Hundreds Attend Funeral of Slain Ga. Boy
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A 6-year-old boy who police say was sexually abused, choked to death and dumped by the side of a road in black plastic trash bags*1 was mourned at a closed-casket funeral Thursday.
So many people came that the staff at the funeral home had to squeeze 100 chairs between the chapel pews. Even then, some stood and watched from the parlor.
"I feel like I came, basically, because he seemed like he was our child," said John Foote, a 40-year-old truck driver who helped in the search for Christopher along with his wife, Lynn.
Mourners in suits and dresses sat next to others in ball caps and T-shirts printed with Christopher's photo and phrases such as "We Brought Him Home, Now Bring Him Justice." Their voices joined as a single chorus, rising above sobs and sniffles, as the congregation sang "Jesus Loves Me." Some shouted "Amen!" during the preacher's sermon.
"When cowardly men do horrible things, it has nothing to do with the will of God," the Rev. Chris Foster said. "It has everything to do with the fact they have chose to follow the ways of the evil one."
Convicted child molester George David Edenfield and his parents, David and Peggy Edenfield, have all been charged with child molestation and murder in the child's death.*2 Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty. They lived near Christopher in a trailer across the street from the boy's grandmother.
A friend of the Edenfields, 35-year-old Donald Dale, has been charged with helping them conceal the boy's death.
According to an affidavit police used to obtain a search warrant of the Edenfield's home, 32-year-old George David Edenfield told police that he choked Christopher to death with his hands. He told them the "devil" told him to kill Christopher after he watched the boy arrive home from school.*3
Before the child was killed, authorities say, Edenfield and his 58-year-old father molested the boy while Edenfield's 57-year-old mother watched.*4
Peggy Edenfield told police her son tried to wash fingerprints off the dead boy's neck with soap and water and then wrapped the body in trash bags, according to the affidavit. She said she helped her husband, David Edenfield, dispose of the wrapped body.
Christopher's remains were found last Thursday along a roadside three miles from the mobile home park where he lived with his father.
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March 22, 2007 - 4:54 p.m. Copyright 2007, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
*1 Six years old. Anyone that would visit that sort of brutality on another human, let alone a chile deserves to die.
*2 This tells me this was learned behavior. These people will NEVER become useful members of society. Don't waste resources, just put them down like the animals they are.
*3 Amend that last to include ANYONE that thinks that harming a child is justifiable in any way.
*4, If one of you hippy asshole "The death penilty is wrong" lowlifes pop up in this thread, you better be able to back your argument. Otherwise I will eat you alive.... This entire damned familly needs to die RTFN.
5* This was premeditated. They KNEW what they were doing. They planned it, they did it, and they had a means to attempt to cover it up.
There is no excuse... Kill them all.