Neighbor killed; police check child molestation claim

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FAIRFIELD, Connecticut (AP) -- A lawyer in this quiet suburban community was charged with killing a 58-year-old neighbor he suspected had molested his 2-year-old daughter, prompting police to investigate whether the molestation occurred.
Jonathon Edington, is accused of stabbing neighbor Barry James to death on Monday after his wife told him that James had inappropriate contact with the child.
"The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark," said Edington's attorney, Michael Sherman.(Watch how stabbing shocks quiet neighborhood -- 1:32)
Police said Edington, 29, climbed through James' bedroom window and stabbed him nearly a dozen times in the chest. James' 87-year-old mother discovered his body.
Peter Ambrose, an attorney for James' family, said the molestation claim is unsubstantiated.
"There's nothing that would arouse any suspicion," Ambrose said Thursday. "It's totally without precedent. It's just unfounded. It comes as a complete surprise to his family."
Police found Edington standing at his kitchen sink with blood on his hands and arms, the Connecticut Post reported.
"We have no indication (the molestation claim) is true or not true," Capt. Gary MacNamara said Wednesday, adding that authorities had not received a complaint about the neighbor immediately before the killing.
Police had gone to the neighborhood before, when Edington called to complain that he could see James through a window, police said. "Either he was partly clothed or revealed parts of his anatomy that were inappropriate," MacNamara said.
Edington's landlord, Karen Brophy, told the Post that Edington's wife had told her in a phone call about three months ago that James had exposed himself.
Edington, a graduate of Syracuse University and Fordham University Law School, has no criminal record, police said.
James served two days in prison in May 2001 on a drunken driving charge, according to the state Department of Correction.
"He had some bizarre behavior over the last month," said Darrell Maynard, a neighbor. "He drove his car through his garage, hit the other neighbor's building."
Another time a neighbor found James intoxicated on the street, Maynard said. James shouted obscenities at children, he said.
'Something had to happen that was terrible'
As for Edington, Maynard said: "Something had to happen that was terrible for this to have occurred." Edington "seemed like a computer geek or something. He was not anybody you would ever feel you were threatened by."
Maynard told the New York Post that Edington was "a nice, low-key man."
"It seemed like he really loved his daughter. He was really good with her," the Post quoted Maynard as saying.
The Post, citing the Edingtons' landlord, reported the Edingtons moved to the neighborhood in March.
Pat Wysocki, a neighbor who has known the James family for 39 years, described Barry James as a "very nice fellow" who worked for a funeral home and said she found it hard to believe he would molest a child.
Ambrose, the James family attorney, said in a statement cited by The Connecticut Post that James had a "caring and compassionate nature" and the allegations "are weighing heavily on his family in light of their already burdensome suffering."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved