Child Says Neighbor Molested Her

The 2-year-old daughter of a Fairfield lawyer charged with stabbing his neighbor to death two weeks ago had told her mother that the man molested her "in the starry nights," according to a police report released Tuesday.

Police said the lawyer, Jonathon Edington, climbed through 58-year-old Barry James' bedroom window and fatally stabbed him on Aug. 28, after his wife told him what his daughter had said.

Edington, 29, appeared Tuesday in Bridgeport Superior Court facing murder and burglary charges. He is free on $1 million bond but was ordered to have no contact with James' relatives, who live in the house where James was killed.

According to the police report, the girl told her mother about the alleged molestation while the family was visiting relatives in Rhode Island.

The girl "explained that she did not want to go home because of Barry," police said in the report. When her mother asked her to explain, the girl said "that Barry puts it on her belly and her nose," the report said. When her mother asked her when James does this, she replied, "He comes to me in the starry nights."

Police are investigating the molestation claim.

Peter Ambrose, an attorney for James, issued a statement on behalf of James' family disputing the allegations.

"The family of Barry James stand together in defending the unfounded allegations of molestation," the statement said. "They are vicious and hurtful, and the family only wishes that their son and brother had the opportunity to defend himself. When all of the facts are made known, we are confident that Barry will be cleared of these allegations."

James' 87-year-old mother discovered his body. When police officers went to Edington's home a short time later, they found him standing by his kitchen sink with what appeared to be blood on him, authorities said. Officers said a large kitchen knife was next to him on a counter.

Edington, a graduate of Syracuse University and Fordham University Law School, has been practicing patent law, his lawyer, Michael Sherman said. Police said Edington has no criminal record.