David Edenfield was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for the murder of six year old Christopher Barrios Jr
According to court documents David Edenfield, who a convicted child sex offender, would kidnap Christopher Barrios Jr who would be sexually assaulted and murderd
David Edenfield would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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David Edenfield is incarcerated at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison
David Edenfield Case
We turn first to the contention that the evidence cannot sustain the convictions. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence shows that Christopher lived with his father and stepmother in a Glynn County mobile home park, and his grandmother lived nearby, also in the mobile home park. David Edenfield lived with his wife, Peggy, and his adult son, George, in the same mobile home park, across the street from the grandmother.
George was mentally disabled and had the cognitive ability of a five-year old. He also was a convicted child molester.
On the afternoon of March 8, 2007, around 2:45 p.m., Christopher returned home from school, and he went to see his grandmother. He stayed with his grandmother for about 30 minutes, and then he went back to his own home to get some toys, including a “lightsaber.” Around 3:30 p.m., a neighbor saw Christopher on his front porch, playing with toys. Later, around 6:00 p.m., the same neighbor saw Christopher again, playing with toys in a yard down the road. About fifteen minutes after that, another neighbor saw Christopher skipping toward his home, smiling and carrying a toy sword. Around the same time, his stepmother discovered that Christopher was no longer with his grandmother, and she began to search for him, eventually calling for his father to leave work early and join the search. When the search failed to turn up any sign of Christopher, his father called upon law enforcement officers.
That evening, around 9:00 p.m., a police investigator saw a “lightsaber” in the yard of the David Edenfield home, and he observed the occupants of that home furtively peeking out the windows. The investigator knocked on the door, and when Peggy answered, the investigator saw a man — later identified as Donald Dale, a friend of the Edenfield family — who seemed to be trying to hide in the home. The investigator asked the Edenfield family and Dale to step onto the porch and speak with him. They did, although the investigator noticed that, whenever he tried to ask George a question, Edenfield or Peggy would answer for him. Eventually, the investigator asked George to walk to the road with the investigator, and there, George told the investigator that the devil had told him to kill Christopher. George was taken to a law enforcement office for an interview, and he was later arrested. Edenfield himself was arrested five days later and charged with helping George dispose of the body.
Other neighbors were helping with the search for Christopher.
On March 15, Department of Natural Resources officers found some plastic trash bags in a wooded area in Glynn County. Christopher’s body was inside the bags. According to the medical examiner, Christopher had been anally raped and strangled. In addition, Christopher had been bitten on his back, and chemical analysis revealed saliva on his back, buttocks, and penis. Moreover, seminal fluid was discovered in the plastic bags in which Christopher was found.
Law enforcement officers interviewed Edenfield several times, but he gave his most significant and inculpatory statement on March 16, three days after he was arrested for helping to dispose of the body. In that statement, Edenfield admitted that he helped to hold Christopher down as George penetrated the child with his penis, both orally and anally. Edenfield also admitted that he rubbed his own penis against Christopher and that he ejaculated on the child, although he denied personally committing any other sexual assaults upon Christopher. During these sexual assaults, Edenfield said, Peggy watched and masturbated, and Christopher fought to escape, begged them to stop, and threatened to tell his family. Following the sexual assaults, George began to strangle Christopher. At some point, Edenfield admitted, he put his own hands over George’s hands to see what it would feel like to participate in a killing. After Christopher was strangled, Edenfield said, he, Peggy, George, and Donald Dale put Christopher in plastic trash bags and dumped his body. At trial, Peggy testified, and she confirmed that Edenfield had participated in the sexual assaults, the murder, and the disposal of the body. She added that Edenfield had helped to undress Christopher, that Edenfield had put his mouth on Christopher’s penis, and that Edenfield had attempted to put his penis into Christopher’s anus.
Edenfield admitted as well that he found it exciting to participate in a killing.
Pointing to conflicts in the evidence, Edenfield argues that it is insufficient to sustain his convictions. Although the evidence may be inconsistent in some respects, “we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and leave questions of credibility and the resolution of conflicts in the evidence to the jury.” Bradley v. State, 292 Ga. 607, 609 (1) (a) (740 SE2d 100) (2013). So viewed, we have no difficulty concluding that the evidence was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Edenfield was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (III) (B) (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). See also UAP IV (B) (2) (providing that, in all death penalty cases, this Court will determine whether the verdicts are supported by the evidence). Accordingly, the evidence sustains the convictions.