-shirts printed with his photo and the
words: "We Brought Him Home, Now Bring Him Justice."
Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett denied a defense motion to
move the trial to another county. Instead, jurors will be selected from
rural Jeff Davis County, 85 miles to the northwest, and sequestered in
Brunswick during the trial.
Opening statements in the trial could begin as early as Sept. 28.
"We're planning on a hard-fought trial," said John Beall IV, one of
David Edenfield's defense attorneys. "David Edenfield is entitled to a
fair trial, despite the allegations that have been raised against him."
Beall declined to discuss Edenfield's defense. Likewise, District
Attorney Stephen Kelley wouldn't talk about the case, other than to say
prosecutors were ready to proceed.
Christopher's grandmother last saw him March 8, when the
kindergartner came home from school. He dropped his jacket and book
bag, grabbed a lemonade and headed outside to play in the mobile home
park along a narrow, U-shaped road.
A shy boy with a big smile that showed off the silver caps on his
front teeth, he loved superheroes such as Batman and Spider-Man. When
police began searching for him, they found his toy Star Wars lightsaber
abandoned by the road.
The Edenfields moved into the mobile home park where the boy lived
just a few months before he was slain. The family had been forced to
move because Edenfield's son, 34-year-old George Edenfield, was a
convicted child molester. The family's previous home was close to a
playground, a violation of Georgia's sex offender registry law.
Police discovered George Edenfield was a sex offender and questioned
him a few hours after Christopher was reported missing. Court records
say he confessed to choking the boy and told police "the `devil' told
him to kill Christopher."
Peggy Edenfield later told investigators she watched her grown son
choke the boy and then try to wash fingerprints from his neck using
soap and a pot of water, according to court affidavits. She said she
and her husband, David Edenfield, helped dispose of the body.
Prosecutors indicted the three Edenfields on charges of kidnapping
and murder. David and George Edenfield could face the death penalty if
convicted. Peggy Edenfield agreed to testify against her husband and
son in return for a promise that prosecutors would not seek the death
penalty against her.
In court hearings leading up to the trial, prosecutors said they
also have a videotaped confession by David Edenfield during a police
interview. Defense attorneys argued the tape shouldn't be shown to a
jury, saying Edenfield had been coerced. The judge rejected their
arguments, saying he would allow it to be admitted as evidence.
George Edenfield is still awaiting the outcome of court proceedings
to determine if he's mentally competent to stand trial. Glynn County
Police Chief Matt Doering has described him as mentally slow, but
capable of understanding right from wrong.
Peggy Edenfield is scheduled to be tried last because of her deal with prosecutors.
"It's time for them to pay for what they did," said Rodriguez, the
boy's grandmother. "I never dreamed there were such people like that in
this world."

Today prosecutors outlined in detail their case against David Edenfield in the abduction and murder of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr., who was reported missing and found murdered in 2007.
It took about an hour for both sides to complete their statements. Prosecutor John Johnson described for the jury the events leading up to Barrios' death in the Edenfields' mobile home.
Barrios' neighbors David Edenfield, 61, his wife, Peggy, and their son George Edenfield are charged with the murder of the first grader March 8, 2007, after he returned home from school.
"Christopher Barrios did not want to be there. He told them to let him go. He said 'I want to leave. Let me go. Don't do this. I'm going to tell my parents.'"
Johnson said David Edenfield choked Barrios to death after he, along with his son George Edenfield, sexually molested him.
Defense attorney James Yancy countered that the case is about the facts. Yancy did not talk about the evidence specifically but said the prosecution doesn't have evidence to connect Edenfield to the murder.
"The most important part of this case is that the case will remove the death penalty against Peggy Edenfield and will also remove life without parole as a possibility of sentencing against Peggy Edenfield," Yancy said, referring to a deal Peggy Edenfield made with prosecutors in exchange for testifying against her husband.
The trial is expected to last three to five days at the Glynn County courthouse. The defense and prosecutors are expected to call several dozen witnesses during the course of the trial.
Christopher's father, Michael Barrios, is expected to testify. He was in the courtroom along with other family members.
On March 8, Christopher Barrios returned home from school like he did any other day, playing in the yard of the mobile home park where he lived. At 6 p.m., his grandmother Sue Rodriguez was unable to find him.
Peggy Edenfield will be tried last per her deal with the prosecution. George Edenfield's trial is pending a determination of his mental fitness for trial.

A 6-year-old boy pleaded with his captors — a man and his adult son
— as they stripped and sexually assaulted the child inside a mobile
home before strangling him, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.The
comments were made during opening arguments in the trial of David
Edenfield, 61, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the March
2007 slaying of Christopher Michael Barrios. The boy was missing for a
week before police found his naked body dumped off a road and wrapped
in trash bags.Prosecutor John B. Johnson told jurors in his
opening statement that they would learn the details of what happened to
the boy "in the most horrible two hours of his life" from a taped
confession Edenfield made to police.Johnson said Edenfield and
his son, 34-year-old George Edenfield, lured the boy into their trailer
across the street from the home of Christopher's grandmother, stripped
the boy naked and took turns molesting him."You will hear him
say this from his own mouth," Johnson said of David Edenfield.
"Christopher Barrios didn't want to be there. He said, 'Let me go!
Please don't do this! I'm going to tell my parents!'"He said
George Edenfield then wrapped his hands around the boy's throat while
his father "began to — instinctively, you will hear him say — place his
hands on top of George Edenfield's and help choke him."David
Edenfield is the first suspect to stand trial in the slaying. His son
and wife, Peggy Edenfield, have also been charged with molesting and
killing the boy, then hiding his body. The jury was selected from
residents some 90 miles away because of pretrial publicity, and the
jurors are being sequestered in Brunswick.Defense attorney James
Yancey told jurors that his client's son was a convicted child molester
and told police he'd killed the boy hours after Christopher went
missing.Yancey said the elder Edenfield's confession was
influenced by the police officers who questioned him, but stopped short
of telling jurors he was coerced.Barrios lived in a mobile home
park in the port city of Brunswick, about 60 miles south of Savannah,
where his father and grandmother both had separate homes. He would pass
the Edenfields' trailer when walking between them.A shy boy with
a big smile that showed off the silver caps on his front teeth, he
loved superheroes such as Batman and Spider-Man. When police began
searching for him, they found his toy Star Wars lightsaber abandoned by
the road.The Edenfields moved into the mobile home park where
the boy lived just a few months before his death. The family had been
forced to move because George Edenfield was a convicted child molester.
The family's previous home was close to a playground, a violation of
Georgia's sex offender registry law.Police discovered George
Edenfield was a sex offender and questioned him a few hours after
Christopher was reported missing. Court records say he confessed to
choking the boy and told police "the 'devil' told him to kill
Christopher."Peggy Edenfield later told investigators she
watched her grown son choke the boy and then try to wash fingerprints
from his neck using soap and a pot of water, according to court
affidavits. She said she and her husband, David Edenfield, helped
dispose of the body.George Edenfield is still awaiting the
outcome of court proceedings to determine if he's mentally competent to
stand trial. Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering has described him
as mentally slow but capable of understanding right from wrong.Peggy
Edenfield agreed to testify against her husband and son in return for a
promise that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty.

Jurors in a Georgia courtroom Wednesday heard a horrific videotaped
confession from a man who admitted he and his adult son stripped,
sexually assaulted and strangled a 6-year-old boy inside a mobile home
as the child pleaded with them to stop. "He said 'I'm going to
tell my daddy and my grandma,' and George choked him," 61-year-old
David Edenfield said in the videotape, referring to his son,
34-year-old George Edenfield. David Edenfield later admitted helping
strangle the boy. The jailhouse interview filmed by police was
shown during the first day of testimony in the trial of the elder
Edenfield, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the March 2007
slaying of Christopher Michael Barrios. The boy was missing for a week
before police found his naked body dumped off a road and wrapped in
trash bags. Prosecutor John B. Johnson told jurors in his
opening statement that Edenfield and his son lured the boy into their
trailer across the street from the home of Christopher's grandmother,
then took turns molesting him. "You will hear him say this from
his own mouth," Johnson said of David Edenfield. "Christopher Barrios
didn't want to be there. He said, 'Let me go! Please don't do this! I'm
going to tell my parents!'" David Edenfield is the first suspect
to stand trial in the slaying. His son and wife, Peggy Edenfield, have
also been charged with molesting and killing the boy, then hiding his
body. The jury was selected from residents some 90 miles away because
of pretrial publicity, and the jurors are being sequestered in
Brunswick. Jurors later saw the first hour of the interview the
elder Edenfield gave to a police detective a day after the boy's body
was found. He at first blamed his son and denied any involvement, but
slowly began to describe a horrible scene. Edenfield said he and his wife watched while his son forced the boy to have sex.
Edenfield later admitted touching Christopher himself after Glynn
County police detective Raymond Sarro showed him photographs of the
boy's dead body. He said the child had been crying and pleading for
them to stop. Edenfield at first said he told his son to stop
choking Christopher, then changed his story. He said he placed his own
hands on top of his son's while they strangled the boy. Asked why he
did that, Edenfield said, "I guess instinct." "You saw your opportunity, when George was choking him, to see what it felt like?" Sarro asked. "Yes, sir."
Defense attorney James Yancey Jr. told jurors the elder Edenfield's
confession was influenced by the police interrogators, but stopped
short of telling jurors he was coerced. Superior Court Judge
Stephen Scarlett recessed court before Edenfield's attorneys had a
chance to cross-examine Sarro. The detective was to return to the
witness stand Thursday. Christopher lived in a mobile home park
in the port city of Brunswick, about 60 miles south of Savannah, where
his father and grandmother had separate homes. He would pass the
Edenfields' trailer when walking between them. A shy boy with a
big smile that showed off the silver caps on his front teeth, he loved
superheroes such as Batman and Spider-Man. The Edenfields moved
into the mobile home park where the boy lived just a few months before
his death. The family had been forced to move because George Edenfield
was a convicted child molester. The family's previous home was close to
a playground, a violation of Georgia's sex offender registry law.
Sarro testified police found Christopher's toy Star Wars lightsaber in
the Edenfields' yard a few hours after the boy went missing. He said he
then noticed the Edenfields peeking out their windows, which seemed
suspicious because other neighbors were out helping search for the boy.
He said George Edenfield admitted he'd seen Christopher outside, then
told the detective he heard voices calling his name. "I asked
him what voices did he hear that called his name, and he said 'the
devil,'" Sarro said. "I asked if the devil told him to do anything to
hurt the little boy. He told me yes, that the devil told him to kill
him."

A Georgia man on trial for molesting and
slaying a 6-year-old boy says "I should be punished" after looking at
photos of the boy's dead body in a videotaped police interview shown in
court Thursday.David Edenfield, 61, faces the death penalty if
convicted of the March 2007 slaying of Christopher Michael Barrios,
whose body was found in a trash bag dumped near a road.On the
second day of Edenfield's trial, jurors watched the second hour of a
taped interview the suspect gave to a Glynn County police detective the
day after Christopher's body was found.
On the tape, Edenfield says he and his wife watched their son,
34-year-old George Edenfield, strip the boy and force him to have sex
on a bed in their mobile home while the child pleaded for them to stop."It's
my fault. I should've been a grown man and stopped it right then, but I
didn't," the elder Edenfield tells detective Raymond Sarro on the tape.
"I should be punished for the crime."Edenfield said his son started choking Christopher after the boy cried out "I'm going tell my daddy and grandma!"Instead
of stopping his son from killing the boy, Edenfield says he placed his
own hands on top of his son's while they were around Christopher's neck."I
put my hands on his hands, but I did not squeeze," Edenfield says on
the recording. "I just wanted to see what it would feel like, I guess.""What what felt like?" Sarro asked.Edenfield replied: "To choke somebody."James
Yancey, one of Edenfield's lawyers, said as the trial opened Wednesday
that the taped confession was influenced by the police interrogators,
but stopped short of telling jurors his client was coerced. Defense
attorneys had not yet had a chance to cross-examine Sarro, who was
scheduled to return to the witness stand Thursday afternoon.Edenfield
is the first suspect to stand trial in the slaying. His son and wife,
Peggy Edenfield, have also been charged with molesting and killing the
boy, then hiding his body. The jury was selected from residents who
live some 90 miles away because of pretrial publicity, and the jurors
are being sequestered in Brunswick, 60 miles south of Savannah.Christopher
lived in a Brunswick mobile home park where his father and grandmother
had homes. He would pass the Edenfields' trailer when walking between
them.The Edenfields moved into the mobile home park where the
boy lived just a few months before his death. The family had been
forced to move because George Edenfield was a convicted child molester.
The family's previous home was close to a playground, a violation of
Georgia's sex offender registry law.

Jurors watched intensely Thursday the rest of a DVD recording of David Edenfield confessing that he sexually assaulted then choked 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. to death.
On the recording, Edenfield is seen calmly describing the killing as exciting and saying he acted instinctively to kill the boy.
As in Wednesday's opening of his death penalty murder trial, Edenfield, 61, showed no emotion as he watched himself dispassionately describe how he and his 34-year-old son, George Edenfield, killed the kindergartner who had begged them to stop. The boy was killed after he threatened to tell his father and grandmother the Edenfields had molested him, David Edenfield told a Glynn County police detective during the 21/2-hour interview.
David and George Edenfield, who is a convicted child molester, and Peggy, David's wife and George's mother, were neighbors of Christopher's extended family in Canal Mobile Home Park on Horseshoe Lane.
All three are charged with molesting and murdering the boy. District Attorney Stephen Kelley is seeking the death penalty against all but Peggy Edenfield. David Edenfield is the first to stand trial.
Aside from the DVD of Edenfield, much of Thursday's testimony centered on the results of DNA tests, identifying Christopher through dental records and other forensic evidence. Special Assistant District Attorney John B. Johnson told Judge Stephen Scarlett that he would likely call four more witnesses today and conclude the state's case.
Prosecutors played another shorter DVD of an interview with Edenfield, in which he described his son as mentally retarded and said his son alone was responsible for Christopher's death and molestation.
He continued those denials initially in the longer recorded interview before he gradually detailed how he sodomized then helped strangle the boy.
Edenfield said he put his hands on top of George's and together they choked the boy, he said on the recording.
"I guess it was just instinct ... I just wanted to see what it felt like to choke somebody," said Edenfield, who initially denied squeezing the boy's neck.
After Christopher was dead, Edenfield said he, George and Peggy Edenfield sexually gratified themselves.
"Christopher was dead. I guess it excited all of us," Edenfield said.
Edenfield said he didn't know how the boy got into their home, but George had him in his bedroom, where he stripped off his clothes before sexually assaulting him.
Kelley played the first hour of the recording Wednesday.
Some of the jurors grimaced Thursday morning as they listened to Edenfield detail in crude, sexually explicit language the March 8, 2007, slaying he first blamed on his son. As he was being sexually assaulted, the boy cried and begged them to stop, which prompted George to say they would have to kill him, David Edenfield said.
"Christopher was crying, not screaming, just kind of scared. He was saying: 'No. Stop. Stop. Stop' while George put his hands around his throat and choked him," Edenfield said.
The boy struggled and tried to push George's hands away. George grabbed and held the boy's hands behind his back so he couldn't fight or escape while being sodomized then strangled, Edenfield said.
Detective Ray Sarro asked Edenfield if he helped restrain the boy. Sarro, who has since retired, told Edenfield to tell the truth because police had evidence that would reveal if he lied, the recording showed.
"Yes sir, I was holding him down and he was alive then. It was just me holding him down," Edenfield said.
He confessed to Sarro during an interrogation March 16, 2007, the day after authorities found the boy's decomposed body wrapped in five black plastic bags and dumped in woods.
Edenfield told Sarro that Christopher was molested and slain before they called a family friend, Donald Dale, to come to their home to help dispose of the body.
That call was about 8:40 p.m. March 8, 2007, about two hours after the boy was last seen alive by neighbors.
Dale's landlord, Tim Frayne, testified Thursday that Dale was with him from 9 a.m. until about 8:45 p.m. March 8, 2007, and therefore could not have been at the Edenfield home before Christopher was killed and his body disposed of.
Sarro left Edenfield alone several times during the interrogation at Glynn County police headquarters. During those times, Edenfield picked up crime scene photos of Christopher's body, muttered to himself and tossed them back onto a table where Sarro had left them.
At times, Edenfield put his head in his hands, rested his head on his folded arms on top of the table or leaned back in his chair while waiting for Sarro to return.
After returning, Sarro asked Edenfield what he thought when he looked at the photos.
"It's my fault. I should have been a grown man and stopped it, but I didn't. I should be punished .... I guess go to prison and get killed for it," Edenfield replied.
Sarro later asked Edenfield if he felt any emotions at seeing the photo of the boy's decomposed body.
"It's a horrible, horrible sight. It never should have happened," Edenfield responded.
Also Thursday, Barbara Retzer, a forensic biologist with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, testified she analyzed saliva found on Christopher's body, semen found on the bags he was wrapped in and blood samples from all three Edenfields.
She found no DNA linking the Edenfields to the boy, Retzer testified. The advance state of decomposition, as well as heat and humidity, would have degraded any DNA until it could not be detected, she said.
Scarlett told the attorneys to "be prepared to work a full day" Saturday. He gave no indication whether the trial would recess Sunday. By law, Georgia juries cannot deliberate on Sunday, but are allowed to hear evidence

A state medical examiner used a medical model to show jurors Friday
how 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. was choked to death
after being sexually assaulted two years ago. David Edenfield,
61, rested his chin on one hand or looked straight ahead while
listening to the testimony in the third day of his death penalty trial
on murder, molestation and abduction charges in the Glynn County boy's
killing. The kindergartner died as a result of asphyxiation,
testified Jamie Downs, medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation's crime lab in Savannah. Downs, a nationally
recognized forensic pathologist and expert in child and sexual abuse
homicides, performed the autopsy on Christopher after his decomposed
body was recovered March 15, 2007, a week after he was slain. Balancing
a model depicting the inside of a human throat on the rail of the jury
box, Downs explained that Christopher was killed by someone who choked
off his supply of oxygen by crushing his windpipe, voice box and
carotid artery. "The most likely means this was done was neck
compression, be it by an arm around from the sides in a sleeper choke
hold, by a towel around the neck or by placing the palms of the hands
on opposite sides of the neck and compressing inward," Downs testified. Downs
said he found a human bite mark on Christopher's back. There also were
bruises and other trauma injuries to the boy's throat, genitals and
legs consistent with being raped and sodomized, he testified. "The injuries were sustained while he was still alive," Downs testified. He
also found saliva on the body and other biological evidence on black
plastic trash bags wrapped around him. Because of decomposition,
however, Downs said he was unable to extract usable DNA to compare with
samples from Edenfield, his wife, Peggy, or their son, George, who is a
convicted child molester. Downs was the last prosecution witness
called, but Edenfield's attorneys, James Yancey Jr. and John Beall IV,
recalled former Glynn County police detective Ray Sarro for cross
examination. District Attorney Stephen Kelley is expected to rest the
state's case this morning and Yancey and Beall will offer evidence in
Edenfield's defense. It was unknown whether Edenfield will testify. His attorneys, however, said they planned to call three witnesses. Superior
Court Judge Stephen Scarlett told the jury, which is being sequestered,
that he would like to hold court Sunday afternoon if evidence is not
completed today. Scarlett asked jurors to vote on whether they wanted
to do that or recess until Monday. If jurors convict Edenfield of murder, they would immediately begin hearing evidence in the sentencing phase of the trial. Also
Friday, several jurors flinched or quickly looked away when they were
given crime scene and morgue photos of Christopher to examine as police
testimony continued to establish the sequence of events in the slaying. Edenfield,
61, Peggy, 58, and their son, George, 34, are all charged with
molesting and murdering Christopher. Prosecutors are seeking the death
penalty against all but Peggy Edenfield, who has agreed to testify
against her husband and son. Sarro returned to the witness stand
as the jury looked at photos. He identified each photo and testified
about interrogating Edenfield on March 13, 2007. As he would in other
police interviews, Edenfield initially denied any involvement. He
instead blamed George, who is mentally retarded, for abducting,
molesting and killing the boy, Sarro said. Edenfield said his wife and family friend, Donald Dale, then helped dispose of the body. "He
said George brought him [Christopher] inside to play video games and
then George hurt him. After Christopher was killed, they wrapped him up
in a blue blanket, then Peggy and Donald Dale took his body out to the
woods and dumped him," Sarro testified. Edenfield gradually
incriminated himself, however, as Sarro and police Capt. Marissa
Tindale pressed him for details, saying they had evidence showing he
was lying and withholding information about the slaying. Sarro,
reading from a transcript of the interview, said Edenfield originally
said he overheard his wife, Peggy, George and Dale, as they talked
about hurting Christopher, which they described as "a problem" they
needed to deal with. "George said he didn't know if he hurt
Christopher or not but guessed that he did hurt him, and there was a
problem. They didn't say how they were going to get rid of him,"
Edenfield said. Edenfield said George, Peggy and Dale were in
George's bedroom and he was out in the living room sitting in his
recliner watching television when he overheard them talking because
"the walls are thin." Sarro testified that as Edenfield
continued talking he said he never saw George, Peggy or Dale take
Christopher's body out of the home or carry it past him in a trash bag. At
that time, Christopher's body had not been found, Sarro said. When it
was recovered two days later, it was wrapped in five trash bags similar
to those later found inside the Edenfield home, previous police
testimony has shown. That slip of the tongue about the trash
bag, Sarro testified, reinforced police suspicions that Edenfield
actively participated in the slaying. Replying to a question from Tindale, Edenfield asserted the others got rid of Christopher's body. "... They got rid of Christopher the same day he went missing, but not in my car," Edenfield said. Other
testimony Friday included Glynn police detective Mike Owens, who told
jurors that he interviewed a woman and her daughter who substantiated
Dale's whereabouts on the day Christopher was killed. Dale had
been working all day with his landlord renovating a house. Owens said
the woman told him that about 9 p.m. Dale borrowed her pickup truck to
go to the Edenfield home after they called him. Prior evidence
has shown that Dale arrived at the home after police had begun
searching the area for Christopher. The evidence also showed that the
boy was killed and his body was dumped before the police arrived for
the search.

A jury deliberated for about two hours Monday before finding a
Georgia man guilty of murder and child molestation in the death of a
6-year-old boy whose body was later discovered wrapped in trash bags
and dumped near a road.The jury in coastal Brunswick convicted
David Edenfield, 61, in the March 2007 sexual assault and choking death
of young Christopher Michael Barrios.The jury now must decide whether to sentence Edenfield to death or life in prison.Edenfield
is the first of three suspects to stand trial for the boy's slaying.
His wife and grown son have also been charged with molesting and
killing the boy, then hiding his body.The sentencing phase of
the trial began soon after the verdict with Christopher's family
telling jurors of the boy's smile — brightened by stainless-steel caps
on his front teeth — and the grief that still lingers 2 1/2 years later."Sometimes
you just want to die, or catch yourself looking for Christopher to come
home as if it never happened," said Sue Rodriguez, Christopher's
grandmother.The boy lived in a Brunswick mobile home park where
his father and grandmother had homes. He would pass the Edenfields'
trailer when walking between them.Because of pretrial publicity,
the jury was selected from residents who live some 90 miles away, and
the jurors were sequestered in Brunswick, 60 miles south of Savannah.District
Attorney Stephen Kelley, in his closing argument to the jury, described
the slain kindergartner as a "precious blessing, thrown away in a trash
bag.""Why would anyone want to rape a child? Why would anyone
murder a child?" Kelley said, sounding both close to tears and rage.
"It tears the very fabric of my soul to shreds just thinking about
those questions."Kelley replayed for the jury portions of
Edenfield's videotaped confession in which he described watching, along
with his wife, as their grown son stripped the boy and molested him in
their mobile home.On the tape, Edenfield said he rubbed his
partially undressed body against Barrios, who begged them to stop, then
placed his own hands on top of his son's as his son choked the boy to
death."It's my fault. I should've been a grown man and stopped
it right then, but I didn't," the elder Edenfield tells a police
detective on the tape, recorded a day after the boy's body was found.
"I should be punished for the crime."Defense Attorney James
Yancey Jr. urged jurors not to assume Edenfield's confession was
genuine. Edenfield, Yancey said, likely told police what they wanted to
hear after investigators repeatedly assured him he'd done nothing wrong
and wouldn't go to jail as long as he told the truth.He
described the defendant, who sat passively in the courtroom, as a man
who worked long hours at a fast-food restaurant to support a wife and
son who left him feeling defeated.He said Edenfield knew his
wife, Peggy Edenfield, was unfaithful to him and their 34-year-old son,
George Edenfield, was both mentally disabled and a convicted child
molester whose behavior was beyond his father's control.After
the verdict, a forensic psychologist hired by Edenfield's attorneys
told jurors that tests showed Edenfield to be "psychotic but
technically competant to stand trial."Dr. James E. Stark, whose
testimony jurors would weigh during sentencing, said Edenfield showed
symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and had a lower-than-average IQ."He's in poor touch with reality," Stark testified. "He may have hallucinations and some kinds of delusional thinking."In
an earlier police interview from March 2007, also shown to the jury,
Edenfield acknowledged he had been charged with incest in 1994, when he
was accused of having sex with an adult relative who was not his son.Edenfield
pleaded guilty to the charge, but in the police interview he denied
wrongdoing. He said the relative was angry with him and made up the
accusation.

A jury found David Edenfield guilty of murder, cruelty to children,
three counts of child molestation and other charges Monday in the death
of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr.
Less than an
hour after announcing their verdict, the six men and six women were
back in the jury box for the separate sentencing phase in which they
would decide whether Edenfield, 61, should get the death penalty.
Prosecutors were expected to present a half dozen witnesses and the defense had subpoenaed others.
Before
he allowed the verdict to be read in a case that captivated the nation,
Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett said there had been no outbursts
during the trial and he would not tolerate any during the verdict.
“You need to prepare yourselves,’’ he said.
Anyone not prepared to handle the verdict emotionally, “you should excuse yourself at this time,’’ the judge said.
Flanked
by his two lawyers, Edenfield stood straight as each of the eight
guilty verdicts were read and sat impassively as Scarlett then polled
each of the jurors.
In addition to the murder, cruelty to
children and molestation charges, Edenfield was found guilty of false
imprisonment, concealing a death and tampering with evidence.
The
boy’s grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, appeared calm until the judge called
a 15-minute break. She walked outside and began to tremble and cry. A
victim’s advocate and others from the District Attorney’s Office took
her and other family members away.
The verdict had been a
long time coming for the family. Christopher had been playing outside
at Canal Mobile Home Park on March 8, 2007, when he disappeared. Police
recovered the child’s naked, decomposed body one week later wrapped in
five black plastic bags and dumped in woods about two miles from his
family’s home a short walk from his grandmother’s house.
In
his closing argument to the jury, District Attorney Stephen Kelley
played portions of a DVD recording of Edenfield confessing to Glynn
County police that he molested and murdered the kindergartener as the
scared child begged him to stop.
Kelley meticulously detailed
all the evidence corroborating the confession ranging from the forensic
findings of a Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner to Peggy
Edenfield’s testimony. Although convoluted and contradictory, Peggy
Edenfield’s testimony substantiated her husband’s details of the
slaying, Kelley said.
“I tell you the evidence in the case,
as confusing as it may be, all boils down to this: David Edenfield has
convicted himself with his own words,” Kelley said.
A
portrait of Christopher in life, smiling at the camera, faced the jury
box. Using a courtroom projector, Kelley then showed one of the last
photos of the boy: his body concealed by the garbage bags where it was
dumped.
“A child suffered a horrendous, torturous death,” Kelley said. “This precious blessing was thrown away in a trash bag.”
David
Edenfield, his wife, Peggy, and their son, George Edenfield, a
convicted child molester, all lived in a mobile home between those of
Christopher’s father, Mike Barrios, and Rodriguez.
All three
Edenfields are charged with the sexual abuse slaying. David Edenfield
was the first to be tried. The selection of a jury, about 90 miles away
in Hazlehurst, took more than a week.The jurors began hearing
the grisly and sexually explicit evidence Sept. 30. Some jurors winced
at evidence that exposed the horrific two final hours of Christopher’s
life.
David Edenfield did not testify, and his attorneys,
James Yancey Jr. and John Beall IV, called no witnesses before resting
the defense Sunday afternoon.
Yancey, in his closing
statement, told jurors that Edenfield was “a common, everyday man”
beaten down by his vindictive wife and the burden of a son who was
mentally retarded and a registered sex offender.
Police
manipulated Edenfield into confessing during a series of interviews,
and he became the scapegoat for the sexual assault and slaying that his
son actually committed, Yancey said.
“There is no DNA
evidence of anybody other than Christopher. No fingerprints. No
physical evidence connects David Edenfield to this case,” Yancey said.
“The only evidence is what is said by David Edenfield and Peggy
Edenfield in their statements ... [and] those are bad statements.”
Kelley
later reminded the jury that that Peggy and David Edenfield “agreed on
the major facts:” that the boy was sodomized, that David and George
choked him to death, that he was hidden inside trash bags and dumped.
Yancey
also played portions of police interviewing Edenfield. In those
excerpts, police detective Ray Sarro, who has since retired, urged
Edenfield to tell the truth about what happened to Christopher.
“We’re
here for your benefit . . . Tell the truth and go home. Lie and go to
jail,” Sarro told Edenfield on the recording in which he gradually
confessed.
The jurors, sequestered since their arrival in Brunswick, had worked through the weekend.
After
Scarlett provided the jurors with the applicable laws, they began
deliberating at 2:10 p.m. and sent word at 4 p.m. they had a verdict.

A Georgia man was sentenced to death Tuesday for molesting and
strangling a 6-year-old boy inside a mobile home before the child's
body was wrapped in trash bags and dumped near a road.Jurors
deliberated two hours before unanimously agreeing on a death sentence
for 61-year-old David Edenfield. He was convicted Monday of aggravated
child molestation and murder in the March 2007 slaying of Christopher
Michael Barrios.Edenfield stood passively as the judge read his sentence, and the victim's family silently dabbed at tears.Edenfield
was the first of three family members to stand trial in the case. His
wife and their 34-year-son have also been charged with abducting,
molesting and killing the boy."He got his justice — Christopher
got it today," said Sue Rodriguez, the boy's grandmother, smiling
through tears. "Now we've got two more to go."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
by a roadside, wrapped in trash bags.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. Edenfield's grown son, George
Edenfield, was a convicted child molester.The elder Edenfield
confessed to the crime in a videotaped interview with a police
detective the day after the boy's body was found.On the tape,
Edenfield said he and his son molested the boy inside their home while
his wife, Peggy Edenfield, watched. He said Christopher pleaded with
them to stop and threatened to tell his father and grandmother,
prompting Edenfield's son to begin choking the boy.Edenfield told police he placed his own hands on top of his son's as Christopher choked to death."Fortunately
for us, they had that confession," said Mike Barrios, the boy's father,
who had listened stoically to a week of grisly trial testimony.
"Christopher's up in heaven. He's smiling down now."Before
jurors began deliberating Edenfield's sentence, his defense lawyers
urged them to consider mercy. The attorneys accused George Edenfield of
instigating the boy's abduction and killing."David Homer
Edenfield is going to die in prison, that's a fact," defense attorney
John Beall told the jury. "Here's another fact. This beautiful little
boy was murdered and will never come back."Beall and James Yancey Jr., Edenfield's other lawyer, did not speak to reporters after sentencing.In
a fiery argument, District Attorney Stephen Kelley asked the jury to
sentence Edenfield to die, saying "maybe he's just rotten from the
inside out. ... And his words on that tape were, 'It felt good.'"The
judge halted the prosecutor's heated presentation when Kelley pointed
at Edenfield and called him an "animal." Edenfield's attorneys asked
for a mistrial based on the outburst, but Superior Court Judge Stephen
Scarlett denied the motion.Because of pretrial publicity, the
jury was drawn from a community 90 miles away, and the jurors were
sequestered during the weeklong trial in Brunswick, 60 miles south of
Savannah.George Edenfield, who is mentally retarded according to
his father, is still being evaluated to determine if he's competent to
stand trial. Peggy Edenfield would be tried last, according to deal in
which prosecutors agreed to spare her from the death penalty if she
testified against her husband and son.Kelley declined to say much about those pending cases Tuesday."We've still got a lot of work to do," he said.

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 light saber, 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.

Judge To Discuss Sentence In Boy's Killing



BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- A woman who testified against her husband and was prepared to do the same against her son on charges they abducted, assaulted and killed a 6-year-old Brunswick boy is meeting with the judge today about her pending case.


Peggy Edenfield, who was offered a plea agreement to her role in the 2007 death of Christopher Barrios, is scheduled at a status hearing with Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett.


Edenfield, her husband, David, and adult son, George, were all charged with rape and murder after Christopher's naked body was found stuffed in a garbage bag in March 2007.

David Edenfield, 62, was convicted and sentenced to death in October 2009. George Edenfield was found incompetent to stand trial last summer.


According to a plea offer Peggy Edenfield signed in November 2007, the state would remove the death penalty and would not seek live in prison without parole as options in her case if she agreed to testify against her husband and son and tell investigators what happened to Christopher's clothes.


Channel 4's Vickie Pierre is at the Glynn County Courthouse for the hearing. This story will be updated as more information becomes available, with full reports on the local station beginning at 5 p.m.



http://www.news4jax.com/news/26858287/detail.html

Jacksonville, FL —
A Georgia Woman will die in prison for the sexual assault and murder case of a 6-year-old boy.
Three members of the Edenfield family were each put on trial for the sexual
assault and heartless murder of 6-year-old Christopher Barrios back in 2007.
A judge just sentenced 62-year-old Peggy Edenfield. She'll
serve 60 years after pleading guilty to false imprisonment, child
molestation, cruelty to a child, concealing a death and tampering with
evidence. Charges of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault were dropped.
Edenfield's husband, David, is on death row and her son, George Edenfield, was found too incompetent to stand trial.
The Edenfields were neighbors with the Barrios family. Prosecutors say the
family kidnapped, raped and murdered the child before stuffing his body into a garbage bag.
http://www.wokv.com/news/news/local/edenfield-sentenced-georgia-childs-cruel-murder-ca/nDcwC/

POS needs to be executed.