Friday's Angel: CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL BARRIOS, JR

Friday, March 18, 2011

We've all seen sad movies that make us shed tears and some movies make us sob for awhile. There are two movies that no matter how many times I watch them I cry for a long time. I cry to the point I have to be alone and remove myself from the room if others are with me. You may not understand why these two movies affect me so much and to be honest I don’t either but they just do and they are “Pearl Harbor” and “Powder”. There are also stories of children being abused or killed that we read every day and many of us shake our head in bewilderment and wonder how can anyone do that to a child, or think of all the things you want to happen to these monsters. You always feel bad, you may shed tears and you may be affected for days or life.

There is one child, his murder and his story that affects me more deeply than all the others. I’ve learned not to read his story or visit his website during working hours because I will have to retreat to the bathroom for awhile and return with red and puffy eyes and I know my boss wonders what is wrong with me? I think the reason this child affects me so much, and God I don’t even like to think about it but, he reminds me of my J. Back in 2007 when he was murdered J was only a few months old but I saw the resemblance and knew J would grow up to look like this little boy. When I heard how he threatened his killers to stop or he would tell his Grandmom that made me even sadder because it sounds like something J would do. I think about this little boy often and I am sure he was loved by family and friends but the last two hours of life he endured at the hands of 3 monsters is repulsive and I can imagine his fear and the physical pain he went through from being raped and then strangled to death with the hand of 2 men around his tiny neck. Please read his story and visit his website from time to time.

Thanks,

CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL BARRIOS, JR

Story copied from
http://pysih.com/2008/11/16/david-edenfield-george-edenfield-and-peggy-edenfield/

This is 33 year old George Edenfield, and these are his parents, 58 year old Peggy and 59 year old David. Both David and George have a history of being sex offenders- A family that preys together.

In 1993, David Edenfield was arrested for committing incest against an adult family member that was not his son and entered a guilty plea in 1994. For this offense, David received 10 years probation. In 1997, George Edenfield entered a guilty plea following an arrest for the molestation of two boys aged 7 and 9. For these offenses, George received 10 years probation and was required to register as a sex offender.

In 2007, George appeared in court on charges that he’d violated his probation by refusing to move from a residence located directly across the street from Brunswick, GA‘s Orange Park, a popular playground. Although he’d lived there for 9 years and pleaded guilty, Glynn County DA Stephen Kelley and Judge Stephen Scarlett approved a plea allowing George to receive probation instead of time in prison. The date of this sentence - March 5.

Christopher Michael Barrios, Jr. was a bright, loving 6 year old boy who had recently started kindergarten. He took pleasure in time spent with his family, his large collection of superhero toys, and Jimmy, the stray cat he’d adopted. On the afternoon of March 8, 2007, Christopher happily stepped off his school bus and greeted his stepmother. Together, they walked over to Christopher’s grandmother’s home, where Christopher was dropped off to play.

George had watched Christopher disembark his bus; it was at that time that George says the Devil told him to kill Christopher. According to Paula Anderson, Christopher’s stepmother, Christopher came back home when his grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, needed to run some errands. When Paula saw Sue’s truck back at her home, she allowed Christopher to go back over and visit. This would be the last time Paula ever saw the cherished little boy.

As Christopher walked home that evening, he was approached by George, who lured the child into his house of horrors with the promise of video games. Christopher excitedly agreed; the horrors that awaited him too savage for a 6 year old little boy’s mind to know or understand.

After arriving at the Edenfield residence, Christopher was brutally and horrifically attacked by George and David. Standing about 3’6 and weighed about 65 lbs, the child didn’t stand a chance of defending himself against the Edenfield men. Both George and David took turns sodomizing and forcing the child to perform oral sex as Peggy watched and masturbated. When they had finished using the child for their sadistic purposes, the men used clothing to clean semen from their bodies, and both George and David (according to a statement given by Peggy) choked the poor boy to death, coldly ignoring him as he begged them to stop and cried that they were hurting him.

Next, Peggy attempted to wash fingerprints from Christopher’s neck using a pot of water and soap and the family wrapped the child in plastic trash bags. A “friend” of the family, Donald Dale, was enlisted in the disposal of Christopher’s body.

When Christopher failed to arrive home by 6 p.m., Paula went over to Sue’s house to walk him back home for dinner. She arrived to find no one home, so she searched the neighborhood, checking all the places the neighborhood kids liked to play and knocking on doors. A few neighbors joined in the search, but when that failed to produce the child, Paula called Christopher’s father Mike at work.

Mike arrived home around 7:30 and called the police, who arrived shortly after 8. Christopher was officially reported missing about 8:15 that evening. The search for the child that ultimately included helicopters, ATV’s, search dogs, and members of the National Guard in addition to police and volunteer searchers on foot began at 8:30.

Reports show that during the initial search of the area by local law enforcement, a toy belonging to Christopher was found in the yard of the Edenfield’s home; this, along with the fact that the Edenfields were observed repeatedly peeking out the windows, aroused police suspicions and Investigator William Daras went over to ask some questions. A confession was obtained that night from George, but he refused to tell where Christopher’s body was for fear or being taken to jail.

Although George was arrested the next day, he, his parents and Donald Dale continued to mislead police on Christopher’s whereabouts for a week. Christopher’s body was eventually found on March 15, 2007 by a park ranger after the area of focus was expanded. Although Peggy gave several locations where Christopher’s body could be found and repeatedly told police that he was buried within a few hundred feet of her home, the child’s remains were actually located 2-3 miles away on the side of the road in a black trash bag buzzing with insects.

Beloved Christopher had been used then tossed aside like a piece of garbage by a family of demons that had no regard for the fact that he was someone’s baby, someone’s friend, he was loved, and he was missed. Can you imagine the horror that little boy felt during his last moments on earth? Can you imagine what his parents felt every night he was not home to tuck into his bed and kiss goodnight? Can you even fathom what they felt when they were told that their baby boy was never coming home, or how it hurt to be robbed of the chance to view him for the final time because during the week the Edenfields and Dale were playing games with the police, Christopher’s body was deteriorating beyond what the family would recognize as their child?

TRIAL OF DAVID EDENFIELD:

Pre-TrialTrialSentence (Updated: 10.06.09 9 p.m. PST)View Sources

Jamie Downs, medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab in Savanna testified as to Christopher’s injuries and cause and manner of death.

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.
http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-10-02/story/edenfield_calmly_says_killing_6_year_old_christopher_barrios_was_excit

BRUNSWICK - 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.

Prosecutors played another shorter DVD of an interview: 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.

MONSTER’S CURRENT STATUS:
http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2010-10-29/story/judge-denies-new-trial-edenfield-barrios-slaying

David Edenfield, 61, was the first of three family members to stand trial in the kindergarten student's slaying. Last October, the jury that found him guilty of malice murder and seven other charges imposed the death penalty.
http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2010-08-03/story/judge-commits-george-edenfield-mental-hospital-barrios-slaying

BRUNSWICK - Convicted child molester George Edenfield won't stand trial anytime soon in the sexual abuse slaying of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. nearly four years ago.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett ruled Edenfield was mentally incompetent Tuesday and ordered him committed to a state mental hospital for further evaluation at the behest of prosecutors and defense lawyers.

The lawyers cited recent evaluations by state and defense psychologists, who agreed that Edenfield has a diminished mental capacity and is unable to assist in his own defense.

'You never get over it'

Christopher's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, left the courthouse disgusted after the hearing.

"He ain't crazy ... He's smart as a darned whip. He's got them all fooled. He's putting on a good show," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said three years and five months have passed since Christopher was abducted, molested and killed.

"As time goes on, you learn to live with it but you never get over it," she said.

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.

Donald Dale was charged with concealing the death of another person, obstruction of justice and making false statements. In June, 2008 Dale accepted a deal which allowed him to spend 5 years in a state mental health facility in exchange for a guilty plea on a lesser charge of lying to police. Judge Scarlett and DA Kelley agreed to this plea after the state presented findings that Dale has an I.Q. of 60, classifying him as mentally retarded, which many find ironic considering the fact that he wasn’t too retarded to dump Christopher’s body and lie to the police in an attempt to cover his tracks.
http://christopher-barrios.last-memories.com/
http://michaelbarrios.memory-of.com/legacy.aspx

Originally posted by Ms. Angela's Stuff at 11:35 AM

Angie's signing off for now...feel free to read me again! Until the Next time Stay Blessed and Humble. Peace!