A two-year-old girl reports to her parents that a man, their neighbor, has been repeatedly molesting her on “starry nights.” In what could only be explained as a fit of blind rage, the little girl’s father climbs into his neighbor’s window and stabs him to death.
Although it might sound like a plot from a horror movie, this is what allegedly took place on Aug. 28 at a home on Colony Street in Fairfield.
Reports from the Connecticut Post and the Fairfield Minuteman recount the accusations made against 59-year-old Barry James by his two-year-old neighbor Rebecca Edington. The girl allegedly told her mother that James would come into her room and touch her inappropriately.
In the 2004 FBI Crime Report for Fairfield, there were only 29 reports of rapes and aggravated assaults combined. The national average for these crimes was 323.3 per 100,000 people in 2004, the most recent year for which statistics were available.
But what makes this story even more surprising is the brutal murder of James, allegedly by Rebecca Edington’s father, 29-year-old Jonathon Edington.
James’ mother Rita said she saw a man climb in through her son’s bedroom window, push him to the floor and repeatedly stab him in the chest, then jump on his bed and out the window again, according to the Connecticut Post article.
An article from the Fairfield Minuteman says that police arrived on the scene and, a short time later, went next door to 111 Colony Street to find Edington “literally red-handed” by his kitchen sink, covered in blood. Police also found a knife nearby that they believe to be the murder weapon.
The police report on the case, released last Tuesday, says that the Edington family had been on vacation in Rhode Island and that Jonathon Edington came home before his wife and two children.
The same FBI Crime Report from 2004 reported zero murders in Fairfield.
By all accounts, this was a strange thing to have happened in a place where traffic lights start blinking at 9 p.m. and students at the beach get arrested for making too much noise.
Many students on campus didn’t even hear about the crime and are not concerned about safety around town.
“I did not know anything about this; it’s extremely surprising,” said Kristen Daly ’08. “It’s also really sad.”
David Dudish ’10 echoed Daly’s surprise at the crime.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t have expected it here, but stuff like that happens all the time. Coming from the Washington, DC area, crime is a big problem and [we] hear about it every day,” he said. “But I find it weird hearing about it from a town [as] prestigious as Fairfield.”
Brian Fitzgerald ’10 agreed.
“For the most part, I feel safe on and off campus,” he said. “It seems like the Fairfield Police watch out more for the students of Fairfield than they do the people of the town.”
“I still feel safe because [Fairfield’s] overall reputation has always been positive,” said Daly. “But it’s also a wake-up call.”
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